Retirement

[LennG]

Len, great stuff. Thanks! I love cruising!  I've done Alaska , Panama Canal, east and west Caribbean, Mexico etc. ironically I did 2 med floats while in Marine corp. I'm eyeballing a 30 day world cruise too down the road.  Before that though, I want to buy a boat in Florida and do the 6300 mile great loop over a year. Up the east coast, up the Hudson, 130 locks through Great Lakes, down Ohio and missipi rivers, across the Gulf of Mexico!

WOW, that sounds great. We have always talked about maybe doing a world cruise but the ones we did look at were way over 90 days at t he minimum. Though we LOVE cruising, that many days on a ship, well might be a bit too much even for me.
Ourselves, we LOVE trans-Atlantic cruises, we have done about 8 of them now. They are longer and we love the sea days. As I said be fore, anytime you are looking for company, just holler.       

[MightyGiants]

In the vein of retirement, I'm curious about what you have for health insurance. We have a Medicare advantage plan. Overall I am pretty happy with it. We are in pretty good health so fortunately we haven't had to use it that often. A couple of downfalls is it doesn't do much for eye or dental issues.  Next year the plan I chose will cover 1 eye exam. The only real issue is that I have 1 prescription for my COPD inhaler cost me a couple of hundred a month because it's a high tier drug. But other than we are pretty happy with it. No monthly cost is a good thing.

Bill

I mentioned Morningstar.  Here is one on Medicare


https://www.morningstar.com/podcasts/investing-insights/8e9693eb-f145-4e1f-995b-23f0d616559e

[gregf]

In the vein of retirement, I'm curious about what you have for health insurance. We have a Medicare advantage plan. Overall I am pretty happy with it. We are in pretty good health so fortunately we haven't had to use it that often. A couple of downfalls is it doesn't do much for eye or dental issues.  Next year the plan I chose will cover 1 eye exam. The only real issue is that I have 1 prescription for my COPD inhaler cost me a couple of hundred a month because it's a high tier drug. But other than we are pretty happy with it. No monthly cost is a good thing.

Bill

Bill, covered California plans supplement based on income. I currently have VA coverage. I'm not very impressed with it so far, definitely appears a downgrade from Kaiser. My employer provided a medical cash account. Plan is to use VA for 2 years, then possibly switch back to Kaiser through California covered and budget my cash plan .  At 65 Medicare kicks in. 62 extra money from ss available

[Sem]

Bill, covered California plans supplement based on income. I currently have VA coverage. I'm not very impressed with it so far, definitely appears a downgrade from Kaiser. My employer provided a medical cash account. Plan is to use VA for 2 years, then possibly switch back to Kaiser through California covered and budget my cash plan .  At 65 Medicare kicks in. 62 extra money from ss available

After 35+ years I was laid off from IBM in 2012, but with enough time to qualify for full retirement, including pension). As part of my severance I also got a check for 6 months salary and  like you Greg, I was provided with a medical cash account. I can buy into IBM's retirees Medicare Advantage PPO plan with UHC. But I can only access the medical cash account if I use the insurance IBM contracts with, (UHC). So far it's been good with just a $5 co-pay for my Dr. visits and a $30 co-pay for any specialist visit. Also comes with vision, dental, and eyeglass coverage. I can also use the medical cash account to reimburse myself for Medicare part B that SS automatically takes out. My wife has excellent healthcare as well through NYS schools (she was a Librarian). Her Medicare Advantage plan only costs about $200 per year, with excellent coverage, PLUS they reimburse her Medicare Part B cost.

Although I'm grateful that we both receive very good healthcare benefits in retirement, the vast differences and overall unfairness regarding healthcare costs across this country is very disturbing to me.

[gregf]

Sem, you are very fortunate for great coverage. All the money in the world is meaningless if your health is at risk

[EDjohnst1981]

I've been thinking more and more about this recently.

We are both early 40s, with decent jobs and pension. I also run a consultancy company which is going okay. We have a second property we rent out.

We are hoping in 10-12 years we can both retire. We both receive royalties for academic articles and books, coupled with the consultancy work we should be okay.

My bigger concern is that I'd think I'd really miss work. I throughly enjoy my job, I don't view it as work. By the potential retirement time my son will be 25/27. So I'm wondering how I'd fill my time and mind.

Probably for another day but it's good to plan and I've liked reading other people's thoughts/plans. 

[Bill Brown]

I'm almost 77. Been retired for about 15 years. My take on it.

[MightyGiants]

I've been thinking more and more about this recently.

We are both early 40s, with decent jobs and pension. I also run a consultancy company which is going okay. We have a second property we rent out.

We are hoping in 10-12 years we can both retire. We both receive royalties for academic articles and books, coupled with the consultancy work we should be okay.

My bigger concern is that I'd think I'd really miss work. I throughly enjoy my job, I don't view it as work. By the potential retirement time my son will be 25/27. So I'm wondering how I'd fill my time and mind.

Probably for another day but it's good to plan and I've liked reading other people's thoughts/plans. 

One thing I have observed with many people who retired, with work being their primary activity, is that they retired to part-time work.  It's the best of both worlds.  They have more time to do the things they want to do, while still being active members of society.

[EDjohnst1981]

One thing I have observed with many people who retired, with work being their primary activity, is that they retired to part-time work.  It's the best of both worlds.  They have more time to do the things they want to do, while still being active members of society.

That's what I'm thinking with the consultancy stuff (as and when I want to do it) and book/article writing.

Still, quite a way off I suppose.

[LennG]

I've been thinking more and more about this recently.

We are both early 40s, with decent jobs and pension. I also run a consultancy company which is going okay. We have a second property we rent out.

We are hoping in 10-12 years we can both retire. We both receive royalties for academic articles and books, coupled with the consultancy work we should be okay.

My bigger concern is that I'd think I'd really miss work. I throughly enjoy my job, I don't view it as work. By the potential retirement time my son will be 25/27. So I'm wondering how I'd fill my time and mind.

Probably for another day but it's good to plan and I've liked reading other people's thoughts/plans. 

Ed

Nice to have you participate in our 'other' board. become a regular here.

After reading what you wrote, I don't understand the problem. Why do you have to stop doing what, as you say, love it, and you don't consider it work? We don't know how the retirement system works in the United Kingdom. Here, in the States, when we reach a certain age, 62 at the minimum, we can collect Social Security checks, as we have contributed to this fund for all the years we have worked. But that doesn't mean you have to stop working. They have rules as to how much you can make once collecting Soc Sec, but other than that, I know many people who either delay Soc Sec or they cut back a bit on wages, but they continue to work, like you, because they love what they do.
That is up to you. As Bill said, I couldn't wait to retire. I ran my own business for almost 40 years but it was hard work and at 62 I decided, even though I did love it, to just say that was enough and I have never looked back. I still umpire baseball games but what I make doesn't affect my Soc Sec, and I simply love to do that. I said I would stop when I reached 70, then 75, and now it's 80 (I am 78), but I do it, yes for the money, but also because I simply love it.
Ourselves, I couldn't wait for my wife to retire (7 years after me) but once she did, we either spend days doing absolutely nothing as that is what we feel like doing, we travel extensively, or we do something constructive either around the house, volunteering somewhere. We are always busy, but doing not much at all. And we love it.
If you have the resources then whatever you chose to do, just enjoy it.