Did your retirement diverge from your plan? If so, how did it go?

[athena53]

We had always wanted to live in Europe (Italy) at least part time in our retirement, so a job in Italian speaking southern Switzerland (just over the border from northern Italy) attracted my attention. I got the job and we moved here in 2009.

DH and I visited Lugano years ago- beautiful place!

When DH and I married, I was 50 and he was 65. I planned to retire at 65 but- we plan, God laughs. I did well until the job I was in at age 61 became politically toxic. I'd been through the numbers over and over and had a couple of opinions of financial advisors along the lines of "Why are you still working?" so I left.

It's worked out well. The markets co-operated up until just recently, I was there for DH in his last months and I can visit DS, DDIL and my grandchildren 3 hours away without having to count vacation days. I've never looked back.

 

[Souschef]

We were married in November 2007. I planned to retire in early 2008 after I got my profit sharing (7.5% of my pay). Then I figured I would wait for my bonus. Well, after that I figured I might as well stay until January 2009 for the year's profit sharing. Then I did retire.
The bad part about my decision was that the workplace had become more toxic during that year. I also only spent weekends with my wife, as the commute from my house to work was quite a bit shorter.
However, it all worked out in the end. Two days after I retired we were on a plane to Chile for a 2 week South American tour.

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

We were married in November 2007. I planned to retire in early 2008 after I got my profit sharing (7.5% of my pay). Then I figured I would wait for my bonus. Well, after that I figured I might as well stay until January 2009 for the year's profit sharing. Then I did retire.
The bad part about my decision was that the workplace had become more toxic during that year. I also only spent weekends with my wife, as the commute from my house to work was quite a bit shorter.
However, it all worked out in the end. Two days after I retired we were on a plane to Chile for a 2 week South American tour.

Wow, that sounds like it was pretty rough at the end...but that last part! That's very much why I feel like I should go back to work for a bit, I really want us to be able to indulge ourselves a bit when we are both retired.

 

[Aerides]

We hit our dollar-goal around mid-2015 and were planning to ER in summer/fall. DH gave notice in April of 2015 when his MC wanted to expand his role - he wasn't going to take that on and reorg his team only to leave 3-4 months later, but he did offer to stay part time, and his MC liked that.

Meanwhile that summer I started getting wind of a RIF coming. So I played myself into being a potential candidate. Of course my MC took months to get things situated, and there was a lot of uncertainty, but I ended up doing almost-OMY as a result (and DH stayed with his PT gig for the duration). It was worth it, as my package was just over 1 year, along with staying on full benefits for the duration of the severance. So between the OMY and the package, we added 2 years of my full salary, while only reducing 1 year off our retirement. I also earned 3 weeks of vacation paid out, as well has half-bonus for the extra time, and another year's full contribution/match to my 401k.

And this year with all the market volatility, I'm glad of that extra cushion.

 

[Ronstar]

I was ready to go in 2010 at age 55. But DW wanted to wait to get fully vested employer healthcare in 2014. So she waited. And she didn’t want me to retire that long before her. So I cut back to 1 or 2 days a week, and practiced retirement for a few years.

Then we both retired in 2014. It was exactly as planned. Lots of hobbies and travel. Spent 9 months in Illinois near family and the winters at our condo in Arizona.

Plan was to eventually move to az full time. Sell the Illinois house. Got MIL on board to move with us in 2019. So I sold the condo and started looking for a house in az. Then MIL got cold feet and refused to leave Illinois. DW said she wouldn’t leave her mom.

So now we are stranded in Illinois. This was not part of the plan. But it isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I have a lot of hobbies to keep me occupied. But hopefully we get back on plan at some point.

 

[Red Badger]

I'm with you there. We were also caught up in "consolidation" which meant they were moving regional offices into home office in a very undesirable place to live. And in 2008, they "retired" everyone 55 years and older.

We were fortunate to have great termination benefits of MegaCorp and a RHSA that paid our healthcare expenses. No reason to work past 58 at that point.

And by the way, I know where your Hog Mountain residence is. Been there.

Yup, we're about an hour S-SW of Helen. A town that we frequent (weekdays and off season only).

 

[daylatedollarshort]

We retired when DH hit his number, his heart rate number that is. His job was high stress. We thought we'd both have to work until the kids were out of college, but once I started running the numbers we seemed good to go. I thought we would still have to downsize or maybe move to a less expensive city, but with the ACA coming along, optimizing expenses and being into sustainable living / low consumption, we haven't had to move and our expenses are lower than what we planned on. In hindsight, I wish I had watched our expenses closer and retired ten years earlier.

 

[aja8888]

I didn't really have a "hard" plan after being wiped out in a California divorce when I was 50. Broke, new job in Houston, two teenage girls living with me in an apartment with rented furniture, and college expenses facing us after the "ex" cashed in the college funds and spent it on herself. (Don't even believe attorneys will help you here).

Worked like a dog, put the kids thru college (no loans), married right this time, and saved like a crazy man. Bought two homes and paid them off, then worked a few more years and retired.

I am tired! But I lost a decade.

 

[samm]

.....PC is looking for qualified people, typically with a few years experience, for shorter term assignments. /#[/url]

FYI. Covid19 killed Peace Corps for now.

The China program was killed for political reasons. I doubt it will start again.

 

[Sue J]

DH planned to retire after 30 years of service in his state employees pension plan. New leadership made it evident that long term employees from previous leadership were no longer appreciated. DH saw many before him not being renewed and we were surprised that he lasted another few years before they didn’t renew his contract.

He was able to take a reduced pension at age 55 with 26.67 years which was enough to be more than we needed monthly. It’s been 10 years now and we are both very pleased at how well it’s turned out!

Having the ACA go into effect in 2014 gave us options instead of using the retiree health insurance.

 

[samm]

Did your retirement diverge from plan? If so, how did it go?

Before C19 everything was going according to plan...

I went back to university @60 to study and become an instructor. I successfully taught a few classes and was developing next class when C19 hit.
I quit going to classes long before the University shut -- it was obviously unprepared. I think the university + teaching plan is over because the university cannot afford social distancing (distancing reduces allowed class size and revenues by ~ 50-75%).

Plan B was travel the world and cruise! Some friends did many long repositioning cruises and I was planning this.... not now!!

I need a new plan (besides posting here)

 

[JP.mpls]

Aja8888,
Impressive moves. It sounds like you took the high road, and just did what needed to be done.
Enjoy your well earned retirement.
JP

I didn't really have a "hard" plan after being wiped out in a California divorce when I was 50. Broke, new job in Houston, two teenage girls living with me in an apartment with rented furniture, and college expenses facing us after the "ex" cashed in the college funds and spent it on herself. (Don't even believe attorneys will help you here).

Worked like a dog, put the kids thru college (no loans), married right this time, and saved like a crazy man. Bought two homes and paid them off, then worked a few more years and retired.

I am tired! But I lost a decade.

 

[bmcgonig]

I semi retired in 2016. Semi meaning that I wanted to work 2-3 months a year to pay for luxuries until I could no longer do it. In my field that was easy to do as I could pick up small projects here and there. My big plan in retirement was to travel as much as I could and so in Nov 2016 I visited my mom in Ireland on the way to Asia and realized she had dementia.

So after a long mental struggle I moved in with her and took care of her since then. She died a couple months back a week before her 102nd birthday. Not exactly how I wanted to spend my first four years in retirement but don't regret a thing. She was so happy in her last few years. Haven't worked in four years so I'm definitely retired!

Now Covid is doing its very best to thwart those same travel plans. Still not sure if I'll make it to Asia.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

We initiated our retirement plan immediately the ACA was passed! ACA was our catalyst. Plan was 55 for me and when DW felt like it. All went to plan THANKS to the ACA!

 

[flyingaway]

My contract ended and DW was still active so I decided to become an active trader. Over the next three years, i made enough to enable us to fully retire and we did. I gradually ramped down my active trading and by the time five years has past, we had become buy and hold dividend investors.

At that point we also decided to buy a snowbird property in Mexico, and 6 months there reduced our withdrawal on our portfolio by 40%.

So it did not go according to plan but, in fact, worked out much better.

If you have to maintain two properties, one in the U.S. and another in Mexico, does that actually increase your cost?

 

[Big_Hitter]

Many of DW's family have not been so fortunate and are still there. Retirement plans for all of us changed. They're focused literally on daily survival.

wow I had no idea - praying for DWs family still over there

 

[1242Vintage]

My plan was to stop working at age 54-1/4 and run out 3/4 year worth of accrued vacation until I hit 55. However employer offered a nice raise and stacked on a promotion so I cut that plan short after a summer and Fall of wandering through the Caribbean and Central America and went back to work.

Worked almost another two years longer than planned and as a result earned a nice big bump (20%) in my pension due to raises, promotion and the additional time worked. And got paid out at retirement at the higher salary rate for all the vacation that I didn’t use.

Deviating from the plan worked out just fine!

 

[Red Badger]

We were going to retire in Venezuela. That's where our permanent residence was, our social network, my employer, and all my close friends. Also 25 years of my contributions to the Venezuelan equivalent of SS. Then the country went to sh!t.

We were lucky, able to "Plan B" here in the US. That meant a different lifestyle and bigger retirement budget.

Many of DW's family have not been so fortunate and are still there. Retirement plans for all of us changed. They're focused literallyhttps://www.early-retirement.org/forums/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=2454599# on daily survival.

Glad that you escaped. Sad for the residents of Venezuela. Hoping the best for your relatives stuck there. It's so ugly.

 

[meleana]

I thought I would have to work until age 65 due to Medicare. But I was forced to resign at age 62 1/2 and it turned out to be the best thing ever. My husband thought he’d have to work until age 66 or 67, but we hired a fee only advisor who said he could retire sooner. Not only that he said we could afford to buy our retirement house even before our family home sold- though it turned out it sold right away. Long story short, my husband retired at 65 1/2 and we moved to another state to a brand new downsized house In a vacation area at the same time. I went on an ACA plan after two months on COBRA and we are currently living on our savings accounts until age 70 when we take SS.

So we were able to live our dream a lot sooner, though COVID hit a month later. Still our Daily life is much better now than it was when we worked.

 

[kimcdougc]

Told DH he could retire at 55. He chose to work 2 more years and retired at 57 and that was 5.5 years ago. Life is good. It has worked out better than planned so far. Just bought a house on a lake and are just loving it here. Living life on our own terms, even with COVID.

 

[trumpeting_angel]

I toyed with the idea of ER when I inherited money about 20 years ago. Not enough money, and being the sole provider for my daughter, putting her through school and college, took a lot from my nest egg.

In later years, I enjoyed my work, and expected to retire at 70, as I hadn’t saved enough. Then the work got harder. The workload increased dramatically, with a great deal of time pressure. Not a corporate job, but public service without the pension and salary of a public servant! I saved every penny. At 63 I moved to Vermont and took a part time job, supplementing it with consulting. Last year (age 66) I retired, although I kept consulting. I grew to hate it! I just wanted to live up here with my garden and my chickens, without driving to Massachusetts and then slaving over the computer to write reports when I could be skiing!

No more consulting. I may take another low key job after the pandemic calms down (I worked 12 hours/week in a ski shop last season). But no more than that unless the SHTF in a long recession, which seems possible.

It’s great being retired. If I could only get my body to behave like it was 35!

 

[Librarian]

We had a plan...
We are both school librarians. DH is 57 & can retire whenever I give him the OK...I turn 55 in March. I'm short a couple years due to time off with kids...I can pay in to make up time but didn't like the price tag for next spring. Spring 2022 I was comfortable with the bit to pay in. THAT was the plan. (I told DH he could retire Spring 2021) Move to Vegas in summer 2022. (DONE w/ humidity & cold) Youngest would be starting his last year of college Fall 2022, but he has a 529 so no issue there.

COVID hits. In early June we revisited our plans & still felt good about it.

Well, our school district appears to be planning on in person school w/ masks & 3 feet social distancing. (HAS ANYONE ELSE HEARD OF 3 FEET??!!) I have 2 pre-existing conditions that put me at a higher risk. I'm not sure I'm willing to play Russian Roulette with my health or life. Our cases were pretty good for quite a while, but they have been rising as of late (like just about everyone). Guidelines say positivity rates should be less than 5% for 2 weeks before opening. Hilarious that schools--who are CONSTANTLY asking us for data to support our instructional decisions--seem to be ignoring the data regarding safe opening.

SO we will soon find out what the plan is & then we have a decision to make.
HIGHEST risk--face to face learning (IF that is the plan)
MID risk--DH retire, I take a leave & find a lower risk job. Heck, Target is $15/hr. Pretty low risk M-F days. Me taking a leave & DH retiring cuts our income by 2/3. Ouch. Retirement was only going to cut it about 1/3. DH would probably work at a golf course or something (well, until winter)
LOW risk--DH retires, I take a leave & try to get a CS job from home.
(unless by some chance district goes fully remote)
We have contemplated selling our townhome & living with my folks for 6 months & then just buy me out next spring...but that is an even higher price tag if I take leave. I've run the numbers. We could do it, but I just don't like the hit we take.

If I do take a leave, assuming in person school is low risk by next fall, I would return, work 2 more years & then we could head to Vegas.

The year delay doesn't bother me. Right now it's the present uncertainty. As soon as we get confirmation from the district, we will have to make a decision. We just went over it again this afternoon. Neither of us likes most of the choices, especially if the district decides to go everyone in person. But we will have to decide quickly once we know their decision.

 

[Librarian]

Well, district had the meeting & nothing new. A plan based on logistics before safety.

I have decided to request a semester of leave (with the possibility of a year). The good news is I can come back to my position in January or next fall. Just 2 years to go after that.

DH said he is NOT going to retire now, but in May instead. He has no risk factors, and he has much more limited student contact. He also believes his school is at very high risk to go to remote learning early due to the population risk factors. This eases our budget concerns, as it doesn't even cut our income quite in half. I still intend to try to get a remote job.

Well, the tightness in my chest has been traded for sick to my stomach. I wish I didn't have to do this, but at least I feel safe. We are blessed that we have resources for me to make this decision, even tho it may require us to adjust some future plans.

 

[tmm99]

With the pandemic going on, I have a feeling many more people will decide to diverge from their original plans after they have a chance to relook at their numbers.

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

With the pandemic going on, I have a feeling many more people will decide to diverge from their original plans after they have a chance to relook at their numbers.

Very likely, so while I have a personal interest in these answers, I'm hoping that it helps others who might have to adjust their plans, too.

I finally went to the Fidelity retirement planner and changed my income to zero and checked that I was retired, and while the score is gone, we didn't run out of money even in a "significantly below average market", not even close! And that's with my retirement budget padded with lots of travel and entertainment spending, so while I'm going to keep looking for work, I'm feeling OK about being picky about what I apply for, and what I might accept.