bosco
Full time employment: Posting here.
- Joined
- Jul 10, 2005
- Messages
- 987
What a great site.
I've been spending a lot of time thinking about retirement lately, and have tried several different retirement calculators. My gut feeling is that it's mostly just a matter of picking the time. I'm 52, and my wife is 54.
It's one of those deals, however, where it always looks better 2 years from now than it does now. On the other hand, there are some perfectly valid reasons why it would be quite financially advantageous for us to wait until about November of 2007 to pull the plug (I will be 55 in Feb. of 2008).
The first reason is that that would get us enough time to pay off about $22,000 in credit card debt (at 2.9% interest for the life of it, not bad but still...) and stash some money away to help the kids get through college. The second reason is that the next 2 1/2 years would have a major positive effect on how much pension I would receive (I won't bore you with the details, but it is truly astounding). The third reason is that my employer has a deferred compensation (457) plan as well as an annuity (401A plan), and between the 2, since I am into the "catch-up" provisions, I can tax-shelter about $35,000 per year and roll them into an IRA when I'm done.
I have transferred into a permanent seasonal job way up north (and by that I mean way up north, as in still no sunset), and will typically work 7 months of the year, about 4 months of which will be 60 hour weeks. I plan to ski all winter, so in a way it's almost like partial retirement.
There is, however, a major downside. My wife has her own job (planning to quit about the same time), but it is not here. So we are apart about 1/2 the year (I just started this phase on June 1). On the other hand, part of me says that working 60 hours a week is better done without the wife around.
So, it's very interesting reading about others' plans and experiences.
I'm also struggling just a bit on how to position our investments given that we will be living in Canada, but 75% of our retirement investments are tax-deferred vehicles in the US (the other 25% in Canadian RRSPs--like IRAs). I am concerned about the currency risk, given that the Canadian dollar seems to be moving up along with the Euro. I have limited options, and have put a greater than usual amount in international funds. Any opinions on this?
Sorry about how long this is.
Thanks for any constructive (or not-so-constructive) advice
Bosco
I've been spending a lot of time thinking about retirement lately, and have tried several different retirement calculators. My gut feeling is that it's mostly just a matter of picking the time. I'm 52, and my wife is 54.
It's one of those deals, however, where it always looks better 2 years from now than it does now. On the other hand, there are some perfectly valid reasons why it would be quite financially advantageous for us to wait until about November of 2007 to pull the plug (I will be 55 in Feb. of 2008).
The first reason is that that would get us enough time to pay off about $22,000 in credit card debt (at 2.9% interest for the life of it, not bad but still...) and stash some money away to help the kids get through college. The second reason is that the next 2 1/2 years would have a major positive effect on how much pension I would receive (I won't bore you with the details, but it is truly astounding). The third reason is that my employer has a deferred compensation (457) plan as well as an annuity (401A plan), and between the 2, since I am into the "catch-up" provisions, I can tax-shelter about $35,000 per year and roll them into an IRA when I'm done.
I have transferred into a permanent seasonal job way up north (and by that I mean way up north, as in still no sunset), and will typically work 7 months of the year, about 4 months of which will be 60 hour weeks. I plan to ski all winter, so in a way it's almost like partial retirement.
There is, however, a major downside. My wife has her own job (planning to quit about the same time), but it is not here. So we are apart about 1/2 the year (I just started this phase on June 1). On the other hand, part of me says that working 60 hours a week is better done without the wife around.
So, it's very interesting reading about others' plans and experiences.
I'm also struggling just a bit on how to position our investments given that we will be living in Canada, but 75% of our retirement investments are tax-deferred vehicles in the US (the other 25% in Canadian RRSPs--like IRAs). I am concerned about the currency risk, given that the Canadian dollar seems to be moving up along with the Euro. I have limited options, and have put a greater than usual amount in international funds. Any opinions on this?
Sorry about how long this is.
Thanks for any constructive (or not-so-constructive) advice
Bosco