quandry with a hypothetical

[Varmintmist]

Ok, a lot of us are near the same age and I could use an outside eyeball,,,

-Lets say you are damn near 59.5 and you were told by your financial guy that you could pull the plug on working, with the caveat that not spending from savings until 62, will put you in pretty darn good shape, as in bring home as much or more than you and your wife are while working in perpetuity with a real nice chunk of estate left for the kids. "THE PLAN"
-Your job is basically a buggy whip weaver. Folks still need your service way more than they know, but a lot less than 20 years ago.
-Wife makes enough that you can live on, with bennies, and still contributes to her 401K
-Working for the company (BSCO, name changed to protect the incompetent) does not give you the warm fuzzies in this latest clone (9th co name since you started, held by Greek God co) Has fully staffed ESG and DEI and HR and IT and management yet no budget to turn wrenches. Buys the cheapest gear and fly by night contractors to install it, leaving the techs to repair or finish projects from the maint budget because every where they have rolled "new idea" out it has been inoperable after being signed off by engineering which has to be ran by someones cousins brothers nephew because they are untouchable.
-Greek God co isnt happy with BSCO because they have made 60% of their goals so far
-You turn in an intent to retire letter Pre Tday
-7 days pass and the wife gets RIF'ed. This really screws up "THE PLAN"
-You pull your intent to retire letter
-3 weeks later BSCO loses two huge (talking HYUGE) contracts through their lack of performance and being hard to deal with. A entire dept (about 30% of the entire workforce) statewide is either retired, laid off, or rolled into another dept. Personally I dont see any other dept where they are making money
-Call financial guy again, ask about bailing out w/o ins and/or employment and play with some numbers so as to not hurt "THE PLAN" later. He knows about Greek God co and agrees that the handwriting is on the wall.
-If BSCO goes under, there is a lump sum in pension you would lose right about the median home price in TX. You would still be able to eat the name brand dog food, and not resort to the store brand, in retirement. However it would suck to get maybe a quarter back in value in Pension guarantee funds.
-Financial guy gives a cut rate number that can be taken from "THE PLAN" that wont hurt later. Extremely conservative.
-To pull the plug, a job would be needed, preferably with bennies.

So... Do you gut it out for 2 years sucking Maloxx like it was fruit punch to make "THE PLAN" work? Or bail, quit a job that pays well and take a job at home dumpster (eg) for 2 years securing the pension as a lump sum, and hopefully getting bennies.

Seriously leaning toward stacking toilet flanges as a career.

[Diver43]

Surprisingly, I learned that you spend significantly less money, not working. Don't forget to put what you won't spend in your equation. For me it was: No driving back and forth to work, no needing "work cloths", lunch, coffee,
Just the reduction in gas, and decrease in insurance made a difference. FYI don't forget to tell your auto insurance that you no longer drive to work. The 5, 10, and 20 dollar bills you don't spend add up to a lot.

[Justsomedude]

This might sound strange, but ask yourself if YOU can go without working. I say this because I personally get incredibly depressed just by having to be home sick or any other thing that keeps me out of the shop. If I live long enough to retire, you'll likely see me at the local Walmart as a door greeter also chasing down unsuspecting ladies to check their receipts.

[CPJ 2.0]

Get out now.
You could get penis cancer in a year and not be able to enjoy any retirement.

As far as the kids go, they can get their own retirement.

[jbp-ohio]

Get out now.
You could get penis cancer in a year and not be able to enjoy any retirement.

As far as the kids go, they can get their own retirement.

Bail and cut firewood for cash. It's pushing $250 a cord.

[Chiro1989]

“Retire” with something to do, there is stupid money to be made in my neck of the woods just because you will show up for work every day AND work unless you lost a limb that morning , CPJ is right though, meteor could peg your melon the day after you retire also though

[Justsomedude]

True story here.
My dad worked at general electric as a tool and die maker for 42 years. He worked with alot of older guys, some even WWII vets, iirc. There was a guy retiring so they threw him a retirement party at the shop that last a few hours. Everyone watched him clock out for the last time and walk out the door. He made it to the security gate and faceplanted into the ground. Died of a massive heart attack right then and there. CPJ makes a good point. My earlier point is that some people find it hard to acclimate to not working anymore so be sure to have a good hobby or something.

[Varmintmist]

Get out now.
You could get penis cancer in a year and not be able to enjoy any retirement.

As far as the kids go, they can get their own retirement.

Already took it in the neck not the pecker. They wont retire on what is left and you need a bit in case you live longer than you think you will.

[Varmintmist]

Get out now.
You could get penis cancer in a year and not be able to enjoy any retirement.

As far as the kids go, they can get their own retirement.

Bail and cut firewood for cash. It's pushing $250 a cord.

You do realize that I split with a maul right?

[bullsi1911]

Man, I would find a way to bail out of that company ASAP. If you need to get a WFH job for 2 years pushing buttons and scheduling calls, do it. Just to keep your pension and get out before they kick you out.

Watched my father in law die less than a year after retirement. He planned his whole life and barely got to enjoy it. The company will replace you in 10 minutes if you die tonight. No one else will take care of you

[jbp-ohio]

[Varmintmist]

True story here.
My dad worked at general electric as a tool and die maker for 42 years. He worked with alot of older guys, some even WWII vets, iirc. There was a guy retiring so they threw him a retirement party at the shop that last a few hours. Everyone watched him clock out for the last time and walk out the door. He made it to the security gate and faceplanted into the ground. Died of a massive heart attack right then and there. CPJ makes a good point. My earlier point is that some people find it hard to acclimate to not working anymore so be sure to have a good hobby or something.

I have seen that happen. Guy retired and was cancer ridden to death in a couple months.
I have always intended to do something. The problem with bailing now is I have to work at something with bennies, maybe, looking into cost of ins this week, but the cut rate from investments for 2.5 years -what I est ins to be, wont cover what I want to do. The wife is having a time finding a job in her field that is local that will take someone who is sub 10 years from full retirement age. Yeah, thats never a factor....

[Varmintmist]

So a grand a month, less fuel, oil, chiropractic bill@45/week, a gallon of biofreeze a month, and a pound of asprin....

[jbp-ohio]

....... and you get to deal with customers.

[CPJ 2.0]

Thankfully my retirement program is death, so I’ll never have to worry about this.

[jbp-ohio]

You can get your medical needs met at the V.A. That's like a full time job...

[bullsi1911]

Thankfully my retirement program is death, so I’ll never have to worry about this.

My retirement will be the span of time between my heart stopping, and my face hitting the keyboard.

[jbp-ohio]

I might be eating dogfood the last week of the month, but I should be able to retire.

[jkp]

If the current job is that bad, focus on fixing that immediately. Once you've done that consider retirement options.

I'm about ready to retire but mostly enjoy my work and it's financially rewarding. This has allowed my wife to cut back to part time. But if the job sucked I'd be looking elsewhere for sure.

I know you said you have an advisor, but Google firecalc and run your numbers there.

[NuttyNed]

Get out now.
You could get something in a year and not be able to enjoy any retirement.

As far as the kids go, they can get their own retirement.

CPJ is right

Get out when you feel it will work for you.

I had a great retirement until Clean went blind

[Varmintmist]

I might be eating dogfood the last week of the month, but I should be able to retire.

As long as its name brand and you dont have to stoop to store brand

[Varmintmist]

If the current job is that bad, focus on fixing that immediately. Once you've done that consider retirement options.

I'm about ready to retire but mostly enjoy my work and it's financially rewarding. This has allowed my wife to cut back to part time. But if the job sucked I'd be looking elsewhere for sure.

I know you said you have an advisor, but Google firecalc and run your numbers there.

Its not that the job is bad. I could do this until 90y/o except for the off hours demands are getting a bit old. Just not feeling that it will be around that long, and lately the odds of it going down the drain and taking a pension that has been frozen for 20+ years in restructuring are a lot better. I could be wrong and the co could be the one that doesnt make its goals and loses major contracts through fault of their own that will become a top performer. Then again, I might be correct.
My skills dont transfer to a job with the same return. There is a need, there is no expansion, and there are still enough people who can do the job.
Firecalc is a generic Monte Carlo simulator. Morgan Stanley does a much more in depth one. As per "the plan" I was good to go at 62.

[jkp]

Firecalc isn't Monte Carlo. It compares your input against history and determines if any potential failure points exist. It doesn't try to predict future market conditions.

[jbp-ohio]

Have you been to the VA yet? I need to make an appointment to the one in town. At least get my name in the system.

My brother Bob's brother Larry gets all of his medical through them and he's had 4 strokes and a quintuple bypass.

[jkp]

They do means testing at the VA, right?