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.
I recently spoke to an IRS auditor and the subject came up of how self-employed people oftentimes work past traditional retirement age. She shared about a recent IRS employee who retired and had the honor of being the oldest at age 86 which is an unbelievable "off the charts" retirement age for a government employee.
This person either loved their job dearly or didn't start working for the IRS until age 65 and was trying to improve their defined benefit retirement formula.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,771 posts, read 81,704,810 times
Reputation: 58165
I'll be 64 next month, and still working. When we retire my wife and I will have 2 pensions plus SS and other investments. At this point I expect to work for 3-6 more years, same for my wife. We both enjoy our jobs, and where we work. I'm making more than I ever have, with great benefits and plenty of vacation time. Every additional year adds to my pension, and it will be 3 more years to full SS benefit, but really my motivation is the fun and rewarding challenges of my work, and having a window office on the water with great views doesn't hurt.
(1) Like DaveinMtAiry says above, once I close the store it would be difficult to open it again. So that makes me think 14 times before doing it.
(2) My age: I don't think I want to be retired for 40 or more years. That just seems like a really long time. It also seems to put me out of step with the rest of society. I would have difficulty finding people my age who weren't working to do things with and I am already out of step enough.
(3) I'm not sure what I would do in Retirement. I'm still trying to figure out what will keep me occupied.
. . . but have not. What's holding you back? (me talking to myself).
What about you?
Only three things holding me back. Need to sell the house and get rid if it's huge mortgage. My employer wants me to train my replacement for a six month period. And, I want to pass my next yearly employment anniversary, (34 years this upcoming Valentine's Day).
The last one is kinda bogus because I really don't get anything other than minor bragging rights to people who don't care a whit how long I've worked somewhere. Since I'm relocating to a lower COL state, the house must go first. The six months training is firm. I guess my job is that complicated, (satellite instrument operations).
(1) Like DaveinMtAiry says above, once I close the store it would be difficult to open it again. So that makes me think 14 times before doing it.
(2) My age: I don't think I want to be retired for 40 or more years. That just seems like a really long time. It also seems to put me out of step with the rest of society. I would have difficulty finding people my age who weren't working to do things with and I am already out of step enough.
(3) I'm not sure what I would do in Retirement. I'm still trying to figure out what will keep me occupied.
(4) I work for myself and like my work.
Bingo!
I'm looking at scaling-back options such as partial business sale. The work I do will only get better as time goes on as it's relationship-driven.
I retired a bit early at 63 last year and could have retired 3-4 years earlier after my daughter graduated from Vet school.
I did not consider retirement earlier for many reasons:
1. I enjoyed my work (mental stimulation, personal satisfaction, camaraderie/teamwork, social interactions etc.). One of my jokes when I was working that I would have quit work the morning I woke up and dreaded going to work but that day never came.
2. Very good pay/benefits and excellent work environment except for a short period (with a young and inexperienced manager). The original manger whom I worked for almost 20 years was my mentor and career promoter. I only worked for the last manager for half a year but he was very professional, technically strong and took good care of his team.
3. I was raised to be frugal and practical. It was hard to think of walking away from a well-paid job, spending down your net worth instead of waching it grow!
The main or sole factor which made me decide to retire was my husband's health. He had two serious health incidence in the lat 5 years (with each forced him to be on crutches for 6 months). I want to have more free time to travel, to fly, to hike while my husband is still capable of doing these rigorous activities.
A big part of the "How much is enough to retire?" discussion is the fear tactics employed by financial and investment advertisers. There is no fixed "What's your number?" answer, even though the unchanging answer to any question of retirement is, "You don't have enough and need to save and invest more ... with us."
I retired at 61 (8-years ago), after carefully analyzing our resources versus expenses and assets. We approached the uncertainties with things like mortgage payoff, long-term care insurance, term life insurance (to protect wife's pension) and balanced investment provisions for potential inflation and tax increases. Life is good - we've yet to tap into 401K's and have plenty of money to live comfortably where we want and do whatever we want (plus help the kids and grandkids).
We are not wealthy, but, we learned over the years to live comfortably within our means and avoid impulse buying for the sake of buying. The notion of some that they can live their life in debt; and will suddenly change in retirement, is misguided and dangerous. It's like those who imagine they can buy whatever they want on credit cards and, even though they can't afford it now, will 'magically' be able to pay for it when the bills come due.
I'm 68 and could retire right now but I won't yet. Reason is simple it's financial security.
According to our retirement budget we would very comfortable with what I think generous amounts for what we want for our standard of living in retirement.
But if I retired right now while we would have everything we wanted there wouldn't be much extra for unforeseen.
What would happen if the air conditioning went out? Right now we would have an extra $176/month left over and while I am sure we could cut back on food ($541/month budgeted), entertainment ($433/month budgeted), gifts ($100/month budgeted) and utilities by turning the thermostat up ($300/month budgeted) who wants to live a life with cutbacks like that?
If we see a special deal on a cruise come up we want to be able to jump on it without having to give up our standard of living.
So I am going to try to do it another two years which will add an additional $396 to my monthly benefit bring the monthly slush amount to $572 so when something special pops up we can feel free to jump on it.
By getting the extra money we can keep our IRA money for the day something really unexpected pops up.
Another very big reason for my putting it off is my wife. If I should die first I want her to have a secure and comfortable retirement and as she will receive my benefit that extra $396 every month will insure she has plenty of cash for what she wants to do.
What does she want to do? Spend the money on the grand kids... oh well...
We could go anytime now at 56, but holding out for substantial increase over next 4 years that'll boost our pension. Still enjoy work but look forward to more "me" time!
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.
