I have worked for this company for almost 36 years. The company has a retirement benefit called "Rule of 85", in which if your age (58) and years of service (35) = 85 you can retire with unreduced benefits (or so they say) as if you retired at 65. While you would get a larger payment at 65, I could get a lesser payment (about half) for 7 more years (58 to 65).

Nothing wrong with the company, or co-workers or my boss. I JUST NEED TO DO SOMETHING ELSE!

Work as a parts counter person.
Work somewhere in the automotive field.
Change oil, spark plugs
Be a greeter at WalMart .

Just something else...........Does that make sense?

My pension would cover all my expenses and have maybe $500 left over a month.

Really, if I were to stay here another year, I may go INSANE. or partially insane at best.

Without getting into numbers, what would you do.........Paul

Lifes too short to be stuck in the same job forever. If you can fiancially do it, I would say make the change.

quote Originally posted by isthiswhereiputausername?: Lifes too short to be stuck in the same job forever. If you can fiancially do it, I would say make the change.

Ditto.

Brad

Could you apply for a different position in your company? Maybe that would offer the change of scenery and different challenges you seem to be looking for. It's always best to try and hang out till the end if you can and get the most retirement benefits you can, unless you can do this somewhere else. Who knows? You might live to be 100 years old, will your pension help cover all your expenses till then? You have to consider the cost of living will continue to go up every year and you will need more medical care as you get older. That brings up another point. Once you retire how are you going to pay for your medical benefits? You will still be too young to get medicare coverage.
It's your decision in the end, if you think you can afford it go for it.

I've been thinking about the same thing. I am a bit younger than you (51) and I just passed 30 years with the same company. I can retire with 30 or more years no matter my age. Watch out for retirement medical benefits. If you still have them as part of your retirement consider yourself lucky, ( I'll have to pay for my medical benefits - they were taken away for retirees) and be prepared to have them disappear soon.

Definitely check on things like insurance and benefits. But that notwithstanding, if I could retire today, I'd be out the door. Unless you love what you're doing, why keep doing it if you have an alternative?

quote Originally posted by FrugalFiero: I've been thinking about the same thing. I am a bit younger than you (51) and I just passed 30 years with the same company. I can retire with 30 or more years no matter my age. Watch out for retirement medical benefits. If you still have them as part of your retirement consider yourself lucky, ( I'll have to pay for my medical benefits - they were taken away for retirees) and be prepared to have them disappear soon.

Yes, I have to pay for medical, it is around $600 a month, my wife is disabled and can get Medicare. I just want to do something different, it's hard to explain. I am one of about 200 people systemwide (non union) who has 35 or more years (out of 70,000 employees).

And this is a scary move, I have only had two jobs in my life, 4 years in the military and 35 years here, never been laid off. Hell, I could get another job and get laid off in a month.

I just know in my heart, that I need to do something different, like I said, it's hard to explain..............Paul

[This message has been edited by Paul Prince (edited 03-09-2007).]

I do computer work for the state police here:

our age and time have to equal 80 before we can retire.

we get 2% pay for each year of service we have so if i have 30 years of service ill get 60% of what i made my last year working for the company.

HOWEVER you have to be 55 to retire also, so I started at 20 years old, my age and time will be right at 50 years old, however ill have to work another 5 years so ill have 35 years in and get 70% pay when i retire plus when i get old enough for SS ill be drawing that too (if SS is still around)

im already alittle tired of my job, but its really laid back, doesnt require a whole lot of work, and it pays all the bills and gives me alittle extra for my family and hobbies.

matthew

Im close to retirement myself. Ive weighed the benefits of 62 vs 65 and really see no reason to wait myself. I only gain a few hundred dollars a month by waiting. Id rather be screwing off for the 3 or 4 years extra. Im still going to have a good income anyway without touching savings. Ive already got a little photo business started to replace doing manual labor.

Sounds like you can handle it financially with benefits and all. If that's the case, I say follow your heart and the rest will fall into place. Life is too short, and if you keep having this feeling that you want to do something else than that means you should. Keep the faith it will work out and you will have a good quality of life and much happiness. Sure its scary but its also scary to think what you will feel like if you never follow your heart. Keep us posted and best wishes in your new venture.

One word of caution with respet to health and life insurance through a corporate retirement plan (even in a defined benefits plan). I had both of them when I retired for the first time (same company for 26 years) but three years later the company eliminated life insurance for retirees (even if you were fully paying for it) and phased out the medical insurance over the next five years with you paying 10 to 15% higher each year until the end of year 5 when it is no longer available.

Speaking as a guy who did retire at 55.......

Two things to consider.

1. can you do it financially until Social Security kicks in?
2. How solid is your company and more particularly the pension fund?

As for retiring early, it is really a no brainer if you have any life outside of work. You'll be healthier, live longer, and have a better quality of life longer too.

The real down side is if you don't have anything to occupy your time. That is a killer. In my case I have lots to do and I enjoy retirement a whole lot.

Good luck on it

Arn

i'd say go for it. KC really does have a good enonomy if you don't require a lot of money. life's too short to do something you don't like if you don't have to.

If you can afford it, retire. I'd have done it yesterday if I could have. Enjoy this life while you can. It doesn't last forever.

------------------
Ron
Land of the Free because of the Brave. Most gave some, some gave all. Some ran the other way.

I was told by an old supervisor "You never can be too young to retire, but you can be too old".

I retired at 55 and haven't looked back. The biggie is to have enough money to last until SS kicks in, if it still around. I took a cash balance payout and re invested the money into an IRA, which in my estimate would pay more than the single annuity the company would buy for me and pay out a fixed pension forever. You need to "worry" about inflation on any fixed payments. So far that has been true as the investments are paying more than the pension would have.

If you need the fix of I gotta have something to do, you may find retirement boring.

Retire, too many retire at 65 and up and die. Besides you seem like you want to.
Yea, on having choices, I am very happy that that you are at a place where you can make a choice.

I'm with the rest of the crowd. It sounds like you need to wave "bye-bye" at work and do something else. Take a part time job at a dealership cleaning cars, if nothing else. Most important, to me, is spend time with your family.

My dad had started slowing down when he turned 70, but was still working driving truck and farming. He and mom had bought a 5th wheel camper for their truck and has spent one year (3 winter months) snowbirding in AZ. Mom loved it. They had sewing activities there, and they went sight seeing, and she met a lot of new people. Both were in very good health. Dad didn't like being gone that much, too much work to do here (he thought). He always told mom that when he couldn't work anymore they'd travel and spend time doing things like that.

One year later mom was in Mayo clinic where they found liver cancer and 6 months after that she was gone.

I can't begin to tell you how much guilt my dad felt over that. Having mom just waiting for HIM to decide it was time to take some time for them, and then never being able to do it nearly killed him, literally.

My advice...........retire. Enjoy yourself. Enjoy your family and friends. Find something part time for some pocket/mad money and start really living your life.

John Stricker

I'm nowhere near retirement age, but even after I get my 30 years in I have to stay until 60 years old. I'll have nearly 40 years in by then :P

I think you need to do it also but... PLAN YOUR ESCAPE.
Don't just up and leave just because you have a whopping 500 bucks more than you need to survive.
Spend some time researching alternative home income businesses and also save a bit of money for possivble investment that may well return your 500 or more a month. Talk to an investment planner. Look around and consider things that have never been available before because you had no time. Often people make more money once they have the time to do it all while spending less time and effort than their original job.

With no job and plenty of time how far will 500 bucks go? It would last me about a day. So for the rest of the month I would be watching daytime soaps and typing on Pennocks.


Edit to add.. If you aint making money you're spending it.

[This message has been edited by pokeyfiero (edited 03-10-2007).]

You can earn another dollar,you can't earn another day!After you consider all the possible problems and if you decide you are still able to retire,do it! I retired last September and it took me till now to feel comfortable.Tomorrow I am leaving on a cross country trip in a motorhome we just bought to visit my son in Phoenix who we haven't seen in 2 years.On the trip I plan on meeting some of the people from Pennocks I've known for the past 5 years and have never met face to face.

quote Originally posted by hugh: You can earn another dollar,you can't earn another day!After you consider all the possible problems and if you decide you are still able to retire,do it! I retired last September and it took me till now to feel comfortable.Tomorrow I am leaving on a cross country trip in a motorhome we just bought to visit my son in Phoenix who we haven't seen in 2 years.On the trip I plan on meeting some of the people from Pennocks I've known for the past 5 years and have never met face to face.

have a safe trip! did you decide to take the doggy or leave her at home?

What's the ole' saying, "life is wasted on the youth." Just when you've reached retirement age (65), a person may die soon after. Enjoy you're time now with love ones and friends and maybe tring "new" things in life... like a different job?

isn't that the irony of life? by the time you have enough money and spare time to do the things you really want to you may be too worn out to do them.

i think retirement, like most things in life, really depends on the individual. here's two stories: my wife'e aunt has been retired for about 10 yrs. she's in her mid 60's and is perfectly happy spending her nights at the casino's and days by the pool. when she gets bored she goes to thrift stores to hunt for bargins. now my father-in-law retired a couple of yrs ago and he can't stand it. he's one of the old school, get up at 500 am and work 10-12 hrs kinda guys. unfortunately after laying brick for 30 yrs his skin and arms haven't held up too well. he's just a guy that can't keep still. i suppose that's a good thing because he is active. heck a month ago his old boss called him up to look at a multi-million dollar house. its got some kind of fancy fireplace and they needed his advice on how to build it. they paid him a couple hundred bucks just to supervise it. i think he would have done it for free just for the satisfaction.

Sostock,I really,really want to take my dog,but she is a German Shepard that weighs over 100 lbs..I would either have to leave her in the RV while we visit or make the people we are visiting very uncomfortable having a dog her size in their house.I feel almost as if I were leaving one of my kids behind.She will have more room in my house(hers too)than in the RV, but I and my wife won't be there to keep her company.My son and his wife live 3 houses down from us and they will take good care of her.I'll still miss her!

My dad retired from the state at 62, died 6 months later. My mom retired from her job, died 2 years later. Money in the bank or due you at retirement is no good to you if your dead or too old to enjoy it. Spend and enjoy. Im prob going at 62 like I said, but Ive been more or less that for last few years. My usual 5 day work week now is 9-11am, lunch or whatever, work 1-3/4 pm. If something good is going on during the weekend I close on Friday too. Funny part is with what insurance pays these days to fix cars, I make more a week now than I did working 40-45 hours. ie/ I just made over $600 putting on a used hood and painting it in 2 hours (minus the $150 for part).

I want to thank everyone for their help and advice. As I said, I will get another job, just one (hopefully) in the automotive field. I have decided to leave April 30th. I will get paid for the 6 weeks vacation I have when I leave, so that will hold me for a month until my retirement check comes and I try for another job.

This is not something I have "just" decided to do, I have been thinking about it since January of '06. I probably won't be on the forum as much, and again, I appreciate everyones input..............Paul


Edit: + to everyone unless you had one already.

[This message has been edited by Paul Prince (edited 03-12-2007).]

i'm glad you're going for it.
I’m not going to claim that I really know you or your situation. but from what i have seen of you in real life, it is my perception that you've made some sacrifices and deserve to do something for yourself

Thanks Buddy. I also still have that plastic "item" if you want it.......Paul