Are you seeing more Retirement/early retirement at work?

[Tiny]

I'm hearing about lots of people deciding to "retire" this year or early next year. 
My employer offered early retirement and lots of the older, long term employees are taking it. 

Of the people who's ages I know - most of them are in the 58 up thru 66 years old.  I think in most of their cases the uncertainty of their jobs, the stress of working from home,  the changing work landscape (technology) and/or an offer of "early retirement" ALONG with their current financial situations (as in good financials) is pushing them to the "I am so done with this job. I'm "retiring"."   

Some will truly be retired (not working) some are planning to take a stab at doing some other kind of work (think lower paying, less benefits, but more enjoyable).    

How about all of you?  What are you seeing (or doing)?   Are Boomers leaving Corporate America in droves?  Are Boomers selling or closing their small businesses?   Are they doing it because they have a secure financial foundation OR are they doing it out of desperation becasue money is tight? 

(I have severe FOMO... some of my co-workers are taking the early retirement offer... I'm just a little too young to do it.     It's like I'm always too young or too old for what everyone else is doing.    It makes me crazy.  I need 3 to 5 more years of income before I can FIRE comfortably.) 

[debthaven]

I'm not in corporate America, I'm an adjunct in France lol. I teach English.

I actually expected to see a lot of the older language teachers retire this year, but in fact, nobody has. At 60 I am the third-oldest language teacher on my campus. The other two are only working remotely now (they don't teach English ... other languages are all remote this semester). So unfortunately I never see them anymore.  One teaches Chinese, the other teaches Spanish. 

But we are all adjuncts, so nobody would ever offer us a payout.  If they did I'd probably grab it and just find another job. 

Between your rentals and the payout, could you swing it? Would you really want to?

Are they doing it because they have a secure financial foundation OR are they doing it out of desperation becasue money is tight?

I can't imagine anyone giving up a regular salary because money is tight ... 

BUT here too, many people ARE retiring if they can. I spent 6 months trying to contact my local retirement office for info. I finally gave up! The recording says "we can't answer the phone due to the unprecedented number of people retiring because of Covid." 

In the end I decided to reduce my hours as of next school year, and retire later than initially planned.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

I really do think it totally depends upon what the health insurance situation is.  

In my former job, I could have retired with healthcare benefits, where I could buy into the employee's healthcare at a discount until I was eligible for Medicare.  Had I still had access to this benefit and retired 4 years ago when eligible, I think that TD would be retired.  Right now, he'd like to retire but cannot.  As health insurance is obscenely expensive at 60-65 (last time I looked, anywhere from $800-1000/mo/person for lousy insurance), this has been the carrot that has kept him in the workforce....not money.  

For us, it is not just the cost that's the issue, but access.  Employer's provide MUCH better policies than that which is available through the marketplace.  

[Tiny]

Oct 20, 2020 12:02:31 GMT -5 debthaven said:

I'm not in corporate America, I'm an adjunct in France lol. I teach English.

I actually expected to see a lot of the older language teachers retire this year, but in fact, nobody has. At 60 I am the third-oldest language teacher on my campus. The other two are only working remotely now (because they don't teach English ... the other languages are all remote this semester).

But we are all adjuncts, so nobody would offer us a payout.

Between your rentals and the payout, could you swing it? 

No, I'm 56yo.  My employers Pension is best used by someone who's 62 to 65 years old and has 25 years of service AND who has some tax advantaged savings.  I've extrapolated that all of the people taking the early retirement plan are 60 years or older and have 20 or more (up to 30!) years of service.   I'm guessing the early retirement plan will "bridge" the 60yo's to 62 when they can take advantage of the pension (which has a built in bridge to 65 yo). 

I'm in the end game at work.  My position will go away in 12 months (maybe 18 months).  I'm not sure I will be able to "leverage" my experience OR get enough training/learning in before it ends to transition to the new software...  I'm not sure I want to put in the time/effort/stress to accomplish that.  

My original plan was: 
Best case scenario -work at current employer until 59.5 and then FIRE.  Take pension at 65. Take SS at full retirement age. 

I could "coast" - if I quit my current employer between 57/58.  I can use savings and get some part time or low wage job to fill in the cracks to get me to 59.5 when I can tap my 401K.   not contributing big bucks to the 401K at this late date doesn't change it very much.    I think this is what I will do.  

My rentals don't generate much actual spendable "income".  The value is in equity.  If I'm not collecting a paycheck I could easily sell one - the proceeds would cover all of my living expenses and then some for 2 to 3 years.     I don't want to sell one while I'm still collecting a large paycheck (due to taxes), though. 

[debthaven]

Yes Tiny, it looks like you're better off staying put for a while. 

The Walk of the Penguin Mich good point about the health insurance. Of course I know this, but it's been a long day and I zapped it ... 

[Deleted]

Oct 20, 2020 12:13:31 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

I really do think it totally depends upon what the health insurance situation is.  

Both my brother and I discovered that this was a much bigger factor than anticipated.  I retired in 2014 at age 61.  ACA coverage was $440/month (DH was Medicare-eligible).  Every year I'd have to change providers because they'd discontinue my policy and offer me something with a crappier network and stingier out-of-network coverage.  One had no max on out-of-pocket for out-of-network treatment.    By 2017 premiums had doubled, to $900/month.  Fortunately I got on Medicare 1/1/2018.  I know I paid over $20K during that period and my only claims were for the usual diagnostic tests but I guess I have to be grateful I never had much out of pocket despite the $6K deductible because I stayed healthy.

Brother had retiree health insurance.  Until he didn't.  Two years into retirement he got a letter saying that as of 1/1/2018, no more retiree health insurance.  Buh-bye.  He and DSIL are paying over $20K/year for the two of them.  One more year till Medicare for them.  If your retiree health insurance isn't guaranteed by something such as a union contract, it can go away.

But back to the OT-  I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of older teachers are retiring early right now.  From one podcast I heard, a lot of the over- 50s who lose their jobs are just throwing in the towel and retiring.

[buystoys]

Health insurance is a biggie.  DH and I both retired in 2013 when the plan was for one of us to work for health coverage.  For the first five years of retirement, we spent between 25% and 45% of our income on health related expenses.  We were fortunate enough to be able to live on 55% of our income, but it wasn't a fun year when we had to do so.

Fast forward to now with us both on Medicare and our health expenses are 5-10% of our income.  That's a huge swing and gives us a lot more cushion for living how we want to.  Plus we're having a lot done this year.  DH is having to have several teeth pulled and partials built.  I had to have surgery and continue to have SI joint and hip issues.  I suspect next year our expenses won't be as high since we shouldn't have these unplanned expenses to take care of.  Thank goodness we have kept some cushion in our budget just for events like this!  Again, I know we're fortunate to have had everything work out so well for us. 

[Tiny]

Oct 20, 2020 12:20:27 GMT -5 debthaven said:

Yes Tiny, it looks like you're better off staying put for a while. 

The Walk of the Penguin Mich good point about the health insurance. Of course I know this, but it's been a long day and I zapped it ... 

Thanks.  I go back and forth with myself.  I feel like I need to convince myself that everything will be ok.  It will. But I don't believe it. Yet.   

And yes, healthcare is a big issue.  My "fire" budget includes 15K for health insurance per year. I can go as high as 20K.   

[Tiny]

Oct 20, 2020 14:51:30 GMT -5 @athena53 said:

Oct 20, 2020 12:13:31 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

I really do think it totally depends upon what the health insurance situation is.  

But back to the OT-  I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of older teachers are retiring early right now.  From one podcast I heard, a lot of the over- 50s who lose their jobs are just throwing in the towel and retiring.

I'm hearing that a lot of teachers are retiring (sometimes early) in my area.   I hear it's the stress of "no one knows what's going on, no one has a plan, no one is committing to anything!" coupled with the stress of learning new methods of teaching (online) literally on the fly and the benefits associated with early retirement start to look REALLY good.   

[Deleted]

Yes, a lot of teachers are retiring.  Here, they have basically been juggling three sets of students--virtual students who are actually enrolled within a face-to-face class; MTh students with virtual Wednesdays: and ThF students with virtual Wednesdays.  Since you need to accomplish a week's worth of objectives regardless of delivery, it is a pile of lesson planning.  And there is very little time for planning and grading during school hours.

Making it worse is the fact that classrooms aren't large enough for social distancing.  Two of my grandsons have been sent home for 2 weeks simply because they sat closer than 6 feet to someone who tested positive.  Neither has any symptoms.  So add them temporarily to virtual learners.  Teachers and their own kids also get quarantined and there are few subs so whole schools have had to suddenly shut down, which angers some parents.

You can retire with 50% of your salary at any age with 25 years.  Insurance is expensive, though, if you don't have coverage through your spouse.  You earn a nice discount, though, for every year over 25.  Remember that many teachers start at 22 so 35 years still puts them at 70% and under 60.  

So, yes, a lot of teachers are unexpectedly retiring.  They are exhausted and worried about their exposure.

[Deleted]

Not seeing it at my company.

A previous employer mailed me a pension buyout offer for a second time, whenever interest rates are low and the economy isn’t doing so well they take another chance desperate people will take it.

[NastyWoman]

I am probably the oldest person posting here who is still working FT. As I have said before at this point in time I would not consider retiring unless (i) the payout were really good AND (ii) I would be confident that a vaccine was really close to being available. Until then I for one will not consider retiring because of Covid19.

[Regis]

There are a lot of people in my company talking about retirement.  None have done so.

[Lizard Queen]

There are a lot of people in my company approaching the end of the retirement pipeline. Actually, it seems like people that might have retired now are delaying it. Our line crew supervisor who retired this summer just came back on a temporary part-time basis. I think it's a combination of shortages of qualified replacements in general, and limitations on traveling due to covid-19.

[wvugurl26]

I don't think they are necessarily early retirements but my organization has started to see a lot of retirements. For the ones I am close enough to know their plans, it is what they had planned. When I came in 11 years ago, there were a ton of managers in their mid 40s and up.

As long as you were participating in health insurance for the five years prior to retirement, you can still get the employer coverage in retirement. My boss picked up a cheap plan 4 years ago for this reason. He's got a few more years to go though because kids in college. His wife has great family coverage at little cost through her employer so he hadn't carried it before.

Also unless it gets chopped there's a bridge to Social Security for those who contributed. It's routinely on the chopping block though so I wouldn't bet on it.

[haapai]

I'm not seeing the retirements but they may be happening.  We're obviously no longer having retirement parties with cake and ribbon-bedecked walkers.  I'm also not walking past the places in the store where retirement notices used to be posted.  It is entirely possible that people are retiring more quietly than before, or more suddenly, or at the end of a medical or FMLA leave. 

There are a lot of transfers to other stores occurring and they are poorly publicized.  I don't hear about them until the person in question no longer works here. 

There's basically been a huge breakdown of communication and morale.  At night, when the store is closed, mask use is abysmal, Blue Lives Matter hats are surreptitiously worn, and unmasked managers point thermometers at workers foreheads and routinely record temperatures below 94 degrees. 

[thyme4change]

I would like to stop working, but won't until I get my kids through college.

I have no plan on how to fill my days. I was thinking when I got closer I would find a counselor (therapist) who could help me think through who I am if I'm not "Thyme - corporate finance extraordinaire". Do any of you have experience with someone who didn't have passion for hobbies or goals outside their career?

[NastyWoman]

Oct 21, 2020 8:05:14 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

I would like to stop working, but won't until I get my kids through college.

I have no plan on how to fill my days. I was thinking when I got closer I would find a counselor (therapist) who could help me think through who I am if I'm not "Thyme - corporate finance extraordinaire". Do any of you have experience with someone who didn't have passion for hobbies or goals outside their career?

See but that is the problem. I had/have all those plans for how to fill my days. However, they all involve interacting with other people IRL. However much I like my condo, and I do, I don't want to be locked in here 24/7 without anything to fill my time. Also, instead of just puttering around when I work I not only use up hours but I will get paid while doing so. 

[Deleted]

Oct 20, 2020 22:14:48 GMT -5 @aj said:

Not seeing it at my company.

A previous employer mailed me a pension buyout offer for a second time, whenever interest rates are low and the economy isn’t doing so well they take another chance desperate people will take it.

I was with a Prudential subsidiary when they had a wave of buyouts in the late 1980s.  I was in my late 30s and hadn't been there that long so I wasn't affected, but I saw a lot of people in their late 50s who had joined out of HS take the packages and retire "to travel and enjoy the grandchildren".  Pru's pension was non-COLA and, although I bet they included health insurance, I'm guessing they could have backed out of that later since it wouldn't have been a binding agreement.  No union or other contracts involved.  Even at the time I wondered how those people would fare 20 years later after inflation eroded the value of the pension.   Most were clerical types, so didn't make much anyway.

[Bonny]

Oct 21, 2020 8:05:14 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

I would like to stop working, but won't until I get my kids through college.

I have no plan on how to fill my days. I was thinking when I got closer I would find a counselor (therapist) who could help me think through who I am if I'm not "Thyme - corporate finance extraordinaire". Do any of you have experience with someone who didn't have passion for hobbies or goals outside their career?

It took me a long time to find my place after "retiring" in 2003 from a very busy and demanding job. New area so no friends, no kids or job so no social structure. I wound up joining a local land trust, eventually becoming the president for a couple of years. Connections with that group led me first to joining then leading group hikes at the local County park. I was amazed that when I came back this February (our house was on a home tour) that I still had a network of friends. It's been nearly twelve years since I moved from AZ!

Oh and I forgot the rentals. Being an out of area LL is one heck of a part time job! 


All kidding aside, there's got to be some things you feel passionate about (besides this Board).   If I were to move back to AZ I think I'd like to get involved with the local museum. AZ is a wonderful and weird state full of characters. 

[CCL]

Oct 21, 2020 8:05:14 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

I would like to stop working, but won't until I get my kids through college.

I have no plan on how to fill my days. I was thinking when I got closer I would find a counselor (therapist) who could help me think through who I am if I'm not "Thyme - corporate finance extraordinaire". Do any of you have experience with someone who didn't have passion for hobbies or goals outside their career?

We retired early without "passion" for much of anything. I have more hobbies than hubby, but he does like to stay busy, too. At the time, we didn't really have a plan for how we would fill our days, aside from random thoughts about "travel."

[Deleted]

I'd assume with all the medical bills and unemployed/uninsured in the future due to COVID and long-hauler issues, we will see some sort of universal healthcare in the US. I don't really see any other feasible option as a country.

[jerseygirl]

Oct 21, 2020 17:39:31 GMT -5 @shastasnewlife said:

I'd assume with all the medical bills and unemployed/uninsured in the future due to COVID and long-hauler issues, we will see some sort of universal healthcare in the US. I don't really see any other feasible option as a country.

Health insurance companies will fight this tooth and nail(and more significantly by lobbyists money given to politicians on both sides)
Insurance isn’t the answer if policy costs are sky high with huge deductibles, more important is lowering COST of care

[Deleted]

It's not workable to have large sections of the US population uninsured during a pandemic. 

If we stick with the current way of doing things, individual and group insurance policies will become even more expensive for the shrinking number of people who have access to them. 

If ACA is overturned, millions of us will no longer have coverage at all-myself included. 

When you have piles of people who are unemployed hospitalized for COVID and no one to pay their bills, the hospitals are going to start to look for money.

Rather than "bailouts" perhaps we should overhaul our healthcare system? 

[CCL]

Oct 21, 2020 17:39:31 GMT -5 @shastasnewlife said:

I'd assume with all the medical bills and unemployed/uninsured in the future due to COVID and long-hauler issues, we will see some sort of universal healthcare in the US. I don't really see any other feasible option as a country.

I don't see that happening. None of our legislators care that much about any of us.

[pulmonarymd]

Oct 21, 2020 18:39:37 GMT -5 CCL said:

Oct 21, 2020 17:39:31 GMT -5 @shastasnewlife said:

I'd assume with all the medical bills and unemployed/uninsured in the future due to COVID and long-hauler issues, we will see some sort of universal healthcare in the US. I don't really see any other feasible option as a country.

I don't see that happening. None of our legislators care that much about any of us.

It will eventually happen. It has too. Just a matter of it happening in what time frame. Costs keep going up at an unsustainable rate, and companies are off-loading the costs onto their employees. In addition, over 100 million of us have pre-existing conditions. Finally, look at how many people are stuck working because they need health insurance

[Deleted]

Simply having universal healthcare would help younger people have jobs as AI takes over. Many older people don't want to work but still do simply to have health insurance. 

[tcu2003]

I’m not seeing an increase. We had one person retire in my group at the beginning of this month, but she was also 70 and ready to retire. I’m at an engineering firm, and the average employee age is 37.5 so the bulk of our workforce isn’t at/near retirement age. One person on my DH’s team (same company) recently announced her retirement for early next year, but again, she’s been in 25 years and is in her 60s, so not necessarily retiring early.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

Two people are retiring this year at my company.   They are on the supply end and have been pulling 12 hour days trying to keep supplies stocked and find PPE.


Can't blame them for saying screw it and deciding to retire.   While I can't retire I know this pandemic has made me start asking what I really want and to start looking into making it happen.

I would also not be surprised if this goes as far into 2021 as they predict that the company starts losing production people.   Essential workers are getting burned out and resentful of all the bending over done for office people to stay safe vs us.

I can see people just quitting or seeking out employment where they too can work from home.

[thyme4change]

Oct 21, 2020 16:44:25 GMT -5 CCL said:

Oct 21, 2020 8:05:14 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

I would like to stop working, but won't until I get my kids through college.

I have no plan on how to fill my days. I was thinking when I got closer I would find a counselor (therapist) who could help me think through who I am if I'm not "Thyme - corporate finance extraordinaire". Do any of you have experience with someone who didn't have passion for hobbies or goals outside their career?

We retired early without "passion" for much of anything. I have more hobbies than hubby, but he does like to stay busy, too. At the time, we didn't really have a plan for how we would fill our days, aside from random thoughts about "travel."

How did you get your footing? What was the first year like?