When to Retire

[ksanders]

Some here are a bit more optimistic than me regarding their future earnings from saved money.

I use a simple 5% rule.

If I have X dollars I can remove 5% per year and never run out of money.

Many will say I can do better tyhan that, and I hope I can. But I am counting on at least being able to follow my 5% rule.

 

[smitty477]

Some here are a bit more optimistic than me regarding their future earnings from saved money.

I use a simple 5% rule.

If I have X dollars I can remove 5% per year and never run out of money.

Many will say I can do better tyhan that, and I hope I can. But I am counting on at least being able to follow my 5% rule.

Kevin - FWIW I believe your approach is sound and there exists a host of supporting studies, data and calculators to aid with these reviews. One of the most extensive sites for this data is at "Early Retirement Now" (ERN)
Attached link to that site is here....

https://earlyretirementnow.com/2016/12/07/the-ultimate-guide-to-safe-withdrawal-rates-part-1-intro/

 

[menzies]

Does anyone here have a company pension (not government/military)?

 

[boathealer]

Does anyone here have a company pension (not government/military)?

I do. I was one of the last at my tech company to be in. It was cut off 12 years before I left. Not much - it basically covers our subsidized healthcare costs each month. Im not complainin' though!

 

[rgano]

I spent 47 years (minus one year split between the oil patch and delivering vessels) between being IN the Navy and working as a contractor FOR the Navy. Darned if I didn't spend more time as a contractor on bridge watches on destroyers and cruisers and even a carrier or two than I did while on active duty. None of that involved high-end remuneration. My 30-year Navy career father told me before I joined that the Navy would take the best years of my life and toss me out at the end with little money to show for it, but it was a calling, what can I say? With no children, various sources tell me I was 250,000 dollars per kid better off as each kid grew to age 18; so my plan to have ten kids who didn't actually show worked well! Realistically, I invested all that I was allowed into my IRA as soon as that method was invented from age 28 (I already owned several pieces of real estate) and really piled it on in in the later years when I was allowed to throw in a few thousand extra every year. I did not raise my standard of living as I rose in rank and income. Then late in life I did what all Naval officers are advised to do early in their careers and married money. Suddenly the retirement spreadsheet I had be perfecting for a few years said NOW. I made my wife quit her job and retire and worked a couple more year for the fun of it (where else can you have carte blanche to throw tens of thousands of tons and horsepower around the ocean at excessive speeds?) and here we are happy as clams at high tide.

 

[jclays]

I retired at 60. One year ago tomorrow. At the beginning of 2019 I had a hernia surgery that I had been postponing done ( work induced) was off for a month. Came back to work for a month and scheduled a right shoulder replacement (also work related) off for 4 1/2 months. Came back for 6 weeks and told the boss I was retiring. He expected it. In our line of work the guys saved their repair surgeries to just before they retire . Its all on the company. Then retire. I took the cash buy out vs the Pension that way if I die young my kids can get the money. Plus with my 401k and other investments I got a raise when i retired. I am actually taking home several thousand dollars more a month then when I was working. I have held off SS till age 67 when it at its max. If SS goes bust Ill still be ok without it,
Get yourself a good financial advisor. Very invaluable for helping you make the correct decision.

 

[menzies]

Get yourself a good financial advisor. Very invaluable for helping you make the correct decision.

Actually more invaluable for stopping you from making the wrong decision!

 

[jclays]

True.

 

[O C Diver]

Congratulations Murray on retiring!

Having done both, I prefer retirement.

As mentioned previously, my goal was to enter retirement without debt. Stopped financing things in 1990 after absorbing all the payments from a failed marriage. Financed my retirement home for 15 years in 2004. Retired before it was paid off, but new the time was right. Have 4 years and 8 months till I can collect full social security. Meanwhile the wife is still working. Somebody has to provide the health insurance. New it was time to retire when return on investments was exceeding my cost of living.

Ted

 

[Northern Spy]

Congrats Murray! Enjoy.

My own thoughts of retirement is that very small percentage of people who have lived on this earth will have the luxury of retirement. Really it's just the last 2 or 3 (maybe 4) generations of people in a minority of Western countries have been able to pull it off.

It's a bit of an unsustainable ponzi scheme that few get to participate in.

So if you get to do it. Enjoy it!

 

[markpierce]

When the kids graduate debt-free from college, no credit card balance, house mortgage paid off and a paid-for vehicle, it is time to consider retirement.

I retired on a half-pension plus savings and investments, despite my medical insurance cost doubling when turning 65. Medicare charges on me are about the same what the employer preciously paid. (Conclusion: the government isn't subsidizing my medical care despite having paid medicare tax while working.)

 

[Lou_tribal]

Congratulations Murray!
Any plan to visit back Chicoutimi?
My wife and I plan to retire in a bit more than 6 years. She will have her full pension from working in healthcare, she will be 55. I will have what I put aside in my private pension plan, I will be 51. We won't be rich in any way but our richness will be to be able to enjoy to be together. House is paid, debt is paid and we have no kid. We will get around 60% of our current revenue what will be far enough for the life we want to live. Simple things, small house near water, the boat, spend time together, cooking, woodworking, all of this in front of our beloved gulf of st lawrence, watching bigger boats passing by. Nothing special but just what we aim for.

L

 

[BruceK]

Barring some compelling event, retiring is a very personal decision. Murray, you`ve spoken of the desire to retire for the pleasures it can bring, now you can enjoy them.

 

[ksanders]

Does anyone here have a company pension (not government/military)?

Yes, three of them. I have targeted companies that have pensions in my employment.

Two union, one management

 

[MurrayM]

...Any plan to visit back Chicoutimi?...

You bet. We plan to take a very meandering backroads route, hopefully touching Canada's Pacific, Atlantic, and Arctic Oceans, so we'd of course have to visit my birthplace.

One day (after Badger) will also have to visit Minchinhampton, England

 

[menzies]

Yes, three of them. I have targeted companies that have pensions in my employment.

Two union, one management

What is a targeted company?

 

[Lou_tribal]

Does anyone here have a company pension (not government/military)?

Yes and no, for 1$ I put aside my company put 1$ to a max of 4% of my salary, and .5$ to a max of 6%. As the company manages a multi billions portfolio we benefit of good plan managers and yearly growth is quite high so my bacon makes babies.
However the pension plan is mine meaning I own it, not a company plan with guaranteed income. If I choose to ruin it with bad practice I can lol.

L

 

[Lou_tribal]

You bet. We plan to take a very meandering backroads route, hopefully touching Canada's Pacific, Atlantic, and Arctic Oceans, so we'd of course have to visit my birthplace.

One day (after Badger) will also have to visit Minchinhampton, England

Keep us posted about your retirement meandering and enjoy every second of it.
Maybe our path will cross sometime on your way East .

L

 

[ksanders]

What is a targeted company?

For the most part companies that pay pensions are public utilities.

I have spent a career in the electrical and oil/gas industries on the technical side of things.

I have worked as a substation tech, protection and controls engineer, SCADA engineer, network engineer, communications tech.

I am finishing up my career working as a power grid operator because it allows me to work essentially part time and still get a full time salary. Same pay as a senior engineer but I am only working 135 days this year.

 

[klee wyck]

I agree that timing when to retire based on some financial calculation is very personal based the standard of living/consumption patterns during one's work life and around whether that level is needed or expected to stay the same, go up, or acceptable to go down.
I think the definition of retirement may also be personal. For us the personal part required that we find a way that we could be both retired and engaged at the same time on flexible terms. I suppose I am addicted in some way to looking at challenges and opportunities and solving for them and likely fearful of the boredom or sense of worthlessness that I may personally experience if I cannot choose to be useful in some way when it moves me.
We also had some truly great people in our orbit that were not done yet and I felt like I owed them some chance to complete their careers doing what they loved, knew, and were good at.
Boom, one problem solves the other.
We let the companies live on being run and partially owned by a select few of our folks who will respect and appreciate our input when we choose to show up. This rather than call the realtors or merger/acquisition folks we had dealt with previously. Debt is not an issue in our personal or business lives, we were old school in both and never grew to trust financial engineering. We respect those who do.
So far, so good. We are retired by our definition for good and hope to stay engaged for at least another 10. We will not run out of funds to cover any lifestyle we could imagine being interested in as we are best suited to rather moderate indulgences relative to our means. We hope for our health to allow us to harvest the fruit of the conservative way we prepared for the stage of life ahead. I am in my fifties and will enjoy saying that for the brief time I have left where I can!

 

[MurrayM]

I had taken my 4x5 large format B&W photography and enlarging as far as I could, technically, by way of sharp and unsharp pin registered masking techniques while printing. Also created an Ansco 120 based Glycin/Metol developer that worked really well with the quality of light in a temperate rain forest.

They were the best I could manage, but fell short; like looking through a window at something rather than holding an art object in ones hand.

My plan was to learn how to make polymer photogravures in retirement, but now am pretty sure platinum/palladium toned Kallitypes are the way to go.

Cool thing is, Kallitypes will marry modern digitally enlarged negatives contact printed to 100% cotton rag paper (with no smooth/white baryta coating like normal B&W paper) hand coated with emulsion recipes from the mid 1800's, and made from bulk ordered chemicals. The image will be within the paper fibres, rather than on top of a smooth layer coated onto the paper.

Should take about two years to become competent, then probably another two before I'll be able to instinctively create solutions unique to individual, challenging images. Have been reading about Irving Penn's multi-layer platinum printing technique (coat, expose, develop, then coat again, expose again, and develop again using pin registered negatives on one sheet of paper) Egad...

Gives me butterflies thinking about it.

If you aren't on the edge, you're occupying too much space...or...once you have things all figured out, you're dead in the water as an artist.

 

[syjos]

I retired in 1992 when I was 41. Got bored after two years and started and operated several part time businesses concurrently. Ran the businesses between September and April to have the summer open for boating

I have a short attention span so each business was for less than 5 years. Sell a businss, start another.

Except for my boatdriving instruction and boat equipment sales and repair business which I operated part time for close to 25 years. And my part time mobile DJ. business, which I started in 1974.

I finally retired from everything 4 years ago.

Except new boat equipment sales and eBay sales which is not really work.

 

[Keysdisease]

When to Retire?

For me it will be December 18, 2020. Wife already has a 10 page honey due list

 

[Sailor of Fortune]

I was going to retire at end of this year, that was the plan...I get six months off per year and get bored and restless after a few weeks home. Since I still really enjoy my occupation, I'm going to stick around for a bit, not sure how long. Running big boy toys still is a thrill for me after all these years. My crew is like family.

 

[menzies]

Retired Jan 1 2017 at 59.

My father worried that my leaving a high-paced job with a lot of international travel meant that I would get bored very quickly.

I told him not to worry.

Four months cruising in 17, seven months cruising in 18, four in 19.

So far spent a month on safari in Africa, a month in the Middle East, a month in Ireland including The Open, a month in South America including Carnival. With stops in Positano, Paris, London, thrown in. Plus big ship cruises to the Southern Caribbean and Alaska.

This year has been a downer with four trips cancelled. Our next planned trip was to Antarctica in January but we have just decided to move that to 2022. The Antartica piece would have been fine - going through Buenos Aires would have been risky!

I cringe when people tell me I am lucky. Luck had nothing to do with. Hard and smart working. Good planning. And not being frivolous or stupid with money was the key. Went back to school in my 40s when we had three children, and got a Master's from Penn. Meant a long drive there and back and books spread over the dining room at weekends.

Maxed out my 401K contributions including allowable post 55 increases. Never bought a new car until we retired - nothing wrong with two of three year olds. Collected and used points for a lot of family vacations - hotels and flights. Our boating was on a 1989 Silverton Aft Cabin - slept 8 but had 11 on board for a weekend. Had it for 14 years. It did the job and didn't cost me an arm and a leg.

 

[Bacchus]

Does anyone here have a company pension (not government/military)?

[emoji106] yup... I was fortunate enough to in the last of those. We were given a choice keep pension or move to an enhanced Co matching plan... chose pension and still had a decent Co match on investments.
What made oyrs a huge success was when starting to plan (early) we assumed SSA would be gone or significantly reduced so we had to make up for it. Well SSA is still there and was able to hold off taking it until FRA full retirement age of 66 by doing some part time consulting.
As I've stated before... the best $ learning experience for us was to sit down and figure out where we spent all of our gross income while working... very enlightening and helpful for decision making as to what could, would, or would we like to change!

 

[PM]

I'll stay with my original answer. $1,000 a week of steady income is not a lot and certainly will not allow a lot of travel, dining out or expensive gifts. It will allow you to retire in comfort, use your boat whenever you want, travel a couple times a year and generally grow fat and lazy.

One thing I would like to point out. (I know it is off topic). When I was younger, pre-retirement, I really got tired of my financial planners telling me to put as much in my 401 (B) or whatever plan they were advocating. Always saying, "It will be taxed at your lower income rate when you retire".

My response was always "Screw that idea", "I want to earn more in retirement than pre retirement.

pete

 

[menzies]

One thing I would like to point out. (I know it is off topic). When I was younger, pre-retirement, I really got tired of my financial planners telling me to put as much in my 401 (B) or whatever plan they were advocating. Always saying, "It will be taxed at your lower income rate when you retire".

My response was always "Screw that idea", "I want to earn more in retirement than pre retirement.

pete

Not sure they are mutually exclusive? Doing one will give you the other.

By not joining the company 401K you left free money on the table in two ways. Your company's contribution (which can be significant) and the tax you would have paid is now working for you as well.

Frankly, IMO, there is never a reason for not joining a 401K.

 

[boathealer]

One thing people (I think) forget is that there are two sides to the retirement equation - Income/savings and SPENDING. You don't HAVE to keep up with the Jones' in retirement - if you don't want to.

We quickly realized that, just like compounding interest operates while saving, reducing your planned spending over retirement GREATLY reduces what is required.

We both said that when we decided we were done working in our 60-80hr per week tech jobs, we were done working - period. We said that if we had to live in a trailer and eat bologna sandwiches - but didn't have to work - then so be it. We would enjoy life anyway. We would just lower our standard of living based on whatever we had saved at that time.

Fortunately, saving the majority of our income for 30+ years (Scion instead of Mercedes, 1200sqft instead of 3000, driving vacations instead of Cancun/Italy, etc.) allowed it not to come to that, but we were prepared for either case.

Anyway, want to say, don't forget to look on the right side of the equation, too!

 

[boathealer]

Frankly, IMO, there is never a reason for not joining a 401K.

Agree - but only up to a match (free money). You can usually do better on your own with just the "three legged stool" as long as you don't mess with it.

BTW, I learned more reading over the last 15 years from the exceptionally wise folks at the Early Retirement Forum than I could have in 6 lifetimes. Far more than any "Financial Advisor" could have provided --- for a lot less money.