For Those Who Retired Early -- Why? (55, pensions, divorce)

[Calvert Hall '62]

Late wife and I worked for the same agency for 30 years and retired within a month of each other. I was 53, she a few years older.


She was simply burned out after 30 years but would've hung on if I had.


My reasons:
1) Parents, in their early and mid-70s respectively, died unexpectedly within 18 months of each other. I say unexpectedly because their health profiles were even better than mine and my only issue was a slightly elevated blood pressure well-controlled by meds and exercise. I figured that I was cursed with lousy genes regardless of lifestyle and wanted to enjoy a bit of retirement.


2) But the main reason was the 64-mile (round trip) commute. Hate driving. For a number of years we were in an employer-sponsored van pool but that had its own issues especially when the agency introduced flex-time. people could choose their own starting and leaving times as long as they worked certain core hrs. (9:30 am-2:30 pm) during the day


Fortunately, we were able to afford retirement financially.


In retrospect, early out was a good decision. Now I'm 73 and 4 mos., dad made it to 73 and 11 mos. Hope I can surpass him.

[sweetana3]

1. I could not stand my newest boss and I was her management assistant. I had to finish out 5 years so I could take my health insurance into retirement and I worked about one month extra just to make sure.

2. Hubby got laid off with 5000 others and took early retirement.

We had planned our retirement for 30+ years and so it was an easy slide into it. Both of us were around 57.

Our net worth is double what we planned for and pretty secure with pensions added in.

[lieqiang]

We retired at the peak of our earning years (which can be a gut-wrenching decision) because we decided we had saved enough and wanted to do things that wouldn't have been possible while holding a job.

[North Beach Person]

I retired at 61 instead of 62 as I'd always planned. I'd had a gutful and spent most of the last year from 60 to 61 on sick leave. I decided to just retire instead of going back for one year. I still had a year of leave accrued when I left. I could have spent that year but would have continued to be required to submit medical paperwork every three or four weeks. It wasn't worth it.

[JOinGA]

I will retire at 61 1/2. My daughter lives in another state and plans to start a family. I want to be there to help her. I am sick of my job and the management there. It scares me to give up the paycheck, even though, running the numbers (over and over) I should be okay. I am a very conservative person, financially (liberal, politically, but we won't go there). I don't take major changes lightly. But, there will be no second-guessing as I close on a house in my new state next week. I still have a year until I can move there full-time, but the house/location were right, so I am taking the leap. This next year, I can spend working on the new house and getting my current house ready to sell. Nervous and excited. I have lived-in the same house for 30 years and been at the same job for 18 years. Ready for change!

[brava4]

If you do a search, above, you will find numerous threads about this topic.

[TMKSarah]

Due to divorce I lost my marriage and my job (we had a business together) at 58. I tried to get a full time job in the field I left 8 years prior but no go. I have had many part time jobs and work as a substitute teacher and will stay with that until I retire completely.

It has been a hard slog this past three years, living very frugally. I am coming up on 62 and will take SS. I will continue to work part time.

We had a very successful business and getting half of it was financially so beneficial to me. Although I still have fears of being a bag lady, I suspect I will not if I can continue to work, maybe, two times a week, summers off. I like the kiddos although they are a huge handful and I sometimes come home feeling like I have been fighting a cyclone.

My health is good and for that I am more than grateful.

I was shocked though to find out just how much Medicare plus will affect my budget. One must have it though, so what can you do....go without...I don't think so.

[mathjak107]

medicare only pays 80% of all the bills so that other 20% is uncapped and the sky is the limit with anything serious . you don't want to be without extra coverage .

"Medicare Part A covers inpatient services, including nursing homes and skilled nursing facilities. The coverage is substantial, but limited. For hospital inpatient stays, Medicare goes on a 60-30-60 day schedule. There is one deductible amount that covers the first 60 days of a hospital stay, the a daily co-pay amount for the next 30 days, and finally a higher co-pay amount for the next 60 days, known as lifetime reserve days because once these particular days are used, they can never be used again. These amounts change yearly, along with Medicare Part B. For nursing home and skilled nursing facility coverage, Medicare will cover the first 100 days of admission.

For those first 60 days, if you're discharged and then admitted back into the hospital within 90 days, your benefit period picks up from however many days you used the first time. Therefore, if you used five days the first time, you still have 55 days and don't have to pay another deductible. However, if it's more than 90 days, then the first deductible will kick in again.

Medicare Part B covers outpatient services. It's a paid insurance that has a monthly fee. For outpatient services, after a small yearly deductible amount, patients will owe a 20% co-pay for all services. There are a wide range of services covered by Part B."

http://www.medicalbillinganswers.com/medicare.html

[gentlearts]

My job got eliminated, and nobody wants to hire a 64 year old. Fortunately, COBRA lasted long enough until Medicare kicked in.

[jghorton]

My plan was to retire at 62, but company offered a buyout plan which amounted to 1-year at full pay with insurance ... so, I pulled the plug. I had also spent about 30-years in the ministry (concurrent with my job) and was growing tired of doing both - so I gave-up the job.