Not real early: Retire at 61

[lakerunner]

I just wanted to do a quick intro. I will turn 61 in a little over a year and plan to retire then. Why? Because I can and also, I am burned out at the current job. My wife retired a few years ago and gets a very nice pension as well as health insurance. We have one child who id half way through college. His collage expenses are covered from dedicated savings.

So, although I enjoy working and would love to find a part time project management job, I just can't take the environment where I am. (I told my wife I would work one more year.)

I have been reading this forum for some time and thought I should sign in and introduce myself.

 

[davebarnes]

Examine the worst case scenario.
You both retire.
You get zero post-retirement medical insurance benefits.
You have to buy insurance on the market at $xxx/mo.
Can you afford it?

As someone who has been buying individual medical insurance since 2000, I can tell you that it is ugly now and always has been.
My 61-year-old wife's Kaiser HD-HSA Bronze plan is $811/mo.

 

[38Chevy454]

Welcome to the forum as more than a lurker. A lot of people here reached that burned out on the job point before you have. Have you run any of the retirement calculators to see if the additional year is needed? You may be good enough to retire now.

 

[pacergal]

Welcome. This is a great place to be. This next year is a good time to run all the calculators and financial scenarios you can (if you haven't already) to make sure everything is in order.
I learned so much from the wonderful people here, and continue to do so.
Look forward to hearing more from you.

 

[lakerunner]

Examine the worst case scenario.
You both retire.
You get zero post-retirement medical insurance benefits.
You have to buy insurance on the market at $xxx/mo.
Can you afford it?

As someone who has been buying individual medical insurance since 2000, I can tell you that it is ugly now and always has been.
My 61-year-old wife's Kaiser HD-HSA Bronze plan is $811/mo.

My wife is retired military, so I am hoping nothing changes with our healthcare. I have run various scenarios and am confident we have enough. I personally, think we could live on her pension, but she likes some spending money

 

[lakerunner]

Welcome to the forum as more than a lurker. A lot of people here reached that burned out on the job point before you have. Have you run any of the retirement calculators to see if the additional year is needed? You may be good enough to retire now.

I actually do think I could retire now. But I told my wife I would work OMY. Happy wife, happy life.

 

[flintnational]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[TriumphTR3fan]

Welcome! Always nice to have another voice in the forum. I thought I enjoyed working also. Then I retired & realized how much more I enjoyed the freedom of retirement. You seem to have a well formed plan. Enjoy the glide path to RE.

 

[Dtail]

Welcome to our wonderful site.
Sounds like you are all set with medical, which is huge.
Have you run your numbers through Firecalc and/or other calculators for confirmation?

 

[bclover]

Welcome to the forum.

 

[VanWinkle]

Welcome here and thanks to your wife for her service!!

I also retired at 61 and considered it early retirement compared to

the fellow employees I left behind.

Best to you,

VW

 

[lakerunner]

I wanted to give everyone an update. The past two months have been a cesspool at work. I have come home angry at least twice a week. So after running the numbers through various scenarios, i am taking the advice I continue to read on here. I turned in my notice today. My last day in the office will be April 19th. I am taking a week off before then. That means 24 more days in the office!!!!

 

[Accidental Retiree]

I wanted to give everyone an update. The past two months have been a cesspool at work. I have come home angry at least twice a week. So after running the numbers through various scenarios, i am taking the advice I continue to read on here. I turned in my notice today. My last day in the office will be April 19th. I am taking a week off before then. That means 24 more days in the office!!!!

Hey! Congratulations!

 

[MRG]

I wanted to give everyone an update. The past two months have been a cesspool at work. I have come home angry at least twice a week. So after running the numbers through various scenarios, i am taking the advice I continue to read on here. I turned in my notice today. My last day in the office will be April 19th. I am taking a week off before then. That means 24 more days in the office!!!!

Congratulations. I was going to do OMY, you made the right decision..

 

[Dash man]

Congratulations!!! Welcome to the club!

 

[cnocmmz]

I wanted to give everyone an update. The past two months have been a cesspool at work. I have come home angry at least twice a week. So after running the numbers through various scenarios, i am taking the advice I continue to read on here. I turned in my notice today. My last day in the office will be April 19th. I am taking a week off before then. That means 24 more days in the office!!!!

Congrats, really sounds like you have had enough. Not worth the stress with everything left to do in life...Enjoy!

 

[Montecfo]

Congratulations on your decision! Must be a huge relief.

 

[Honeyfill]

Congratulations! I retired last summer at 61 and 2 weeks and it is the second best ( I've been married 36 years ) decision I ever made. Good luck but keep your options open. I was just offered a job dream job for more than i was making before. I'm an engineer and the job is all the fun problem solving and none of the crazy Baloney Sausage I had to put up my last few years as an engineering manager.The best part is that I don't need the job so I don't have to put up with any bureaucracy. I can quit whenever I want.

 

[Dtail]

Congrats lakerunner. You won't regret the decision. Now you will be starting the best phase of your life.

 

[brucethebroker]

congrats

 

[DrRoy]

You'll be glad you did.

 

[Col. Klink]

Congrats! BTW, once you feel the satisfaction of controlling your own time and determining the course of what you will do that day over a few cups of joe that morning.... you will never want to go back to any j*b.

 

[athena53]

Congratulations! I'd planned to work till 65 but also ran into "cesspool" conditions and retired at age 61. That was almost 5 years ago and I haven't looked back; life is good.

 

[lakerunner]

Congratulations! I retired last summer at 61 and 2 weeks and it is the second best ( I've been married 36 years ) decision I ever made. Good luck but keep your options open. I was just offered a job dream job for more than i was making before. I'm an engineer and the job is all the fun problem solving and none of the crazy Baloney Sausage I had to put up my last few years as an engineering manager.The best part is that I don't need the job so I don't have to put up with any bureaucracy. I can quit whenever I want.

Its interesting you say that. I met with the CEO the other day. We have both been here for 16 years and have both watched the company change. My reason for meeting with him was to let him know about some of the cultural changes I have been seeing. By the end of the meeting, we were talking about coming back part time as a consultant reporting directly to him. So who knows what the future holds.

 

[kimcdougc]

Congrats on making your decision. But now I see you might just be hanging on. Don't 2nd guess yourself. You will never get this time back. Good luck with making your final, final decision.