Hal
UltraDork
6/4/18 1:03 p.m.
I retired the first time in 1994 at age 51 after 28 years of teaching. The second "retirement" was when my computer programmer job went away when the company closed. The third and final one was from a part-time hardware store clerk job when I reached age 62 in 2005.
I had always planned on retiring from teaching at 30 years so I planned the finances accordingly. I started getting my teachers retirement as soon as I retired. I also bought some insurance annuity policies that started paying when I was 60. One in particular I paid $30 a month from age 30 to 60 and it has paid me $413 a month for the last 15 years. At age 62 I started drawing my S.S. So since 2005 I have a "take home pay" of ~$4000 a month with cost of living raises on the retirement and S.S. every year. The wife retired at age 55 after 36 years with the Federal Government. She can't get S.S. but her federal retirement is just a little less than mine.
As far as health care goes, We both are on Medicare and were able to continue our health insurance from our jobs at a reduced cost as supplemental insurance. We also have a long-term care insurance policy with inflation protection that so far has managed to keep up with the rising costs around here if we need it.
Wally
MegaDork
6/4/18 1:06 p.m.
In a perfect world I will retire from Transit at 55 with 31 years of service. I should be able to continue buying my insurance until Medicare kicks in. I’ve also been putting money into a retirement plan since I was about 20. In reality I don’t know that the government is going to make good on it by the time I get there but I have a job I could likely do forever if I had to.
frenchyd said:
stuart in mn said:
I turn 62 in a couple months. I'd retire now, but the only thing keeping me working is having health insurance paid for...I've racked up something over $300,000 in medical expenses in the last 12 months.
Sorry to hear about your health issues Stuart. I’ll bet you would like living someplace with socialized medicine so you could retire without that concern.
Not really - I like living right here in Minnesota. It's just getting from where I am now to when I can sign up for Medicaid that's my immediate concern. Of course there's the MNSure insurance program; I admit I haven't investigated it very carefully, but I suspect that getting decent coverage for a reasonable price will be tough. My plan for now is working until I reach 63 1/2 and then using COBRA payments to stay on my company insurance for the next 18 months after that until I reach age 65. I was healthy as a horse my whole life and didn't expect that to change, but I guess you can't predict the future...
docwyte said:
Luckily the Air Force will also be giving me health insurance, along with whatever Medicare plan is in place, so I've got that covered. House and building will be paid off when I'm 57, that's a big part of me being able to retire then. Not sure if I'll completely stop working, but I won't be in private practice anymore for sure.
I may work part time at the school or at the VA...
Dentist yeah? yeah, your retirement will be pretty good. I'll be eligible to retire from the Air Force in 9 years. I'll be 38, from there who knows where I'll go or what I'll do.
In reply to stuart in mn :
COBRA can be outrageously expensive
In reply to stuart in mn :
I don't know if the current healthcare subsidies will survive long term, but there are some very good ones at the moment depending on your post-retirement income. Subsidies stop at 400% of federal poverty level; for 2017 that's equivalent to $48,240 for one person or $64,960 for a couple. If your income post-retirement is below that you would be eligible for some sort of subsidy on a healthcare exchange plan.
Ovid_and_Flem said:
In reply to stuart in mn :
COBRA can be outrageously expensive
It's that insurance is outrageously expensive. COBRA is just your existing insurance without the company subsidy as part of your compensation.
But you're a lawyer, you know that. I just wanted to point that for others that may not know.
In reply to z31maniac :
Yeah, a lot of people think that they can continue their insurance for 18 months at what they're paying at their employer. Many don't realize that they have to pay the employers share of the premium under cobra. Example, swmbo was laid off and her cobra went to $900 per month. And she was only 54 years old. Her premium when she was working was less than $100 per month. Fortunately she landed another job within the month.
stuart in mn said:
frenchyd said:
stuart in mn said:
I turn 62 in a couple months. I'd retire now, but the only thing keeping me working is having health insurance paid for...I've racked up something over $300,000 in medical expenses in the last 12 months.
Sorry to hear about your health issues Stuart. I’ll bet you would like living someplace with socialized medicine so you could retire without that concern.
Not really - I like living right here in Minnesota. It's just getting from where I am now to when I can sign up for Medicaid that's my immediate concern. Of course there's the MNSure insurance program; I admit I haven't investigated it very carefully, but I suspect that getting decent coverage for a reasonable price will be tough. My plan for now is working until I reach 63 1/2 and then using COBRA payments to stay on my company insurance for the next 18 months after that until I reach age 65. I was healthy as a horse my whole life and didn't expect that to change, but I guess you can't predict the future...
I understand the desire to stay home. Family friends interests, all in familiar surroundings.
I looked very seriously at moving to New Zealand. When I was looking an American Dollar got you 2 New Zealand dollars. Homes were about 1/2 price of a comparable American home ( in New Zealand dollars, so what would cost you $100,000 American dollars would cost $400,000 back in America.
Everything else except alcohol, fuel, and something else was cheap. Health care was free and if you brought money in it wasn’t taxed
In reply to frenchyd :
Better get off the crack pipe, Frenchie. Average house price in New Zealand it's close to$500,000 us. In fact new government is planning to ban foreigners from purchasing homes in New Zealand.
frenchyd said:
stuart in mn said:
frenchyd said:
stuart in mn said:
I turn 62 in a couple months. I'd retire now, but the only thing keeping me working is having health insurance paid for...I've racked up something over $300,000 in medical expenses in the last 12 months.
Sorry to hear about your health issues Stuart. I’ll bet you would like living someplace with socialized medicine so you could retire without that concern.
Not really - I like living right here in Minnesota. It's just getting from where I am now to when I can sign up for Medicaid that's my immediate concern. Of course there's the MNSure insurance program; I admit I haven't investigated it very carefully, but I suspect that getting decent coverage for a reasonable price will be tough. My plan for now is working until I reach 63 1/2 and then using COBRA payments to stay on my company insurance for the next 18 months after that until I reach age 65. I was healthy as a horse my whole life and didn't expect that to change, but I guess you can't predict the future...
I understand the desire to stay home. Family friends interests, all in familiar surroundings.
I looked very seriously at moving to New Zealand. When I was looking an American Dollar got you 2 New Zealand dollars. Homes were about 1/2 price of a comparable American home ( in New Zealand dollars, so what would cost you $100,000 American dollars would cost $400,000 back in America.
Everything else except alcohol, fuel, and something else was cheap. Health care was free and if you brought money in it wasn’t taxed
Homes are NOT cheap there! This is false.
In reply to dculberson :
My retirement income will depend on how much I want to pull out of my 401k and Roth funds each year, but it will most likely be above the limits for subsidies.
In reply to Ovid_and_Flem :
My cobra payment wouldn't be nearly that bad - I just checked my files and for 2018 it would around $450/mo. I anticipate trying to get a separate policy to bridge the gap between now and Medicare would cost a lot more than that.
This immigration.govt.nz website says that there is not a skills shortage in NZ for aeronautical engineers. I'm out, you all have fun without me.
At 42 I've already been "retired" for 16 years. I planned to go back to work, but then we had a pile of children instead. At some point that whole responsible saving thing really started to pay off and there really isn't a reason to go back unless it would make me happy. I've stayed happy without work so far. I think I'm good. Everything is paid off and our investments come within a couple dollars of being able to generate the same income that my wife makes. She wants to keep working until deucekid#4 finishes high school, so we've got a few more years. She likes her job and likes her industry. She hasn't quite bought into the idea that our savings will sustain us no matter how many spreadsheets I show her.
I'm a lucky bastard.
In reply to stuart in mn :
That's really not that bad.
In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :
Yes. Yes you are. 
In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :
Wow... retired at 26! You win!
If I retire at 65 I will be lucky. I don’t think it’s possible though.
In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :
Staying home to take care kids, at least when they're still infants and toddlers, is not retirement...It's a career change. 
Wally said:
In a perfect world I will retire from Transit at 55 with 31 years of service. I should be able to continue buying my insurance until Medicare kicks in. I’ve also been putting money into a retirement plan since I was about 20. In reality I don’t know that the government is going to make good on it by the time I get there but I have a job I could likely do forever if I had to.
People pay for social security just like insurance. If the Government failed to honor it’s obligations I’m certain any politician who voted to do so would be drummed out of office. Plus I doubt it would be legal.
The advantage to the government is that with social security to fall back on Americans can afford to risk being an entrepreneur. Places that lack a government backed retirement plans also lack entrepreneurial spirit.
Ovid_and_Flem said:
In reply to frenchyd :
Better get off the crack pipe, Frenchie. Average house price in New Zealand it's close to$500,000 us. In fact new government is planning to ban foreigners from purchasing homes in New Zealand.
You need to improve your reading comprehension. I didn’t claim those are today’s prices, rather when I looked at it.
AT the time ( decades ago) real estate was cheap. For the year look back when a New Zealand dollar was worth about 50 cents American,
Since then things have changed. For one people over 55 cannot move there permanitly .
yupididit said:
Dentist yeah? yeah, your retirement will be pretty good. I'll be eligible to retire from the Air Force in 9 years. I'll be 38, from there who knows where I'll go or what I'll do.
Yes, BUT much of my time is in the reserves, so the pension won't be nearly what an active duty one is. Still, its something that I'll very much appreciate.
STM317
SuperDork
6/4/18 4:13 p.m.
frenchyd said:
People pay for social security just like insurance. If the Government failed to honor it’s obligations I’m certain any politician who voted to do so would be drummed out of office. Plus I doubt it would be legal.
The advantage to the government is that with social security to fall back on Americans can afford to risk being an entrepreneur. Places that lack a government backed retirement plans also lack entrepreneurial spirit.
SS is great for people your age. But they've already begun to push back the ages when younger people will be eligible, and that reduces the amount that will be payed out. It's not sustainable, and at some point, a generation is going to get less than what they've put in. Might be my generation, might be my kid's generation. Young people that are planning their lives should plan as if SS won't be there.
Wally
MegaDork
6/4/18 4:16 p.m.
In reply to frenchyd :
Mine isn’t social security it’s a govt employee pension . For years they’ve been trying to find a way out of paying and there’s no public support to keep them. I’m sure that in the next 10-15 years one of them will be bright enough to realize they can have the agency close, let a private company attempt to run it and make us all reapply for our jobs at less pay with no pension. The county my father works for did it to him about 5 years ago.
