Countdown to retirement

[permavac]

Those that retire at 55 or so. What do you do about healthinsurance.. doesnt medicare kick in at 65? or am I missing something

We retired earlier than 55 without health insurance or what my DH calls "healthcare subscription". We just pay out of pocket for any doctor's visits we might need. Since retiring 2 years ago, I've had two preventative doc visits and one unplanned doc visit for a sore throat. My DH hasn't had any doc visits.

We saved cash in an HSA before he retired to pay for a moderate healthcare emergency. If we go through that we'll just use some of our discretionary savings. Of course our fingers are crossed that we stay healthy until 65 when we can go on Medicare - if it still exists...

Theresa

 

[Disneylover99]

No one really talks about the stress of having someone retire, going from working 8-9 hours a day to ... not. There is real impact to the structure that has been in place for decades, especially when only one person is retired. Retirement absolutely impacts all parts of life, not just the financial.

Yes! Many people spend so much time thinking about the financial impact of retirement (understandably) but don’t realize how it will affect other areas of their life.

I retired last year after teaching for 31 years. It was high stress for sure and I thought my worries would melt away upon retirement. But for me at least, that worry just manifested onto my husband and kids. Now that I had time to think about them, I worried over things I’d never thought of before and drove them nuts. I’m getting better though. Now I just worry about death. lol.

 

[robinb]

Those that retire at 55 or so. What do you do about healthinsurance.. doesnt medicare kick in at 65? or am I missing something

People usually self pay though the ACA Marketplace (aka "Obamacare"). Most people are eligible for tax credits, depending on their gender, age and household income. Some people who retire early try to have a lower income (living on savings) in the time between retirement and Medicare so they get a bigger tax credit making the cost of insurance lower.

 

[tamitru32]

I could have written your original post myself, my exception being I had a wonderful team at work and corporate was pretty good. Still the stress gets to us all and it was nice to end that 1 1/2 years ago. However, enjoy the few years still to go and just put it in perspective that its only a few more. Enjoy being vital and make plans for retirement so that you are ready emotionally and spiritually. Physically isn't as tough but sometimes the mental side coming out of a career can be tougher. Just shore up resources so you're ready and enjoy it when it comes!

 

[DJFan88]

Those that retire at 55 or so. What do you do about healthinsurance.. doesnt medicare kick in at 65? or am I missing something

My minimum retirement age of 57 with 30 years in (ill have more) also allows me to keep same insurance and pay same premium portion i pay now. I will be required to sign up for medicare when i reach that age, the one portion of it. I will also keep the same premium one i have.

 

[Skippy918]

In Kentucky we operate under the WEP/GPO. Teachers do not pay into SS but we contribute 13-14% into our pension system. Our pension is nice, but if we contribute to SS through other jobs, we don’t see any of the money. The only way you can draw some of it is if you have 30 years of “significant” earnings paid into SS. The other thing is, we cannot draw our spouse’s SS if they predecease us.

This is similar to teachers in my state. Their pension sucks though as there has been no cola increase in 30 years.

 

[longboard55]

This is similar to teachers in my state. Their pension sucks though as there has been no cola increase in 30 years.

I think that is an IRS rule not a state law

 

[sk!mom]

Agreed. I still think not paying into social security was a huge benefit though. When the program runs out of money in a few years an automatic haircut is going to kick in.

For many teachers, they have paid into both so it seems unfair to lose out on most of SS.

In my case, I worked and paid in for 16 years before quitting for a few years to get a teaching degree.

In recent years, teaching hasn’t had raises so many younger teachers have second/summer/seasonal jobs that they continue to pay into SS. Many will likely do this for their whole career.

 

[MillauFr]

For many teachers, they have paid into both so it seems unfair to lose out on most of SS.

In my case, I worked and paid in for 16 years before quitting for a few years to get a teaching degree.

In recent years, teaching hasn’t had raises so many younger teachers have second/summer/seasonal jobs that they continue to pay into SS. Many will likely do this for their whole career.

In Washington State the state pension you get is separate from the social security replacement program. You get a defined benefit pension base on the number of years of service and your average salary. The money your employer and you put into a 401k type program is completely separate from the defined benefit pension. The money in your 401k is dependent on how well the stock market does.

 

[focusondisney]

This is similar to teachers in my state. Their pension sucks though as there has been no cola increase in 30 years.

I have a pension from a health care system I worked for. We do not get a COLA. My parents both had pensions, my father from a major steel producer & my mother from a retailer. Neither got COLAs. I don’t think most private pensions do.

 

[kymom99]

I think that is an IRS rule not a state law

We get 1.5% per year cola

 

[kymom99]

This is similar to teachers in my state. Their pension sucks though as there has been no cola increase in 30 years.

Our pension is actually very good.

 

[tvguy]

I have a pension from a health care system I worked for. We do not get a COLA. My parents both had pensions, my father from a major steel producer & my mother from a retailer. Neither got COLAs. I don’t think most private pensions do.

I think COLAs are pretty much exclusive to public sector jobs. My mom worked for a hospital and had a fixed pension, set based on your hire date. She started in 1948 and it was $400 if she worked at least 30 years. That sounded like huge money in 1948. Not so huge when she retired in 1985 when she hit 30 years, She took off 7 years when I was born, but the hospital allowed you to use the total number of years, they did not have to be consecutive. Her Social Security was three times her pension, and she had IRAs and Annuities. The real important thing she did was to live within her means, and have no debt. Her house had been paid off for 25 years when she retired, and her car paid off for 19 years. I managed her finances the last year of her life, and I was amazed how little her month to month expenses were. Her Social Security more than cover those costs, so her pension and IRA distributions were her have fun money.

 

[Disneybuckeye]

I think COLAs are pretty much exclusive to public sector jobs. My mom worked for a hospital and had a fixed pension, set based on your hire date. She started in 1948 and it was $400 if she worked at least 30 years. That sounded like huge money in 1948. Not so huge when she retired in 1985 when she hit 30 years, She took off 7 years when I was born, but the hospital allowed you to use the total number of years, they did not have to be consecutive. Her Social Security was three times her pension, and she had IRAs and Annuities. The real important thing she did was to live within her means, and have no debt. Her house had been paid off for 25 years when she retired, and her car paid off for 19 years. I managed her finances the last year of her life, and I was amazed how little her month to month expenses were. Her Social Security more than cover those costs, so her pension and IRA distributions were her have fun money.

While I agree with living within your means, I disagree with no debt. When we built our new main house we took out a 15 year mortgage as I preferred to have $400k in ready cash rather than a paid off house worth 7 figures that I might not be able to sell quickly. That $400k has grown significantly in CDs and HYSAs, and with a 2.5% mortgage it would cost us money to pay off our house.

 

[focusondisney]

I think COLAs are pretty much exclusive to public sector jobs

Agree. Which is why I responded to another posters comment that a pension sucks because it doesn’t have a COLA. That’s just normal in the private sectors. If you have a pension with one, you’re pretty lucky.

 

[lifesavacation]

DH retires 7/1/25. 30 years with the railroad being used and abused. We’ve already bought an RV and will be taking long trip to national parks. He’ll be 51 in July.

We still own our small business so won’t be fully retired, but life will get so much better without the railroad in it.

We have other income so not too worried about the gap between when his retirement and pension kicks in. We’ll get health insurance through our company.

 

[tvguy]

While I agree with living within your means, I disagree with no debt. When we built our new main house we took out a 15 year mortgage as I preferred to have $400k in ready cash rather than a paid off house worth 7 figures that I might not be able to sell quickly. That $400k has grown significantly in CDs and HYSAs, and with a 2.5% mortgage it would cost us money to pay off our house.

Well, we are all different but the key is to have a plan and balanced investments. Mine was to have the house paid off before our kids hit College. The house was paid off 6 years before our oldest started College. The plan was the equity would be a back up for their College tuition The house payment then went into the kids college for those six years. I lost my job half way through our oldest's Freshman and I can not tell you how much of a relief it was not to have a house payment when that happened.
My daughter just sold her house, and is living off the proceeds. Her house appreciated 10% every year she owned it. Now she is having a hard time finding investments that are as safe and secure aa a house that pay anywhere near 10%. She took a hit last week with the fed cutting interest rates.

 

[china mom]

Medicare is 65, but I believe there are some exceptions for disability.

Yes, there is. But, in my case ( I have a condition which would qualify me for disability) I would have to file for social security disability and then wait anywhere from 6-12 month (from what I have heard) to get approved. Then Medicaid has a two year wait from the time you go on SSDI until you qualify for Medicaid. Well, I am 59 now so I might as well just work for five more years and enjoy my really good employer provided insurance.

If I find that I can no longer able to work, I will, of course, apply but we have the funds to pay for insurance until it kicks in.

Oh, yeah, plus I have a 19 and 21 year old on my plan.

 

[dvcgirl67]

We're counting down, or at least DH is....end of 2025. He's really burned out and so one way we're managing until the end is by taking more vacations to give us something fun to look forward to until he finishes up his career. Just got back from an incredible 16 night trip to South Africa and we both feel super energized from the experience. We threw the idea of it being a "one and done" bucket list kind of trip because we will definitely go back to Africa. And so travel definitely helps to push through to the end I think.

 

[wannabee]

Our pension is actually very good.

jealous of all the people with pensions.

We're counting down, or at least DH is....end of 2025. He's really burned out and so one way we're managing until the end is by taking more vacations to give us something fun to look forward to until he finishes up his career. Just got back from an incredible 16 night trip to South Africa and we both feel super energized from the experience. We threw the idea of it being a "one and done" bucket list kind of trip because we will definitely go back to Africa. And so travel definitely helps to push through to the end I think.

couldn't agree more- I hope to travel a lot in the next 3 years