I officially set my retirement date!

[Culture]

After dithering for several years, I officially set my retirement date to be January 1, 2014. A long ways away, but it still feels good to make it official.

 

[bbbamI]

Good for you! The official countdown begins.....

...now about this 'dithering' thing you speak of...

 

[Meadbh]

What does "officially" mean? Have you sent in a letter of resignation giving your employer 4 years' notice? Or is it "official" in the sense that you have pencilled it in on the calendar? How committed are you?

 

[Lister]

I gave up setting my retirement date, official or otherwise. Seems like every time I think I have it set a bubble bursts (tech, housing, etc.) and I get to adjust accordingly. A frustrating process to say the least. My new tactic is to not set it and just kind of sneak up on it and then before karma is any wiser, just do it! Who knows I may just wake up tomorrow and decide its time...

 

[stevenst]

Congratulations on setting a date. For me, just experimenting with a date (full of dither and lack of conviction here) caused me to really think about what it meant.

It led me to set a specific date for getting my home mortgage paid off, and I have taken action on that. I've started using that date in withdrawal rate simulations, and now I'm looking into how to build a health-care 'bridge' between that date and Medicare. I've evaluated my (small) defined benefit vs. (smaller) lump sum options.

And, I've started a list of the many other things to start working on. Lots of good stuff. This forum has been a huge help with the intangibles.

I don't know if my current plan will hold up. But I am acting as if it will, and that has changed things.

Steve

 

[W2R]

Congratulations!! It's great to have set a date.

I have the same question as Meadbh, though - - did you officially give notice? I am confused.

My retirement date was a tentative goal date for many years, and that helped me to push myself and take the needed steps to be able to retire on that date. I didn't turn in my application to retire until six months beforehand, though. I am glad I didn't do that four years in advance, because I had enough worries associated with Hurricane Katrina without worrying about not having the option to delay retirement if necessary.

 

[Culture]

What does "officially" mean? Have you sent in a letter of resignation giving your employer 4 years' notice? Or is it "official" in the sense that you have pencilled it in on the calendar? How committed are you?

Well, it is a little bit of a weird situation. I am self employed, and I set up a defined benefit pension plan for myself and my wife. In order to set it up, we had to decide when we wanted to retire. Because the way pension law is set up, we get the largest tax savings by defining an earlier retirement date. However, if we do not actually retire at this date, out pension adviser tells us that three things will probably happen:

1) The IRS will determine that the plan is an illegal tax shelter, resulting in large fines.
2) The plan will become overfunded, resulting in large fines.
3) We will have to pay him a lot of money to straighten things out, apart and above any IRS fines.

So, by signing on the dotted line , we have pretty much irrevocably set our retirement date, sans a willingness to spend a lot of money to avoid retirement. I will mention that this is a year later than we already planned on retiring. We felt more comfortable with a little buffer.

 

[Moemg]

Congratulations , I never really set a date . I just knew I wanted to retire in my 50's so as my 50's drew to a close I retired .

 

[Culture]

It led me to set a specific date for getting my home mortgage paid off, and I have taken action on that. I've started using that date in withdrawal rate simulations, and now I'm looking into how to build a health-care 'bridge' between that date and Medicare. I've evaluated my (small) defined benefit vs. (smaller) lump sum options.

Two of the things that have made use feel better about setting a date are paying off the mortgage, and having spent the past two years paying for our own health insurance.

 

[CuppaJoe]

Two of the things that have made use feel better about setting a date are paying off the mortgage, and having spent the past two years paying for our own health insurance.

Congratulations, Culture!

I found that actually paying my health insurance premiums is less awful than it was to think about it in advance.

Does running your business require more than full time or can you wind it down gradually?

 

[Meadbh]

Well, it is a little bit of a weird situation. I am self employed, and I set up a defined benefit pension plan for myself and my wife. In order to set it up, we had to decide when we wanted to retire. Because the way pension law is set up, we get the largest tax savings by defining an earlier retirement date. However, if we do not actually retire at this date, out pension adviser tells us that three things will probably happen:

1) The IRS will determine that the plan is an illegal tax shelter, resulting in large fines.
2) The plan will become overfunded, resulting in large fines.
3) We will have to pay him a lot of money to straighten things out, apart and above any IRS fines.

So, by signing on the dotted line , we have pretty much irrevocably set our retirement date, sans a willingness to spend a lot of money to avoid retirement. I will mention that this is a year later than we already planned on retiring. We felt more comfortable with a little buffer.

OK, you're committed!

Bacon & Eggs: the chicken is involved, but the pig is committed!

 

[Culture]

Congratulations, Culture!

I found that actually paying my health insurance premiums is less awful than it was to think about it in advance.

Does running your business require more than full time or can you wind it down gradually?

1) Paying the health insurance premium is not that bad while I am still getting income. The problem is that it will keep going up, but my income is going to go down. I think it will look a lot worse in 5 years .

2) I plan on winding down my business for the last 1 to 1.5 years, slowing going from 100% to 0%. I am not certain if I will just stop taking projects from new clients, or just stop taking any new projects from any clients. Regardless, I do plan on working less during that time period, and warn clients that they need to starting looking for a new consultant.