I'm Retiring at 56- Here's How We're Doing It (friend, salary, best)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
You don't say what their raise per year is, and how that compared to inflation. $10k/yr in 1980 was not anything special and low for a college grad. My father is an immigrant, with a 4th grade education, at age 39, in 1980 was making $50k/yr. He worked two jobs. He saw them as opportunities not hardships.
In this conservative example, the person had a 3% raise each year and kept the annual retirement fund contribution the same percent of their total gross income.
It will not be up to the mayor, of course. It will be up to a federal bankruptcy judge, and representatives of retiree groups will have their say in court. All the best to you.
This is not true, the Mayor, the council and the employee unions will get together under the threat of a city or county filing bankruptcy. The employees will settle for a smaller cut instead of taking a chance in court of a larger cut under Federal jurisdiction. Remember Detroit is the precedent that can happen anywhere.In federal court Detroit employees and retirees were ruled unsecured creditors just like credit card companies. Some cities and counties have already taken cuts based on this.
This is not true, the Mayor, the council and the employee unions will get together under the threat of a city or county filing bankruptcy. The employees will settle for a smaller cut instead of taking a chance in court of a larger cut under Federal jurisdiction. Remember Detroit is the precedent that can happen anywhere.In federal court Detroit employees and retirees were ruled unsecured creditors just like credit card companies. Some cities and counties have already taken cuts based on this.
Yes, you are correct. What I wrote described the situation once the city files for bankruptcy. What you wrote gives the broader picture and is a welcome clarification.
Life is about living, not working every day until you die. And i have seen to many of my peers do just that after sticking around to 62
Not me.
WC
On this one point we can agree. I think retirement can be a wonderful, if not the most wonderful, time of one's life. I am postponing my own retirement until my early 60's only because I happen to love my job. I am not going to wait until I'm 65 or 66, I'm still in good health and even after visiting over 80 countries on six continents there are still at least another dozen places I want to see.
I cannot see myself living in Tennessee, however. To each his own. I'm a big city boy and a culture vulture. I like living in the kind of city where you don't need a car (even though I happen to have one).
80 countries!!!I am jealous. That's amazing! I'm assuming it was mostly work related??
Mostly non-work related ... simply pleasure. I made my first trip to Europe when I was 17. By the time I was 21 I had already been to Europe 3 times, Canada, Mexico, the Bahamas, the Azores, Turkey and Israel.
When I became employed by the passenger ship company Cunard (had to join the British Royal Merchant Navy!) at age 40 I added Pago Pago, Samoa, New Zealand, Australia and Fiji to the list ... but the other crew members were astonished that all those other places like Japan, Thailand, Finland, Portugal, Morocco, etc, etc I had already visited before. I've been to India 4 times and on trip #3 I spent 3 1/2 months exploring the entire sub-continent including Nepal and Sri Lanka.
Some of the activities I engaged in include spending an entire season in Jerusalem working on a Hebrew University sponsored archeological "dig" (my degree is in anthropology); taking a Buddhist meditation course in northern Thailand; and camping (with my Mom!) in the Amazon rainforest in eastern Peru.
The one thing I have learned about retirement is... when we are working, and in the heat of all the BS that comes with it, it is easy to identify the reasons you want to retire. Now that I have been retired a little over 6 months, what I have come to find is I have almost forgotten everything I disliked about my job. You start forgetting why you retired and that now everyday feels like 'Saturday'. It takes some effort for me to reflect on my working days. And then, the past comes back into the light and I am glad we decided to not only to leave my job, but California all together.
Thanks for the great story, and follow up! Similar to you we too are eager for our pension to kick in, and move somewhere (tenn.?) from NY. Sad as NY is beautiful, but so pricey. I too took a good civil servant position with a handsome pension. The test is open to anyone, yet there are so many who are upset. I worked hard for what we will get one day. 30 months and counting....
My exit plan is 55 with 18 months to go. I'll take the 27% early retirement penalty for leaving 5 years early. Time to pursue other interests and enjoy new experiences.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
