DH lost his job on Jan 29. He has 21 years in our county's social services and another 5+ years at another county agency so with a total of 26.667 years he will be retiring as of June 1, 2010. He's in the state public employees retirement system for Ohio - OPERS. He's 54, turning 55 in April. Minimum age to retire is 55 with 25 years.
We've known the job loss was probably coming for about 18 months. Things changed at work and his misery level increased. Recently they moved most of his tasks to his boss, another dept. or a committee. He won't be replaced.
About 3 years ago my first post here http://www.early-retirement.org/for...rvice-credit-was-hello-im-new-here-26078.html was about buying back his 5+ years from another agency that we had cashed in in 1981 in order for him to go to graduate school. We did buy back his time and know we made the right decision.
On Jan 29 they called him into the HR dept and told him his contract was not being renewed. Not a big surprise. We were very prepared. They told him that they would honor his contract which ends May 31, 2010, but that he was done. Go home, don't come back.
So he's been home since Jan 29th with full pay and full benefits until 5/31/10. He's even still accruing vacation time and sick time which will be paid out in June. He'll have 600 hours of vacation time and over 200 hours of sick time (payable at 50% of his pay rate) so this will be a nice chunk of change.
We took a trip to the state capital last month and met with a OPERS retirement counselor who verified the estimates we had calculated online and answered some of our questions.
Basically, it comes down to this. Unless he can find a job in the same pension system (or a few other state systems) and add to his years of service, there's no reason NOT to retire and take the pension. He's applied to a few counties but there are very few job postings. Anything that's publicly funded around here has been drastically cut. The recession here is pretty bad. He had one promising interview and today he got the letter saying that it's been filled.
We're taking the reduced pension with 100% to the survivor. It's COLA-ed 3% a year. It works out to be about 66% of what his current take-home pay has been while employed. This will cover our monthly living expenses without reducing our already LBYM lifestyle. We are not big spenders and we've been big savers. The pension plan also provides health insurance for both of us. Being that he has less than 30 years he will be given an allowance equal to 86% (59% for me) of the "Enhanced Plan" cost and we can choose whether to use the allowance on the Enhanced, Intermediate or Basic plan. Enhanced or Intermediate would cost us a monthly amount to make up the difference but with the Basic plan we will get a monthly credit into a RMA. The Basic plan has a higher deductible and higher co-pay. We will set aside enough to cover at least a year of medical co-pays and deductibles. We both have already talked to our doctors about lower cost prescriptions and they were very cooperative.
We are very close to being debt-free. The cash is there in savings, we've just been on HOLD while this major life change all shakes out. We will enter official retirement debt-free. House has been paid off for a few years and so have the cars.
It's taken him a few weeks to get used to this new life. He's sleeping like a rock, no longer waking up at 4:22am with work worries. He's been puttering around the house and also taking daily walks at the park. He felt like he was suddenly unplugged, left things at work undone and goodbyes unsaid. At first he missed the daily contact with his staff and interaction with people. He's much happier now, very relaxed and enjoying what's yet to come. Today he asked me for a "honey-do" list, he's ready to get going on moving on. He's planning a garage sale and eBay sales and a vegetable garden.
I'm still working part-time and will continue to do so. I like the daily routine and the income which has all been for savings. My jobs don't have any benefits.
He may work again in the future. Maybe not. We'll have to see how we like things this way for a while. I'm also 55 but in the future I'll get a little Social Security if it's still there. He has not completed his 40 credits so if he can do that he may get something but it will be reduced because of his pension.
I've learned so much reading this forum. Mostly it's been reassuring to hear from people who retire successfully. Even if you're not a millionaire. Even though the financial pundits say it can't be done.
So that's what's new here. Big changes. We're going to be OK.
We've known the job loss was probably coming for about 18 months. Things changed at work and his misery level increased. Recently they moved most of his tasks to his boss, another dept. or a committee. He won't be replaced.
About 3 years ago my first post here http://www.early-retirement.org/for...rvice-credit-was-hello-im-new-here-26078.html was about buying back his 5+ years from another agency that we had cashed in in 1981 in order for him to go to graduate school. We did buy back his time and know we made the right decision.
On Jan 29 they called him into the HR dept and told him his contract was not being renewed. Not a big surprise. We were very prepared. They told him that they would honor his contract which ends May 31, 2010, but that he was done. Go home, don't come back.
So he's been home since Jan 29th with full pay and full benefits until 5/31/10. He's even still accruing vacation time and sick time which will be paid out in June. He'll have 600 hours of vacation time and over 200 hours of sick time (payable at 50% of his pay rate) so this will be a nice chunk of change.
We took a trip to the state capital last month and met with a OPERS retirement counselor who verified the estimates we had calculated online and answered some of our questions.
Basically, it comes down to this. Unless he can find a job in the same pension system (or a few other state systems) and add to his years of service, there's no reason NOT to retire and take the pension. He's applied to a few counties but there are very few job postings. Anything that's publicly funded around here has been drastically cut. The recession here is pretty bad. He had one promising interview and today he got the letter saying that it's been filled.
We're taking the reduced pension with 100% to the survivor. It's COLA-ed 3% a year. It works out to be about 66% of what his current take-home pay has been while employed. This will cover our monthly living expenses without reducing our already LBYM lifestyle. We are not big spenders and we've been big savers. The pension plan also provides health insurance for both of us. Being that he has less than 30 years he will be given an allowance equal to 86% (59% for me) of the "Enhanced Plan" cost and we can choose whether to use the allowance on the Enhanced, Intermediate or Basic plan. Enhanced or Intermediate would cost us a monthly amount to make up the difference but with the Basic plan we will get a monthly credit into a RMA. The Basic plan has a higher deductible and higher co-pay. We will set aside enough to cover at least a year of medical co-pays and deductibles. We both have already talked to our doctors about lower cost prescriptions and they were very cooperative.
We are very close to being debt-free. The cash is there in savings, we've just been on HOLD while this major life change all shakes out. We will enter official retirement debt-free. House has been paid off for a few years and so have the cars.
It's taken him a few weeks to get used to this new life. He's sleeping like a rock, no longer waking up at 4:22am with work worries. He's been puttering around the house and also taking daily walks at the park. He felt like he was suddenly unplugged, left things at work undone and goodbyes unsaid. At first he missed the daily contact with his staff and interaction with people. He's much happier now, very relaxed and enjoying what's yet to come. Today he asked me for a "honey-do" list, he's ready to get going on moving on. He's planning a garage sale and eBay sales and a vegetable garden.
I'm still working part-time and will continue to do so. I like the daily routine and the income which has all been for savings. My jobs don't have any benefits.
He may work again in the future. Maybe not. We'll have to see how we like things this way for a while. I'm also 55 but in the future I'll get a little Social Security if it's still there. He has not completed his 40 credits so if he can do that he may get something but it will be reduced because of his pension.
I've learned so much reading this forum. Mostly it's been reassuring to hear from people who retire successfully. Even if you're not a millionaire. Even though the financial pundits say it can't be done.
So that's what's new here. Big changes. We're going to be OK.
