New Guy in Towne

[Joseph (Joe) Towne]

Hello out there in ER-land.

This is my very 1st post and hopefully not my last. I am 61 years young and hoping for an ER -- but I don't think I'm going to make it. I'll be 67 before I'm eligible to retire from my current job and I'll have a total of 50 years of Federal service:
20 years military ;
10 years defense contractor ;
20 years federal civil service when I actually retire.

I should have been able to retire early, but:
Two boys through college (majoring in beer and girls) & ;
Too many vacations ;
Too much $$$ keeping up with the "Jones's" !!!

The better-half and I now have our 1st GRANDBOY---, and he's the love of our lives. Every spare nickel goes into something for him or something we think he wants, would like to have, or for his future.

Besides "winning-the-lottery" -- How can we honestly retire early without having planned for it for years ahead of time? Though I will have several retirement incomes, I don't see where it will be enough to keep me and the Mrs going for long. What's it really like?

[Rich_in_Tampa]

Originally Posted by Joseph (Joe) Towne

Besides "winning-the-lottery" -- How can we honestly retire early without having planned for it for years ahead of time? Though I will have several retirement incomes, I don't see where it will be enough to keep me and the Mrs going for long. What's it really like?

Welcome to the board, Joe. As a first poster, I see you had no trouble figuring out how to use Smilies .

If you really want opinions on your financial prospects for retirement, consider posting as much of your savings, investments, pensions etc. You'll get plenty of opinions. I also suggest reading through some of the board FAQ entries. There is also FIRECalc to help you plan for the day.

Congrats on the first grandkid. I have 4 and they are the joy of my life.

[REWahoo]

Hello Joe, and welcome to the forum.

As to your poll, I don't think you're going to get any worthwhile responses. You don't tell us anything specific about your anticipated annual expenses in retirement or your projected income from pensions, social security, savings, investments, etc. Without that information neither you nor any of us have any way of knowing if you will be able to retire.

Care to share?

[Texas Proud]

Heck..... I voted for you to get a second job... you must LOVE to work...

If you don't have enough pension money.. then I don't know who would...

But then you did say... you were trying to keep up with the Joneses.... (well, did ya?)...

And now 'every nickel' is going to the grand baby... nothing about what you want or how you want it...

So, go get that second job and keep paying into the systems... I want some when it comes time for me to retire!!

[jIMOh]

The survey let me vote twice- keep working and get a second job. Unless you post the values of your various pensions, you'll need to keep working and save around 50% of what you make at this point.

[Khan]

Assuming you are a CSRS fed employee; don't you start losing money on your pension after 40 or so years of employment?

[Walt34]

With the limited information, it seems that spending needs to go way down and saving needs to go way up.

[mn54]

Welcome Joe. The key phrase on this board is LBYM. If you want to keep up with the Jones' and they are spending themselves into debt, you're going to end up in trouble. If you're interested in retirement and not working till you drop then forget the Jones'.

[donheff]

20 years with the feds in 5 years and 61 yo? Came in under FERS. You can retire at 62 YO and 5 years service. Why don't you go next year?. What is with the five years?

[Midpack]

I didn't vote either since you weren't specific about assets or expenses, but I'd think with 40-50 years in military/government service you have more/better (COLA'd) pensions than at least 90% of us out here with nothing but questionable Soc Security and our own resources. My Dad is retired military, probably didn't have much of anything in investments, and they've lived better in retirement (26 years so far) than they did when they were active duty...

[Donzo]

You have definately put in your time...and then some. You need to share your expenses vs. pension/savings to get real answer.

[militaryman]

So, Have you run the numbers to buy back your Military Time ?

Sometimes if you retired from the military at a lower pay grade and have attained a high paygrade in the Civil Service it can actually pay off. Shoot, if it was even remotely close I would do it considering your age now and the alternative of continuing to work.

How old will your Grandkids be when you are 67 and able to be free to really do stuff with them?

Buying the military time back would enable immediate retirement at 35% of high three and then at 62 you can draw SS

You really need to think hard about this because waiting until 67 may make for a very short retirement with physical limitations on activities.

[NotReady4Purple]

I didn't vote either - but I'd bet your Grandson would rather time with his grandparents than having his grandparents spend money on him.

[Moemg]

I'd say cut the spending & retire . There is a lot more to life than keeping up with the Joneses !

[SteveR]

Welcome to the board. As you have seen so far, most of the responeders can only guess at your situation of income vs expenses and future income streams. Your poll will be pretty empty without some of this information for the number crunchers here to chew on for a while.

I did not vote because of the above. I don't know if you can afford to retire based on your "expected" lifestyle on your future income. Without knowing your debt and your investments and your future pension values and your projected expenses along with healthcare expenses any answer is just wind.

To know when you can retire depends on some basic factors.
How much do you spend now and what goes away when you retire?
What gets added on like travel or 529s for the grandkids, etc.?
What is your estimated income from pensions and when do you expect to get them? What happens if you quit a few years earlier?
If your healthcare covered by being paid for by your various employers? If not this is a very big one.
Do you wnat to leave any money or assets to your kids or grandkids or is it OK to spend it down?
Do you have a mortgage or other debt that will carry over into retirement?
How much do you have saved in pre-tax and post-tax accounts? When will you need to start using these?

Once you get your data and run the numbers you will have you answer... the poll is meaningless without good data.

Good luck.

[ls99]

Welcome....... And my vote was for ...... Get a second job, as penalty for keeping up with anybody but yourselves.

Now on a serious note, if you cut out gratifying everybody beyond all reality, you can maybe retire in 5 years.

Wish you the best of luck.