OK, YMer's here you go! I need advise!

[Value Buy]

I have decided to retire between now and the end of the year.

I have also decided to include you in my decision process. You can participate and help formulate my exit strategy!

Happily married, my wife basically does volunteer work to compensate for me being a conservative  Republican. She is strong Democrat socialist

First off, my birthday is in September, but thinking of working through part of October, since summer is over and temps are getting cooler, no sense retiring in September, but have decided I want the holidays weeks off to really enjoy them. Should have retired this spring to enjoy the summer.

My health is excellent, no issues there yet, and could continue to work. In fact I think work has helped keep my "younger" than I am. I put in 10 hour days.

Should I continue work? I am in mid level management. How many week's notice should be the correct amount? Keep in mind, they do know my true age, and I did tell a supervisor last March I would probably retire sometime this year, but no one from hr has asked squiddily yet. He probably did not tell them. I do have to check to see if they will pay out my vacation time at time of leaving, or if I have to use it before retiring-four weeks.

I need to know how much I should have squirrled away by now to live to say, 90 (I like round numbers!) so we are talking around 25 years or so.

Still owe about $70,000 on the house. Could pay it off anytime, but prefer to keep invested in stocks for income and appreciation purposes.

Planning on buying something in Florida for winter months, next year, south of Tampa somewhere, on gulf side, WHICH WILL COME OUT OF INVESTMENTS.... who wants to leave it to the kids anyway.........

How much really spendable money do I need to live a modest lifestyle in retirement, figuring  a 14 day summer vacation every year somewhere, and maintaining two homes.

If goes as planned, Social Security will kick in first of September regardless of what I do.

We have two cars. Should we go down to one?

No pension, just investments, 401-k and Ira's plus stock portfolio, and less than $20,000 in a bond fund. Do not really want to say what it is worth here, so tell me what it should be.

I also want the group to pick my retirement day this fall for me just for the heck of it. Tell me why you picked a specific day and why.

Cannot guarantee I would go with your pick, but who knows?

Wish we could do a poll

Give me your best shot!

Mods, I posted on YM because it is a money issue, but if you think it should go to off topic, be my guest.

[yogiii]

I found out recently that at my company if you work 1 day in that month you get the PTO allotment for that month so I would pick retiring Tuesday November 4.

[skubikky]

It would be more helpful to have your actual numbers.
Monthly living expenses
Anticipated health insurance costs
Your total assets and liabilities
Anticipated estimates of maintaining two homes.

Without specifics it's just a general discussion.

Also, HR doesn't get notified of your resignation until you actually resign.

[Value Buy]

I know specifics would be good, but too much info posted here always bites you in the butt here, so I just want generalities. I might get more specific

as we go along.

For instance, with no pension, there is no insurance so I am setting up my secondary insurance to back up Medicare as we speak. 

House payment is just under $800 with taxes and insurance included

[Deleted]

My aunt keeps saying she can't retire till January because of taxes...   ... Is there some reason to wait? 

I was thinking maybe pay for sick time or something at the end of service. It actually didn't make sense to me? Bug I'd hate for there to be something you shouldn't ignore that I don't know about...

[Regis]

Sounds like retirement is a little scary for you.  I'll pick October 31 (Halloween).

[tskeeter]

Some things that I consider when thinking about my retirement date:

How is vacation and sick time time handled?  Some companies award the full year of vacation and sick time effective January 1st, or there abouts.  If you retire December 20th and have used all your vacation/sick time for the year, no pay out for unused vacation time.  If you retire January 5th, you could get paid for several weeks of unused vacation time.  Learn exactly how your vacation and sick time works and plan accordingly.  Why kiss off what could be close to $15K in unused vacation/sick pay?

How are bonuses, incentive payments, or stock awards handled?  Do you have to be an active employee to receive any bonus?  Our bonuses are paid out in March for the previous year.  And, I believe you have to be an active employee to receive your bonus.  No way that I'm going to work all year.  Earn a bonus of several thouand dollars.  Then kiss it off by retiring a few weeks before the bonuses are paid.  (And I ain't telling them I'm retiring until I have the bonus in my checking account.)

And, as another poster pointed out, most medical plans cover you for the full month if you work at least one day during the month.  A month worth of employer subsidized medical care isn't anything to sneeze at. 

Finally, the most important thing to do.  Since you don't want to share much for financial details here, get yourself to a fee only financial planner and have them work through some retirement scenarios with you.  You are making the multi-million dollar decision of a lifetime.  This is not the time to guess about whether you are financially prepared, or how much money you can spend each month without running the risk of running out of money and spending the last years of your life as a social burden.  

[kent]

I don't know if you will be taking social security "early" or at your "normal" retirement age so I'll let you figure out what's best.

Accrued vacation should be paid out on the day you leave - the FLSA provides the employer with a three-day window for those that quit unexpectedly.

Notice?  Depending on how important your are to the ongoing operations and whether or not you hate your employer   I'd give a month myself.

No pension?  I'd build a spreadsheet to age 95.  Calculate the net present value of anticipated expenditures (include inflation issues) and that should help answer how much you should have on hand right now.   Personally, for a starting point, I'd use the assumption that you'll need the same amount of income after you retire.

Social security will NOT kick in regardless of what you do - you have to Apply for it - just saying.

One or two cars?  Whatever suits you.  We tried one car and it was "OK" but that only lasted about a year and we bought another car for convenience (only).

Retirement date?  How about September 1 ,2014 - Labor Day?

Congrats in advance......

[Gardening Grandma]

When DH retired, he worked one day in Jan; that kept him on the payroll in the new year and qualified him for an additional 5 weeks vacation.. So his official retirement date was 5 weeks into the new year.
Have you checked to see if working into Jan,, 2015 will qualify you for additional vacation pay? Might be worth working through the holidays one last time...

Since you don't want to post specifics, the Bogleheads recommend a nest egg of 20 to 25 times your annual expenses - as a general rule of thumb.. But you need to know what your expenses are. Do you?

What is your asset allocation? Do you plan to keep it or go more conservative?

ETA
Second tskeeter's advice to see a fee only planner.  Mistakes made early in retirement can have disasterous results and you don't get do-overs.  I'd wait a couple of years before buying property....

[Sam_2.0]

You should officially retire as of Oct 19th, since that's my due date That's the only advice I have.

[Blonde Granny]

Jul 17, 2014 11:53:38 GMT -5 Value Buy said:

I have decided to retire between now and the end of the year.

I have also decided to include you in my decision process. You can participate and help formulate my exit strategy!

Happily married, my wife basically does volunteer work to compensate for me being a conservative  Republican. She is strong Democrat socialist

First off, my birthday is in September, but thinking of working through part of October, since summer is over and temps are getting cooler, no sense retiring in September, but have decided I want the holidays weeks off to really enjoy them. Should have retired this spring to enjoy the summer.

My health is excellent, no issues there yet, and could continue to work. In fact I think work has helped keep my "younger" than I am. I put in 10 hour days.

Should I continue work? I am in mid level management. How many week's notice should be the correct amount? Keep in mind, they do know my true age, and I did tell a supervisor last March I would probably retire sometime this year, but no one from hr has asked squiddily yet. He probably did not tell them. I do have to check to see if they will pay out my vacation time at time of leaving, or if I have to use it before retiring-four weeks.

I need to know how much I should have squirrled away by now to live to say, 90 (I like round numbers!) so we are talking around 25 years or so.

Still owe about $70,000 on the house. Could pay it off anytime, but prefer to keep invested in stocks for income and appreciation purposes.

Planning on buying something in Florida for winter months, next year, south of Tampa somewhere, on gulf side, WHICH WILL COME OUT OF INVESTMENTS.... who wants to leave it to the kids anyway.........

How much really spendable money do I need to live a modest lifestyle in retirement, figuring  a 14 day summer vacation every year somewhere, and maintaining two homes.

If goes as planned, Social Security will kick in first of September regardless of what I do.

We have two cars. Should we go down to one?

No pension, just investments, 401-k and Ira's plus stock portfolio, and less than $20,000 in a bond fund. Do not really want to say what it is worth here, so tell me what it should be.

I also want the group to pick my retirement day this fall for me just for the heck of it. Tell me why you picked a specific day and why.

Cannot guarantee I would go with your pick, but who knows?

Wish we could do a poll

Give me your best shot!

Mods, I posted on YM because it is a money issue, but if you think it should go to off topic, be my guest.

I'm answering because we've BTDT, & it was 19 years ago.  We're both 70.

We moved from Nebraska to Fla & bought a house in Punta Gorda on the canal system out to Charlotte Harbor.  We paid cash. Paid cash for used 5th wheel RV and new Ford diesel F250 truck.  We paid off my Cadillac, ultimately everything was paid for.

We hired a well known FP (uh, mistake) but we took a monthly income equal to the final salary of DH when he was working. Cobra was $275/mo for both of us.  He told company he was retiring in Nov. but it took till Febr.1 to make final contacts with clients etc.

Cars: We have tried going to 1 car 3 times now, it simply doesn't work because DH wants his own little convertible.  Right now it's a 2003 Mercedes SL.  We both took SS when we turned 62.  Today we live on SSN & VA disability.

We started a personal escrow account that has money put into each month.  It covers: RE taxes, auto/home/umbrella insurance, Christmas gifts for 3 grandkids, IRS & state quarterly tax payments, HOA dues, personal property tax, approximate dental for year, and our winter travel back to Florida.  It is our largest monthly expense.

I would sit down and look at your expenses for the past 12 months.  Some things happen financially that don't take into account you are now retired.  Cars need repairs, tires need to be replaced.  You can hit the jelly donut hole in Medicare Part D (actually there is no jelly in that hole, so I was quite perturbed).  You will still need to pay for Medicare and a good supplement, an Medicare cost is determined on your last 2 years.  Be careful if you decided to liquidate some investments that have significant capital gains.  Best to drag that out over a few years instead.

Maintaining 2 homes: BTDT, my DH hated it!!.  For the Florida home you will have outrageous insurance premiums, if in a condo, your HOA fees will be hundreds of dollars per month.  If in a house, you will likely need a caretaker for the months you are gone.  That will be another expense not counted on in the beginning.  If the house does not have hurricane shutters, you will want to have those installed $$$$$ and the caretaker will be responsible to putting up and removing after the storm passes.  Most communities have restrictions about leaving them up for months on end.  We even had to keep our roof power washed in Punta Gorda or we received a "good will notice" for the community people. Oh, and you will also need to learn how to summarize a house.  It's not complicated, just necessary.

I will leave the other financial things to others better equipped than me to answer you.  DH picked Nov. to tell the company, he didn't work past Jan 10th as we went to Florida to buy the house.  We came back to Omaha then, and moved 3 weeks later.  But since you want to be home for Christmas.....I'd quit Nov. 1.

...and this topic stays right where it is.

on edit: I forgot to say, we are living on SS & VA because our lifestyle over the years has changed.  It is simpler and far less extravagant than when DH first retired.  We are no longer taking any dividends or interest from our investments for living expenses.  We also have what we call our Oh sh+t account.  We keep about $10K in there and if something happens we need part of it, we replenish it from dividends or interest.  We also have a "just money" account and that's only because it makes me feel good.  Our escrow account has way too much money in it, but I simply tell DH to be quiet, it makes me feel safe.

[ArchietheDragon]

You need advice.


Yes, I went there.

[cronewitch]

I would hate to miss all the paid holidays. We got 6 from Thanksgiving to New Year's so I quit Jan 15. It was past the Christmas bonus and got to the new year profit sharing, my accrued vacation was paid out in a low income year.

I would give notice in November for Jan 5th. Then take a week of vacation for Thanksgiving and two weeks over Christmas say Dec 18-Jan 2 come back Monday Jan 5 for the retirement party.

[Deleted]

I agree with not wanting to miss out on the paid end-of-year holidays (unless perhaps you do not get them off?) If you can take the holiday period off, I'd take two weeks off then, and come back for a few days or in January. I like Crone's idea of coming back for your retirement party LOL. 

[swamp]

I have no advice. Other than to recommend bedazzling your butt with "I kwit" and moon everyone.

[Ombud]

Jul 17, 2014 12:14:12 GMT -5 oped said:

My aunt keeps saying she can't retire till January because of taxes...   ... Is there some reason to wait? 

I was thinking maybe pay for sick time or something at the end of service. It actually didn't make sense to me? Bug I'd hate for there to be something you shouldn't ignore that I don't know about...

[sesfw]

We have two cars. Should we go down to one?

Not if you wish to remain happily married.  LOL  Several years ago DH wanted to go to one vehicle and I told him he could get rid of his car any time he wanted to.  Haven't heard a word about it since.

Since retiring each of us goes separate ways often enough that one car isn't an option.  Especially if your wife stays volunteering.

I would hate to miss all the paid holidays.

  Besides all the 'in house parties' and such.   To me mid January would be about right.

[beenherebefore]

Hiya Value Buy!

My two cents: pay off your mortgage before retirement.

Standard retirement calculators indicate having 60-70% of your current income available for retirement.

We both remember what happened to the markets in 2001 and 2008 so, be careful out there.

Whatever you decide, best wishes to you and, as far as a date suggestion goes, my birthday is October 6th - it's as good a day as any, I suppose.

[Value Buy]

Jul 17, 2014 12:33:06 GMT -5 tskeeter said:

Some things that I consider when thinking about my retirement date:

How is vacation and sick time time handled?  Some companies award the full year of vacation and sick time effective January 1st, or there abouts.  If you retire December 20th and have used all your vacation/sick time for the year, no pay out for unused vacation time.  If you retire January 5th, you could get paid for several weeks of unused vacation time.  Learn exactly how your vacation and sick time works and plan accordingly.  Why kiss off what could be close to $15K in unused vacation/sick pay?

How are bonuses, incentive payments, or stock awards handled?  Do you have to be an active employee to receive any bonus?  Our bonuses are paid out in March for the previous year.  And, I believe you have to be an active employee to receive your bonus.  No way that I'm going to work all year.  Earn a bonus of several thouand dollars.  Then kiss it off by retiring a few weeks before the bonuses are paid.  (And I ain't telling them I'm retiring until I have the bonus in my checking account.)

And, as another poster pointed out, most medical plans cover you for the full month if you work at least one day during the month.  A month worth of employer subsidized medical care isn't anything to sneeze at. 

Finally, the most important thing to do.  Since you don't want to share much for financial details here, get yourself to a fee only financial planner and have them work through some retirement scenarios with you.  You are making the multi-million dollar decision of a lifetime.  This is not the time to guess about whether you are financially prepared, or how much money you can spend each month without running the risk of running out of money and spending the last years of your life as a social burden.  

Vacation is tied to hiring date. Just rolled over last week.

HR told another associate health insurance ends the day of departure.

I found this hard to believe, if payment has already been made for that month but that is what they were told. I still have to nail that detail down.

Bonuses are really not enough to hold me back- Should get one for the first six months later this month, so I will not leave much on the table there.

As far as nest egg, I just want to hear what most members consider to be a safe number. I think we are already there.

Social Security has been applied for already.

[Value Buy]

Jul 17, 2014 17:55:07 GMT -5 beenherebefore said:

Hiya Value Buy!

My two cents: pay off your mortgage before retirement.

Standard retirement calculators indicate having 60-70% of your current income available for retirement.

We both remember what happened to the markets in 2001 and 2008 so, be careful out there.

Whatever you decide, best wishes to you and, as far as a date suggestion goes, my birthday is October 6th - it's as good a day as any, I suppose.

Want to hold the mortgage deduction in place for real estate tax payment.

I currently am looking at the first week of October and getting out Friday afternoon.

Subject to change though.........

Also have to decide if I want Florida residency or Hoosier residency for tax purposes.

Florida holds the snowbirds to higher real estate taxes on homes than regular residents, which kind of sucks, but no individual income tax in Florida.

Lots of numbers to crunch on that front.

[Value Buy]

In approximately two years we do want to sell our house in Indiana and downsize to something smaller and cheaper here.

[phil5185]

Still owe about $70,000 on the house. Could pay it off anytime, but prefer to keep invested in stocks for income and appreciation purposes.

That's what I would do, no need to tie up capital in house equity.

figuring a 14 day summer vacation every year

lol - vacation from what?  You start calling them 'trips' after you are retired.

I do have to check to see if they will pay out my vacation time at time of leaving, or if I have to use it before retiring-four weeks.

It doesn't matter - some places cut a check on your last day, some send you pay checks for 4 more weeks. It's the same "last day", the same money, and the same tax rate.

I also want the group to pick my retirement day this fall for me

You'll notice that "days off" no longer has meaning. An "extra day" at Thanksgiving no longer has value because you have all days off. And the TGIF thing will reverse, it becomes TGIM. On Sat/Sun the Market is closed and roads/stores are crowded. But on Monday you can go into any store, no lines, no crowds, park right in front. And the Market is on your smart-phone all day. And afternoon movie theaters are not crowded.

We have two cars. Should we go down to one?

No, keep two. But your secondary car seldom needs replacement - if it goes only 3000 miles/yr it lasts forever - new tires and batt about every 5 yrs, have it detailed occasionally to keep it clean & looking good - and you're good for 25 yrs. When you fly you can leave it in Airport parking. When one car needs to go in the shop, a backup is way more convenient than shuttles, etc. And if you go out at 6:30A to go to breakfast and you have a flat tire, take the other one.

and less than $20,000 in a bond fund. Do not really want to say what it is worth here, so tell me what it should be.

I calculate my account based on in-perpetuity, I avoid the "how long will it last" calculation because I know I wouldn't like the feel of a decaying account, even if I lived to be 100. I'm guessing that a million would be about right, after age 70 1/2 you'll take an RMD of about  $40,000/y (4%). Add that to your ~$25,000 SS check to have $65,000/yr. You no longer pay $8000/yr into SS, you no longer pay $17,000/Yr (?) into the 401k - so $65k goes a lot farther than it did when you were working.
And if your account is getting around 7%, that leaves another $30,000/yr for seed money. So as the million grows (adds $30k/yr) the $40,000/yr also grows each yr. And your SS check is indexed for inflation. So - the older you get the more money you will have - ie, in-perpetuity.

[phil5185]

Wait...that sounds really simple? I thought retirement calculations and plans were supposed to be long..drawn out ..and complicated.

It's just like the Stock Market - in theory it is extremely complex, put/call options, futures, elliot waves, fibonacci series, head and shoulder formations - and in practice it is deceptively simple.

[Value Buy]

Jul 17, 2014 14:42:03 GMT -5 swamp said:

I have no advice. Other than to recommend bedazzling your butt with "I kwit" and moon everyone.

After this morning's discussion on another thread, I was considering doing this here, but alas, few would have seen it before it disappeared

[Gardening Grandma]

It IS simple - if you can count on 7% every year. You can't.

Without a pension, I would not retire with less tban 1.5M and I would limit withdrawals to 3% until time for RMDs.

The killer unknown is sequence of returns.

[Value Buy]

Jul 17, 2014 18:50:50 GMT -5 phil5185 said:

That's what I would do, no need to tie up capital in house equity.MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY


lol - vacation from what?  You start calling them 'trips' after you are retired.                                                                                                                                                                                           FROM THE KIDS, GRANDKIDS AND NOW GREAT GRAND KIDS. GREAT GRANDKIDS CAN WEAR YOU OUT!


It doesn't matter - some places cut a check on your last day, some send you pay checks for 4 more weeks. It's the same "last day", the same money, and the same tax rate.


You'll notice that "days off" no longer has meaning. An "extra day" at Thanksgiving no longer has value because you have all days off. And the TGIF thing will reverse, it becomes TGIM. On Sat/Sun the Market is closed and roads/stores are crowded. But on Monday you can go into any store, no lines, no crowds, park right in front. And the Market is on your smart-phone all day. And afternoon movie theaters are not crowded.


No, keep two. But your secondary car seldom needs replacement - if it goes only 3000 miles/yr it lasts forever - new tires and batt about every 5 yrs, have it detailed occasionally to keep it clean & looking good - and you're good for 25 yrs. When you fly you can leave it in Airport parking. When one car needs to go in the shop, a backup is way more convenient than shuttles, etc. And if you go out at 6:30A to go to breakfast and you have a flat tire, take the other one.         GREAT ADVICE


I calculate my account based on in-perpetuity, I avoid the "how long will it last" calculation because I know I wouldn't like the feel of a decaying account, even if I lived to be 100. I'm guessing that a million would be about right, after age 70 1/2 you'll take an RMD of about  $40,000/y (4%). Add that to your ~$25,000 SS check to have $65,000/yr. You no longer pay $8000/yr into SS, you no longer pay $17,000/Yr (?) into the 401k - so $65k goes a lot farther than it did when you were working.
And if your account is getting around 7%, that leaves another $30,000/yr for seed money. So as the million grows (adds $30k/yr) the $40,000/yr also grows each yr. And your SS check is indexed for inflation. So - the older you get the more money you will have - ie, in-perpetuity.

I am thinking of buying dinner for two for whoever's retirement day I prefer.

Could buy a gift card to Olive Garden or something similar for the winning person.

Of course if I am retired, I might have to downsize that to McDonald's gift card

[ՏՇԾԵԵʅՏɧ_LԹՏՏʅҼ]

First off, my birthday is in September, but thinking of working through part of October, since summer is over and temps are getting cooler, no sense retiring in September, but have decided I want the holidays weeks off to really enjoy them. Should have retired this spring to enjoy the summer.

My health is excellent, no issues there yet, and could continue to work. In fact I think work has helped keep my "younger" than I am. I put in 10 hour days.

Should I continue work? I am in mid level management. How many week's notice should be the correct amount? Keep in mind, they do know my true age, and I did tell a supervisor last March I would probably retire sometime this year, but no one from hr has asked squiddily yet. He probably did not tell them. I do have to check to see if they will pay out my vacation time at time of leaving, or if I have to use it before retiring-four weeks

.



I can't offer a lot of advice, except to say - given your 10 hr days, and mid-level management, I'd say that a month's notice is decent to give them time to find a replacement qualified for your position.

And like you, when my brother retired from working for our City's Electrical Department after 35 yrs (he'd advanced from a young age, to a high-level managerial/inspector position.)

His retirement package was beyond decent and he'd saved along the way on top of that. But he is also a very active guy - people 20 yrs younger have trouble keeping up - and he sure doesn't look his age.

When he retired his long-time career, he couldn't imagine full-time retirement doing nothing but lounging around or golfing - though he does love his golf.

He now works for Home Depot just to keep busy - he's too active a person to sit on his butt -- and he's already advanced to a Managerial position there too - and he can take time off and travel any time he pleases. He's seen more of the country/world in the last two years traveling, than he had his entire life before that. Your retirement is what you make of it - it can be an opportunity to branch out into a new field, or just start enjoying doing things you didn't have the time or opportunity to do before.

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

Assuming you want to retire on a Friday, I vote for Friday, November 7.

This should let you have plenty of time before Thanksgiving and Christmas to enjoy all the preparations of the holiday seasons. It's a week into the month ... and the weather should be cooler then, giving you ample opportunity to wear some of your cooler weather "work clothes" before you stop working.

[Nazgul Girl]

   Good luck, Value Buy.   I retired last month ( 3 weeks ago ), and our furnace and central air conditioner and sump pump on our primary residence all died within days of each other.   All were pretty old.   We replaced all of them at the best prices we could obtain, but it's a good thing that we had the Oh Sh-t fund, as Blonde Granny stated.   I think about $ 15,000 is good for an emergency fund.

   I am doing Cobra for the next 18 months, and we're not withdrawing anything from our retirement funds for the next 7 or 8 years, if we can help it.   They should hopefully double in that time.   If not, we'll come close.
I did search out cheaper dental insurance than what my employer provided, and we'll save $ 15 per month there.   Also, I am getting cheaper wireless service for us.

  Right now, we're trying to decide whether to add a third rental or not to our stable.   We'd have to find a good buy that doesn't need much work if we do it.

  Best wishes for a happy retirement.   I am glad that I retired now so that I can enjoy the summer with DH. He had a bout with prostate cancer last year, and I want us to spend as much happy time together as we can.   He's doing well, but I want to enjoy this summer with him.

[NastyWoman]

Jul 17, 2014 13:03:52 GMT -5 Sam_2.0 said:

You should officially retire as of Oct 19th, since that's my due date That's the only advice I have.

Along those lines may I suggest you have your little boy 10 days early since that is my birthday and that also means Value Buy can retire on the 9th