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I am 31 months away from 62 yrs. old. I have 25.7 years with my employer, with full pension being 30 years. I also need to say that I work a job with lots of available overtime.
I know not to compare my income in retirement, with my current income, mostly because of the overtime. Also, my current job is not what I usually do. It is much, much better. Not financially, but in terms of wear and tear. I am a skilled tradesman, currently working full time in an office environment.
OK, finally my issue. My wife and I live in Texas, we followed my job. I'll start out with the mandatory apology. Not to offend anyone, but we do not like living here. This is something I choose not to share with my co-workers, although they may sense it. People here are very sensitive about their state. If you visit my home town and tell me you would rather do jail time than ever go their again, no problem. To each his own. When I talk about investigating other places to retire, they have no concept of why I would want to leave.
That said, am I being foolish to take the early retirement, and take SSI at 62? I think I would be happy with less money in a place I feel comfortable in. We can't afford to go back to where we are from, but are looking at Fla., North and South Carolina, and Delaware.
Will the extra money in retirement, that I would get by waiting, be worth 5 more years here? By then Ill be 65. Then it becomes "why not wait one more year to get full social?"
I don't know if any of this makes sense, or if I have really asked a question. Guess I just wanted to vent. If you are reading this....thanks for your time.
I'm sure a lot of posters will come along with all kinds of financial sites with estimates of medical insurance, cost of living increases, kind of life stye you want to live, and all kinds of other relevant info.
I'm assuming you've done your homework. If you can afford it, go for it.
I have 25.7 years with my employer, with full pension being 30 years...
....am I being foolish to take the early retirement...
....Will the extra money in retirement, that I would get by waiting, be worth 5 more years here?
There's no way to answer this without knowing how much of your pension you would be giving up by retiring early, not to mention whatever other financial resources you have. And even then, the answer will be personal to you.
As an example, I took an "early" retirement at 54 rather than "regular" retirement at 55 and that decision cost me approximately $6,000/yr on my annual pension for the rest of my life. If I had come on this board and asked a variation of the question you are asking: Is it worth it to give up $6k/yr for life in order to retire one year early?, what do you think most of the responses would have been? However, to me, that extra year of life in retirement was worth far more than every extra penny I an giving up. A big part of that reason, of course, is that my wife and I have other financial resources that offset that loss of income.
Regardless of how much money you may or may not be giving up by retiring early, only you know whether it would be a worthwhile exchange for you in return for those extra years of retirement.
I'm 62 this year and I will be taking SSI. The fools that say wait till 65 do not know your personal financial and health situation. My situation is different then most and it makes perfect sense to take it now. Everybody needs to make their own decision. Don't listen to the talking heads.
Quality of life never enters into the decision of when to take the money. In my case, the difference between taking SSI at 62 or at 65 is only about 5% to my total retirement income but then I would have to sacrifice 3 years of the additional income to get 5% more. My decision was easy..
The fools that say wait till 65 do not know your personal financial and health situation....
Was that really necessary? Aside from the fact that calling people fools just because their opinions may differ from your own is in its own right pretty foolish, when you think about it, you've basically just called the OP himself a fool for even asking the question in the first place without providing his personal financial and health information.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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I'm the same age and when we retire will be moving to a less expensive area, but within a couple of hours of here, due to the high cost of living. Depending on where you are in Texas, it's most likely less expensive than the west coast. If you have a place in mind where homes/rent are less expensive, you could do just as well financially as you would waiting and staying where you are. On the other hand, if you wanted to go to Seattle, San Francisco, or other more expensive areas you could end up struggling. I'm not aware of how the states you mentioned compare to where you are now. I would pick the place, then do the math. We have already started looking around at home prices, climate, available health care, taxes, crime etc. and so far have a list of about a dozen possibilities. Over the next 6-8 years we'll be spending time visiting to get a better feel for where we want to end up. Based on today's real estate values here, we would be able to sell and with the equity spend about $300,000 on the new home with no mortgage. I'd like to retire earlier but really enjoy my work now, and staying to 68-70 will make a big difference in the pension. Still, I think retirement is wasted on the old.
It's too bad we can't retire at 40, when young enough to really enjoy it, then go back to work at 60.
I would mention that you say you are not happy where you are currently located in Texas.
To me, parts of Texas are very much like parts of NC, SC and even Florida. And by that I mean - culturally, as well as geographically.
Parts of Texas are also very much like where we lived in other states -- so much so that we have felt that Texas (especially Dallas burbs - Plano area) are quite compatible for us and we considered moving there with jobs (in the past) as well as thought about that area for retirement.
So are you sure that you will be "more at home" in a new location?
I am 31 months away from 62 yrs. old. I have 25.7 years with my employer, with full pension being 30 years. I also need to say that I work a job with lots of available overtime.
I know not to compare my income in retirement, with my current income, mostly because of the overtime. Also, my current job is not what I usually do. It is much, much better. Not financially, but in terms of wear and tear. I am a skilled tradesman, currently working full time in an office environment.
OK, finally my issue. My wife and I live in Texas, we followed my job. I'll start out with the mandatory apology. Not to offend anyone, but we do not like living here. This is something I choose not to share with my co-workers, although they may sense it. People here are very sensitive about their state. If you visit my home town and tell me you would rather do jail time than ever go their again, no problem. To each his own. When I talk about investigating other places to retire, they have no concept of why I would want to leave.
That said, am I being foolish to take the early retirement, and take SSI at 62? I think I would be happy with less money in a place I feel comfortable in. We can't afford to go back to where we are from, but are looking at Fla., North and South Carolina, and Delaware.
Will the extra money in retirement, that I would get by waiting, be worth 5 more years here? By then Ill be 65. Then it becomes "why not wait one more year to get full social?"
I don't know if any of this makes sense, or if I have really asked a question. Guess I just wanted to vent. If you are reading this....thanks for your time.
Hey, GM...
We used to live in Texas. Ah feel your pain!
Be sure you check out the cost of health insurance. It gets a lot better after Medicare kicks in.
Start living on your retirement income. Right now. We did that for about 4 years before we retired and it made our retirement seamless and stress free.
I'm glad I waited until I was 65. But it's all personal, and every situation is different.
You were smart to follow your job. It probably has made all the difference in the world to where you are in life.
I can think of literally dozens of places I would live in the states you mentioned. But I have traveled a lot, so that's an advantage.
A Soft Southern Town where people know each other..... Yeah. I can see why you would prefer that. OK, Delaware isn't southern. But it's still a nice place.
Can you hold out until 62 (31 months) or do you feel you must get out of there now?
You could do some figuring out of how much SS would you collect at age 62 and how much of the pension you would get at 62 years of age. If a live able amount and you can wait until 62 then it sounds like a plan.
You can get your forecasted SS amount at age 62 from the SS. I assume your company personnel/pension manager can give you the amount of your pension at age 62.
You could then rework the numbers by comparing pension if you wait until you have the 30 years in and the amount of SS at that age. If I read your numbers right, this would be about age 64ish.
I say if you can afford it, retire at 62 and enjoy life. I did.
Last edited by johngolf; 01-15-2015 at 09:19 AM..
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Yeah. I can see why you would prefer that. OK, Delaware isn't southern. But it's still a nice place.
