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If I had had a job in a library, or some such thing, I could have worked until FRA. But looking back - why work for money when you can get by without it?
Retired librarian here, from a large urban system. Loved the work, loved my coworkers, enjoyed the challenge of working with the "unwashed public" as well as the more "genteel" folks. Both groups had their share of demanding and of appreciative clients.
The job is much more physically demanding than most people realize. Book carts & book boxes are heavy, and every book you need to retrieve is always on the bottom shelf. Much of the time, it's like working a warehouse or big box store job - lots of walking, lifting, bending, reaching, and squatting. There were always budget & time restraint headaches and being part of city government, the politics sometimes got nasty.
I miss all of it.
I didn't answer the poll but my employer would have been happy for me to stay on; I was very experienced in all aspects of the system's 5 branches in various neighborhoods; I was and still am physically fit, as were several coworkers even older than me. We ran 5K's and took yoga classes together.
But I chose to leave at 62, mainly because I wanted to have my days and my schedule to myself - to travel, work out, garden, cook, read, bird watch, drink coffee, etc., while I was still healthy enough to enjoy those activities. I had worked full-time 47 years, while attending high school, college, and grad school. I had never known what it was like to have time to smell the roses.
The finances worked out because I lived frugally and saved heavily, but also I had been lucky to live in a time when jobs had defined benefits and pensions and security. DH's company had excellent health benefits which carried us over to Medicare. I delayed taking SS until this year, when I turned 69.5; DH retired 2 yrs after me, is on my spousal SS now and is delaying his until 70.5.
lol, i enjoy Mathjack ,I really do but he has more "what if" scenarios. "we could worry about those what ifs till the world stops turning"
the entire basis for retirement planning revolves around the what if's . it is a simple system designed to sustain the worst of the worst if they happen , then anything better is a bonus you can enjoy .
building standards are the same way in hurricaine country . they require building to the areas worst , then at least you are good to go for anything better . so what if's are a major part of planning because once hit by a poor outcome there are no do overs .
always better to plan for uncertainty and allow for it then try to rule it out .
I'm not yet retired but at the count-down phase. About 6-7 years to go.
I'm split between the first and third answers. My employer would want me to stay, I'm aware of this already.
However, I'm tired! I've been working full time since I'm in my early 20's. I have a long commute from NJ to NYC which sucks up a ridiculous amount of time and energy. And while I'm overall healthy, I have some minor mobility issues which makes this more difficult as the years go by.
It would make sense to stay as long as possible as I'm earning a very good salary with many benefits. Maybe I'd consider working from home if the company is open to that for a year or two but if I have to continue dragging myself in daily, I'd rather just be done with it.
My hope is that my husband, who is currently in school full time, will be done by then and working (finally) for the first time in many years. I'm looking forward to doing nothing except what I want to, when I want to.
I'm surprised that so many people get retiree health coverage or employer contribution to COBRA when they retire. I don't think I know anyone personally who has gotten that.
I think if we ever switched to a publicly funded universal health insurance system, a lot more people would at least consider retiring early, since they would have health insurance and would keep up no matter what age they retired. But this forum seems to be tilted to earlier retirement than anything I see happening in real life.
A number of people on this forum had the foresight to strategically place their money at an early of enough age to make it work for them. This enabled a number of them to retire relatively early.
Retiring early (and being able to comfortably afford it) ideally allows you to utilize all your time, whether that is starting another career, a new business, committing more to a hobby, or simply professionally lounging around. Your remaining time becomes ALL YOUR time.
In my observations on this forum and in real life, the professionals and white-collar types seem best equipped for managing full free time. The blue-collar types mostly struggle. There are exceptions to the latter (mostly on this forum). But they are just that - exceptions.
I worked in a blue-collar environment - to where the college trained engineers that hung around too long evolved into blue-collar, whether they would admit it or not.
I retired at my earliest retirement age under the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS). My observations show that few of my FERS comtemporaries will be able to retire at their earliest retirement age.
They will not be able to afford it. I see their faces in my mind's eye and know that many will not be able to retire before age sixty-two. And I am talking about the ones that are not spending. I was lucky and thank my good fortune daily.
I try to tell the younger people that one day they will be sixty years old and that they need to start preparing for retirement NOW. Which is what the smart people on this forum already knew in their younger days. I was lucky.
The vast majority of my former co-workers did not invest for their retirements. Even though all of us had the military pension to look forward to, when they did finally get their pension it means little to them. It is a house payment and nothing more. They are not capable of actually retiring on that pension. So most of them got a second career and are waiting for SS.
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