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Old 02-01-2014, 10:02 AM   #21
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When I retired from MegaCorp in 2007. I received my severance check and my lump sump pension check within a few days. These are the largest paper checks I've ever seen with my name on them.

No sense of elation because I knew I had to get the paper checks to Vanguard ASAP and manage the proceeds from then on. In hindsight I would have done better to put the checks in the drawer instead of in the market until after the market crash of 2008.

DW and I both filed for SS at FRA and now we get direct deposits on the second and third Wednesday of each month.
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Old 02-01-2014, 01:28 PM   #22
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Originally Posted by PERSonalTime View Post
Can anyone remember what it was like to receive their first retirement check? It sure is an exhilarating occasion. It's really mind blowing to think that you're getting paid when you've been nowhere near your office, desk, or computer at work. Please describe how you felt on this joyous occasion.
This is exactly how I felt, even before I retired. It is amazing to think that you can receive a check every month and not work for it. I had been working since age 15 and if you did not work, you did not get paid. I retired from my career job in 06/06. My DH retired in 2010 and received severance pay for 18 mos and his pension doing that time. He also received a prior year bonus that the company decided to pay. Boy was it nice receiving his pay check and the pension check for 18 months. I probably would never have felt comfortable retiring on just our portfolio alone, and my hat is off to the many here who have done so. I am now one of the people who are working a part-time $10.00 per hour job and that is after working there for over 3 years. I made a goal of finishing the job of getting my social security credits. I have 7 more to go, so will finish the middle of 2015, if I live that long. The amount that I will receive from SSA will be teeny, tiny due to WEP. My family laughs at me for working and can't understand why I am doing this, but a goal is a goal. Assuming I make this goal, my next goals are going to be travel related!
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Old 02-01-2014, 01:57 PM   #23
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Been 26 years without a "paycheck" , got 22 months to go till SS kicks in. I have dreamed nightly about it for the past 8 or so years!
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Old 02-01-2014, 03:47 PM   #24
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Been 14.5 years without a "paycheck".

I just pay myself! The monthly back transfers kind of feel like a paycheck - cause it's spending money!

So far (knock on wood) the net worth is beating inflation even though I'm drawing on the funds each month.

That feels good!
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Old 02-01-2014, 03:49 PM   #25
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When I ERed back in late 2008, I cashed out the $300k I had in company stock and put it into a bond fund which pays me a nice, fat dividend check every month. I always look forward to the changing of the months (such as now) when I get my "paycheck" for doing nothing but having my money work for me instead of vice versa.
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Retired in late 2008 at age 45. Cashed in company stock, bought a lot of shares in a big bond fund and am living nicely off its dividends. IRA, SS, and a pension await me at age 60 and later. No kids, no debts.

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Old 02-01-2014, 06:52 PM   #26
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I work somewhat intermittently now where I can spend months at a time not working, so set up the dividends in my taxable account to auto-deposit into my chequing account last year. It felt and feels really quite wonderful to see those auto-deposits show up and I wish I'd done it that way sooner.

In times like now, where I am working sort of part time maybe until June and maybe not that long, I just transfer the paycheque straight to the investment accounts and don't look at it as mine to spend (for the most part - I used a paycheque that I wasn't expecting for annual car insurance and RV stuff last year).

Most companies I invest in carry a dividend, some better than others and many of them pay out monthly. For some reason, doing it this convoluted way has greatly reduced my resentment towards work. For every month I work now, I am giving myself an $XXX/year raise and it's not on a spreadsheet, it's real. It just feels kind of neat to see an immediate result for the effort rather than going into growing some nebulous big number with a bunch of zeros that doesn't feel quite real. I can't get my head around the fact that I have saved so much but feel safe that I have dividends coming in that cover my expenses. I was having a bit of anxiety (which was causing me to over-save "just in case") at the thought of not working and not having money come in regularly and structuring things this way alleviated that.
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Old 02-01-2014, 07:09 PM   #27
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I am now one of the people who are working a part-time $10.00 per hour job and that is after working there for over 3 years. I made a goal of finishing the job of getting my social security credits. I have 7 more to go, so will finish the middle of 2015, if I live that long. The amount that I will receive from SSA will be teeny, tiny due to WEP. My family laughs at me for working and can't understand why I am doing this, but a goal is a goal. Assuming I make this goal, my next goals are going to be travel related!

That's exactly what I did in 2006. I needed 7 SS credits to get to the 40 needed to receive any benefits. It took me less than 2 years but I really like my job (school crossing guard) so I just kept on doing it. We don't need the money for living expenses so every year I put it in a Roth IRA. At 62 my SS will be $535 but if we don't need it I will wait until FRA of 66 and 2 months when it will be $743. It's not a lot of money but I feel very good that I EARNED IT.
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Old 02-01-2014, 08:21 PM   #28
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Originally Posted by Dreamer View Post
This is exactly how I felt, even before I retired. It is amazing to think that you can receive a check every month and not work for it. I had been working since age 15 and if you did not work, you did not get paid. I retired from my career job in 06/06. My DH retired in 2010 and received severance pay for 18 mos and his pension doing that time. He also received a prior year bonus that the company decided to pay. Boy was it nice receiving his pay check and the pension check for 18 months. I probably would never have felt comfortable retiring on just our portfolio alone, and my hat is off to the many here who have done so. I am now one of the people who are working a part-time $10.00 per hour job and that is after working there for over 3 years. I made a goal of finishing the job of getting my social security credits. I have 7 more to go, so will finish the middle of 2015, if I live that long. The amount that I will receive from SSA will be teeny, tiny due to WEP. My family laughs at me for working and can't understand why I am doing this, but a goal is a goal. Assuming I make this goal, my next goals are going to be travel related!
I'm just the opposite Dreamer. I won't work a part time job because of the WEP. SS takes over 6%, Medicare for which I am already vested is almost 1.5 %. Throw in my 25% fed (28% if I made more than 10k) and 6% state plus gas, I'm lucky to get 50 cents on the dollar in a PT job, so I decided I will not do it. Once I ran my earnings through SS calculator and saw that my projected nearly $500 a month SS check was reduced to a little over a $100, I determined I would have to work 20 more years of SS work to make it worth my time to draw anything so I decided I will pass.
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Old 02-01-2014, 09:58 PM   #29
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I've received four pension checks and still can't quite get used to being paid for not working.......It is great!
Yes! Just got my first one and it's unbelievable. Although I know it happened, I'll really,REALLY believe it when it happens again next month.
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First retirement check
Old 02-01-2014, 10:12 PM   #30
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First retirement check

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I'll let you know in about 2 weeks. Retired Jan 1st, but first check takes 6 weeks to get it. They then are regular at the end of the month.
Akck,

Be sure to check back with us and tell us how it feels. Btw, what kind of job are you retiring from, gov't, megacorp, personal business, etc.? I ER'd the beginning of this year too.
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Old 02-01-2014, 10:41 PM   #31
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Akck,

Be sure to check back with us and tell us how it feels. Btw, what kind of job are you retiring from, gov't, megacorp, personal business, etc.? I ER'd the beginning of this year too.
State and local government. Fortunately, both were in the same PERS, so I was able to accumulate more years of service for the pension.
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Old 02-02-2014, 12:53 AM   #32
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Retired Jan 3, 2014...haven't received 1st pension deposit yet, hopefully Monday. However, Jan 17 I received my annual leave $$$ and it was a good feeling!
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Old 02-02-2014, 01:17 AM   #33
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Retired Jan 3, 2014...haven't received 1st pension deposit yet, hopefully Monday. However, Jan 17 I received my annual leave $$$ and it was a good feeling!
Congratulations Cassie! We've got about the same number of days in ER. Isn't it great? Each day it seems like my working life fade farther and farther from my memory and this "new reality" is becoming my new norm.
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Old 02-02-2014, 02:33 AM   #34
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I don't get pension or SS checks. But dividends, interests, and rents are coming in at a pretty good clip every month.
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Old 02-02-2014, 04:57 AM   #35
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I share the sentiment voiced by Arthur...
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Old 02-02-2014, 06:18 AM   #36
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My last day of work was the last day of the month and also my last full paycheck. The next day, I got my first pension check. Great feeling!
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Old 02-02-2014, 06:42 AM   #37
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It's been about 2 years now and although I enjoy the checks I receive from SS and recently a small non-cola pension I still can't get used to the idea that I don't have to do anything for them. I feel like I should be doing something productive to get the money. I'm sure it is all a matter of perspective and this will pass at some point.

Cheers!
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Old 02-02-2014, 08:22 AM   #38
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Originally Posted by PERSonalTime View Post
Can anyone remember what it was like to receive their first retirement check? It sure is an exhilarating occasion. It's really mind blowing to think that you're getting paid when you've been nowhere near your office, desk, or computer at work. Please describe how you felt on this joyous occasion.
DH retired early at age 56 at the end of last May. He received a payout of 400 hours in vacation and gets a monthly pension check for his 33 years of service with Megacorp. Although the pension checks are wonderful, I think the joy in the occasion was not (and still is not) over being paid "for nothing", but the fact that his life is now his own. I think he's still in that "pinch me" phase of retirement.

DH has never describes his pension check as payment for doing nothing or "free money". Maybe one's perspective changes over time?
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Old 02-02-2014, 08:59 AM   #39
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DH retired early at age 56 at the end of last May. He received a payout of 400 hours in vacation and gets a monthly pension check for his 33 years of service with Megacorp. Although the pension checks are wonderful, I think the joy in the occasion was not (and still is not) over being paid "for nothing", but the fact that his life is now his own. I think he's still in that "pinch me" phase of retirement.

DH has never describes his pension check as payment for doing nothing or "free money". Maybe one's perspective changes over time?
Yep. I think of it more as a paid up annuity. Megacorp was more than happy keeping me informed of my total compensation including contributions to the pension. I am more than happy to collect on those already paid elements of my many years of service. Just another bucket in my retirement plan.
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Old 02-02-2014, 11:55 AM   #40
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All my life I had to do something useful for money so the first couple of years it brought on a sense of surreality. I mean, all I have to do is keep breathing and they send me money every month? Can this be true? What's the catch? There must be one!

Like everything else, one gets used to it after a while. But it still makes me grin.
Even while working fulltime and not retired I feel this way when on vacation time and a paycheck shows up in the checking account. I know I will really appreciate the pension deposit when retired. I feel very fortunate to have a pension and a strong one at that from Boeing. Most of my friends and coworkers really don't have awareness yet on how great this benefit is.

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