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I'll be retiring a couple of months short of 65. I will pay COBRA as the price for resting up before my big move. I want to turn 65 with the same friends I've been doing birthdays with for some time, then hit the road for Colorado. It's also about the time when the guy who wants to buy my house will be wanting to do so. I will file for Medicare three months before my birthday but will need a different plan when I get to CO (very few provider choices). There are so many things to consider!
I actually found that retirement put me ahead financially. I sold the house and traveled in an RV. My expenses were very low for those 2 years. I did better than if I had continued to work and live in my house and high cost area.
I'm not looking at net loss/gain for one year; the decision I make will effect my income every year for the rest of my life. And my job isn't at all stressful, nor do I hate it. But when I retire, I'll be drastically changing my life (relocating), so it's an all-or-nothing event.
I'm not looking at net loss/gain for one year; the decision I make will effect my income every year for the rest of my life. And my job isn't at all stressful, nor do I hate it. But when I retire, I'll be drastically changing my life (relocating), so it's an all-or-nothing event.
If I had the money to retire tomorrow, I would do it (I'm 64). I spend hours online trying to find some place I could afford to and want to live on only ss and a small pension, which would be impossible where I am now. The alternative is to stick it out another couple of years till I'm 66 so I can keep working without getting penalized. That said, there is $1000 difference between what my ss is going to be at 66 vs waiting till I'm 70. So for me too, retiring now would be life altering and honestly, I wish I had the guts to do it but I also don't want to be homeless. Decisions, decisions...
I'll be retiring a couple of months short of 65. I will pay COBRA as the price for resting up before my big move.......
I retired 5 1/2 months prior to age 65. My COBRA plan would have cost me many of thousands of dollars. Instead I read the fine print from my company's HR department. I could pay my COBRA fees anytime during the first 6 months and it would instantly be retroactive from the day I retired. I even told my wife how to phone in a payment for activation in case I had an emergency although I do not think that would have been necessary as long as I paid for coverage anytime before the end of the 6 months. I ended up paying a hundred some dollar amount out of pocket for a doctor's office visit and then starting my Medicare and Medicare supplemental insurance.
I think my COBRA is something like 60 days, or used to be when I used it many years ago. I might delay my retirement date by a month or so to save a few thousand dollars. I think I'm in "under one year" syndrome and as I am home from work right now recovering from some surgery, I am noticing how much I like not working nights,not going to work and being home with my critters. Tempting, tempting.
I'm fortunate to have full medical coverage (we actually do with just 20 years service, although the benefit would be reduced then), and mine will be full retirement with an unreduced pension. In addition, I have quite a bit in savings (owned and managed rental property on the side), an IRA on which I can draw next year, and -- most valuable of all -- a frugal lifestyle. Low overhead is the secret! But since this will mark the end of my earning power, basically, and if I can really "make bank" this last year, why not? It's easy once you *can* leave. The sad fact is that MOST people simply don't grasp the concept of delayed gratification.
That assumes that any time spent working is miserable and wasted and every minute of retirement is by definition joyful and meaningful; I don't think of life in such black-and-white terms, I guess.
I tend to agree. The little bits i still work doing consultation work i find as nice as the leisure stuff we do being retired. It is both things i enjoy doing
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