Retirement

[walto]

I'm planning to quit my bureaucrat gig on April Fool's day, 2017, the day our last tuition check is due for our oldest daughter.

My original plan was to move my bed next to the fridge so I could lie down all day and just have to reach up to get some pasta while I watch tv. You know, I might gain four or five hundred pounds, but I'd finally be done commuting! And when my wife said she'd leave me if I did that, I told her I didn't see how she'd be able to get out the door. But then I realized that if I blocked the door, I couldn't get any more food delivered, so I thought I better get another plan. I thought I might get some adjunct teaching gigs at local colleges to stay busy while I wasn't eating and better get my foot in the door before I quit my state job. I taught one course last year, and it was a lot more work than I was used to, plus it involved commuting another couple hours a day twice a week (on top of my other job), but I guess my foot's in the door.

We have a second daughter who's only in 9th grade, but I don't want to be the guy asleep at his desk that everybody comes by a couple times a week to watch drool.

[walto]

It's karma, obviously. The day after I write the post above, the following article appears on the front page of the Boston Globe:

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/0 ... story.html

So, the state is likely to offer early retirement incentives in April and May. That shoves my wife and I into a quandary. I know that the pensions are exempt from state taxes and would not have the 9% currently being removed for pension contributions. But even though I'd qualify for the max (80%), I won't take that since I want Carol to be eligible to continue receiving benefits after I die. That would drop me to about 65%--compared to the about 85% I'm getting now (rather than 100% because of the aforementioned tax liability and pension contribution).

I wish Pat were here to run some numbers and advise us....

[jwaggs]

Pat is around ... give him a day or two.

I did the same thing for my wife... I took a penalty, so she'll get 100% of my pension after I die.

[Jazzooo]

Jwaggs--I will be 59.5 in March, but I'll still be taking $ from my IRA and paying taxes on it, without much income. It will be great to not have to pay the 10% penalty, though.

[walto]

Pat is around ... give him a day or two.

I meant around HERE (in Mass.).

[hornplayer]

It always amazed me how many of my fellow employees did not take advantage of the 401(k) benefit and free money that comes with it. And the people that raided their 401(k) multiple times and paid the exorbitant penalties for no good reason. Crazy.

was reading yesterday about the high percentage of Americans who retire with absolutely no savings whatsoever. How do they do that? I have my 401k and a full company paid pension waiting, and I'm still finding the prospects of retirement finances scary. And I know I get about twice the average amount of SS.

[jwaggs]

It always amazed me how many of my fellow employees did not take advantage of the 401(k) benefit and free money that comes with it. And the people that raided their 401(k) multiple times and paid the exorbitant penalties for no good reason. Crazy.

was reading yesterday about the high percentage of Americans who retire with absolutely no savings whatsoever. How do they do that? I have my 401k and a full company paid pension waiting, and I'm still finding the prospects of retirement finances scary. And I know I get about twice the average amount of SS.

that's one reason why I decided to be "semi" retired for the time being. Ive got a pension and I have far more than the average in my 401(k), but the idea of being in "full" retirement scares me.

[moldyfigg]

I fully retired at age 74 and have followed the rule to do very little - slowly.

[jwaggs]

Nice that you can do very little -- slowly. I don't have that option. But I am "only" 62, so that might be the difference. You had 12 more full-time working years than me.

[hornplayer]

At 62 I wasn't even thinking about retirement. and to tell the truth, I'm still not planning to "retire," except from my SDJ. I will definitely be actively doing something remunerative. May go back to teaching music, haven't figured it out yet.

[moldyfigg]

At 62 I could do a helluva lot of things that I can't do now.

[Jimmy Cantiello]

Which reminds me of the Moms Mabley joke:

Old man sitting on a park bench. Young boy comes walking by, crying. Old man asks the young boy why he's crying. Young boy says, "Because I can't do what the big boys do". Old man cried too.