Want2retire is retired!

[Purron]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R I love that song, Purron!! I am going to have lunch with Frank tomorrow, but I may or may not want to hug him - - I think he is coming down with the flu. Hopefully he will feel better by then.

Hey W2R, I've been married to the same guy for 35 years this December and when he has the flu, no hugs from me. Instead, I pamper him with hot tea with lemon and honey and tuck him in with extra blankets. Hope Frank is feeling better soon.

[Tigger]

Congrats, W2R!

Freedom at last!

[Bikerchick]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R I used to be known as Want2retire on this forum, but today is my retirement day And as for the inevitable "How does it feel?": !!! !!!

W2R, you are an inspiration! There IS a finish line, you found it!

[W2R]

Thank you! It is still better than I had ever imagined, too.

[Meadbh]

Great party, W2R.....we must drop by again!

[Kroeran]

interesting discussion about sleep on the job.

Last year I moved to a different unit within national HQ which actually reports through a regional Director 3000 miles away.

very different culture to the, how shall I put this, power seeking androids, that I have had the pleasure of working with.

we are on video conference with the regional boss online, and I look around and 2 of my collegues are asleep!

in most HQ units this would be fodder for vicious snickering and gossip if one person was simply chin dropping.

in this unit, well, one of the persons is 65, within a year of retiring, and has vast corporate memory that is highly valued...well, actually, he is the last of a breed with no-one behind him to step up in his technical specialty

the other person is a young savant, whose working level is ten+ years ahead of her age, who has a nodding-off disorder, and management is scared to death of her moving on

[Alan]

I think sleeping on the job is going to be dependent on the job rather than the company. If an operator at one of our chemical plants falls asleep and misses a critical alarm then termination will be the first thing considered.

A few years ago we were holding a teleconference and one of our managers, "Jack" had dialed in from his hotel room in Brussels having flown in overnight from New Jersey and spent a day in the office. It was 1pm for us, 8pm for him plus jet lag. There was also another location or 2 in the call when Jack started snoring and in these calls, the person with the loudest voice "takes the mike" and it's hard for anyone else to get heard. It was hilarious - we were banging on the table and shouting "Jack, Jack, wake up". Eventually he did wake up and was incredibly embarrassed when we told him his loud snoring had dominated the air waves

[W2R]

All in all, I can tell you that sleeping at home during the day is MUCH more fun than sleeping at work!

I love, love, love the freedom to just go take a nap when I am sleepy. Not that I do it that often (so far), but the freedom is delicious.

This morning I awakened twice - - decided it was too early the first time, and just slept until I was ready to get up. Every day's a Saturday.

[RunningBum]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R This morning I awakened twice - - decided it was too early the first time, and just slept until I was ready to get up. Every day's a Saturday.

Yeah, well, even most of us working stiffs did that today too!

[harley]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kroeran one of the persons is 65, within a year of retiring, and has vast corporate memory that is highly valued...well, actually, he is the last of a breed with no-one behind him to step up in his technical specialty the other person is a young savant, whose working level is ten+ years ahead of her age, who has a nodding-off disorder, and management is scared to death of her moving on

That's what it was with me! I was 65 with a vast corporate memory, and also a savant with a nodding off disorder! "Yeahhh! That's the ticket!"

[REWahoo]

This forum doesn't have an off topic rule, but it seems a shame this congratulatory thread has drifted into a less than cordial discussion of the relative merits/ease of govt work vs. the private sector.

Perhaps it would be a good idea to move along and get back to congratulating W2R for her retirement, discussing how things are going, etc.

[hellbender]

It's a great feeling isn't it? I retired (CSRS) on March 29 of this year. If I remember correctly . . . . weren't you in the FERS retirement plan? I don't know how similar the processes are, but I imagine you are in the throes of waiting for OPM to finalize things.

I received two interim payments of about 80% of my expected pension before OPM finished things up. I received my first normal pension check on July 1, 2009. Now they come in like clockwork.

Regards,
hellbender

[W2R]

Thank you, hellbender!

Yes, I am a FERS retiree and thanks for your info on how long it took for you to get your normal pension checks. As for me, I have been in "retirement limbo", waiting to hear from OPM. The day before yesterday I got a letter from payroll saying that they had finally verified my FERS contributions and sent my packet on to OPM on December 3rd. So, hopefully OPM can then process things. So far, no pension check or reimbursement for annual leave - - but given my odd retirement date, I knew it would take a while. Probably they will finish processing me in January, I would guess. You know how it is in government - - slowly, but surely.

Since FERS checks are so much smaller than CSRS checks, I am not really too worried about the pension checks. They will be welcome when I get them, but let's face it, they will also be tiny! My main benefits are health and TSP. This morning I had my blood drawn for routine lab tests, and it was great to know that my health benefits should be continuing seamlessly. Pretty soon I will call the TSP and see if they have been notified yet that I am retired, so that I can start monthly withdrawals.

So, things are progressing! I will be utterly thrilled when everything falls into place.

[militaryman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R Since FERS checks are so much smaller than CSRS checks, I am not really too worried about the pension checks. They will be welcome when I get them, but let's face it, they will also be tiny! My main benefits are health and TSP.

You must have a killer TSP -- I thought I calculated my FERS checks to amount to be greater than $30k per year (today's dollars) when I retire in 15 years. Add in an estimated $15k for the FERS SUpplement until Social Sec. kicks in at 62 and I am hoping that check is about $3700 a month. Maybe I did not calculate that correctly.

[FinanceDude]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo This forum doesn't have an off topic rule, but it seems a shame this congratulatory thread has drifted into a less than cordial discussion of the relative merits/ease of govt work vs. the private sector. Perhaps it would be a good idea to move along and get back to congratulating W2R for her retirement, discussing how things are going, etc.

Boy, you are grumpy and sensitive these days..........

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by militaryman You must have a killer TSP -- I thought I calculated my FERS checks to amount to be greater than $30k per year (today's dollars) when I retire in 15 years. Add in an estimated $15k for the FERS SUpplement until Social Sec. kicks in at 62 and I am hoping that check is about $3700 a month. Maybe I did not calculate that correctly.

It may be different for military, and I suspect your salary and/or years in public service were far, far, far greater than mine! I am happy for you that you are expecting a huge FERS check, but very few at my agency expect anywhere near that much except via CSRS. YMMV

And yes, I contributed the maximum to my TSP from the first moment that I could, and it did pretty well during the 2003-2006 run-up. As you know from your pre-retirement seminars, the TSP is a much more important component to a FERS retirement than is the pension/annuity check. Totally different from CSRS. All I can say is thank G*D for the TSP and I recommend that everyone with access to it should contribute the maximum. Even though "common logic" on the board would say to contribute only up to the match, I think that there is an advantage to never seeing that $22,000 every year.

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FinanceDude Boy, you are grumpy and sensitive these days..........

No he's not! I'm glad he is keeping this thread on track.

[militaryman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R It may be different for military, and I suspect your salary was far, far, far greater than mine! I only earned in the 5 figures. I am happy for you that you are expecting a huge FERS check, but very few at my agency expect anywhere near that much. YMMV And yes, I contributed the maximum to my TSP from the first moment that I could, and it did pretty well during the 2003-2006 run-up. As you know from your pre-retirement seminars, the TSP is a much more important component to a FERS retirement than is the pension/annuity check. Totally different from CSRS. All I can say is thank G*D for the TSP and I recommend that everyone with access to it should contribute the maximum. Even though "common logic" on the board would say to contribute only up to the match, I think that there is an advantage to never seeing that $22,000 every year.

I am civilian for my fulltime in federal service -- should have close to 39 years at MRA (did 20 years in Air National Guard but that's a separate deal)

I hear you on how they push the TSP as such a big part of retirement (and I am pounding in 19% year after year) But I never quite understood why FERS was considered sooo inferior to CSRS. When I did the numbers as if I was a CSRS retiree (hypothetically) I would get about 62K for an annuity -- If I did the same for FERS I got 32K BUT then considering that CSRS would not get SS I would add my special retirement supplement at retirement (csra doesn't get) or SS at age 62 and get to 47k while collecting supplement and 50k at 62yrs old. So I am looking a FERS check being 75% of what my CSRS check would be and then my TSP matching contributions is there to make up that last 25%. For me it seems like both benefit packages are very close.

Now the thing that I hate about FERS is the NO cola until 62 thing and "diet cola" thereafter.

PS. Congrats on the retirement!!!!

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by militaryman I am civilian for my fulltime in federal service -- should have close to 39 years at MRA (did 20 years in Air National Guard but that's a separate deal) I hear you on how they push the TSP as such a big part of retirement (and I am pounding in 19% year after year) But I never quite understood why FERS was considered sooo inferior to CSRS. When I did the numbers as if I was a CSRS retiree (hypothetically) I would get about 62K for an annuity -- If I did the same for FERS I got 32K BUT then considering that CSRS would not get SS I would add my special retirement supplement at retirement (csra doesn't get) or SS at age 62 and get to 47k while collecting supplement and 50k at 62yrs old. So I am looking a FERS check being 75% of what my CSRS check would be and then my TSP matching contributions is there to make up that last 25%. For me it seems like both benefit packages are very close. Now the thing that I hate about FERS is the NO cola until 62 thing and "diet cola" thereafter. PS. Congrats on the retirement!!!!

If you have ~40 years as a civil service employee, then that would explain it! Wow, that is several times the number of years I (or any others of our senior scientists) had in. If you add that to 40 years, 20 years in the Air National Guard I must admit I am duly impressed and actually really in awe!

As you probably know you will not get any SS supplement whatsoever after your 62nd birthday (which must not be that far away considering child labor laws ), and also it is only available at all for certain eligibilities. It is nothing I will ever see but that's OK - - I put aside enough in taxable investments to cover that (and obviously much more) for the 7 months between my retirement and age 62. Not a Big Deal to me.

Well yeah - - the FERS pension is not fully COLA'd by any stretch of the imagination but then that is another reason why I consider the TSP to be really the backbone of any FERS retiree's retirement planning. After last year's market crash I am a huge fan of the "G Fund".

Thanks for the congrats, and thank you for your service to our country!

[militaryman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R If you have ~40 years as a civil service employee, then that would explain it! Wow, that is several times the number of years I (or any others of our senior scientists) had in. If you add that to 40 years, 20 years in the Air National Guard I must admit I am duly impressed and actually really in awe! As you probably know you will not get any SS supplement whatsoever after your 62nd birthday (which must not be that far away considering child labor laws ), and also it is only available at all for certain eligibilities. It is nothing I will ever see but that's OK - - I put aside enough in taxable investments to cover that (and obviously much more) for the 7 months between my retirement and age 62. Not a Big Deal to me. Well yeah - - the FERS pension is not fully COLA'd by any stretch of the imagination but then that is another reason why I consider the TSP to be really the backbone of any FERS retiree's retirement planning. After last year's market crash I am a huge fan of the "G Fund". Thanks for the congrats, and thank you for your service to our country!

lol -- The 20 years in the Air National Guard was served ***concurrently*** with my fulltime civilian job.... I'm not quite 42 yet!! (started at 18) ( National Guard and Reserve service is usually one weekend a month and 2 weeks a year) Although I was activated for Op. Northern Watch, Southern Watch and Iraqi Freedom.

Currently I have about 24 years in FERS (DOT) and 15 to go to get to my MRA of 56. But will have about 39 years with the new sick leave benefit by my retirement date in 2024.

Yeah I was calculating the supplement to be a bit less than SS benefit and as the supplement drops off then the SS picks up in its place at a bit higher rate (hence 47k going up to 50K)

Here's to hoping all these calculations hold true and SS is there in 15 years in some capacity.