Just 19 percent of current retired folks stayed on the job 65 or later

[txfriend]

A career path test found that I excelled in only one field and that was retirement. I applied my specialty 28 years ago, and have excelled in my career path.

[SeaAddict]

Kicker is healthcare. Opinions vary greatly upon what is considered "fully covered"
Vested @ 70 for the exact same Indemnity medcal plans @ the same costs.
I work just two full weekends a month
Fri 3pm thru Sun 5pm
5+ hrs sleep ea. night so not bad
100 hrs a mo.


$50 mo. deducted from my paycheck for our medical/dental
We also pay about $50 each per mo. for healthcare sharing ministry coverage added to my employer Indemnity plan(s)

flat costs for services-
$10 Doc/$25 Specialist
$10 labs
$100 ER Visit
$100 CT, Ultrasound,etc
$2k deductible for 30 days in ER/Skilled Nursing
$1000 yr towards dental/eye/chiropractor
$10 Generic/$25 brand name drugs until max $300 per mo.
$15k yr ambulance/helicopter coverage (1 trip max)
$10k-20K accident/death benefit

Company pays $4 mo. for a medical helicopter membership. we fly free

In full retirement at 70 or 72-on
Allowing 75% inflation
we will be paying about $215 a piece per mo.
for all the exact same healthcare coverage listed above w/part b


.

[finalmove]

Sorry for those that must work well past their youthfulness. I was 62. I hated my job and counted the days I could walk out the door. I didn't even finish that day----left after lunch!

[SeaAddict]

We will work well into our youthfullness
Yet consider ourselves semi retired in our 50's
while still working p/t
I don't dread it.... though it is work.
Yet working 2 full weekends a month isn't enough to make a huge dent in my life

We have so much free time it feels like we are retired
i work the first two full weekends of each month. Two 50 hr shifts
He works about 1/2 the year, and even then, not even full time doing side jobs.
He's home alot.
we are now moving into the fixer upper we bought-
Putting our current home for sale, even if it is a small loss, that's fine.
We want out of this house

housing & utilities will be only about $650 a month for now on
Versus $1550 a month prior

This leaves us with:
About 2000k-$2200 a month take home pay (our usual combined income after deductions)
$650 mo cost for housing/utilities
$120 mo. cost Medical/dental insurance almost fully covered. Should be ok
20-30K emergency fund

RMD's kick in at 72.
RMD funds are designated as inheritance for our son and his family.
We'll be fine living off of SS only
Our expenses, total, without food costs will only average about 1k a month.
SS should be plenty to live off of


.

[SeaAddict]

Originally Posted by finalmove

Sorry for those that must work well past their youthfulness. I was 62. I hated my job and counted the days I could walk out the door. I didn't even finish that day----left after lunch!

Good for you.


Just curious but can I ask what you did for a living?


If my job doesn't allow for at least 4 hrs of rest those two weekends, it will be much harder work.

I am on call during those hours but only awoke, maybe 1-2x per yr

[Ralph_Kirk]

I might have worked for the company longer than the next 90 days if I didn't have a good friend who worked until he was 72, then died the next year.

In the past year I've had a cancer scare and a spinal surgery scare. In both cases, multiple doctors had negative expectations that yet wound up turning in my favor.

It doesn't make me think I'm invulnerable, it makes me realize that my time could on any day be a lot shorter than I feel.

I go on Medicare this month. I've done the things necessary to have a decent retirement income.

I'm not going to waste any more time holding off things I want to do for some nebulous future in which I may be financially better off.

[Mircea]

Originally Posted by recently laid off

Yes, the media tells us we are working later than years ago. But according to the linked article below, only 19% of people keep working for pay past 65 years old. The median age for retirement is 62.

Retirement does not equate to collecting Social Security.

There are many who retire early, but defer Social Security until full-retirement age or later.

I find both the actual data and the conclusion to be accurate.

The most recent data shows there are 52,331,000 Americans age 65 or older.

The Civilian Labor Force age 65 or older is 10,454,000 Americans.

That means 19.9% are in the Labor Force.

10,107,000 Americans age 65 or older are working, representing 19.3%.

If we were to assume that 40 years is a generation, then we can look at data from 1980 for comparison.

In 1980, there were 24,597,000 Americans age 65 and older.

The Civilian Labor Force of Americans age 65 and older was 2,982,000.

That's just 12.1%.

2,907,000 Americans age 65 and older were working, or 11.8%.

So, Americans are working longer, not quite twice as many, but approaching that.

[Williepaws]

Originally Posted by finalmove

Sorry for those that must work well past their youthfulness. I was 62. I hated my job and counted the days I could walk out the door. I didn't even finish that day----left after lunch!

But other people like their jobs. Retirement may be a great idea for some but others not so much. Different people have different experiences.

[johngolf]

Originally Posted by SeaAddict

Taking your SS at 62 is very common, likely more common than not, yet it isn't the sole definition of "retired"

And if it is the sole monetary definition of retirement, you are probably in deep financial poopoo.