Starting a new chapter in our lives (sorta...)

[soccerdad72]

Some big changes are coming in our household. Well, at least for part of our house My wife is officially retiring as of December. She had been thinking about retirement for the past year or two, but rumors of early retirement packages started up a couple months ago. Turned out, she wasn't old enough for the package (it was for partners 54 and older and she's only 52). But the firm didn't get enough takers of the package, so they needed to cut some more headcount, and she's on the list of cuts. She'll find out her official package shortly, but it looks like she'll get one year's salary as compensation and she can still consider it a retirement instead of a lay off. 30+ years with the firm, the last 19+ of it as a partner, so she's ready for the next chapter in her life.

On the other hand, I need to work for at least the next couple years - mainly because I carry the healthcare for the family. Once our youngest is graduated from college (3 years), we'll be able to reevaluate where we're at, especially once it's just my wife and I needing healthcare. Most likely, I'll retire at that point as well.

The question my wife has is what she will do in this next chapter. Early on, there's certainly some travel she has in mind (fortunately, I have a ton of vacation to use up as well), but I think she's going to end up wanting to do some sort of part time work, or at least a lot of volunteering. She's had a few people approach her in the past with opportunities, like working remotely for our financial adviser's firm or possibly being on audit committees for public companies, but I know she doesn't want to get into a situation where she feels like she has to work, but rather, is doing things she wants to do.

Anyways, things are interesting and exciting at our house this week.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Some big changes are coming in our household. Well, at least for part of our house My wife is officially retiring as of December. She had been thinking about retirement for the past year or two, but rumors of early retirement packages started up a couple months ago. Turned out, she wasn't old enough for the package (it was for partners 54 and older and she's only 52). But the firm didn't get enough takers of the package, so they needed to cut some more headcount, and she's on the list of cuts. She'll find out her official package shortly, but it looks like she'll get one year's salary as compensation and she can still consider it a retirement instead of a lay off. 30+ years with the firm, the last 19+ of it as a partner, so she's ready for the next chapter in her life.

On the other hand, I need to work for at least the next couple years - mainly because I carry the healthcare for the family. Once our youngest is graduated from college (3 years), we'll be able to reevaluate where we're at, especially once it's just my wife and I needing healthcare. Most likely, I'll retire at that point as well.

The question my wife has is what she will do in this next chapter. Early on, there's certainly some travel she has in mind (fortunately, I have a ton of vacation to use up as well), but I think she's going to end up wanting to do some sort of part time work, or at least a lot of volunteering. She's had a few people approach her in the past with opportunities, like working remotely for our financial adviser's firm or possibly being on audit committees for public companies, but I know she doesn't want to get into a situation where she feels like she has to work, but rather, is doing things she wants to do.

Anyways, things are interesting and exciting at our house this week.

That sounds great, @soccerdad72. Congratulations and best wishes for your wife as she moves on to her next chapter. And best wishes to you also as you place those remaining bricks in place for your retirement also. Health care and Social Security are two large pieces, take time to evaluate for those future years. My best.

 

[easyas123]

Congratulations to your wife!
Interesting topic….we are in a somewhat similar position. At 51 & 52 we find ourselves looking at a situation where we may be in a position to retire in next 12-24 months. At first I was adamantly against it- what would we do with ourselves for the next 30-40 years? And the health insurance thing is a big consideration. Now I’m open to thinking about it.

 

[disykat]

I don't know the rest of your family situation, but I ended up retiring at 56 due to family obligations. Fortunately, it was at the end of our youngest son's last year of college so that was done. Having time to care for our ailing parents and also the opportunity and ability to do a part time job in a different field I'd always been interested in was invaluable.

DH also retired early at 56 a few years later. We were very fortunate that through his job we get to keep carrying our same health insurance for no increased cost (above what we would be paying if we were still employed) so that was very helpful.

For those for whom it is doable, we thoroughly recommend it. 6 years now for me. No regrets.

 

[soccerdad72]

I don't know the rest of your family situation, but I ended up retiring at 56 due to family obligations. Fortunately, it was at the end of our youngest son's last year of college so that was done. Having time to care for our ailing parents and also the opportunity and ability to do a part time job in a different field I'd always been interested in was invaluable.

DH also retired early at 56 a few years later. We were very fortunate that through his job we get to keep carrying our same health insurance for no increased cost (above what we would be paying if we were still employed) so that was very helpful.

For those for whom it is doable, we thoroughly recommend it. 6 years now for me. No regrets.

We'll be 55 when our youngest graduates from college (assuming he graduates in 4 years). We'll have to figure out health insurance coverage for a while after that - probably some sort of high-deductible plan with an HSA.

My MIL will likely need some sort of care - she's 81 and starting to slip, mentally. She also survived a massive aneurysm back in 2020, so it's somewhat of a miracle she's even alive. And my parents (77 and 79) are starting to decline as well, my dad moreso than my mom, and I might need to help out with them as well.

 

[slo]

This is great - congratulations to your wife
I wish her all the best with whatever she decides to do.
Cheers to new beginnings for her and you both

 

[Micca]

Exciting times soccerdad! DW and I had to pay OOP for insurance for a few years until medicare kicked in. It was stoopid expensive, but we managed somehow.

 

[Dan Murphy]

At first I was adamantly against it- what would we do with ourselves for the next 30-40 years?.......Now I’m open to thinking about it.

Seems the older we get the more open to it we get.

 

[fla4fun]

The question my wife has is what she will do in this next chapter. Early on, there's certainly some travel she has in mind (fortunately, I have a ton of vacation to use up as well), but I think she's going to end up wanting to do some sort of part time work, or at least a lot of volunteering. She's had a few people approach her in the past with opportunities, like working remotely for our financial adviser's firm or possibly being on audit committees for public companies, but I know she doesn't want to get into a situation where she feels like she has to work, but rather, is doing things she wants to do.

Can she do consulting or freelance work based on her skill set? That way, she only takes the jobs she wants to, when she wants to. If you have travel planned or something like that, she just doesn’t take on projects during that time.

 

[NYCgrrl]

Congratulations for the coming life changes!

Just a little unsolicited advice if I can be so bold. Since you are retiring at different times try and retain structure in your days; it’s amazing how much of our day revolves around work and it’s easy to be “lost” without it.

Have fun and enjoy new aspects and nuances of your relationship.

 

[cayennews]

Congratulations. Exciting changes.

 

[tvguy]

So glad to see sooooo many people mention Health Insurance. Unless you are disabled, it will be a huge financial consideration until you turn 65 and qualify for Medicare. We had planned on retiring at 62 and buying private health insurance to fill the gap until 65. All our budget plans for health care were blown out of the water after the "Affordable" Healthcare Act became law. All of a sudden COBRA was no longer the most expensive option. It is certainly done good things for those with health issues and those who qualify for grants, but "Affordable" is a poor choice of names. And with COBRA comes a limitation of 18 months coverage, so we had to push back retirement to 63 1/2.
So OP, keep that in mind, if your wife is only 52 now, she will need 13 years of health coverage before Medicare kicks in.
In our case, COBRA was $1,300 a month for the two of us. Private insurance would have been $3,000 a month for two.

 

[flyingdumbo127]

Congratulations and best to you both!

 

[soccerdad72]

So OP, keep that in mind, if your wife is only 52 now, she will need 13 years of health coverage before Medicare kicks in.

10 years - I’m planning on working until we’re 55.

 

[lisaviolet]

All I thought about was the bball tickets.

What an exciting change. All the best to you both.

 

[limace]

I’m about your wife’s age and going next month at 54-definitely trying to figure out what’s next after over 30 years with same employer. Best of luck to her!

 

[tvguy]

10 years - I’m planning on working until we’re 55.

So likely you will be laying out several hundred thousand dollars in premiums for medical coverage for those 10 years.

 

[kymom99]

I’m certainly lucky because I get health insurance as a retired teacher. Right now I don’t have to use it because my husband still works, but he’s older than I am so once he hits 65 and is eligible for Medicare, I’ll sign up for the insurance available to me for 4 more years.

It’s a lot to think about.

 

[soccerdad72]

So likely you will be laying out several hundred thousand dollars in premiums for medical coverage for those 10 years.

Likely, yes.

 

[soccerdad72]

I figured I'd bump this up briefly and give a quick update as to how split retirement life is going so far.

This week is really the first week that we've had that is different, meaning it was the first full week of work for me with my wife being retired. Officially, her retirement was December 31st. While I had a week in January back to work before we left for vacation (we were in Switzerland Jan 14-21), we were still kind of wrapping up holiday stuff, plus with our younger son still home from college, my wife had someone to do a few things with.

Now that he's back at college and I'm back to work for the week, her adjustment has begun. I'm not going to lie - being in office a couple days a week is not so bad now (I do a hybrid work schedule). My wife has done a great job early on about putting herself out there a little more. She spent part of the day Monday with some women from our gym - after a morning workout class, a group of them went for coffee/tea and chatted for a while. Monday being one of my work from home days, that was a good thing, as she was out of the house for much of the morning. Yesterday, she got together with a friend of ours who's also retired and they spent some time at our local rec center, walking the track and playing pickup pickleball. She's really trying to pick up more hobbies as she goes along - and is finally able to read for pleasure more now, even signing up for a library card for the first time in decades.

As mentioned in my original post - travelling will be a big part of the transition as well. She's spending most of February in Florida with her mom and we have a trip to DC planned to visit with good friends of ours in March when I'm off for Spring Break (I work for a college). Then she's got a couple other mini trips planned, like to Arizona with a friend who has a conference, a weekend in Colorado with another friend who's daughter is presenting her master's thesis and coming with me on a conference I have in May in New Orleans.

Oh, and the family member who is loving this the most is our 12-year old dachshund. He's loving being able to hang out with her during the cold days. Whether he'll feel the same way towards her when she leaves him for a month or not - we'll see