Thread: what age did you retire? or what age do you want to retire?

1st retirement will be in 2011 at the age of 46. ATC gets 25 regardless of age. 2nd retirement wil be around age 60. I'll be flying somewhere.....

Jeff

I'm with Jeff, Age 49 with 25 years ATC. Thats 1 year 8 months to go. But, who's counting.

Question for those of you who plan to 'retire' at age 45 or so.

What are you going to do when you 'retire' and have 10+ years until you can withdraw from TSP or an IRA or collect SS? I would think that taking on a new job, losing seniority and a probable pay cut would be difficult as that's the time in life where I plan on paying for things like kid's college.

Just looking for any ideas or thoughts.

I retired at 54, just three months short of 55. They wanted to cut my division, so we were offered buy-outs or the "opportunity" to return to a job I hated more than the one I was in. I would have stayed until 62, but my last boss and I did not see eye-to-eye, so I was glad to take the buy-out.

The timing was great as our daughter married 30 days after I retired, and that gave our budget a huge bounce as she and her hubby took on her insurance and other expenses -- financially our disposable income stayed very near the same.

Since I'm CSRS, I look as my TSP as an tool which will defeat the effects of inflation. I plan to start withdrawals at age 70 which will give us a boost later in life. Our TSP balances aren't any where near what some of you have, but will bring in a good sum as the investment grows over the next 10-15 years. DH also will start drawing a small pension from NAF in 4 years, so that's another inflation tool.

Retirement timing is dependent on your own personal financial needs, you satisfaction with your job situation, and your perception of how your life will be after retirement. I'm very glad I took the buy-out and retired. I feel like I got my life back.

Gotta go, the turtle need feeding!

spelling error

Originally Posted by Bullitt

Question for those of you who plan to 'retire' at age 45 or so.

What are you going to do when you 'retire' and have 10+ years until you can withdraw from TSP or an IRA or collect SS? I would think that taking on a new job, losing seniority and a probable pay cut would be difficult as that's the time in life where I plan on paying for things like kid's college.

Just looking for any ideas or thoughts.

We can start getting our TSP at retirement. There's a suppl. for Social Security to fill that gap. But, like I said above, I'm moving onto a 2nd career. College for my kids will come from savings and if they stay in state (GA), Hope Scholarship. http://www.gsfc.org/hope/

Jeff

I'll go when I have the service time in for retirement benefits and I can afford to go. This is my second career so I only have 18 years in service. I'd like to go at 60 (7 more years) with the SS supplement. More likely I'll go at 62.

(Re-post: original post lost in site crash last night)

Federal employees under FERS can retire at age 60 (with 20 or more years service), without pension penalty reductions and also receive a supplemental benefit of $600-700 per month, based on the future social security entitlement at age 62. This is payable until you become entitled to receive your actual social security benefit check, at age 62.

You can also elect to let your money remain in the TSP, or make yearly redrawals. You are required to start withdrawing at age 70-1/2.
(I'll be 60 in November)

Originally Posted by jayhawker

I'll go when I have the service time in for retirement benefits and I can afford to go. This is my second career so I only have 18 years in service. I'd like to go at 60 (7 more years) with the SS supplement. More likely I'll go at 62.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I remember reading that whether 'retired' or not, if one chooses to withdraw from TSP before 55, any withdrawls are subject to a 10% tax penalty. So if one were to 'retire' at age 50 and choose to begin TSP as their source of income, they will have that 10% tax penalty to deal with on any withdrawls until they turn 55??

Originally Posted by budnipper1

(Re-post: original post lost in site crash last night)

Federal employees under FERS can retire at age 60 (with 20 or more years service), without pension penalty reductions and also receive a supplemental benefit of $600-700 per month, based on the future social security entitlement at age 62. This is payable until you become entitled to receive your actual social security benefit check, at age 62.

You can also elect to let your money remain in the TSP, or make yearly redrawals. You are required to start withdrawing at age 70-1/2.
(I'll be 60 in November)

It makes no sense to retire at 60, with 2 years to go. Unless of course the job is backbreaking. Everyone seems to want to retire at 55. The way I look at it ..7 more years and you can build-up the TSP, obtain full benefits, and collect SSN at 62. I work at the USPS, Maint. Dept. I love my job and try to be postive about it. The key is to stay healthy and postive. Many guys I know are miserable and wish away time. Life is too short. I know many guys at work that retired at died shortly after. I guess you need to keep busy.

Actually there was an article in the WSJ talking about how the chances of an early death increase with the greater amount of time spent in retirement. It went to say that people who worked until 60 lived the longest. I'm sure the concept has been examined before but people probably just go nuts with all of that extra time on their hands.