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Not if you receive a pension at 55. Calling it quits means you quit working and NO income being derived from the work you had performed. I know plenty of folks that retired at 55 because they had the required 30 yrs of service to be eligible to draw a retirement pension.
I WILL agree if you just quit with no residual income from the work years you put in, it is just "quitting" and waiting (and PRAYING) that Social Security does not change the rules before you turn 62 yrs old.
The ONLY reason people can consider quitting at 55-60 is a pension, an inheritance or alot of good investments. Sadly most don't have these things. In fact in 10 years even 401k matches will be a thing of the past. Ah to be a baby boomer, you got it all..consider yourselves lucky. From this point on if you don't do your own saving..in between paying high medical premiums and ever increasing taxes. (Another thing most baby boomers never had to deal with) you can expect to work till death do you part.
The ONLY reason people can consider quitting at 55-60 is a pension. Sadly most don't have one and the younger generation will only hear about it as a distant memory. In fact in 10 years even 401k matches will be a thing of the past. Ah to be a baby boomer....lucky..Got it all ...rest of us are gonna pay for it
I got my pension when I was 42. That was because I did 4 years of college. Otherwise I could have gotten it at 38.
Retirement is a very personal and complex decision. It involves three primary factors:
1. The 'work' you do vs the 'job' you have, i.e. how, when, and where you must do it.
You can love your work, as I did, have a wonderful career, as I did, but not like the particular incarnation of the job... me again at the end.
2. The money you will need to live the life you desire, a very large variable among very different folks. Some want very little, others are accustomed to, and desire much more. Amen.
3. Your time:health ratio. If you are in excellent health you can gamble on having a bit more time. But don't wait too long - life comes at you real fast and can turn on a dime.
When these three factors combine to produce a better result IN THE FUTURE, based on your own personal guestimate, you stay working.
When one factor, like time or health, becomes more valuable than the money forfeited, you retire, either in part or wholly, as the situation permits.
For some the decision is easy; for others it is not.
If I were in your spot, and based on your posts, I'd call it a day @55.
Believe me, I retired comfortably and healthfully at 60 and wished I could have done it sooner..
Some just have luck and others have a well executed plan that comes to fruition...
The best planning can still come up short... as it did for a United Airlines pilot... his retirement was all but wiped out...
One of the jobs I had as a teen was working for a specialty auto shop that did restorations... the guys that owned the cars we worked on were for the most part very successful... mostly business owners, executives, a judge and airline pilots with doctors included...
About half had great retirements through business/employment... about half had invested in income property... and the advice I got was to start early... and that is what I did and have kept doing...
Last edited by Ultrarunner; 07-28-2015 at 09:48 PM..
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
34,732 posts, read 58,079,686 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ultrarunner
Some just have luck and others have a well executed plan that comes to fruition...
The best planning can still come up short... as it did for a United Airlines pilot... his retirement was all but wiped out...
...
My CEO (High tech with a Medieval History Degree) lost 80 % of company valuation, caused retirees who had trusted the company stock to become destitute and some actually DIED over the stress, I got sent packing 6 wks shy of retirement (32 yrs service). She took my pension and 800 hrs of Sick Leave to Monte Carlo and doubled down! I lost it all, but she got $14m for severance (FIRED). and now... she is a USA Presidential candidate.. Probably well suited for THAT!
Best laid "Plans" have an unpredictable way of imploding... Who would have thought a 60 yr old cash rich company that lent to the USA gov (to meet payroll / pension shortfalls for our good buddies on this forum)... would be dismantled in 6 yrs? Stuff Happens! (Count on it).
At least I got a lot of experience being retired well before age 55!
Seems one of the only "Sure" things are government retirements...
A lot of my friends and that of my family worked for the government in various areas...
Of my good friends... 12 went into law enforcement and all have done unbelievably well... some of the plans that were offered are almost beyond belief and yet true.
My city had a retirement system for Law Enforcement and last I checked... there was still one current worker under the old plan... what makes is unbelievable is the pension is tied to what the position currently pays... so even if you retired 25 years ago as a Sargent... your retirement pay is what a Sargent earns today... from some... their retirement is several times more than their best year working plus lifetime medical...
It is not just life safety... but extends to others such as various directors for things like water boards and such... a brief stint and lifetime medical...
I come from a family where we work until we can't... and I imagine this is how things are on small family farms...
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
34,732 posts, read 58,079,686 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ultrarunner
Seems one of the only "Sure" things are government retirements...
...
I come from a family where we work until we can't... and I imagine this is how things are on small family farms...
Yup... my grandpa died at 93, after he fell off the tractor while fueling it. He had taken 3 days vacation in his 'dairy farm life'. Never a surgery / 'out-of-commission' tho he was pretty stiff when he fell of the neighbor's 3 story roof into a basement hole at age 76. (Someone had 'forgot' to nail a sheet of plywood...) At age 14 he was sent to SD with a team of horses to work harvest crews and bring home some money for the family. He had GREAT stories about driving the team across a floating bridge!
Teachers often do very well on pensions. Many are 'spousal / double income' and rake in well over $100k on combined pensions.
We had 'double income' while the kids were selling eggs. (and 4x expense paying for the 'scratch'!) I sold Cider and Cider presses. Built woodstoves and log splitters and always had 2-3 PT jobs to support my habit.
Just hope I can keep it up till age 90+ (PT income and working till I can't)... I had a tough accident this last week and 'splinter' fractured a couple bones in my leg. I can still walk, so that is nice. No sick leave, no insurance... just gonna have to grimace and bear it and hope it heals fairly straight. Spouse broke a leg and asked the doc to straighten out the 'Bow-Legs'... can't do...unless you break BOTH of them.
This week... I make 'Chester' look like a marathon runner!
I gotta go 'ice the leg'... summer farm duty means I have been in boots and up on the sore leg for 21 hrs. Chores start again in 3hrs, So I will get it iced for a couple hours. Who needs a pension? no time to spend money, or to spend time COUNTING money. We always joked about our 'federal retiree' neighbors who RUSHED to the mailbox and scolded the RFD if their check was a day late! . They were the only ones living on the 'section' that were stingy... they missed out on a LOT for free stuff the rest of us shared! I will assure you we never got so much as a zucchini from them! But... I still bladed their driveway every snow... they Definitely didn't offer to pay for diesel or offer me coffee or cocoa (as did all the other neighbors). That would have totally messed up their pension / budget!
Wishing you a speedy recovery... it does take longer to mend as we get older...
My farmer Grandfather passed away at 93... he was active and "Healthy" never in a hospital until a log splitter accident at age 88... always up with the chickens running his Dairy Farm... Grandma and Grandpa had never been more than 30 miles from the farm except the weekend when they married and the one time they came to California for a visit... it was something they talked about for years...
He could have gone on longer... Doc said he should have a pacemaker and refused... noticed it when he had the log splitter incident.
The other side never retired either... even when Dad was in his 70's and having Chemo... he insisted on the first early morning appointment... said he had a business to run and no time to waste...
I could only hope to have their work ethic and stamina...
I'm certain working and not retiring kept both my Father and Grandfather's around longer... they valued what they did and people depended on them...
Wishing you a speedy recovery... it does take longer to mend as we get older...
My farmer Grandfather passed away at 93... he was active and "Healthy" never in a hospital until a log splitter accident at age 88... always up with the chickens running his Dairy Farm... Grandma and Grandpa had never been more than 30 miles from the farm except the weekend when they married and the one time they came to California for a visit... it was something they talked about for years...
He could have gone on longer... Doc said he should have a pacemaker and refused... noticed it when he had the log splitter incident.
The other side never retired either... even when Dad was in his 70's and having Chemo... he insisted on the first early morning appointment... said he had a business to run and no time to waste...
I could only hope to have their work ethic and stamina...
I'm certain working and not retiring kept both my Father and Grandfather's around longer... they valued what they did and people depended on them...
Awesome story. Thanks for sharing My opinion on the pace maker is the operation would have opened up another can of worms and he was better off without it.
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At age 14 he was sent to SD with a team of horses to work harvest crews and bring home some money for the family. He had GREAT stories about driving the team across a floating bridge!
(and 4x expense paying for the 'scratch'!) I sold Cider and Cider presses. Built woodstoves and log splitters and always had 2-3 PT jobs to support my habit. 
. They were the only ones living on the 'section' that were stingy... they missed out on a LOT for free stuff the rest of us shared! I will assure you we never got so much as a zucchini from them! But... I still bladed their driveway every snow... they Definitely didn't offer to pay for diesel or offer me coffee or cocoa (as did all the other neighbors). That would have totally messed up their pension / budget!
My opinion on the pace maker is the operation would have opened up another can of worms and he was better off without it.
