when will you retire? f/u on raisin's saving thread - YouLookFab Forum

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when will you retire? f/u on raisin's saving thread

bj1111

Veteran

i'd like to retire by the time i'm 55, in 10 years. but i am pension-less so many planets (and pluto) will have to align for this to happen.

you?

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32 replies

Latest reply was from Aziraphale

lyn*

(website)

Veteran

I hope to be able to go to part time practice by the time I am 50, but I don't think I will fully retire until I am >70. I enjoy what I do, and the hours are not too taxing, especially for senior staff! And I enjoy keeping up with the young ones (right now - the junior medical students!)

I won't have a pension either, nor any benefits really - it's a little annoying, but I guess it means that my savings are my own and I don't have to worry about a massive pension plan collapsing.

MsMary

Veteran

I was on track to retire at 65 or maybe a little earlier. With the divorce it's looking like I'll have to work until 70.

Caro in Oz

Veteran

I retired from paid work at 60. I do miss some parts of the work environment but I do find lots of other things to do

bj1111

Veteran

Lyn, at least you'll have canadian healthcare! I'm on the hook for my part plus my employer's to get equivalent coverage.

Mary, noticed that you prioritized travel while you're young on rae's thread. Totally support this. Do it while you can.

Caro, what parts of the work environment do/did you miss most? How did you replace that?

Lyn D.

Veteran

I guess I sort-of retired when my children were born, although I have since worked part-time and returned to full-time study at one point.
I now have a Christmas part-time casual job and in-between volunteer 2 days per week.
My husband now works from home, so there is always something to keep me busy with!

cheryle (Dianthus)

(website)

Veteran

I will have my 30 years of service about six months after I turn 55 and plan to retire then. My partner is 3 years younger than I am though so if I am concerned about waiting, I might consider taking three months a year off for a year or two and stay a bit longer. Not likely to happen and even though we won't need more money, it would improve my pension as it is structured to allow short term leave without pay with no impact.

Kristin L

Veteran

Is never an appropriate answer?

In all seriousness, I'll hopefully be able to retire in my late 60s/early 70s. I don't have a "real job" yet (so no 401(k) or retirement plan) and haven't been able to do much saving since I live on a small stipend. I can at least say that I am debt free.

Krista

Veteran

I receive a piece of mail from my pension plan each year reminding me that I will be eligible for retirement on September 30, 2029, which means I will be in my mid-50s. September 30 is not the greatest date to retire in education so if I stay on track with this date, I will either buy time to retire earlier before a school year starts, or retire at the end of a school semester, which is the end of January. This, of course, depends on not having to take any leave in the next 16 years. But you know, life can change a lot in 16 years so I am not tied to this date. Besides, I love my job and I would be okay with working past my date if I had to. I say that now, ha ha! By the time 2029 rolls around, I might be saying something different!

Kim

Veteran

Looks like hubby and I will retire at 65. (14 years to go!) He's got a Public service pension plan I I'll have whatever we've saved and invested as I am self employed. We probably could have done it earlier but I took 15 years off work to raise our children (and then went into home daycare to be here when they needed me too) so that set us back 15 years of income. We both agreed back that was the way we wanted to structure our family and it was worth it.

Honestly we'll probably always "work" a little bit even after we retire. I'd like to work part time for 6 months of the year to have some "mad" money when I'm hanging out on the beach in Florida for the Canadian winter!

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Never, from my creative work. But that doesn't bring any money in. Not sure when I will retire from the paid job. Depends on a number of still undecided factors.

Greek Goddess

I was notified that I will be 68 by the time I retire but will not get a pension as I have been out of the country the last ten years...even though I paid years of high pension payments. Unfair eh?

So I have moved to Thailand to work for a university. They have given me a three year contract with a three year option, which will allow me to save enough to retire by the time I am 65. Meanwhile I get to live in Bangkok and have a great lifestyle here.

Raisin

Veteran

It really depends on a lot of factors for me. Mainly my job satisfaction at the time and how much I feel like I need to retire.

I started work early though, 20, so I have the advantage of being able to reach max pension at 55. I don't want to work away my whole life, but I also feel like when I'm done, I'm DONE. No side work or contracts. So I will most likely go around 55-60, with full pension, and I will not look back!

marit

I can't imagine retiring... not that I have a career to retire from anyway. At the least I would be helping raise my children's children (should they have kids); but I can't imagine being without something going on, even part-time. My mother and grandmother are the same way - my grandmother is still working! - so I guess that is my example; neither has to work, but having a job to do is quite important to them. And I can't imagine my husband retiring - he would be so restless without work to do. He loves what he does. Once he starts his own business I think he will run with it until he drops. But in general I think the world is rapidly changing in ways that will make a traditional retirement obsolete by the time I'm that old so I have never considered it an option to begin with - given our life choices so far, which are a little off the beaten path.

lyn*

(website)

Veteran

Tee hee, thank goodness for Canadian healthcare - it provides me employment AND helps my own state of health!

deb

Veteran

I do not want to retire. So I will retire when medically necessary.

Classically Casual

Veteran

I was lucky to be able to retire @ age 55. I had put in the time with a large health ins. company, so was able to maintain medical & dental coverage through them at normal ee rates until Medicare eligible. That, and a lifetime of saving/investing and not having kids made it possible.

I did a lot of thinking about what to do next. We got a dog, which of all the changes is probably the single thing we enjoy the most. And I viewed this time as a time to reinvent myself. I've shed my old corporate persona completely, started a part-time business only working with clients that I enjoy,
and have the time & energy to be serious about exercising regularly. It's so nice to not have to drive and run errands during commuting hours, be able to shop for & prepare healthy meals on a regular basis and have a pretty stress free existence. I miss interacting with the large number of people that I used to see on a daily basis. And the free computer skills training that came along automatically with the job.

cheryle (Dianthus)

(website)

Veteran

I am on vacation this week and played golf on Sunday, Monday, and this morning. I am playing again tomorrow and then Sunday. I think I could easily become used to this lifestyle if I added in regular gym visits and some stained glass work for a creative outlet. Oh, and spending 2-3 months on a beach in winter.

Bring it on!!

cciele

Veteran

What Kristin said -- never

My 401K and IRA savings are really spotty, and I wish I had a pension plan!

citygirldc

(website)

Veteran

Since I work for the Federal government, I am vested but have about 7 years to retire because i don't have the age (50) so I've got a little while yet but I'm so ready to get out. Anyway,with a lot of budget cuts due to sequestration, if I can make it through the next few years, then I can be set with my pension. Cross your fingers.

In a sense, dh and I are lucky that we don't have the added expense of children (not by choice), so why is it so hard to save? We do have a few large expenses and would love to pay them off (i.e. mortgage, students loans, and a car payment). We like to travel but that's been on hold for a while due to dh's recent down sizing in his job (plus saving on a big trip in Dec for our 10 year anniversary).

We both have Roth's IRAs although we haven't been really contributing as much. Social Security may not be around in my 60s or is it 70s now. All I can say is that as long as we have some sort of healthcare by the time I retire, that's all that matters.

My goals are:

1. pay off mortgage in 14 years or less ( we refinanced last year to a 15 yr)
2. pay off dh's graduate student loans (yes, we/he still has those)
3. pay off car payment (by next year)
4. save, save save in case I don't have a job in the next 2 years.

MNsara

Veteran

Ha, this can be a touchy subject in our house! We've saved over the years and each have some sort of pension $$ out there, but life has gotten verrry expensive with no definite reprieve in sight, so . . .

We have college expenses ahead of us for our youngest, and I'm hoping my husband will hang in there and work a real job with benefits until youngest is done with school expenses, and DH gets his full Social Security benefit (yes, I hope it's still there in 3 more years. . . !)

When he gets there, I could have as much as 8 years ahead of me before I qualify for Social Security or Medicare. Health care costs have been running our lives for the past almost 3 years and will probably dictate when I can retire at age 65-66! I can't foresee retiring 'early' if I need to cough up big bucks for private healthcare.

Cindy

I guess you could say that I am already retired. I quit the job I had when I found out that my employer was withholding my 401K payments from my pay but not paying them into my 401K and similar things were going on with employee health benefits. That was about ten years ago and I didn't really look for another job because I was trying to deal with health issues. So I didn't quit because of my health but it did keep me from really trying to find a new job. About four years ago I was diagnosed with and began treatment for fibromyalgia. Now I am able to help out with childcare for my grandchildren.
Hubby is wanting to retire early in a few more years as long as his 401K continues to do well. We have chosen to live below our means in order to put quite a bit into the 401K and have no debts other than a home equity loan so the plan is to live on the 401K investments. He will get a pension but figures that will more than likely all go to pay for health insurance. We aren't counting on Social Security so that will be a bonus if either of us actually get anything. And there are rumors that his employer might offer another round of early retirement packages which he has now been there long enough to qualify more.

Thistle

Veteran

I have no idea if we will ever be able to retire. We don't have pensions, although we have been saving to our 401(k)s. Still, the market hasn't been great.

Our biggest concern is healthcare. Will Medicare even be around when we retire? Will social security? If they are around, will they be anywhere near what they are today? Seems I keep paying in the same or more, but my benefits keep getting pushed back or cut.

We also have decide if we want a second child. The first put our retirement back 7 years.

Karie

(website)

Veteran

I'm planning on retiring from teaching in 2020. I put the max allowable into my 403b, DH has a 401k, we both have pensions. The house will be paid for, but we will sell it and move out of tax-crazy NY.

Mo

(website)

Veteran

Hmmm, earlier than 65 I hope. I am 43 and the BF is 53. Our mortgage and cars are paid off and have been. We have some savings but would like substantially more, as neither of us has the kind of career that provides pensions. We do have small investments in some art pieces but need to maybe think on buying a rental income condo in FL if we go back.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

Either I'm already retired or I'm never retiring, depending on how you think of it. I can't imagine ever stopping my work, as long as I'm physically and mentally able. I haven't been employed full-time by an entity other than myself in over 13 years.

My husband would like to retire pretty soon (by about age 55, five years away). He seems to change careers every 7-10 years anyway. He has a plan in place to sell his company to his business associate over the next five years, which will free him of that job (as owner and CEO), but now he is starting a cattle ranching business with his brother, so that's not really "retirement," is it? Hmm. Maybe neither of us will ever truly retire.

bj1111

Veteran

Today is not the day to reply to this thread. .. A brutal workday. On the plus side, I got to hear a lot of different stories about how we are planning for the "next" phase whatever that may be!

Laurinda

Veteran

I didn't exactly retire but I made a major shift to Career 2.0 in my early 40s, working freelance and consulting jobs. I don't expect I will ever work a 9-5 job again, nor do I expect to 'retire', just keep doing version updates.

I half joke that the most important lifetime skill I learned in graduate school was how to live happily on minimal income.

Isabel

Veteran

Great thread. It is always interesting to read what other people are doing. I stopped working outside the home 10 years ago. I plan on doing something in a couple of years but it will be a downshift from my last job. It was a lot of hours, travel and a commute. By then, hopefully, my husband will also be able to downshift to a lesser paying but less stressful job. We will both be 51 by then. At 55, we can both start receiving pensions from our employer ( same one ), though his will be significantly more than mine. What we do at that time will depend on health insurance availability. Our goal is that by 55-60, we can both volunteer full time or split work and volunteering. Our kids will be finishing college by then and we have 529s for both plus access to our retirement accounts so we will be able to help with any student loans at that point. ( I have made timelines showing how all this will work. I have been doing this kind of stuff since my 20s. )

We both had good jobs at 25 and started contributing to 401(k)s as soon as allowed. I have been doing an IRA since I quit, my husband contributes to a voluntary pension (beyond his regular pension ) at work too in addition to the 401 (k). We can start Social Security at 67, so we should be able to swing retirement from full time paid positions for a few years before that while still supplementing SS afterwards.

My dream would be to sell our house and have a little one bedroom apartment in Boston or near Boston and another little condo near the water or near Cape Code. But with the cost of real estate here on the East Coast, I just don't foresee that.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

Laurinda, I love the way you put it! I will have to remember that.

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