Retirement Thread

[Mosbonian]

After the positive responses and congratulations on my Retirement thread, the idea came to me that there should be a thread that helps everyone prepare for the eventuality of retirement.

There were many great ideas, comments and great suggestions that came out of the conversation. What I would like to do is put this here as a repository for information for anyone who is:

• Ready to retire
• Close to retirement
• Beginning to plan for retirement

One of the things I came to find out is that no matter how much I had thought I was prepared for retirement, there were still things I had not pondered or prepared for.

So this thread is for all your questions, comments, advice to help others that are close to retirement.

I mean....this board is about a year and a half away from being around for a quarter of a century, and many of us who have been around are there already.

So, please feel free to contribute!

[tx4chiefs]

If you're young enough, get a job in government (teaching, fireman, police officer, etc.) there is nothing better than a defined pension at the end of your career. Government employees, don't get rich, but it is made up later when they pay you for not coming to work.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by HemiEd

When we retired in 2014, I would have never believed that I would have to pay $10.50 for 5 peaches or $950 for 6 months of car insurance.

I'm paying $1275 for 6 months on a 2013 Lexus SUV with 26K miles. I've looked around several times. Cheapest I could get. Maybe its different in Florida due to hurricanes?

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by tx4chiefs

If you're young enough, get a job in government (teaching, fireman, police officer, etc.) there is nothing better than a defined pension at the end of your career. Government employees, don't get rich, but it is made up later when they pay you for not coming to work.

I remember my parents trying to get me to work at the post office. Same pitch as yours above.

[crayzkirk]

Originally Posted by tx4chiefs

If you're young enough, get a job in government (teaching, fireman, police officer, etc.) there is nothing better than a defined pension at the end of your career. Government employees, don't get rich, but it is made up later when they pay you for not coming to work.

You won't make as much money in the public sector compared to the private however people I have known retired at 55 instead of 65 and have benefits paid for. It really makes sense now that we 'get' to contribute to our own retirement fund instead of having a company provided pension as part of our compensation. All I can say is start early on your 401k and put in as much as you can because it doesn't hurt your take home pay as much as you would think.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by crayzkirk

You won't make as much money in the public sector compared to the private however people I have known retired at 55 instead of 65 and have benefits paid for. It really makes sense now that we 'get' to contribute to our own retirement fund instead of having a company provided pension as part of our compensation. All I can say is start early on your 401k and put in as much as you can because it doesn't hurt your take home pay as much as you would think.

Thats the basic stuff people should be doing. Most are not thinking retirement at 30. Starting early makes for a bigger pile on money at the end.

Also buy a house ASAP that has potential for growth. in prices. The equity can be a source of income if you run into trouble later. It builds wealth.

We paid the same price for a house in Florida as my house back in Lees Summitt. But, in the 10 years I've lived in this house its almost tripled in value. Lees Summitt house, maybe 5% growth. Do your research and make the leap.

[HemiEd]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

I'm paying $1275 for 6 months on a 2013 Lexus SUV with 26K miles. I've looked around several times. Cheapest I could get. Maybe its different in Florida due to hurricanes?

Could be a lot things. Driving record? Liability ceiling?

Mine is for 3 vehicles and the newest is a 2014 Prius. We just changed yesterday, so it's all pretty fresh on my mind.
One thing I have learned is you have to change every three or four years as they all keep jacking it up once they think you are comfortable with them.n

[Misplaced_Chiefs_Fan]

Yeah, about five years into my job, my manager at the time came to me and said they were thinking about giving me a team so they could show management I was ready to be promoted. I asked her how many and she said, "Oh, 3 or 4. I don't want to stress you."

"Lori, I was pushing 3-4 people around 12 years ago* in the Army. If you're worried that'll stress me, then please do not consider me for the job. I've been management (aka senior NCO) and I don't like it. I don't like paperwork and I don't like useless meetings. I like tech writing/editing." That's when I told her about my time as the Operations Sergeant with 84 people. "Honestly, I think being asked to lead 3-4 people would be a big step backward for me."

"Oh. So, how's the tech writing going?"

"Great."

"Good to hear. Any suggestions for who might be good at this team lead slot?"


*12 years before that conversation I was a Specialist serving as a squad leader. My first squad as a Sergeant was 23 kids right out of Basic Training . . now that was an experience to say the least. Eventually, they assigned half of them to another Sergeant which did NOT make me cry.

Originally Posted by GloryDayz

I'll be honest, I had staff members who were exactly like you and they were some of the most productive and easy people to have on staff. I was in network engineering so it was actually very nice having staff who just wanted to engineer and/or troubleshoot networking issues, but weren't jockeying for the next supervisory job. So my hats off to you for being the dude who made it clear that you were happy where you were and got on to talking football.