Sorry for your loss, I'll join the chorus saying take some time before making big changes. And I think the group counseling is probably a good idea, I hope you find it helpful.
I hesitate to ask, but - How safe is your pension?
I know she answered very safe, but I have to wonder about that...
I do get a pension and paid medical... The pension will be approx. $5675 a month before taxes if I leave at the end of 2013.
I didn't make a ton of money working as a librarian and my pension will keep a roof over my head so I am forever grateful that I found this job all those years ago. I know some people get miffed when I say I will have a pension and covered medical, ...
OK, what I'm about to say has nothing to do with being 'miffed', I'm just trying to give you some perspective, and wonder if that pension is really so safe. Can your municipality really afford this?
So that's a $68,100 pension that you can take @ 54 YO? For ref, my private pension (and this seems typical) is cut in half to take it at 55. So your number is equivalent to a $136,200 annual private pension. My pension also has no COLA - a full COLA about doubles the value of a pension, yours seems to be capped at 2%, so if we say 1.5x factor, that is equivalent to roughly a $200,000 private pension. And you mention that you didn't earn a high wage - I have to wonder how a municipality can afford this? Those kinds of pensions would be associated with very highly compensated employees in the private sector.
I did earn a pretty good wage (Engineering & Management), and my pension @ 65, with no COLA will be significantly less than what you get COLA-lite @ 54. Or about 20% of what you get if we use my adjustment factors. Even that understates it, as inflation is and has been eroding the value of that future amount, so closer to 15%. Again, I'm not complaining, just trying to give you some perspective on this.
Then throw in medical? I am in my megacorp retiree plan, but I pay over $10,000/year (for family). I don't have the single coverage numbers at hand, but I assume they are ~ 1/2 the family rate (not many dependents other than spouse on average among the 55-65 age group that qualify).
It's just tough to imagine that a municipality can fund these levels. And since you have no other appreciable savings, it is something I would not want to take for granted if I were you. I'd probably want to sock a considerable amount of it away, in case it gets cut in the future? At least I have the PBGC to fall back on if megacorp defaults, I'm not aware of any municipalities insuring their funds.
-ERD50