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Old 02-02-2012, 08:05 AM
 
511 posts, read 2,444,853 times
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The news and the water cooler is full of stories about people who are forced to retire from work years ahead of their original scheduled desire. Many were as young as 55 and hoped to retire in their 60s but got laid off and employers would not consider someone their age so they were forced to retire. Others had health set backs that forced them to retire early.

If you were retired earlier than planned, tell us your stories!
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Old 02-02-2012, 08:16 AM
 
Location: SW MO
23,593 posts, read 37,344,060 times
Reputation: 29336
Quote:
Originally Posted by Workaholic? View Post
The news and the water cooler is full of stories about people who are forced to retire from work years ahead of their original scheduled desire. Many were as young as 55 and hoped to retire in their 60s but got laid off and employers would not consider someone their age so they were forced to retire. Others had health set backs that forced them to retire early.

If you were retired earlier than planned, tell us your stories!
I retired two years earlier than planned but it was entirely on my schedule. I simply reached a point at which work was no longer fun nor rewarding, was not adding anything worthwhile to my life, but for some extra money, and had become a daily grind rather than stimulating challenge.

I crunched the numbers, realized that retirement was financially doable, already had my pension, medical, dental and prescription benefits locked-in for life and pulled the plug. I considered it foolish not to.
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Old 02-02-2012, 08:31 AM
 
Location: Toronto, Ottawa Valley & Dunedin FL
1,409 posts, read 2,731,627 times
Reputation: 1170
I retired 2-3 years earlier than I wanted to, due to the economic downturn in 2008. My husband kept working until last summer, and then retired on his own schedule, with a great incentive package from his employer.

It's all good, I love being retired.
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Old 02-02-2012, 08:39 AM
 
Location: Virginia
18,717 posts, read 30,979,760 times
Reputation: 42988
My retirement date (probably this year) will be my choice. My employer knows about it, and has told me I can stay for as long as I wish. My dh is also retiring on his own schedule, but he wants it to be at the point a specific project is completed so in some ways it's the company's schedule too.
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Old 02-02-2012, 11:09 AM
 
Location: delaware
698 posts, read 1,048,361 times
Reputation: 2438
my husband's death at age 58 allowed me to begin receiving social security benefits a year and a half later, when i reached age 60. with my pension and his, the addition of social security gave me somewhat of a cushion on which to retire. i was more than ready to leave at that point.

if he had lived i would have undoubtedly had to wait until age 66 to retire. needless to say, i would have chosen to have him with me all of these years, whether it meant my working or not.

catsy girl
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Old 02-02-2012, 12:36 PM
 
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
34,617 posts, read 57,608,601 times
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I was RIF'd @ age 49 w/ 32 yrs service, only 6 wks away from retirement benefit eligibility. I had 12 weeks of accrued vacation and 800 hrs of sick leave... BUT... they would NOT extend my employment the 6 wks I needed to get Healthcare / pension. (One of my close friends w/ over 25 yrs service missed retirement by 6 days). This was with a FORMERLY very generous and benevolent company that literally wrote the book on employee care / benefit / profit sharing / flex hours / Work-life ...(in the 1960's). Great while the founders were alive... then the board hired a wicked medieval history major as ceo. The game of RISK was on, and about 300,000 engineers and about 1.2m retirees (and the Board of Directors + CEO) were sunk in the battle. And another formerly great US company languishes to a slow and painful death.

SO... as with many of my friends and co-workers I have about 15 yrs till age 65 w/o healthcare. A few of us die every yr, so my number may be coming up. I keep some Term Life to help bridge the gap for my dependents.
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Old 02-02-2012, 03:37 PM
 
Location: Wisconsin
25,597 posts, read 56,293,920 times
Reputation: 23259
^^And then we wonder why some people favor Socialism. Can't count on the capitalists to honor their promises. Doing the moral thing has nothing to do with doing what's legal. I experienced a similar thing w/pension - cut by 75%. No healthcare at all.
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Old 02-02-2012, 05:15 PM
 
Location: Near a river
16,042 posts, read 21,915,486 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ariadne22 View Post
^^And then we wonder why some people favor Socialism. Can't count on the capitalists to honor their promises. Doing the moral thing has nothing to do with doing what's legal. I experienced a similar thing w/pension - cut by 75%. No healthcare at all.
No health coverage is the "killer" - both financially and literally.
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Old 02-02-2012, 06:17 PM
 
Location: Florida -
10,213 posts, read 14,761,879 times
Reputation: 21845
I was planning on going early (at 62)... but, the company was offering a special buy-out option, based on one's time with the company. I traded my 27 years for almost a year's worth of pay with benefits ... and retired a year early.
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Old 02-02-2012, 06:26 PM
 
Location: Sierra Vista, AZ
17,531 posts, read 24,617,171 times
Reputation: 9975
I wasn't planning on leaving but the offer I recieved was good enough that fighting it would be pyrric. They didn't have to ask twice
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