Anyone else retiring soon?
 

Gave my notice of retirement, last day is May 10th 2022, Started with Borden Chemicals on July 7th 1982. The company has been bought/sold a couple times (raped and picked clean buy KKR and Apollo including Chapter 11, finally to be refinanced buy the creditors, mostly Banks and then sold again) The name has changed a few times and is currently Hexion Chemicals. We have always been quite profitable and solid, even while under the control of the financial rapists.

A College Friend and I have stuck with them trough it all. So after 39+ years of shift work and supervising, I finally get to have control of when I get up in the morning and what I will do each day. My wife and I are going to Mexico for a couple weeks before I finish off, as I want to escape the last of a challenging winter.

The T/A gets to be a top priority now, so hopefully I stay healthy for a while and I can finish what I started and make it what I want.

My wife wants to travel and we have Grandkids scattered in Canada and the US to visit, I still have some rental properties to look after as well. So the car won’t get all my time and money, but it will get a lot more than it did for the past five years.

Rob

Congrats! Go see the world!

I'm eligible June 6th. I turn 55 then. My financials are close. Need my portfolio to go up a little more. We'll see.

Best of luck and congrats!

Congrats!

I turned 55 last year, but don't have the 'couple million' that financial planners say you need these days. Guess I'll keep working until the body wears out.

Little over 4 years away...retiring at 62.

Took my pension in 2012 after 30 years and went back to work at the same organization under contract in 2014. That job ended New Year's Day, so l'm retired again!

So the 66 is getting attention???:D

Congratulations!
I’m 57 and working on it. By retire, I’m not golfing everyday, just looking into quitting my 7-3 job and just managing and living off my rentals. I have a few things to tweak first.

The strangest feeling for me is when I woke up in the morning and didn’t have to be anywhere.

LOL..... you'll get used to it. Nice to not have to punch a clock, or be expected to run your life by someone else's clock. Take time to talk to someone, and not have to worry about accounting for your time to someone.

I wish. I seriously wonder if l'll ever get around to that car.

I pulled the pin for good last April. It was kind of weird, though - we were all working remotely by then and hadn't been in the office for months, so rather than retiring it was more like I just signed off.

My plan too. If that works.:rolleyes:

I retired in 2012 an just a word of caution, start enjoying it right of way because the older you get the faster time goes and in a flash you've been retired for ten years and it doesn't seem like you have done anything.

Thank you, I will try to take this advice very seriously.

I've been planning to retire for a few years, then Covid came along and pushed out my plans. I was looking for a house with a big workshop in the NC or southern VA mountains, but inventory dried up and prices jumped like crazy. The houses with a big workshop usually come with a much bigger house than what two people need, so we're still looking for a house my wife and I can both agree on. Once the house with a big workshop is in place, I'll thin down the herd and focus on my favorite cars. I'll probably stay with my current employer until at least this summer when i turn 65, which allows me to go directly to Medicare from my employer's insurance. I'm very close to retirement, just not there yet.

The above is what my mind says. I've gone through my employer's retirement benefits, and I see no benefit to retiring versus quitting if I'm already 65 and eligible for Medicare. My pension is cash balance and I can take it as a lump sum or annuity. Dealing with supply chain issues and off-shore manufacturing is extremely aggravating. So if something gets under my skin, I can leave with no penalties. My boss and the people I work most closely with are all pretty decent people, but company policies are all aimed at sqeezing whatever they can out of employees. When I've had enough, I'm gone.

Done in 6 months. Will be 65.. How time flies Would love to see a pic of that 76 T/A!

57. Been practicing with pre-retirement about 6 months before covid. Remote work in my swinlane. Messing around with properties! and the Spare engine is nearly done for Street as the GTO is mostly Street/Highway.

Looking at this very seriously, turn 60 in march, also need heart valve replacement, booked for march 21. Not sure I want to keep doing my job after that,
work as an Auto Tech for the last 40 years, so body saying it's time to give up. Wallet says I need to keep playing with something, but not what I am doing now.
Have hoist at home now so option are there. See what happens after surgery. Looking at not going back.

Retired 2016. No kidding about the years flying by, the key to this is make as much out of it as you enjoyably can, within reason of course. Stay busy, don't become a couch potato, but short naps are in order when necessary lol. I managed to accomplish more in the first year or two after retirement than I would have in a lifetime of evenings and weekends. I have more interests than I can afford but that helps keep my mind going.

8 years until I’m 65, seems like a long way off . Can’t see being able to retire until I at least hit Medicare age. Wife is on disability so she is eligible already but would still need a supplement plan for her too.


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If your income is below the threshold you can qualify for Obamacare tax credits and your premium will be quite low.

Don

Thanks! I’ll be looking into that!


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Im retiring at 62 because my wife says I can,,,she says maybe earlier but I doubt it. Im going to play WAY more golf.

I retired in 1998 when I sold my engineering company. Was only in my mid 40's at the time. Got bored and became a general contractor and inspector. Sold that business last year and now just work as an employee....when I feel like it. I don't think I'll retire 100% anytime soon. Good to have some interaction with other humans once in awhile. The nice thing is if I don't feel like working....I don't work!

Congrats! Amazing you stuck with one company your entire career. I thought I was going to die in a cubicle but it worked out better than that!

I transitioned to afterwork in 2019. No regrets and I'm healthier now than I was in stressville.

I started playing pickleball in July a couple days a week. I told my wife it's like going out to recess in the 5th grade.

Enjoy your freedom and family!

Turn 65 last September, no plans to retire. Work is busy and $$ is good right now. No pension and can't see making it on SS. Thank God feel very good and will continue while I can. Been auto tech since '75 and they are in short supply and the young guy's coming up make me scratch my head.

I left the 40 hour a week grind in 2018. I did take a part time retirement gig to help with the transition (not that I needed the money, just felt that by keeping busy a few days per week I'd spend less...).

Actually thought I'd be fully retired by now as my wife and I love to travel. Of course, the "pandemic" has prevented traveling as much as we'd like. We did have a wonderful 11 day trip to Italy in October of 2019, but the 65th birthday cruise for my wife, sailing out of Barcelona, Spain that we booked in January of 2020, sailing in September of 2020 was canceled (did anyone want to be on a ship at that time?).

We're currently in the process of building our retirement home, hoping to be in it by late summer/early fall. Our grandson was just stationed in Okinawa last month, so we need to get a trip over there done soon.

I actually enjoy my current retirement gig. Three days per week I move everything from Covid specimens, vaccines, monoclonal antibodies, nuclear medicine, money (pharmacy deposits) and other supplies around Mayo Clinic properties in southern MN and western WI.

I'm not getting rich doing this, but I get about 10 - 13,000 steps in per day when I work and I have the satisfaction of knowing that I'm helping people that are less fortunate than I am. The company is extremely flexible when I want time off and I get PTO and paid holidays which is unusual for a part time gig. I also get to contribute to a Roth 401K with a company match.

I have yet to start drawing on my retirement investments, but I am collecting my SS.

At least we got a little domestic traveling done in 2021. We went to Nashville for the first NASCAR Cup race at the Nashville Super Speedway in June, back to Nashville with our daughter to go to the Grand Old Opry, the Ryman and then down to Huntsville for the Lee Greenwood Tribute Concert in October and we went to see our grandson get his "wings" at his Marine graduation ceremony in MCAS New River in NC in November.

I have been semi retired for almost a year now, I still work part time for about 20 hours a week. My job was an outdoor job and this year with the cold weather we have had around here I do not miss it a bit. When I retired I pulled my pension and 401K from the company and invested it with a company with my best interest in mind, best thing we ever did. I have 2 more years till SS and Medicare to go and both my current Bosses are in the same frame of mind, looks like we are all going to do the permanent retirement at the same time.
There are three of us from school working on cars we bought when we graduated in 1977. My 71 LeMans convertible, my Boss has a 77 Trans Am and my other friend has a 72 Trans Am. It would be nice to get them all done at the same time.

I agree with Sirrotica.
I also have people ask me what day it is?
Don't have a clue usually. I usually have to ask my wife if it's Sunday, so I don't have to go to the mailbox and see it's empty. (or even holidays)


:)

Congrats! Go see the world!

"One pattern that shows up in human experience is that we tend to perceive time as passing by more quickly as we get older."

Two interesting articles on the subject if interested....

https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2...eds-get-older/

https://www.capitalgazette.com/lifes...7gy-story.html


Personally I quit working 20 years ago. Almost seems like it was yesterday !
My related tid bit of advice would be to stay busy as best you can. Try to enjoy your retirement.


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I've been retired for 5 months after 42 years in the automotive industry. Will be 61 at the end of this month. Not quite used to it yet, but for the first time since age 4, I have no commitments when I get up in the morning. My time is my own. No accounting to anybody. It's liberating and great. I've been keeping busy so far, and the days are racing by. I recommend retirement to anybody, and don't do it before you're too old to do what you want to do.

Congrats Rob.
I'll be retiring on my birthday this May. Started with the local Telco in 1973 and after many acquisitions and mergers later I still do the same work just for a different company. My 401K grew like wild fire during the last administration and in January of this year I move the majority into a Annuity and the rest into more secure investments.

Since I grew up in Erie PA, there were many union shops, because of the industry that had plants there. I can't even guess how many retirees I've known, and heard about, that retired at 65, then died within weeks, or months of their retirement.

I'm not sure why so many in that community expired just after their retirement. My ex father in law didn't make one year after he retired.

I retired last June after 43 years of heavy forge press maintenance. The weeks go by in a blink of an eye but I’m enjoying every minute of it. First I tackled a bunch of small projects that were on the back burner which was a good feeling. Now pacing myself on long term projects in my garage. The greatest thing is flexibility of my schedule. I work when I feel like it, sometimes until 3 am other days starting at 5 am. The best part of my day is nap time. I sleep like a baby, funny how we go full circle. Enjoy it while you can!

So I have a question that some of you guys may have already experienced. I am roughly two years older than my wife. I work full-time and my employer provides health insurance both of us. My wife has been working part time for the lst fifteen years, and I have always provided her insurance.

I realize that once I go on Medicare, she will have to buy her own insurance. My company's policy is that they won't cover my spouse unless I am covered. So if I retire this summer and go on Medicare, she will need to find her own insurance. Iknow she can get a policy through Obamacare, but I'm not sure what premiums will be. If I understand Obamacare correctly, you are quoted a price that is based on the type of plan and your age. If you qualify, there are subsidies. I think Obamacare looks at your income from the previous year. Do they look at the family income, or just the individual income?

This is one of my reasons for stopping now at 61.
My FIL retired at 56 and his health at the time seemed OK, but he was dead at 58.
He was a heavy smoker and drinker and worked in grain dust his whole carrier, so when his lungs and kidney decided they had enough he was gone in weeks.

#1) I find that too. Someone explained as we age, we slow down. Hence, time seems to move faster. I guess, but I see the effect............

#2) I agree. It is like heroin to me. Maybe I need a support group. NapAnon.

I retired recently, but chipped away at my 76 TA since buying it in 1980 and after I beat on it as a youngster does. Yee haw. Since retiring I have made use of the time for several things I couldn't do since my job had me away months on end, and home time was for the family. Now still have plenty of time for family (but kids are grown and on their own) and for my wish lists topped by rapidly getting the TA where I wanted it to, finally, and making improvements that capture great improvements that are now available. Enjoy the free time, and with the TA you will never be bored.

My wife was also always covered under my insurance. She is two years older and was not working when I retired at 58. I did Cobra for 18 months (expensive for sure) then on Obamacare thru our state network. Both healthy so did a high deductible kind of plan. Qualified for subsidies which made a big difference. Our financial planner guy helped us manage income in order to maximize those subsidies as much as possible. Now both on Medicare. It works pretty much the way you stated. They will look at income based on the way you filed taxes the prior year.

Dan

You estimate your income for the upcoming year when you apply. If you underestimate and exceed the threshold you will have to repay the tax credits. They use family income.

Don

" The company has been bought/sold a couple times (raped and picked clean buy KKR and Apollo including Chapter 11, finally to be refinanced buy the creditors, mostly Banks and then sold again) "

Can't stand those parasites/vultures like KKR. Their tactics are a major problem with our economic system.

Best of luck.

Mike,
I got married 5 years ago and had Obamacare coverage. I didn't think
about it at the time and continued on the subsidized coverage. The following year we filed tax return jointly and I had to pay back the subsidy ($12,000) as they
go by the household income. It didn't make sense as we each individually qualified for Obamacare but as a couple did not although our income was the same. Seemed like a marriage penalty but some tax and other rules when you get married don't make sense.

called it quits last day of 2021.joined the union when i was 18 and have been a cement finisher for 39 years.
best decision i ever made
my knees are not shot ,and i have no other health issues so i said time to go.
Now i just make sure the wife isnt late.and then head to the shop .
be nice to work around home and take my conv. for a cruise when ever i want this spring.

Add me to the club....will be retired later this summer. Worked in construction my whole life, ironworker for years then moved into the office. Looking forward to having time but wondering how it will be. My job has consumed and defined me for 40+ years. I have loved my career but seriously looking forward to me time. Wife, kids and my cars have missed me. Wife is still working as long as retirementitis does not infect her and will now be on her insurance. Very lucky there.

Grew up in Youngstown, Ohio and saw the same exact thing!!

What I haven't seen mentioned..... One must REDEFINE themselves. It can be a slight identity thing to go from "Fred the Shop Manager" to.. what? Take classes. explore somthing new. I got certified in Fitness training, and that is my new "defined". It could be geology and rock stuff, anything. Or cars, hey... And like someone said, jobs can consume us. Then what?

Another thing, which in the end was good, was realizing how much work stress I was under and didn't know know it. We were always behind and overworked.
It took me three months to deaccelerate and get my physiological levels down to calm.

Great to hear input from fellow retirees!
I hung it up about 7 years ago from GM Tech Center here in Michigan. Worked in Manufacturing Engineering and Preproduction, so I got to see all of the future stuff coming out years before they went on sale, pretty cool stuff.
Was there at not so "Generous Motors" and sad to see Pontiac division as well as others bite the dust, and then the carnage of going Bankrupt. Downright Ugly.
The later years had me in management, very stressful and political, and got the hell out as soon as I got my points.
Still dream about work after all of these years, it just won't let go. After putting 3 kids thru college and marrying off the daughters I was free and clear w/o debt, but that is costly stuff, but I considered it an "investment".

I've had my T/A Bandit for it's whole 45 year life, but my retirement reward was to buy and build another car, so now my other "toy" is a 700 hp Blown 5th gen Camaro with a bunch of Carbon Fiber Body panels..

I thought my Bandit was "fast", but the LS motors and new technology can make for a brutal car, and that Beast always scares the piss out of me when I thrash it. Always tinkering on my cars, and always have had Mod fever, so it's a good hobby to keep busy.

I'm probably going to retire from my 2nd career June 2023. I'll be 70 and take my max SS. I retired from a long transportation career in 12/2016. Six mos. prior I received a call from the local High School teacher wanting to know if I wanted a part time job in the Auto Shop and also help the Design/Technology teacher. It's fun working with the kids and their cars. We have 3 project cars we're building, a T-Bucket, a '65 Mustang, and a 5 Series BMW with a LS swap. I like fabrication so this is a lot of fun. The plan is to get these into Autorama. I've never been able to just sit around.