Retirement?

Today is the last day of my three-week break, which consisted of my use-it-or-lose-it vacation days, comp time and holidays. I’ve loved playing golf three or four days a week, putting work-related stuff on the back burner and not thinking about the job for days at a time. I’ve loved it so much, I’m seriously thinking about working through '17 and then calling it quits.

I know the consensus of the board is likely to be, “If you can get out, do it.” But obviously I want to make sure this is something that’s thought out, and I’m not at the point where I get up in the morning feeling miserable because I have to go to work. Of course the job has its share of headaches, but for the most part, it’s enjoyable, my work structure has good flexibility and I work with decent people.

I don’t know how many recent retirees we have here, so my question is, if you had to do it all over again, what would you do differently? What do I need to know before I make the leap? I suspect the biggest challenge is arranging health-care insurance, and I fear that’s a monster that a person really needs to get a handle on. I do worry about that for what would be three years, until I turn 65. I've always believed in the adage that no one looks back on his life and wished that he'd worked longer, so I'm excited about the possibilities.

All input is welcome. Thanks.

 

Well, the big starter is to get together with a financial planner. See what you'll have at 66 if you keep working, and what you'll have if you retire in 2017. Even find out what you'll have if you call it quits at some midpoint between the two.

Your answer might be right there.

 

Just a thought, but maybe look at finding a part-time job and working that instead of your full-time gig?

You'll still have a (smaller) income, you'll still have a connection with the working world, and you'll also have more time for golf and other fun stuff.

 

There's always the part-time retirement, right? Take up a 3-day a week job at the golf course or be a part-time greeter at Home Depot (that's my plan, I think), and ease into retirement.

 

Arggh. Baron beat me to it.

 

Healthcare premiums will kill you. Plan on at least $6000 a year if it's just you.

 

The benefits are certainly what tipped it for me.

 

I plan to work as long as my health will permit me. Retirement is at a minimum 20 years off for me, probably a bit more. I went nuts just hanging around the house over the holidays. Can't imagine doing that 24-7.

 

If you don't have long term care insurance in place, lock that down now if you are still eligible. In fact, do that whether you retire or not.

 

I also frontloaded my life, did all the fun stuff when I was young. No reason for me to ever retire, until rigor mortis sets in.

 

Like others have said, consult a financial planner.

Will you be able to afford to play golf that much when you retire? How high is your boredom tolerance if you aren't working 40 hours (or more per week) and can't afford to do whatever you want whenever you want?

You don't want to be like a friend of mine who retired at 55, realized putting gas in his fishing boat was taking too big a chunk out of his nest egg. He wound up working at Lowe's after three years of retirement just to keep from diminishing his savings too much.

 

I retired at 65 when Medicare-eligible. So far I've liked it a great deal. But I was financially comfortable if not rich coming into it. Once the house is paid off and your kids are out on their own as grown-ups, expenses go down considerably.