latexman
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
I never wanted to retire early. I enjoyed the work, my bosses, my coworkers, the company and the whole social interaction part of it right up to the end. But, as time marches on things change, and it is now time to make time for those other things in my life now. Despite not retiring early, I always felt this website was the best place for me to learn about retiring. It’s been a great resource. I feel prepared. Thanks, everyone!
Officially, I’ll be retired on July 3, 2024. With vacation and floating holidays, my last day of work was actually June 7th. So, I’ve been practicing for a few weeks. I’m scheduled to turn in my company property (laptop, badge, and credit card) on July 2nd. A coworker is having her retirement celebration that day, so “2 birds, 1 stone”.
I carried a company laptop for decades, and, for the first time ever, I bought a laptop for just me. There was 7 GB of personal stuff to get off, and delete from, the company laptop! It feels good to not have the company’s IT police involved anymore!
DW (67 also) and I started our megacorp, non-COLA pensions last year. We had 1 child and adopted 4, and DW was mostly a SAHM, but she did earn a mini pension (a.k.a. “our beer money”) before the kids started coming. Her pension is a single life annuity, because her folks have consistently outlived my folks. My pension is 100% Joint & Survivor.
DW started her SS at FRA in January 2024. I plan to wait until 70 to take my SS but will relook at it periodically as things change. At 70 my SS will add about $60k/year to our income streams. I carved $180k out of our 60/40 nest egg at Fidelity to help bridge me to 70, if needed. It’s currently in my tIRA in MM (SPAXX 5% currently). I’ll have to see if I can do better or get a little more duration. Also at 70, DW will get about a 56% bump when SS adds the spousal benefit to her benefit.
For health care, we’re covered by the current active employee medical plan until end-July, then my megacorp’s Retiree Health Plan starts August 1. For DW and I, we must have Medicare Parts A & B and the subsidized Retiree Health Plan fills in to give us full medical coverage, including meds. Two kids are still under 26, so the RHP gives them full coverage until then. When the kids age out, our RHP rate drops 40%.
My megacorp had a somewhat unique retiree health care assistance plan (RHCAP). At least I haven’t heard of a similar plan. The employee contributed, the money was invested (I chose 60/40 AA because the choice is permanent), and when medical expenses are filed, the company matches $1 for every $1 in the account. It’s like a matching HSA. So, a minimum return of 100%. I could only contribute to that plan for 10 years, but I did the maximum, and I ended up with $60k in the account, so $120k of medical expenses banked! I’ll get reimbursed for Medicare Part B, our RHP, and any other medical expense.
I’ve monitored and controlled expenses for years. That’s the first thing I started doing after joining here. With our expected expenses, Fidelity’s Retirement tool (140 score) and FIRECalc give us 100% success for me to 93 (my folks passed at 79 and 80) and DW to 95 (DW’s mom passed at 83 and her dad is still going strong at 87). Both tools were backend loaded for long term care (thanks to our free Fidelity Premium Services adviser), if needed, but that’s not the immediate plan, it’s “Plan B”. We hope to age in place. I don’t really know how to allocate/calculate it, but I feel we are about 50/50 FI and SI given our planned income streams and expenses.
Our plan is to stay in our Apex, NC home that we downsized to in 2018, and snowbird in winter to our Bradenton, FL condo we bought from DW’s BFF in 2021. 4 kids are near Apex and 1 is in Tampa. Our youngest daughter boomeranged back early-2024 and 2 months ago she had our first grandchild! That’s one of the changes that made me pull the trigger on retirement. Wow! That has been wonderful, wonderful!
After my last paycheck, I will roll the Roth portion of my 401k into my Roth IRA (opened 2014). Our 401k plan allows us to direct funds; they are not proportioned out. This will allow me more control over our taxable income going forward.
The cherry on top, if it happens, is the 42 acre farm/home place my 3 siblings and I have for sell. With the neighbors at the farm in the anti-development and “not in my backyard” camp, it’s going to take a while. Hopefully, I live to enjoy that.
My plans are to walk the dogs more, join a gym, take some college courses (first on the agenda is to learn Python), do more yard work, optimize our expenses, learn to play disc golf (there’s a course across the street from the neighborhood), get a bike and ride the neighborhood trails, play and take care of the granddaughter, share the household duties DW has predominately done all these years, and learn to cook the world’s best southern style biscuit! We’ll travel a bit, but as expats of Dubai and Singapore for 5 years in our younger days, we’ve seen a lot of the world already. We’ll probably explore the U.S. There’s lots to do!
Officially, I’ll be retired on July 3, 2024. With vacation and floating holidays, my last day of work was actually June 7th. So, I’ve been practicing for a few weeks. I’m scheduled to turn in my company property (laptop, badge, and credit card) on July 2nd. A coworker is having her retirement celebration that day, so “2 birds, 1 stone”.
I carried a company laptop for decades, and, for the first time ever, I bought a laptop for just me. There was 7 GB of personal stuff to get off, and delete from, the company laptop! It feels good to not have the company’s IT police involved anymore!
DW (67 also) and I started our megacorp, non-COLA pensions last year. We had 1 child and adopted 4, and DW was mostly a SAHM, but she did earn a mini pension (a.k.a. “our beer money”) before the kids started coming. Her pension is a single life annuity, because her folks have consistently outlived my folks. My pension is 100% Joint & Survivor.
DW started her SS at FRA in January 2024. I plan to wait until 70 to take my SS but will relook at it periodically as things change. At 70 my SS will add about $60k/year to our income streams. I carved $180k out of our 60/40 nest egg at Fidelity to help bridge me to 70, if needed. It’s currently in my tIRA in MM (SPAXX 5% currently). I’ll have to see if I can do better or get a little more duration. Also at 70, DW will get about a 56% bump when SS adds the spousal benefit to her benefit.
For health care, we’re covered by the current active employee medical plan until end-July, then my megacorp’s Retiree Health Plan starts August 1. For DW and I, we must have Medicare Parts A & B and the subsidized Retiree Health Plan fills in to give us full medical coverage, including meds. Two kids are still under 26, so the RHP gives them full coverage until then. When the kids age out, our RHP rate drops 40%.
My megacorp had a somewhat unique retiree health care assistance plan (RHCAP). At least I haven’t heard of a similar plan. The employee contributed, the money was invested (I chose 60/40 AA because the choice is permanent), and when medical expenses are filed, the company matches $1 for every $1 in the account. It’s like a matching HSA. So, a minimum return of 100%. I could only contribute to that plan for 10 years, but I did the maximum, and I ended up with $60k in the account, so $120k of medical expenses banked! I’ll get reimbursed for Medicare Part B, our RHP, and any other medical expense.
I’ve monitored and controlled expenses for years. That’s the first thing I started doing after joining here. With our expected expenses, Fidelity’s Retirement tool (140 score) and FIRECalc give us 100% success for me to 93 (my folks passed at 79 and 80) and DW to 95 (DW’s mom passed at 83 and her dad is still going strong at 87). Both tools were backend loaded for long term care (thanks to our free Fidelity Premium Services adviser), if needed, but that’s not the immediate plan, it’s “Plan B”. We hope to age in place. I don’t really know how to allocate/calculate it, but I feel we are about 50/50 FI and SI given our planned income streams and expenses.
Our plan is to stay in our Apex, NC home that we downsized to in 2018, and snowbird in winter to our Bradenton, FL condo we bought from DW’s BFF in 2021. 4 kids are near Apex and 1 is in Tampa. Our youngest daughter boomeranged back early-2024 and 2 months ago she had our first grandchild! That’s one of the changes that made me pull the trigger on retirement. Wow! That has been wonderful, wonderful!
After my last paycheck, I will roll the Roth portion of my 401k into my Roth IRA (opened 2014). Our 401k plan allows us to direct funds; they are not proportioned out. This will allow me more control over our taxable income going forward.
The cherry on top, if it happens, is the 42 acre farm/home place my 3 siblings and I have for sell. With the neighbors at the farm in the anti-development and “not in my backyard” camp, it’s going to take a while. Hopefully, I live to enjoy that.
My plans are to walk the dogs more, join a gym, take some college courses (first on the agenda is to learn Python), do more yard work, optimize our expenses, learn to play disc golf (there’s a course across the street from the neighborhood), get a bike and ride the neighborhood trails, play and take care of the granddaughter, share the household duties DW has predominately done all these years, and learn to cook the world’s best southern style biscuit! We’ll travel a bit, but as expats of Dubai and Singapore for 5 years in our younger days, we’ve seen a lot of the world already. We’ll probably explore the U.S. There’s lots to do!
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They are precious.
