Retiring after 20 years at a job?

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Originally Posted By: Jarlaxle
Originally Posted By: Panzerman
Actually it is. My friend retired from the police after 16 years + 4 years military at $40,000 a year. That's enough for me to retire and sit at home. He got bored after two months and went back to work. No imagination, I guess. My neighbor is 96. He retired from Ford over 40 years ago. Still getting a pension, a pretty good one too by his lifestyle. That's what broke the auto industry and the government's. People make more in retirement than they ever made working. Do the math.


There is at least one dude collecting THREE pensions: Billy Bulger (the corrupt midget) collects a pension from the MBTA, one from the state Senate, AND a pension from UMass. (And yeah, he is Whitey Bulger's brother.)


If you think Mr. Bulger is gaming the system ...you should see what some POLITICIANS get for their 'public service' of 1 or 2 terms....
 
I worked for a private company for 32 years. The pension plan has a "Rule of 90" which states that if your service years (32), plus your age (I just turned 58) equals 90, you do not have to wait until 65 to retire at full benefits.

So I just retired, sold my house, and moved to an area with a much lower COL.

The pension alone is not enough, but I do nicely when I include the dividends (not principal) from 401k and other investments.

I think if I were single, pension alone would be enough, because my benefit was reduced for spousal survivor benefits.

A lot of municipalities are struggling to fund those golden pensions. Not sure how sustainable they really are.
 
I'm going to retire at 55, with 35 years in the trade. my retirement income will be equal, if not higher than my current average income. I have a pension through my Union. Also, an amount equal to 25% of my income goes into a IRA-like account (averaging 8-10%). I have a retirement plan through the power company I worked for, for 12 years. I have a 401K. I'm not counting on SS, or hitting the lottery.
 
Originally Posted By: slacktide_bitog
Teachers, cops, military, and some other public sector workers.


Add Air Traffic Controllers.

Originally Posted By: crazyoildude
I could not live on $40,000 a year my taxes alone are more than that


You live in the wrong state Dude!
 
There are lots of gov. pension and medical plans that are way underfunded. I see many states and cities declaring bankruptcy in the future. Pensions are a short term benefit. They started after WW II as there was a wage freeze but companies could offer benefits and thus pensions and medicals plans started to be offered.

But employees starting today are mostly on their own.
 
My mom got a job at John Hancock Insurance right out of college in the 1960's. Worked 10 years, two weeks, had me, quit. She's (minimally) vested and gets a pension!

They hired people right off the street as "computer programmers/ operators" and trained them, because the system was of course completely proprietary anyway.

Different times.
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Originally Posted By: Donald
There are lots of gov. pension and medical plans that are way underfunded. I see many states and cities declaring bankruptcy in the future. Pensions are a short term benefit. They started after WW II as there was a wage freeze but companies could offer benefits and thus pensions and medicals plans started to be offered.

But employees starting today are mostly on their own.


Mismanagement, pure and simple. Blame the "general fund" used by many organizations; rather than keeping our retirement money separate (and inviolate) they spend it and keep track of the retirement fund on paper. Lack of integrity if you ask me.

*Congress' raid on SS in the 60s was mentioned...it was eventually paid back under Clinton in the 90s, but without interest. If it had been left alone, it would have doubled three times in that thirty years. This is why SS is in trouble today.




* NOT a political statement, but rather used to illustrate a well documented mismanagement of retirement fund.
 
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Originally Posted By: crazyoildude
I could not live on $40,000 a year my taxes alone are more than that


A lot of people move down here for the lower taxes. You can sell your house for some decent money up there and move to FL or even West Virginia (lots of people retiring there now) and make it well on 40K. My sis retired in central WV after her husband retired as a Prince George's County, MD police officer.
 
A friend worked on a fire dept where the head mechanic did 20 years, quit, everyone moved up a notch. They had an opening for a lube tech and he started double dipping. And lost some of the stress.
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Our city has a package for police,firemen and city employees that is way too extravagant for today's world, after 20 years or and age 50 one can retire and option to take two years of pension as a lump sum when you leave. Age 50, the public sector is so out of whack with the private sector when it comes to benefits. Problem is, it is less than 75% funded so city will have to deal with huge costs for a very long time
 
Originally Posted By: crazyoildude
I could not live on $40,000 a year my taxes alone are more than that
. That's because you live in New Jersey. You can live quite nicely in Florida or Pennsylvania on 40k a year.
 
Originally Posted By: Silverado12
Originally Posted By: crazyoildude
I could not live on $40,000 a year my taxes alone are more than that


A lot of people move down here for the lower taxes. You can sell your house for some decent money up there and move to FL or even West Virginia (lots of people retiring there now) and make it well on 40K. My sis retired in central WV after her husband retired as a Prince George's County, MD police officer.


I would think now and going forward. Retirement planning would involve relocation in retirement. There are states with no state income tax. I'm shocked some states also tax social security retirement benefits.
 
Lots of people nearing retirement and didn't have a pension but they also didn't contribute to a 401K or IRA. If you only rely on Social Security for your golden years, you are in big trouble. I put 30% of my goss pay towards retirement but lots of folks my age (early 50's) put very little away.... they are not concerned about the future.

I'll retire in FL due to the low cost living, low taxes, no smog inspections, no snow storms, etc...
I agree with people retiring to a state where you can stretch your dollar. Some Americans are retiring in Mexico or Panama, no way I would retire in those countries.
 
My mom in law started teaching in her 40's and retired with 23 years at 65. With COLAS she was doing better than salary after only 5 years. She's almost 90 now and over $50k/year.
The 'old' and gone defined pension that I started with in the 70's was mostly 'loaded' from years 25 and on. I left after 25 years and only $60k in my fund. If I hadn't maxed 401k when they came in and the later higher contribution limits, I'd have been in big trouble with that fund. We had quite a few fellas that believed the pension was a 'promise' for the future and when much was rolled back they often retired before the new 'effects' came into play, or left Honeywell.
 
Lots of good pensions are in trouble in the blink of an eye it could be all gone and every year it gets worse. We know someone who was making a pension of $55,000 and it just got cut again. My wife has a nice pension but still works. She is talking about semi retiring around 55.
 
The company I work for spends $2 billion in pensions every year. It is a legacy cost that really adds up over time.
 
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