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Retiring to vs. Retiring from
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Posted by cheerful1 (My Page) on Thu, Oct 29, 09 at 9:18
| My DH and I are struggling with upcoming retirement. He works for the Federal government, and is eligible. I work in a private company and could leave whenever I want.
The two big obstacles are
(1) Money - will his pension and our savings be enough to retire on (I can't draw from my 401K for another 5 years). We've run the numbers from here to Sunday, and it looks do-able on paper.
(2) We know what we're retiring from (stressful jobs), but don't know what we'll be retiring to.
Has anyone been in this situation, and how have you handled it?
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Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Retiring to vs. Retiring from
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| These days, I'd feel more comfortable running my numbers by a trusted advisor before jumping into the deep end, but that's probably just me. I ended up retiring inadvertently in 2006, and my DH joins me in a few months. Like your DH, he has a defined benefit pension from a government agency so it's very secure. I think you do need some idea of what your new goals in life are going to be, and this is important for the two of you to agree upon. Many people have some vague idea that their retirement lives are going to be footloose and carefree forever. Either they end up bored and looking for something to do, or hopefully find some new interest to become passionate about...or get derailed by a financial/personal emergency they failed to see coming and properly plan for. You will still have goals: short-, mid-, and long-term goals, to plan for. If you can't envision what you're going to be filling your days with, short-term goals are important. It'll be time to try a lot of different things to see what activities/interests you want to pursue. Let's face it, there are very few inexpensive hobbies! And I've found time goes by pretty fast in retirement; because one doesn't have to rush to keep to a schedule, you seldom accomplish as much as you planned to. For instance, we try to avoid driving in rush hours, so certain stuff like errands get clustered into midday instead of on weekends as before. Retirement is best viewed in phases. You are young enough, hopefully healthy enough, and have the $$ and time to travel and enjoy life. Here the difficulty is that your friends may not yet be retired, and so you really don't see them any more often than before because they remain as busy as ever. Once health difficulties appear, it causes a need to reassess your situation. Can you still stay in your home, or is it time to remodel for universal design, or even consider selling? What if you can't drive any longer, what are the options where you live? What kind of family difficulties might start to show up at this point, and will they affect you in any way? Thinking about the 'what if's' is a way to be prepared for whatever life is going to throw at you in the coming decades. Good luck and good health to you and your DH! |
RE: Retiring to vs. Retiring from
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| I think you need to figure what your expenses will be versus your income. The money people we talked to took a dollar bill and started tearing it up, one strip was medical expenses, one insurance and kept going until he was down to almost nothing left and told us this was what we would have left. Scared us for a bit until I did the math myself. One thing he did tell that was very important. He said there are 2 ways you can lose your money in a hurry, one is medical expenses so you need good health care coverage. Another way was being sued and he explained what umbrella policies were. I had never heard of it. It covers you up to a million dollars and you don't have to pay the lawyers. I still keep that and it is only $130. a year. The more cars, boats, RVs, etc., the more it costs. It was easy for us to retire because we were saving so much money when he was working and quit saving when he retired. We didn't have a big loss in income. He had pension and soc sec and I had 8 more years before I could draw SS. |
RE: Retiring to vs. Retiring fromdfg
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| Forgot to mention the non financial problem you may have, many of my friends had this problem. Being bored and getting on each others nerves. One of the men we know went back to work, couldn't stand being home with his wife. still don't know why. LOL |
RE: Retiring to vs. Retiring from
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| Thanks for your input. We will keep the health insurance DH has through the government (good coverage). We also have an umbrella policy. We are fortunate because we have two houses that are mortgage free, and we have no debt to speak of. The boredom issue is a biggie as well. |
RE: Retiring to vs. Retiring from
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| Good luck. It's important to have a reason to get up in the morning, a hobby, travel or something that excites you. I am building a library, something I have always wanted. I buy like new hardback books at thrift stores. I am single and no longer cook except on the week ends and I am treating myself to small luxuries like have a couple come in and clean my floors. Now if I could only discourage the man from making advances it would be perfect. LOL |
RE: Retiring to vs. Retiring from
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| Hi, Cheerful1 I am facing the same "question." My wonderful boss got fed up with the politics and transferred to a job in a different agency. Now I am stuck with an idiot who is also a micro-manager (maybe because he doesn't understand what we do?) I can afford to retire, but DH has to work until 2020 (he is younger). So I have to figure out what the heck I would do when I retire. Have lots of hobbies but don't want to stay home all day. A friend of mine who retired in July is studying to become a Master Gardener. That is her passion and she enjoys it. She also has a niece and nephew who need some of her attention and parents who can't drive any more, so she keeps very busy. I have no children and my nieces are grown. My situation is quite different. Have scoliosis so the doctor would frown on the little bit of gardening that I do now. Figure out what you would like to do and then decide if you can afford it. Maybe you can work part time? Good luck, whatever you do. Enjoy! |
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