I can retire right??

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fourwaystreet
Posts: 160
Joined: Fri Sep 14, 2012 1:15 pm
Location: Central NY

I can retire right??

Post by fourwaystreet »

On 4/25 I am scheduled to have my yearly review with my Director. At this review I want to inform my boss that I am retiring and plan on leaving the company on 6/17. My long term employer is being purchased by a larger company. Severance letters have gone out and I did not receive one. All indications are that I will be offered a like position with the merged company.

59 years old
No debt
Kids with advance degrees, homeowners and all doing well

I have calculated my expenses several times over the past 18 months and included everything I can think of up to and including the cost of car washes. I also added a 25% fluff factor on household repairs, travel and misc. spending.

My wife passed away 10 years ago and at the time of her passing was a government employee. I receive what would have been 75% of her pension with COLA along with access to her very good health plan which costs me $1,100 out of pocket per year. The cost of the plan has remained basically unchanged for the past several years. I have utilized several retirement calculators and all have come out on the yes go ahead side.

My SWR needed to meet expenses above and beyond the pension received is 1.9%. I plan on cashing my way until social security where between the social security and the pension the SWR becomes $340 per month short of a non factor.

My asset allocation is 61/39. My Roth, taxable and rollover IRA are with Vanguard. My 401k is with YBR with Vanguard funds utilized.

I think I have planned this out fairly well but sometimes have difficulty as I get ready to pull the trigger.

Thank you for reading!

Jerry
When someone you love becomes a memory, the memory becomes a treasure.
joebh
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Re: I can retire right??

Post by joebh »

Financially, it sounds as if you have all the bases covered.

Have you planned the personal side of your life? You know what you would be retiring from - do you know what you want to retire to?
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Sbashore
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Re: I can retire right??

Post by Sbashore »

Sounds like you'll be fine. I know it's common to be hesitant to "pull the plug". I know I planned and planned for years and it still was a pleasant surprise after I retired to see things working out ok. It's good advice to give a lot of thought to what you'll do with your time. That's an important consideration and in some ways, can be more difficult than the financial side.

Congratulations. :happy
Steve | Semper Fi
Non7WoodUser
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Re: I can retire right??

Post by Non7WoodUser »

You are in fantastic shape. Congratulations!
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midareff
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Re: I can retire right??

Post by midareff »

I would recommend you have another look at your expected future healthcare costs. The costs to cover my wife on my (retired government) plan was much less than after I retired. At 65 it became medicare + AARP supplement + Rx plan which combined is about $430 a month before the first pill is ordered.

Having a plan with what you want to do with your time is important. Have hobbies? Being single without activities and interests can get old fast.
JustMe
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Joined: Thu May 31, 2012 11:18 am

Re: I can retire right??

Post by JustMe »

fourwaystreet wrote:All indications are that I will be offered a like position with the merged company.
It sounds like you can retire if you want. But depending on your feelings about your job it might be beneficial to wait and see what any offer from the new company might look like before committing to a June retirement date. Especially if you are in a management or technical position they might offer a retention bonus if you stay for a certain period of time after the acquisition.
Whatyear?
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Re: I can retire right??

Post by Whatyear? »

I agree with JustMe - if you can resist it, don't tip your hand and tell them your plans. Maybe you'll like what the new company offers or maybe you'll get a severance agreement after all.
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Dutch
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Re: I can retire right??

Post by Dutch »

JustMe wrote:
fourwaystreet wrote:All indications are that I will be offered a like position with the merged company.
It sounds like you can retire if you want. But depending on your feelings about your job it might be beneficial to wait and see what any offer from the new company might look like before committing to a June retirement date. Especially if you are in a management or technical position they might offer a retention bonus if you stay for a certain period of time after the acquisition.
+1
In your meeting with your boss you could signal that you might entertain a severance offer and see what happens. Either way, it sounds like you're in great shape for early retirement.
Chadnudj
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Re: I can retire right??

Post by Chadnudj »

fourwaystreet wrote:On 4/25 I am scheduled to have my yearly review with my Director. At this review I want to inform my boss that I am retiring and plan on leaving the company on 6/17. My long term employer is being purchased by a larger company. Severance letters have gone out and I did not receive one. All indications are that I will be offered a like position with the merged company.
I'll echo the sentiments of others here: it might make sense for you to try to work out a favorable severance package with your new company, just to boost your retirement savings. I mean, they might even JUMP at the chance to give you a severance and retain someone else they'd otherwise have to jettison.
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Watty
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Re: I can retire right??

Post by Watty »

Whatyear? wrote:I agree with JustMe - if you can resist it, don't tip your hand and tell them your plans. Maybe you'll like what the new company offers or maybe you'll get a severance agreement after all.
+1

Unless you are in some unusual position, like a lawyer working on a big case, then it is not all that unusual for companies to tell you two weeks is plenty and that your last day will be in two weeks. I have seen this happen several times. There is actually a good reason for this since having a "short timer" around for too long can hurt moral and if you deal with customers that can be awkward too. There have also been disgruntled employees that have done things like erase computer files or cause other problems so if there is some innocent problem in the mean time that you are involved in then things could be awkward.

What you could do is to talk to a manager and volunteer to be laid off if you have not already done that. I have never had to do it but laying off people is one of the hardest jobs a manager has to do and if possible they may be willing to do that in order to avoid having to lay someone else off.
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N1CKV
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Re: I can retire right??

Post by N1CKV »

fourwaystreet wrote:My wife passed away 10 years ago and at the time of her passing was a government employee. I receive what would have been 75% of her pension with COLA along with access to her very good health plan which costs me $1,100 out of pocket per year. The cost of the plan has remained basically unchanged for the past several years. I have utilized several retirement calculators and all have come out on the yes go ahead side.

My SWR needed to meet expenses above and beyond the pension received is 1.9%. I plan on cashing my way until social security where between the social security and the pension the SWR becomes $340 per month short of a non factor.
You need to read up on the Government Pension Offset and how it will affect you. It's likely to gut a large portion of your social security benefits.
Topic Author
fourwaystreet
Posts: 160
Joined: Fri Sep 14, 2012 1:15 pm
Location: Central NY

Re: I can retire right??

Post by fourwaystreet »

Thank you for your responses!

It was my hope all along to put myself in position to get a severance offer. Frankly that is not in the cards. Severance letters and packages have already gone out to those being let go including my boss. The positions on the distribution side of the business are being retained more or less in mass I am in a rather specialized position with a not widely obtained skill set.

I agree with those stating that you need something to retire too. I will increase my golf and use of the gym, spend more time with my elderly father, read for pleasure, small household projects, continue volunteering and most importantly assist and support my daughter and son in law in any way I can raising my two special needs grandsons (Apraxia)

Again thank you
When someone you love becomes a memory, the memory becomes a treasure.
mattshwink
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Re: I can retire right??

Post by mattshwink »

fourwaystreet wrote:I will increase my golf and use of the gym, spend more time with my elderly father, read for pleasure, small household projects, continue volunteering and most importantly assist and support my daughter and son in law in any way I can raising my two special needs grandsons (Apraxia)

Again thank you
Congrats! One other thing to look into would be converting your rollover IRA to a Roth using any available space in the 15% bracket. RMDs will kick in when you hit 70.5 (~11 years). With the pension that may put you in a higher tax bracket. By converting with any 15% space leftover you lower future RMDs and pay less tax overall.
texasdiver
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Re: I can retire right??

Post by texasdiver »

N1CKV wrote:
fourwaystreet wrote:My wife passed away 10 years ago and at the time of her passing was a government employee. I receive what would have been 75% of her pension with COLA along with access to her very good health plan which costs me $1,100 out of pocket per year. The cost of the plan has remained basically unchanged for the past several years. I have utilized several retirement calculators and all have come out on the yes go ahead side.

My SWR needed to meet expenses above and beyond the pension received is 1.9%. I plan on cashing my way until social security where between the social security and the pension the SWR becomes $340 per month short of a non factor.
You need to read up on the Government Pension Offset and how it will affect you. It's likely to gut a large portion of your social security benefits.
No, it won't. That only applies to public service pensions in jobs that did not pay into social security such as teaching in many states where teachers don't pay into social security. If the OP has been paying into social security all along then GPO doesn't apply.
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Watty
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Re: I can retire right??

Post by Watty »

It sounds like you are good to go then. :beer

One thing you might want to to is to max out your 401k before your last day.

I would still encourage you to give a relatively short notice. They can always ask you to stay on longer if you are really needed. I retired last summer with just two weeks notice and after about a week I was pretty much done transitioning my work so there was not much left to be done the so the lase week went real slow.

If they will have to hire someone to replace you then there really isn't enough time to select someone even with a longer timeframe. One option would be to give a short notice but to let them know you could come back as a contractor to train your replacement when they have someone in place.

Don't be disappointed if they are OK with just two weeks. If you were really critical in their eyes there would be someone ready to take over if you were hit by a truck or something.
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