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.
It seems that the day one crosses over to however your company or Social Security defines Eligible to Retire, (be that Early or Full Retirement,) but continues to work, one could have one of several emotions or actions.
How did you feel/act the day you achieved Retirement Eligibility? Were there any changes in your lifestyle or family life afterwards?
Once I reached the point where I 'earned' all the employer retiree benefits, the only way I felt different was having a feeling of relief. That if something were to happen, I'd be 'okay'.
I decided to retire at the age of 65 and the decision was made about 2/12 years prior to that. No pension involved and no plans to take Social Security at that time, so those were not factors. After I had made the decision it felt great as I knew that whatever crap got slung my way, my time to put up with it was finite. So when our manager told three of us older employees that we needed to retire if we could as upper management was going to continue to make everyone's lives miserable, I had the ability to just say OK and walked away five months earlier than I had planned. Never regretted it.
I can remember different people asking, "When will you be able to retire?" and thinking, "Whenever I think we can afford it!" The term "retirement eligibility" is somewhat of a misnomer, since there is really no established date when one 'qualifies' for retirement.
At 62 one may qualify to receive early (reduced) Social Security, but that leaves a 3-year gap until one qualifies for Medicare and still doesn't produce enough stand-alone income for most to consider themselves 'comfortably retired' with SS as one's sole source of retirement income. It is, however, comforting to know that one has reached a point where they could have a secure, lifetime income. Government, military and a few corporate employees accumulate enough years or reach an age to qualify for a defined pension, but there are few places where that is mandatory and again, the issue is "Can I afford to stop working?" A major consideration in post 55-60 retirement is the extremely limited likelihood one will be able to find comparable employment, if one leaves the workforce.
A more relevant retirement time/date is the point when one feels financially able to retire, yet continues working. At that point, I believe one transitions from a "needing to work" attitude to a "working because I want to and to increase my retirement income" attitude. The question each much answer before reaching that point is, "How much is enough!" The biggest factors here are "How long will I live?," "Will I encounter major health issues?" and "What will happen with taxes and inflation?"
In my case, I reached 60 and took a look at my wife's pension, our investments, my Social Security and health insurance plan - along with our spending profile and future interests. I decided that retirement was a very real possibility. For the next year, we 'tested' the theory, by living on our expected retirement income - while continuing to work. Once we reached the "Yes, we could afford it and have a plan to offset inflation and handle healthcare", the question became: "Are you working to live or living to work?" --- We retired 8-years ago and have never looked back or regretted the decision. Of course, I also had plans, such as travel, fishing, golf, ministry and writing - so was not faced with the further, "Now, what will I do question."
Well since I would be considered an early retirement I became eligible 3 years ago having reached age 56 and 30+ years of service. So thinking back to that day I felt elated that I had finally made the milestone and I would not have to struggle much longer. I then began to think if I was truly ready to retire financially. I looked at the income I would need and decided that I would remain where I worked. It made economic sense and I liked the job. I was busy and was working towards a career ending achievement. Now that I have retired two and a half years after that point I realized I had done everything right and staying in those extra months made the difference.
... The term "retirement eligibility" is somewhat of a misnomer, since there is really no established date when one 'qualifies' for retirement.
...
For the intent of this poll, I'm specifically referring to when there is a definite date.
I was eligible to retire as an engineer on June 1, 2006, thirty years to the date I was hired 06/01/76. I was not at work on June 2nd!!
For my second career as an educator, I did not actually realize I was eligible. For whatever reason, I thought I had to be either age 65 or 20 years service - I had only 10 years at the time. I was researching my company's website to see if I was vested in health care and I came across the requirements for early retirement.
It said if I was at least 60 with at least five years service, I qualify for Early Retirement. Well, I had just turned 60 a few weeks earlier! So I qualified on my birthday.
"Honey, do you realize I qualify for early retirement?"
"That's nice ..."
Bottom line, we decided to retire a little earlier than planned, so we're both retired at 61 and living the dream in Florida!!
It seems that the day one crosses over to however your company or Social Security defines Eligible to Retire, (be that Early or Full Retirement,) but continues to work, one could have one of several emotions or actions.
How did you feel/act the day you achieved Retirement Eligibility? Were there any changes in your lifestyle or family life afterwards?
My company offered early retirement when I was 47 and it took all of 15 mins to get my signature on the retirement papers. I was as happy as I had ever felt. The last 5 years was horrible, all my bosses retired and the company started hiring employees to fill their shoes instead of promoting people that understood the business and had a history of success with the company. These 30 somethings were clueless about the products and the culture. Within 5 years of my retirement my work location failed but for the 30 years I was there they always made money. So, I was happy as hell to move on.
BTW there is one mistake in the post. Someone that retires and then continues to work has not retired, all they did was to quit one job and took the benefits but never retired.
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.
