6 months to go!

[SenorDave]

Good day everyone.
I've been reading these forums for a couple of years, lots of great information and such an engaged community!
I'm looking to take the plunge on Jan 4, 2021. Both DW and I will be 56 at that point.
I've worked in state government my entire career....32+ years and counting.
DW has been in the home since we started our family. Both children are now grown and successfully launched.
We've read through and have answers for the questions to ask before FIREing.
I've run our finances through FIRECalc using every imaginable possibility, and they all return with 100% success.
We have plans for health insurance until we are eligible for Medicare, taking into account that the subsidized health plans may change or even go away entirely before we hit 65.
Planning retirement during a pandemic is a little weird, but we both feel ready and excited to start the next stage of our lives.
Luckily we enjoy outdoor activities such as hiking, kayaking, etc and so there isn't a huge impact on our plans due to COVID.
Looking forward to becoming an active participant in these forums and continuing to learn from the experiences of others.

[euro]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SenorDave Good day everyone. I've been reading these forums for a couple of years, lots of great information and such an engaged community! I'm looking to take the plunge on Jan 4, 2021. Both DW and I will be 56 at that point. I've worked in state government my entire career....32+ years and counting. DW has been in the home since we started our family. Both children are now grown and successfully launched. We've read through and have answers for the questions to ask before FIREing. I've run our finances through FIRECalc using every imaginable possibility, and they all return with 100% success. We have plans for health insurance until we are eligible for Medicare, taking into account that the subsidized health plans may change or even go away entirely before we hit 65. Planning retirement during a pandemic is a little weird, but we both feel ready and excited to start the next stage of our lives. Luckily we enjoy outdoor activities such as hiking, kayaking, etc and so there isn't a huge impact on our plans due to COVID. Looking forward to becoming an active participant in these forums and continuing to learn from the experiences of others.

Wellcome to the forum, SenorDave - I went at 56 also (back in 2016) and never regretted it for a minute!

[pb4uski]

Welcome SenorDave. It sounds like you have your ducks in a row.

Is there any magic to January 4, 2021 vs July 31, 2020?

Earlier is better.

[pacergal]

Welcome! looking forward to hearing more from you, it sounds like you are ready.

[Helen]

Welcome SenorDave, thanks for joining us. I left the Federal government on my 56th b-day in 2013. The years are absolutely flying by.

We enjoy outdoor activities too and another plus of it is that they are low cost. We have all the equipment we need for backpacking, hiking, tennis, mushroom hunting and biking.

I hope you post often and let us know how it goes.

[SumDay]

Welcome Dave! I retired almost two years ago. I HIGHLY recommend it.

[SenorDave]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pb4uski Welcome SenorDave. It sounds like you have your ducks in a row. Is there any magic to January 4, 2021 vs July 31, 2020? Earlier is better.

Working through the end of 2020 makes a $3,000 per year difference in my pension.
Believe me, I'd be happy to go today if it didn't result in such a difference in my pension!

[SenorDave]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Helen Welcome SenorDave, thanks for joining us. I left the Federal government on my 56th b-day in 2013. The years are absolutely flying by. We enjoy outdoor activities too and another plus of it is that they are low cost. We have all the equipment we need for backpacking, hiking, tennis, mushroom hunting and biking. I hope you post often and let us know how it goes.

Thanks Helen. Agree about time flying by. It was my intention to work for the state for a couple of years just to build up my resume and then leave for greener fields.
Luckily I found myself in work that I found both challenging and rewarding, and in the blink of an eye 32 years have flown by.
I'm retiring at a perfect time as due to COVID my agency is transitioning towards a lot of telework.
I'm old school and just can't get on board, so it's time for this old timer to move aside and make way for the young bucks and does to make their mark.

[Dtail]

Welcome to our wonderful forum.
Lots of good advice here. Nice folks.

[pb4uski]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SenorDave Working through the end of 2020 makes a $3,000 per year difference in my pension. Believe me, I'd be happy to go today if it didn't result in such a difference in my pension!

Yeah... wow! I guess sucking it up for another 6 months is worth another $3k a year for life.

One thing that you might check... some plans count 1,000 hours in a 12-month period as being a year of service... so if you have 1,000 hours in calander 2020 then it is as if your were employed for all of 2020.

I ran into this by happenstance... my employer 401k vested over 5 years... after I had been there for 4 1/2 years I happened to be reviewing my 401k statement and it said that I was fully vested even though I had not yet reached my quinquennial anniversary. I inquired why and found out that since I had already worked more than 1,000 hours in that year that for vesting purposes it was considered a full year.

Another possibility if you have a lot of vacation time is to stop working earlier and be "on vacation" through whatever magic date you need to be there for. I was on vacat ion for over 4 weeks before I got off of payroll so I got another couple months of employer provided health insurance, vacation accrual, holidays (my time off was in December and January), etc.

YMMV.

[cnocmmz]

Congrats SeniorDave :-). We are right with you on the time frame. I am walking away a little older (60) although we are ready with a good solid plan for guaranteed incomes and a 7 figure investment portfolio.

[Vacation4us]

Is the 3k after tax dollars? Will a few 100 dollars really make a difference?

We go Nov 2020. I know from first hand experience you may be unwilling to go sooner but DH who also refuses to budge on his date always says if a few hundred dollars is the difference between a good and bad retirement you didn’t plan well.

Best of luck to you.

Hope these months fly by !

[38Chevy454]

Welcome to the forum. I agree that you seem to e in good shape based on the info you provided. It will get tougher to put up with working in the last 6 months you have left, but for the pension difference it does seem a reasonable choice. Having a pension is a nice benefit that makes retirement that much better. I did not see your location, but assume you have confidence in the state's ability to pay your pension long term?

[SenorDave]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vacation4us Is the 3k after tax dollars? Will a few 100 dollars really make a difference? We go Nov 2020. I know from first hand experience you may be unwilling to go sooner but DH who also refuses to budge on his date always says if a few hundred dollars is the difference between a good and bad retirement you didn’t plan well. Best of luck to you. Hope these months fly by !

Thanks.
You are absolutely correct that if $3,000 per year is the difference between a successful retirement or not, then I shouldn't be retiring.
I just figure that I can do another 6 months, especially since I'm currently working from home and also have 200+ hours of vacation to burn through before my retirement date.

[pb4uski]

With 200+ hours of vacation, is it feasible to stop working around Thanksgiving and be "on vacation" and available for consultation from Thanksgiving until Jan 4 if you wanted to?

[Marita40]

I also have 6 months to go, although at 63 I'm considerably older than you! We'll make it!!

[SenorDave]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 38Chevy454 Welcome to the forum. I agree that you seem to e in good shape based on the info you provided. It will get tougher to put up with working in the last 6 months you have left, but for the pension difference it does seem a reasonable choice. Having a pension is a nice benefit that makes retirement that much better. I did not see your location, but assume you have confidence in the state's ability to pay your pension long term?

Good morning.
I am in Iowa in a very LCOL area. The IPERS retirement system is in good shape currently, and so the likelihood of a cut to benefits isn't great.
The only issue with my pension is that there are no COLAs, so inflation will erode the value of my benefit over the years.
I'm not too worried as my benefit will initially be about 50% more than what we are currently spending. We've been maxing out all of our pre and after tax investments for several years, and so my take home has only been about 40% of my gross pay.
I figure that by the time inflation catches up to us, we will start to draw SS.
We have no intention of touching the nest egg except for the occasional emergency or gift to the kids......or paying for health care out of pocket if it comes to that.
We will probably need to frequent the Blow That Doe thread for ideas.

[SenorDave]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pb4uski With 200+ hours of vacation, is it feasible to stop working around Thanksgiving and be "on vacation" and available for consultation from Thanksgiving until Jan 4 if you wanted to?

I certainly could, but I enjoy taking off a day here or an afternoon there when the weather is nice.
I am going to take the week between Christmas and New Year off......I've never done that before.

[SenorDave]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marita40 I also have 6 months to go, although at 63 I'm considerably older than you! We'll make it!!

Greetings to a northern neighbor. We're just a few miles south of the border.

[mystang52]

Congrats on your great planning. Now the fun countdown begins!