ER

[Bir48die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big_Hitter no doubt but many of them have no recourse IMO, all of us want public safety employees to retire earlier than the rest of us for example, i don't want some 60 year old fat bald-headed dude trying to pull me out of my house when it's on fire

But it's ok if he's fat and has a full head of hair.

[Fedup]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big_Hitter no doubt but many of them have no recourse IMO, all of us want public safety employees to retire earlier than the rest of us for example, i don't want some 60 year old fat bald-headed dude trying to pull me out of my house when it's on fire

Don't those guys switch to a desk job after a certain age anyway. Like of my sister's ex employers, CEO has to retire once they reach 60. They can do other job but not CEO job.

[Blue Collar Guy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bir48die But it's ok if he's fat and has a full head of hair.

hahah, thats why i left , the hair was going

[bclover]

Most of my friends were civil servants meaning they all got full pensions after 20 years.
I think any time in your 50's is early. 60's is normal. I don't know any 70 year olds that are working for the money
All the ones i know volunteer etc for the rewarding experience

[Blue Collar Guy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bclover Most of my friends were civil servants meaning they all got full pensions after 20 years. I think any time in your 50's is early. 60's is normal. I don't know any 70 year olds that are working for the money All the ones i know volunteer etc for the rewarding experience

My mom went to work after my dad died at 57. She was a cook in the school. She stayed till she was 73, as she was lonely. She would still be working except i picked her up one day to take her shopping.I went into the kitchen and it was 108 degrees. All the ladies looked like red tomatoes. I said "hey ma is it always like this?" No , usually only in May and June. Thats was it , i said you could drop dead in here. She left the next week. She wasnt too happy the following year especially in the winter when she couldnt leave the house, i felt bad i bullied her into it.

[Big_Hitter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fedup Don't those guys switch to a desk job after a certain age anyway. Like of my sister's ex employers, CEO has to retire once they reach 60. They can do other job but not CEO job.

no desk jobs in the gulf of mexico
the union jobs for the plant plan I worked on were all physical jobs
some of the terminaling jobs for the pension plan i worked on were physical and required such things as cleaning out tank cars (from the inside) or dragging heavy cables across the dock at the port of houston

so not to my knowledge, no

[Big_Hitter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bir48die But it's ok if he's fat and has a full head of hair.

no I was poking fun at myself (i'm bald and fat and will probably still be at 60)

[euro]

To me, 50-ies to early 60-ies is "early", 40-ies "very early"

[GravitySucks]

56

[FIREd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by euro To me, 50-ies to early 60-ies is "early", 40-ies "very early"

That's how I see it too.

[Olbidness]

It's common in the oil business for someone to become injured and then after the disability benefits run out, get kicked to the curb. There are desk jobs but more often they are jobs still require reasonable physical fitness. It seems most of the benefits are set up to encourage people to work til 55, past that it just adds to the pile. I've worked for 2 majors and had I done it reverse order I'd had to work until 60 to get the retirement health benefit.

[evilanne]

Early Retirement for U.S Federal Civilian Employees under FERS starts at 55-57 (depending on year born) Minimum Retirement Age (MRA) for "couch potato jobs"

Early Optional Retirement- Agency downsizing or major reorganization:
Age Years of Service
50 . 20
Any 25 (Celebrated when I reached this milestone in 2012)

No-one was surprised when I retired early in 2016 (4.5 years early) as I had my projected 2020 early retirement date circled on the calendar in my office & replaced it for 29 Feb 2016 They would have been shocked if I had decided to stay.

[Clone]

At mega-corp, for office jobs, I saw the following milestones:

(For someone who started fresh out of college)

Age 50ish: 80 points (Age plus years of service) eligible for retirement which included medical benefits and pension.

Age 55: Able to draw from 401k

Age 60: No penalty in pension formula for retiring under age 60. (Pension formula would deduct 4% per year of age under 60).

Age 62: Eligible for SS

I would call anything between 55 and 60 years old to be early, 60 to 65 normal. A lot of people would have 35 years of service, not many would have more than 40. Before 55 was rare, and I would call that 'very early'.

In the bargaining unit, most of the folks would go out with 30 to 35 years of service. Their jobs were more physically demanding, and their pension formula was different. A number of them could work in companies that serviced mega-corp, thus double dipping a second paycheck for a number of years.

[Scuba]

All I know is when I RE'd at 56, my coworkers were dumbfounded. People said things like "oh, you'll be back after you take a break, I'm sure." Others thought I had a better job lined up. DH said his coworkers said "I know you said you're retiring, but where are you really going?"

[Cobra9777]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scuba All I know is when I RE'd at 56, my coworkers were dumbfounded. People said things like "oh, you'll be back after you take a break, I'm sure." Others thought I had a better job lined up. DH said his coworkers said "I know you said you're retiring, but where are you really going?"

+1

That was my experience exactly. I was 52. Most people thought that my retirement had to be a cover story for something much more interesting, like going to a competitor.

The official "early retirement" age at Megacorp was 55, at which point there was a bump in the pension and you keep unvested options and RSUs. "Normal retirement" was 65, with another pension bump. The vast majority of my coworkers left in the 55-60 range. Below 55 was highly unusual, typically a 50+ voluntary retirement offer as part of a RIF with benefits bridged to age 55 (no such luck for me). Above 60 was slightly less unusual, with some of those folks holding out for the full pension and some just enjoying the work routine.

[Koolau]

I didn't leave until 58 but was Financially Independent at 51 (large enough "stash", modest pension and empl*yer health insurance at 51 - better at 58 but not why I stayed). I consider FI the more important of the two numbers FI vs ER. After 51 was the best period of my c@reer. I had an office with a window overlooking woods and fields full of deer. No one bothered me. I had created my own j*b so to speak. I got a very nice (not stellar) salary. I was the go-to person in my chosen field. I had a DW who took care of the kids at home. How could it have been any better - until it wasn't. Then I left with (officially 2 weeks notice) 3 day notice. YMMV

[karen1972]

Well if your under 62, your early retired, but to me based on years worked... like anyone who can retire with < 20 years of work is extremely early retirement, 20-30 is very early, 30-40 is early.

Or you could be my dad who has now worked 63 years. At 45, I had 26 years of full time work in but given the # of hours I worked, I likely did 10 years of overtime so I don't feel like I retired that early.

[jkern]

I always considered 65 as the standard retirement age. Early retirement generally meant 62 or earlier to me. My original target was 60. I ended up retiring at 51.

[GravitySucks]

Quote:

Originally Posted by karen1972 Well if your under 62, your early retired, but to me based on years worked... like anyone who can retire with < 20 years of work is extremely early retirement, 20-30 is very early, 30-40 is early. Or you could be my dad who has now worked 63 years. At 45, I had 26 years of full time work in but given the # of hours I worked, I likely did 10 years of overtime so I don't feel like I retired that early.

Mom worked full time to age 75.
Not sure when Dad stopped full time but I did call him one evening when he was 81 and he was happy that he picked up a gig finishing Sheetrock on a kitchen remodel job.
Neither is real happy about my dropping out at 54.

[Big_Hitter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jkern I always considered 65 as the standard retirement age. Early retirement generally meant 62 or earlier to me. My original target was 60. I ended up retiring at 51.

65 was set as the national retirement age of germany by bismarck, but that was back in the late 1800s when life expectancies were in the 50s.

social security cavalierly adopted the same in the 30s