Pre retirement checklist

[nuke_diver]

I did a search but this only generally showed financial checklists. I have that covered already otherwise I wouldn't be planning my retirement next year. But I'm sure there are things that I need to consider weeks or months prior to retiring that I haven't thought of. And some of the things I have thought of I might have the time frame wrong. Since there are a number of folks that have already done this I thought it would be good to leverage your expertise in the matter ahead of time

Timeframe for me - July 2015
Done already, discuss with FA to start planning for the change from salary to withdraw.
Have a living trust already
Too young for SS so no need to worry about this yet

Things I know I need to do but not sure of the timing

Changing my cell phone from workplan to personal
Changing HC from work to personal
Informing work (probably 1 month prior, with 2 months prior for my team and 3 months prior to my lead engineer who will likely take over)

Seems like I must be missing some stuff

[REWahoo]

Here is an old but still very valid thread on the subject. Pay particular attention to post #9: http://www.early-retirement.org/foru...-er-20952.html

[travelover]

Remember to steal enough pens and pencils to last you the rest of your life.

[Major Tom]

Throw your alarm clock away

[jim584672]

I would add:
Place to live free and clear, generally a very good thing.
Dental work, get done before leaving.
Max out 401k if possible.
Very important, know your expenses!

I would not give more than 2 weeks notice, anything more will work against you.

[Ronstar]

Here's another link

http://www.early-retirement.org/foru...ml#post1399715

[H2ODude]

Quote:

Originally Posted by travelover Remember to steal enough pens and pencils to last you the rest of your life.

Hilarious! I never stole such deliberately, but accumulated a bunch of them in the kitchen junk drawer and various other places. I did bring home a couple of pads of post its. It's been three years since I left and most of the pens have dried up, the post its used up. So, you know you have been retired for a while when you go to Office Depot to get pens and post its! I did this a few weeks ago. Seemed like quite a milestone!

[Lcountz]

If you're going in July of the year, make sure you max out your ANNUAL contributions to your 401K and IRA BEFORE you leave employment. You may need cash from another source to live on if you must use your entire salary to offset this investment for those 6 months.

This will seriously lower your taxes for the year, and REALLY helps if they will pay you for unused vacation in a lump sum. If they DO pay for unused vacation, don't take any in 2015. You can stick it out!

I don't see your age, but if you're younger than 59.5, make sure to leave some money in the 401K to tide you over til 59.5. Some plans allow this-mine did-i rolled the rest into an IRA. I was 57 when I retired. YOu can't withdraw from an IRA in most cases without the 10% penalty before 59.5...no penalty if after 55 from 401K if retired.

Will you get a bonus in 2016 for the partial year you work in 2015? That may be considered "earned income" in 2016, so you could put it into a IRA in 2016, and thus shelter some of your 2016 income.

Definitely have a physical and get your teeth examined well before you announce plans to leave, just in case. Then, if you are NOT in good shape, start working on it! Buy a treadmill and use it over the winter!

Summer retirement date is great....you'll still have plenty of nice weather to enjoy as you decompress!!! Good luck. Hope these suggestions help!

On the subject of "pens" from the office.....before I retired, I went around my home and company vehicle and discovered about 20,000 pens and pencils and markers that had come home with me over time, and I brought them all BACK to my shop ( those that still worked!!!!!) Now if I need a new pen, I take the one out of the pneumatic tube at the bank the few times a year I go thru the drive thru!!!!!

[nuke_diver]

Yes I plan to max out 401K contributions but they will go to a Roth I think(?) since I expect taxes in retirement so I am in the pay now mode. I'll be 56 in July and so I will be able to draw from the 401K if needed. I still need to confirm this but have verbal confirmation already from Fidelity that our plan allows that (apparently 99% or so do but a few do not). Bonus is quarterly and lately has been 0. I'm not going to do a OMM (one more month) in order to collect a few thousand in bonuses

We have been debt free for a couple of years and prior to that have only had the mortgage for 15. We fall into the frugal category. Budget is estimated at ~120-140% of actual spending so we are planning plenty of wiggle room for all but the most dire cirumstances (where money won't be the concern actually)

I doubt that I will be let go if I tell them a month ahead of time instead of a few weeks. I will be able to gauge the health of the company prior but I've been trying to get laid off for 5 years including during a 2/3 workforce reduction. If I survived that I don't think they will ever let me go unless the workforce is going to near 0 which I don't see.

No treadmill for me...they are boring and I have knee issues. I currently go to the gym 5 days a week, ride my bike ~60 miles a week and walk the dog on weekends ~4-5 miles a day. I should be good for being in shape . When I retire the dog walking and riding will increase, gym might decrease to 3 times a week because of that. I am looking to ride ~100-200 miles a week once I retire

[Sunset]

A good source of pens is conventions, local city fairs (at insurance/electric Co. etc booths), and of course hotels when you stay there on a vacation.

Besides that, Check your FSA rules, as many places allow you to take the Full amount even when quiting in the first month, which means you only paid 1 month worth, but get 12 months of value. (dental, doctor, prescriptions for 90 days, glasses, eye checkup, vaccinations for your foreign trip).

[walkinwood]

I think you have the main areas listed, though you may want to think about your 401-Ks (if you have any). Do you want to leave them with the company or roll them over to an IRA?

I don't use an FA, so there was work that I had to do there that your FA will do for you. ie. a system for withdrawals, roth conversions etc.

[pb4uski]

I made sure to have physicals, dentist appointments, eye exams, glasses, etc. done on mega's plan before I left the Mega nest.

Cell phone was a small hassle for me. Our Mega contract with AT&T had a provision that there would be no termination fee if an employee left the company. I was willing to continue my plan as long as I wasn't locked into a contract. AT&T insisted that I step into Mega's shoes for the remainder of the 2 year contract term to keep my work cellphone number and I didn't want to get locked into that so I just got a new account/number with a pay as you go AT&T plan.

[eta2020]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nuke_diver Informing work (probably 1 month prior, with 2 months prior for my team and 3 months prior to my lead engineer who will likely take over) Seems like I must be missing some stuff

Good company will cooperate with employee and lay him off (when next layoff happens). This way you can get fat severance check plus keep Stock options etc etc and they get controlled transfer of your knowledge to someone else.

Severance is often 2 weeks for every year you worked. So something like 20 years with for example IBM can be worth nice money .

I had seen people retire using this path....not quitting.

[unno2002]

Estate planning.


- A trust is only one piece. A will is still needed for whatever is not owned by the trust. In case you are just mentally out of the picture, a general power of attorney to someone you trust who can handle money, and health care power of attorney to whomever would make the right decisions. You can also leave specific health care decisions that are outside of the scope of your health power of attorney. In Arizona at least forms for these documents are free online at the state attorney general website.


- Check all of your beneficiary documents. Check your insurances to see if you still need existing policies, or if you need more.


- Gather all other "important" documents such as insurance policies, debts, titles, in one convenient yet "safe" spot. Organize info as to how others can figure out what you were doing in finances. An example of an information collection tool is at:
http://www.erikdewey.com/bigbookmkII.pdf


Health. Get a thorough checkup. If (like me) work had you plopped in a chair, get more active. Learn how to eat healthier.


Junk. Do you really need satellite/cable tv? How much "stuff" is setting around that you'll never again use? (In my last month or so, I brought home 19 boxes of my stuff from the office, which sat in the shed until the mice got into the boxes…)


Reduce expenditures. Does the house need more insulation or upgraded appliances? Get the car(s) checked by a good mechanic to hopefully avoid surprises.


Credit. Get your free credit report and check the info. Check credit card costs & benefits, note that I've seen cards offer some level of "free" insurance such as accidental death & dismemberment, purchase insurance, even some drip of term life. You need to know your applicable details.


Friends. Unfortunately, on retirement you may find you and co-worker/friends who are NOT yet retiring drift apart.


Big picture. With the elimination of work concerns, look around at the levels in the "bigger picture" of what is happening in the world You want to enjoy retirement for as long as possible, which includes a mix of maintaining health (avoiding dangers / toxins), cash flow, asset value protection, dealing with government layers, etc.

[MBAustin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pb4uski Cell phone was a small hassle for me. Our Mega contract with AT&T had a provision that there would be no termination fee if an employee left the company. I was willing to continue my plan as long as I wasn't locked into a contract. AT&T insisted that I step into Mega's shoes for the remainder of the 2 year contract term to keep my work cellphone number and I didn't want to get locked into that so I just got a new account/number with a pay as you go AT&T plan.

I wanted to keep my number and was getting a new (I)phone anyway so the contract wasn't an issue. Turns out that by keeping the number we still get the AT&T national account discount on our bills. Sweet!





Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

[traineeinvestor]

A few items from my checklist:

1. update address book for people I want to keep in touch with post-retirement

2. cancel life insurance - by definition if there is enough to support me+family after I retire then there is enough to support family-me if anything happens to me

3. replace company sponsored medical insurance

4. remove personal effects from office (quite a lot)

5. use office shredder for the last time - a big clean out of old financial and other personal documents

6. not do my annual self-assesment or business plan or anything else that became irrelevant once I had set a date

7. line up activities to keep me mentally, physically and socially engaged for at least the first few months (I started a part time MFA)

[ExFlyBoy5]

I did the cleaning office part yesterday and let me tell you...I accumulated a bunch of crap over the last two years I was in that office! Once I had everything paired down, I had the stuff that 'mattered' to 3 copy paper boxes. I imagine in the next month or so, I'll have that down to one box.

Oh yeah, 4 days of w+rk left.

Sent from my mobile device so please excuse grammatical errors.

[W2R]

Don't forget to go through your saved work e-mails, too! There could be some that need to be passed on.

[ExFlyBoy5]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R Don't forget to go through your saved work e-mails, too! There could be some that need to be passed on.

Good point! I copied what was relevant to an external HDD then deleted everything from my computer.

Sent from my mobile device so please excuse grammatical errors.

[ChainsBeGone]

I have to support those that advise getting health and dental exams before you leave for both you and covered family members. We had a crown, a root canal, and 11 cavities in our family in the first 12 months of retirement. The crown and root canal could have been discovered/fixed prior to ER and would have saved us several thousand dollars had we sought the timely dental care while still employed.