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  #61  
Old 02-14-2022, 02:23 PM
1969GiPper 1969GiPper is online now
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I retired from the GM Tech Center in 2009 at age 56. They wanted to reduce salaried headcount and offered a special retirement package. When I walked out on my last day in September I had my pension, medical coverage, social security (when I turned 62) and my health. I thought I had it made. Then two weeks ago today I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease (advanced stage 2). So if you can afford to retire when the opportunity comes along seriously consider it. Because you don’t know how long your good health will last.

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Old 02-14-2022, 02:29 PM
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I work for the government and people still stick around for way too long even with the pension. (Though I will add the government pension is not as good as others think.) Lots of dudes around here in their 70s. I dont get it. I hired on last year as a federal employee at 37. When I hit that 20 at 57 Im out the door. Earlier if they offer an early out.

We get death notices of former employees constantly. So many people retire late and die a couple years later. Pass on all of that.

Of course it comes down to money usually, but I just think I could find a part time gig doing something fun and enjoy life more to make it all work. How many times have you looked at someone elses job and said "that looks fun but it doesnt pay enough" I also think that no matter how people feel about it now, that in 20 years we will probably be on universal heath care of some sort. So that might make it a little easier for my generation to retire.

Life is short, give a little of it to the alarm clock as you possibly can.

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  #63  
Old 02-14-2022, 04:20 PM
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One of the guys I worked with several years back was planning to retire after the first of the year. He filled out the paperwork a full year in advance so he would have access to his pension immediately upon retiring. Three weeks before his retirement date, he went to the doctor for a bad cough and was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer. He tried to cancel his retirement, but was told he could not because the paperwork had already been processed. If he had remained an employee, he would have been covered by employer paid life insurance. I thought that was a really cold way to treat a long time employee who had been with the company for at least twenty years or more.

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Old 02-14-2022, 04:34 PM
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I retired at 51. You gotta do it when your still young enough to enjoy things. Don’t wait. I love doing what ever I want all day.

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Old 02-14-2022, 10:13 PM
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Originally Posted by poncho-mike View Post
One of the guys I worked with several years back was planning to retire after the first of the year. He filled out the paperwork a full year in advance so he would have access to his pension immediately upon retiring. Three weeks before his retirement date, he went to the doctor for a bad cough and was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer. He tried to cancel his retirement, but was told he could not because the paperwork had already been processed. If he had remained an employee, he would have been covered by employer paid life insurance. I thought that was a really cold way to treat a long time employee who had been with the company for at least twenty years or more.
Doesn't say much for the company!!

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  #66  
Old 02-15-2022, 08:00 PM
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I'm 60 and I took a retirement package last year that was offered to several 1000 people at Applied Materials. I was working as a CNC machining subject matter expert doing should costing and DFx review. Had to meet a few requirements to qualify. It was too lucrative not to take it. Everybody that I know that was offered the package whether they worked there for 3 years or 25 years took it. Had to be over 50yrs age, with the company at least 2 years, and your age and years of service had to equal 55 or more. 1 yr salary, 30k in cash and unvested shares of stock at $77.00 a share . Can be rehired after 2 yrs of absence.
My retirement lasted about one month when I was referred by a friend for an Estimator position at a small CNC machine shop making about the same money but without all the perks.
They say if you find a job that you love, you'll never work a day in your life. It's like that, it's seemless and 2nd nature after 45 yrs in the trade being a 2nd generation machinist. I'm not looking to retire anytime soon and I don't even consider this job work, just a place to hang out and observe operations, quote accordingly and interpret drawing requirements. "So simple so easy".
I still haven't got the 67 Tempest Custom going since my last posting, but working on the issues. I'm still trying to finish my 1963 Apollo 3500 GT as well. I picked up an Apollo GT parts car 2 yrs back as a guide to help finish it. I'll post an update soon and possible future plans of the Apollo GT recreation.

Enjoy your retirement. Like others said, time does fly by. The last 10 years have seem to whizz right by.





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Old 02-15-2022, 09:44 PM
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Originally Posted by the-rookie View Post
I'm 60 and I took a retirement package last year that was offered to several 1000 people at Applied Materials. I was working as a CNC machining subject matter expert doing should costing and DFx review. Had to meet a few requirements to qualify. It was too lucrative not to take it. Everybody that I know that was offered the package whether they worked there for 3 years or 25 years took it. Had to be over 50yrs age, with the company at least 2 years, and your age and years of service had to equal 55 or more. 1 yr salary, 30k in cash and unvested shares of stock at $77.00 a share . Can be rehired after 2 yrs of absence.
My retirement lasted about one month when I was referred by a friend for an Estimator position at a small CNC machine shop making about the same money but without all the perks.
They say if you find a job that you love, you'll never work a day in your life. It's like that, it's seemless and 2nd nature after 45 yrs in the trade being a 2nd generation machinist. I'm not looking to retire anytime soon and I don't even consider this job work, just a place to hang out and observe operations, quote accordingly and interpret drawing requirements. "So simple so easy".
I still haven't got the 67 Tempest Custom going since my last posting, but working on the issues. I'm still trying to finish my 1963 Apollo 3500 GT as well. I picked up an Apollo GT parts car 2 yrs back as a guide to help finish it. I'll post an update soon and possible future plans of the Apollo GT recreation.

Enjoy your retirement. Like others said, time does fly by. The last 10 years have seem to whizz right by.





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Im jealous of the people that found that job they liked so much that they actually enjoy going to work. Ive done carpentry and maintenance my whole life ,,,,dabbled with other side jobs and have yet to have that job that I could ever say I loved. Trying to keep my sanity for the next 4+ years at where I am now.

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Old 02-16-2022, 11:55 AM
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That is awesome! best of to luck to you and enjoy!! Brian

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Old 02-16-2022, 12:12 PM
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My story little different than most. I Semi retired at 58, pursuing a startup company, due to having a wife 12 years younger and she has the medical benefits and makes good income. Found out by surprise she got pregnant and now we have a healthy baby girl. Completely unplanned, the doctors said the odds were 0.5% chance of pregnancy at her age, but the doctors did say it’s not zero!

So now my retirement plans have changed from just relaxing, to raising a child at 59. Plans change, you never know what is coming around the bend.

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Old 02-16-2022, 03:13 PM
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Originally Posted by soupman View Post
My story little different than most. I Semi retired at 58, pursuing a startup company, due to having a wife 12 years younger and she has the medical benefits and makes good income. Found out by surprise she got pregnant and now we have a healthy baby girl. Completely unplanned, the doctors said the odds were 0.5% chance of pregnancy at her age, but the doctors did say it’s not zero!

So now my retirement plans have changed from just relaxing, to raising a child at 59. Plans change, you never know what is coming around the bend.
The Retirement Story Contest is officially over, we have a winner.

The best to you both in this unexpected grand adventure!

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  #71  
Old 02-16-2022, 04:39 PM
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After the Great Recession that lasted from 2008 - 2009, jobs were hard to find and often laid off workers had to settle for healthy salary cuts to land a new gig. Many of the people laid off during that time were higher paid employees aged 45 or more. Today, employers are complaining they can't find and keep new workers and are facing a wave of older workers retiring. I wonder if the worker shortage will reverse the trend, forcing employers to take offer better wages and benefits to their US employees? Of will companies handle it by pressing congress to allow more immigrants to come in and fill those jobs or outsourcing more jobs to India and Asia.

My employer has done little to instill loyalty. A few years back, our 401-K match was cut by 1%, and less than a month later, they raised their dividends payable to shareholders. When I hired on, one of the retiree benefits was a $50K life insurance plan paid for by the company. That was eliminated about ten years ago. Basically my employer kept cutting benefits to the point where there is no difference between retiring and quitting. My employer offers retiree health insurance if you are not Medicare eligible, but it is more expensive than Obamacare. I know this sounds like griping, but what right do corporations have to expect any loyalty when they treat their employees like a disposable asset.
Same here. Constant degradation of benefits. No real "retirement" just quitting. Company had record earnings during the pandemic yet froze our salaries because, you know, it is all covidy out there.

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Old 02-16-2022, 09:05 PM
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Looks like I’m one of the few that plans on working until 70. I’m 66 now and there’s always the possibility that something comes up to cause a change in plans. The GM assembly plant where I’ve been a skilled trades electrician for over 36 years does not yet have new product allocation. It could close in a few years and I’ll be done then. In the mean time my medical costs are lower while an active employee and I receive yearly benefits like profit sharing. Each year I work past 30 also increases my pension. Working until 70 will max my SS plus it will increase the SS survivor benefits for my wife.

  #73  
Old 02-16-2022, 09:28 PM
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For me it's 8 days and a wake-up.... next Friday. Have been saving and planning for many years, and it is time. My wife will hit full pension in 7 years just before she hits 60. I am 60 1/2, and am excited about retiring. We have big yard and 9 veggie gardens, we work our tails off all weekend when it is not winter, now I can get things done during the week now so we can go and have fun on weekends if we want.

There are probably a bunch of you out there that have a parent who is from the generation that absolutely refuse to talk about moving into senior living. My dad is 90 and is still in the house he built in 69, he just cant keep up with maintenance and is in total denial about it. Stubborn 'ol Norwegian, love him to death, and he has always been my best friend. I owe it to him to help him out and get it fixed up and do a lot of cleaning. He is looking forward to seeing me more, even though I am going to nag him about downsizing. Its going to be a lot of work.

Oh yeah, and plan to do some work on my car.... I found a tiny rust bubble just in front of passenger rear wheel flare, I think that might be a bad spot to find rust.

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Old 02-16-2022, 10:53 PM
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Congratulations to all those who are enjoying retirement. This is a very personal decision and everyone’s circumstances are different.

I retired from the IT industry in August of 2018 after 42 years at age 64 1/2. My last job, I started on the ground floor of a company with less than 20 employees in 2003, it grew to over 1500 when I retired. Unbelievable growth from a company privately owned, eventually sold to venture capitalists. I had planed to retire at 66. For the last 4 - 5 years I typically worked 65 hours a week, was on-call 7x24. I would typically work 10-12 hours during the day and then go back to work at least four nights a week for clients that had 11PM -4AM service windows. While I loved the technical aspect, really liked many of my clients and most of my coworkers, I was burnt out. I was well paid but extremely stressed out and my quality of life was poor. It got to the point I had little social life. I had reached the point in my life where hours were more important than dollars.

Once Retired I had a lot of catching up to do. The first was to spend time with my best childhood friend. While working I would attempt to make plans only to cancel because some work related emergency came up. Once retired we got together every week. Unfortunately after five months his health took a turn for the worst and he passed away. I feel fortunate that I retired when I did because we had some great times during that short period.
I also had to deal with some illness but have been cancer free for a year and a half giving me a real appreciation for life. I have since lost more friends, relatives and a coworker.

Life should be a balance between making an adequate living and still enjoying life with family and friends.

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Old 02-17-2022, 03:56 PM
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Looks like I’m one of the few that plans on working until 70. I’m 66 now and there’s always the possibility that something comes up to cause a change in plans. The GM assembly plant where I’ve been a skilled trades electrician for over 36 years does not yet have new product allocation. It could close in a few years and I’ll be done then. In the mean time my medical costs are lower while an active employee and I receive yearly benefits like profit sharing. Each year I work past 30 also increases my pension. Working until 70 will max my SS plus it will increase the SS survivor benefits for my wife.
This is the carrot on the stick for most of us. I could have gone longer and got increased benefits with each year (incremental) but for me, my time was more important than a couple hundred dollars a month. You can always make more money. You can't make more TIME.

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Old 02-17-2022, 04:50 PM
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You can always make more money. You can't make more TIME.
Truth...

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Old 02-17-2022, 11:03 PM
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A little different story here. I am going to be 64 in April but did not have plans to retire anytime soon until this past Christmas. I did retire about 11 years ago, and after a year decided that I had to do something.
A good friend and I started a new company up and 10 years later it is going fine. We pay ourselves a decent salary and really don't work that hard. My wife retired 10 years ago as she had an awesome pension plan (me) but the real reason she quit is that it pissed her off leaving me unsupervised each day.

Then this past Christmas, my little brother who was 61 was feeling ****ty and jumped in the shower, had a dizzy spell and wacked his head on the coping. My sister in law tried to get him to go to emergency but he told her no F..ing way was he gonna sit at emergency on Christmas eve and then went to bed and never woke up.
He had just sold his business and had spent several months getting his cabin redone so they could live there full time.
That is having me rethink my near and far future

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Old 02-17-2022, 11:55 PM
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02Hawk,


Sorry for your loss, I see you’re in Edmonton as well.


I think that life is short and waiting to retire is risking never having a few years of enjoying the fruits of your labor.

That is why I’m stopping now at 61yrs old.. My current job is easy and pays much more than I ever got in all the hard working years, if I worked another 3-4 years I might have a lot more money, but maybe no time to spend it.

To all who have posted here some similar sentiments now and in the past, thank you.

Rob

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Old 02-18-2022, 10:40 AM
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I decided to retire last month.

Like most things in life it's a leap-of-faith. Every year I kept telling myself, one more year, pay off some more debt, sell a few more things I'm never going to use again, build up the investments some more, and still I just kept working.

Then a year ago January one of my very best friends died from COVID. He had worked for Wendy's for over 30 years, had his own vending machine company, and saved and saved for retirement. He went at 62, and had plans of selling his house to his son and buying a big toyhauler and diesel truck to live in and pull around his Roadking. He wanted to live the dream, and sadly passed away less than a year later and never got to do any of it.

Kind of a wake-up call for me, as my friend was in good health and should have had many years left to enjoy the fruits of his labors.

Instead of working 12-14 hours a day 7 days a week I'm doing quite a few "bucket-list": projects, throwing more sticks for my dogs, spending more time with the family, etc.

I'm still selling parts for a while, until someone either buys the business or a deplete the inventory and sell off all the equipment and cores, etc.......

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Old 02-18-2022, 11:03 AM
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I decided to retire last month.

Like most things in life it's a leap-of-faith. Every year I kept telling myself, one more year, pay off some more debt, sell a few more things I'm never going to use again, build up the investments some more, and still I just kept working.

Then a year ago January one of my very best friends died from COVID. He had worked for Wendy's for over 30 years, had his own vending machine company, and saved and saved for retirement. He went at 62, and had plans of selling his house to his son and buying a big toyhauler and diesel truck to live in and pull around his Roadking. He wanted to live the dream, and sadly passed away less than a year later and never got to do any of it.

Kind of a wake-up call for me, as my friend was in good health and should have had many years left to enjoy the fruits of his labors.

Instead of working 12-14 hours a day 7 days a week I'm doing quite a few "bucket-list": projects, throwing more sticks for my dogs, spending more time with the family, etc.

I'm still selling parts for a while, until someone either buys the business or a deplete the inventory and sell off all the equipment and cores, etc.......
Good for you Cliff. I still appreciate the cam help and jetting help on my Bird. But I would rather hear you were helping yourself enjoy life!

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