Some early retirees have second thoughts

:D1993 dollars - you could party til you puked on 1000k/mo total retirement. Especially homebrew.

No stinking health insurance for 12 years. American Passport. Bad attitude - get well or die or go abroad for elective medical.

Pssst Wellesley - it's the dividends stupid. When in doubt cut expenses!

Whiny ass punks!

There now - I feel better. I love selective hindsight.

By all means get back to work and pay into my SS and Medicare now that I've made to 65.

heh heh heh - :cool: Is talk cheap or what? :angel:
 
dex said:
Finally, what should they pay? And who or how do you suggest to fund the difference between the premium income and the overall cost incurred by the insurance company?
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I don't think the insurance companies price their policies strictly on the basis of risk or cost to them. There's all that negotiated rate stuff going on between the larger employers and the insurance companies that individuals can't benefit from.

Group coverage can cost significantly less than the equivalent coverage in an individual policy - even though that group probably includes a significant number of older people and people with health conditions that would increase the cost of an individual policy. For my employee health coverage, the entire group pays the same rate for the same type of coverage - regardless of age or pre-existing conditions of the group member. The only difference being between individual vs. family vs. individual + spouse coverage pricing.

My employer kicks in about 65% of my total premium, but I've priced a comparable individual policy at about 60% more than the total premium (employer's share plus my share) for my group policy.

As long as I'm still covered by that group policy, I'm not complaining about paying less, but I would not be happy being on the other side.

When I leave the job after age 55, I am able to continue the group policy by paying 100 % of the cost, but that benefit could be dropped at any time.

It looks to me like the person with the individual policy is subsidizing the group members' coverage.
 
huusom said:
It's outrageous for any of us to have to pay that much ($13K/yr) for insurance period.
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If the couple has a high deductible, that's not out of line with what it costs on average in the US. What do you think it should cost, and on what basis?
 
JustCurious said:
Some early retirees have second thoughts - USATODAY.com

Does this apply to anyone here?
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NOPE, but I was lucky enough to have over-engineered my retirement funding. Between my pension, income from preferreds and muni's and my cd 'bucket' (5 years of 'fun money' funding) I can wait out the bad market.
I do hate to see the stagnation of my portfolio in the 1st year of my retirement, but my absolute worse case scenario is that I cut off my world travels and hunker down at home. It's a comfortable house, nice neighbors, ... etc., so 'what me worry?' :rolleyes:

I'd don't think I'm going back to w*rk again. :D
 
JustCurious said:
Some early retirees have second thoughts - USATODAY.com

Does this apply to anyone here?
Click to expand...

No! I am one of those born in the first year of the baby boom. Come hell or high water I will be retired after lunch on Friday.:D

Started practicing for retired life when I gave notice eight weeks ago; disconnected my alarm clock, don't care when I arrive at w*rk, it could be anywhere between 9:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. Disclosure: there always was some leeway for shorter summer hours. I no longer notice what time it is, tossed out my watch when the battery ran down. Saw my neighbor this morning and said to her, "aren't you out early." She said, "no, it's 9:00 a.m. "It is?"
 
ziggy29 said:
(1300 / 30%) * 12 = 52,000.


Let me get this straight. I'm supposed to feel sorry for someone with a $52,000 pension?? I think not.
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I caught the sarcastic humor...

But there is an important message in the article.

Its not about them... its about planning... Or perhaps lack of contingency planning and (considering all of the risks). In this case the affects of inflation on purchasing power and the decrease in the value of their assets. They are less well off than when they retired, and looking forward to another 30 years or so of trying to manage it... they are concerned that their basic lifestyle may be in jeopardy.

Think about it from the perspective of someone who retired before the market collapse and sub-prime collapse occurred. Your pension a little over a year later is fixed and it purchases 10% less than it did a year ago. You just lost 15% of the value on your home. Your portfolio is worth 15 to 20% less. And the news is full o speculation about further inflation.

It is enough to make anyone nervous.
 
I can relate to the article. I retired at age 52 in August, 2007. I had planned it out for a long time. Four months later I had had enough and began thinking about getting back to work. Credit crunch lunacy, skyrocketing inflation, tanking stock markets. A very depressing and nerve racking time to retire early. Seeing people falling on hard times all around me, and I sure did not want to be in their situation. Glad to be back at work, at least for the next couple of years.
 
try two houses @ 30% and then get stuck in that market (in a high cost area, no less) so that you can't initiate your overseas contingency plan (were it even that).

this is too much responsibility. screw this. i'm going back to school with the kids.

gonna get my substituting certificate (two weeks of schooling) to sub for a while & see if i like that. if i enjoy teaching i'm gonna get a teaching certificate (9 months of schooling) and start my new short-lived(?) career to keep me busy and flush until the market improves well enough to be able to sell out at not such a loss.

lots of benefits. reducing withdrawals for now. giving me something to do. improving my social life. lots of vacation time. summers off. plenty of job opportunities in the immediate area. ability to travel around the country and pick up work wherever i find myself so as to enjoy an instant social life in various communities if i decide to do that. sense of security just in case the housing market takes a turn for the even worse. basically just adding another option in life to further confuse me.
 
lazygood4nothinbum said:
basically just adding another option in life to further confuse me.
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I doubt it. Looks like you may already be at the pinnacle in that category. ;)

Best of luck in your new endeavor. One word of caution based on the experience of a close relative - substitute teaching can be a high stress/low reward gig. You are often viewed by the students as a babysitter and tested to see what they can get past you. It may be challenging at first but can get old in a hurry.

Keep us posted on how things work out.
 
um, you mean, they're tougher than this group? not a problem. (i'm really just hoping for a date with someone else studying to be a teacher--i don't actually intend to do the work.)
 
liman said:
I can relate to the article. I retired at age 52 in August, 2007. I had planned it out for a long time. Four months later I had had enough and began thinking about getting back to work. Credit crunch lunacy, skyrocketing inflation, tanking stock markets. A very depressing and nerve racking time to retire early. Seeing people falling on hard times all around me, and I sure did not want to be in their situation. Glad to be back at work, at least for the next couple of years.
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Skyrocketing inflation? What country do you live in?

I realize we have relatively high inflation in the US compared to the past 25 years or so, but I would not call it "skyrocketing". When it's 20% or so, come back and we'll talk.
 
cute fuzzy bunny said:
Doesnt sound like it was a very good plan if four bad months derailed it.
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Not to pile on but, I must agree.

I'm guessing he omitted the the cash flow planning aspect.
2-3 years of expenses in cash or low risk investments.
 
cute fuzzy bunny said:
Doesnt sound like it was a very good plan if four bad months derailed it.
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I'm starting to think that a significant percentage of the population (including this forum) have no knowledge of finanial events prior to 2003.

That's the only way I can reconcile the outrageous levels of panic I see. Do people actually believe the dem crap of "worst economy in 50 years" that has been shouted non-stop for the last 8 years?
 
Hey dont look at me. I retired in early 2001 right as the stock market slid into a huge hole in the ground. But I guess people werent getting hit from every direction like they are today. Although the stock "correction" is a little easier to take this time.

I'm not sure where I'd throw the anchors right now. I guess its just spread it around and wait for something to recover.
 
2B said:
I'm starting to think that a significant percentage of the population (including this forum) have no knowledge of finanial events prior to 2003.
....
Click to expand...
--
This forum really has changed in the last year. You would be shouted out of the room a year ago for growling like a bear cub. What I sense here is that the most vocal people in the finance section may be short traders. How many of us think of equities as strictly long term investments? Anything I've got in equities is 15+ plus; I choose 15 because that may be beyond my life expectancy. Have we done a poll on this?
 
2B said:
I'm starting to think that a significant percentage of the population (including this forum) have no knowledge of finanial events prior to 2003.

That's the only way I can reconcile the outrageous levels of panic I see. Do people actually believe the dem crap of "worst economy in 50 years" that has been shouted non-stop for the last 8 years?
Click to expand...

I was maxing out my 401K prior to 2003, but was pouring everything else into my down payment and then principal on the mortgage for my house. Even so, the market seemed worse to me then than now.

I wonder if maybe a lot of those who are freaking out about the economy, live in "real estate bubble" locations where the bubble has popped. Those who hitched their wagon to the real estate star in areas where real estate has crashed, are probably in a state of shock.
 
CuppaJoe said:
--
This forum really has changed in the last year. You would be shouted out of the room a year ago for growling like a bear cub. What I sense here is that the most vocal people in the finance section may be short traders. How many of us think of equities as strictly long term investments? Anything I've got in equities is 15+ plus; I choose 15 because that may be beyond my life expectancy. Have we done a poll on this?
Click to expand...

I don't quite understand your statements. Do you mean long-side traders with a short term outlook?

And by "Anything I've got in equities is 15+ plus..." do you mean that you would not touch your equity holdings for 15 years no matter what happened in the market or society or business?

If that is what you mean, count me as a short term trader.

Ha
 
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