[77 TRASHCAN]

He had told me he was thinking about it. He called me Monday evening, I was still at work at 8:00 P.M., didn't hear my cel phone ring. Texted him, I'd call him back. Still been real busy at work (I work for a school, on school buses, school just started, school buses break down a BUNCH after sitting all summer...LOL). Didn't call him back, no harm.
Yesterday was texting his son about a pickup engine issue. His son is a certified GM mechanic,has his own shop now. In the text's he asked if I knew that his Dad's last day on job was the 20th....I said, NO.....

My friends name is Bryan. I was a groomsman in his wedding (1978), (yes, they are still married!). He is a super car guy's, car guy. He can do ANYTHING. Has worked on big trucks, can weld, carpentry of all types, any electrician work, concrete work, he did have a D7 dozer he used to clear part of his 70 acres he lives on.
He had a 45X85 steel building (in 1999) put up on his property. He built a home in one end of it, rest is shop space. DID ALL THE WORK HIMSELF.

He worked for 36 years for in industrial machine company, goff-inc. He ran ad worked ion machines that plasma and torch cut steel, to make their products. Had a lot of responsibility, worked hard!!! Hw knew how to run ALL those machines, and perform many repairs on them. The machines were computer controlled. He was the employee they could NOT do without!!!

He was NEVER properly paid for the work he performed. Essentially NEVER missed a day of work. Early to work, EVERY day!!! He went through some tough times in 2008 when economy tanked (work 3 days/week, had to file for unemployee benefits for other 2 days of week, a buncha BS). living in a small town in S.E. OKlahoma, good jobs are scarce. He might have stayed on IF he made better $$$, maybe...

I did try to call him, yesterday evening, he had gone to the bank, got to talk to his wife about it.......

She said him and her had talked about it, a lot...he decided that 36 years was enough.

BEST PART
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

When he turned in his resignation notice, his boss, the owner, and a couple of other upper management folks CRAPPED THEIR PANTS!!!

They all came to the shop, to (kindly) talk to him. begged him to stay (I WILL talk to him today, to find out details). Not sure they offered any more $$$, I doubt it.

He's going to help his son work on cars and pickups in his next door auto repair shop.
He's debt free, he should be OK, praying for that!!!

I just wanted to share this "ray of sunshine" with everyone here.

[Mr_GTO]

Good for him. Best wishes to him.

[johnta1]

Tell him Congrats!



How old is he?

[salem1912]

Good for him! Hope he enjoys his well earn retirement. I turn 65 in September, have thought about retiring but will stick around for a while. Good Lord willing!

[77 TRASHCAN]

Originally Posted by johnta1

Tell him Congrats!



How old is he?

He tried 63 in April. I’m a few months younger.
He’s like 5 foot 7, likely weighs 125. Looks nearly the same as a senior in high school. He was never an athlete, judging his body physique, most would guess he was a wrestler.
He was riding motorcycles in high school and built a 45 Ford pickup ( yes by himself) while in high school. It wasn’t stock, had a 289 in it.

[locomotivebreath]

Good for him ! We can retire from my job at 60 . I’ll never understand these guys that stay years past their expiration date . Go enjoy something !

[Tom Vaught]

Originally Posted by locomotivebreath

Good for him ! We can retire from my job at 60 . I’ll never understand these guys that stay years past their expiration date . Go enjoy something !

I stayed 9 more years, because I wanted to kick Ferrari's aze 50 years after my Boss did it 4 times. 66,67,68,69.

He passed away 2 days after we did it 50 years later. I will enjoy that every day of my life.

200+ MPH for 24 HOURS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84zGAz2MnqM

Tom V.

[Half-Inch Stud]

Congrat to Byran.

Pre-retirement by Practicing retirement. Work at home "remote"; some days are 8-hoursand other days are 0.5 hour.

[vertigto]

That's the dream...someday hopefully.

[rustyrelic]

On a somewhat related note, what are folks younger than 65 doing for health insurance when looking at retiring early? I will be 60 in Feb., and just don't see myself working another five years, or at least not at my current job. Work itself is ok, people in general are ok, but constant pressure to remain at a high level of billability (consulting engineering) is getting really old. I suppose I could try to qualify for Obama care (no politics please) by not earning anything and living off of pre-taxed savings and SS for five years before hitting 401k and then qualifying for Medicare.

[dhcarguy]

Originally Posted by rustyrelic

On a somewhat related note, what are folks younger than 65 doing for health insurance when looking at retiring early? I will be 60 in Feb., and just don't see myself working another five years, or at least not at my current job. Work itself is ok, people in general are ok, but constant pressure to remain at a high level of billability (consulting engineering) is getting really old. I suppose I could try to qualify for Obama care (no politics please) by not earning anything and living off of pre-taxed savings and SS for five years before hitting 401k and then qualifying for Medicare.

That was a wake up call for us. My wife had to retire early because of health reasons. We had to get health insurance for her( Ijust started medicare). Her "affordable health care" was $1175. a month. JUST FOR HER! The agent told us that if we keep our combined income to under $65K a year , her monthly payment would be $475. a month.
So I put off collecting on my 401K , and we lived off savings until she went on Medicare now. Affordable health care is nothing but redistribution of wealth.
Her looser friend and husband are on it and pay 18.. dollars a month for health insurance

[Tim john]

We have/had a program at work called RHCAP (Retirement Health Care Assistance Program). This program allowed an employee to contribute up to but not over from $ 5.00/month up to $ 180.00/month. A non-company outside contract invests this money and upon retirement the company matches your balance dollar for dollar and this is for ones retirement health care monthly premiums. Essentially 1/2 cost retirement health care insurance until the employees contribution amount diminishes. They have taken away this benefit recently so our balance is frozen, no more contributions allowed, end of the program. Fortunately I have been in the program from day one so I have more than enough coverage to bridge the gap to Medicare. Even at that point when Medicare takes over to become primary my residual balance will take us even further because the secondary insurance premium will be so much less. Of course these projections are at today's premium rates with annual inflation added in. Retired co-workers have told us that their balance has not gone down at all as they pull from it monthly and in fact has only risen because it is invested wisely. Too bad they have taken away this benefit for it has been a blessing for so many who have dedicated their working lives to the company.

Tim john---

[sdbob]

Congratulations to him. Thanks for sharing the story. Old Free American work ethic. When wife was still working a retired veteran told her-after you retire dont do anything that doesnt make you happy. You put up with 'stuff' while working. God has Blessed America.

[misterp266]

A virtually unknown benefit at my work was that if you retired after you reached 62 they would let you keep your health insurance coverage at the same rate you were paying until you turned 65. When I found that out I was all set, retired at 63 and will turn 65 in November so then I need to be on Medicare. Another fiasco! Found out they discontinued that benefit a few months after I decided to retire.
Biggest problem is more time to do things but no income. That plus ridiculous inflation and the threat of SS reductions. I have not started to collect yet.
My best advice is to SAVE as much as you can because it will never be enough.

[rustyrelic]

I have the money to retire, but haven't much interest in paying crazy money wagering whether or not I or my wife might suffer an injury or sickness. Couple of weeks in ICU would take care of the insurance premiums, but man it sucks. Almost wants one wish they hadn't scrimped and saved through the years and instead spent it all as soon as possible on the good life as a younger man. not really, I have good problem. just wish it wasn't cost prohibitive to get insurance. We are both in decent shape and "likely" could self insure, but man if things went bad, it could get ugly.

[form74]

Health insurance cost is the only thing preventing me probably from retiring next year at 62 still thinking about it though figured it cost me about $36,000 for three years minimum for healthcare.

[rwfisher]

Just retired July 31 from the tech industry after 41 yrs, same place. Turned 61 in June and the company was offering a 26wk pay bonus for leaving as well as Cobra supplements for 3 months. Decided I would jump in.. 1 week after my birthday I suffered a minor heart attack and ended up with 2 arteries w/ stents after being told by cardiac specialist for months my symptoms/test indicated I was fine. 2 days after the procedure, back in the E.R. For Acute appendicitis which had to be treated with IV antibiotics until I’m off blood thinners…. Doing great right now and had never been in the hospital or had health issues prior to this. Point is, things can go south anytime so if your in a position to retire comfortably, do it!!

[hgerhardt]

Retired 3 weeks ago from the only job I've ever had, which was with a big defense contractor, at age 58. The medical insurance deal I got was the same "medium deductible" plan as I had while working, and it costs $90/month, which is even less than I was paying as a copay while working.

[poncho-mike]

I was planning to retire last summer at 63, but Covid came along and I started working from home. My long term plan was to buy a home in the mountains (NC, TN, or VA) with a garage or workshop big enough to house my toys, then sell my current home. I never expected something like Covid to happen, and I never counted on the supply of houses drying up causing real estate prices to go crazy. In fact, I suspected the opposite might occur, a deep recession with falling home prices.

My wife had been wanting me to continue working until 63 1/2 so I could get Cobra until I reach Medicare eligibility, so she was happy. I'm 1.5 years older than my wife, so she will have to get insurance through Obamacare after I go on Medicare.

Now Delta has come along and we are facing a winter with somewhere around half of US citizens are not vaccinated. This isn't meant to be political, it's just that with the Delta variant infecting vaccinated folks, I'm wondering if we're going to see another surge in hospitalizations and deaths this winter. I hope not, but it is a concern.

So for now, I guess I'll keep working unless the company really gets on my nerves. I don't think I'm at any risk of layoff. I've already told my boss that if layoffs are necessary, pick me. I've got enough service to draw six months of severance and Cobra, assuming any layoff severance packages are the same as last time. We are understaffed, and many of the new engineers that have been hired only stay 2 - 3 years then move on. My boss is dreading when I leave.

[Shiny]

Congrats to your friend. It sounds like he was lucky to be paid for something he enjoyed. That's a blessing. I hope you get to spend more time with him.