S/O Poll - retired or not?

[china mom]

The thread about the hours in our work weeks garnered a few responses from posters saying that they are retired and it got me wondering about our demographics.

For example, DH and I both retired in 2010 and are collecting pensions but are working full time for new employers.

 

[DLgal]

I've been a SAHM since 2004. I will most likely never work outside of the home again, mainly due to health issues that interfere with that ability. We have 2 special needs older teens who will continue to live at home indefinitely.

My husband just retired from the military after 23 years but is working a second career job while also pursuing an Executive MBA on the side. He turns 45 later this year. He is currently receiving a military pension and 100% VA disability. He wants to work until age 55 and then retire, retire.

 

[Darcy03231]

DH retired at 60 and is collecting a pension and social security. I could have retired when he did (we originally planned it that way), but at 52 I wasn't ready. I like what I do, we have a great team, I make a very good salary, get 6 weeks vacation and 2 weeks sick time per year, and have a lot of flexibility. My plan right now is to retire at 65, but depending on how things are going that could change.

 

[tvguy]

My wife and I worked in private sector jobs. My wife's employer did away with their pension plan in 1976, so after 42 years working there, no pension, just a 401k plan that they started in 1982, so most of the money from that was from her salary.....15%.....with a 3% company match.
My last company HAD a pension plan but did away with it. Actually froze it. I retired two years ago with a option of taking a pension of $28 a month, or a lump sum of $5,600 which is the option to chose. We also had a 401k, 15% of the money was mine, 4% was company match. I worked there 16 years. My neighbor retired at the same time as a public school teacher, 16 years with her district. She was complaining that her pension is only $2,800 a month........until she heard about my $28 pension for the same time of service.
Living off savings until next year when we both will reach full Social Security retirement age of 66 1/2. I hear people complain about how low Social Security benefits are. We must have had low paying jobs because our Social Security will be almost exactly what we were bringing home per month in 2021 when we retired. Actually, $200 a month more for me.

 

[Tigger's ally]

Me and Mrs. Ally are both 59. She is manager of a bank. I used to work for a printer but changed jobs right before Covid. I work out of my home office for a foreign paper company based in Finland. She plans on retiring at 62. I will keep working longer, who knows how long. I like what I do. I travel a lot. 180+ nights in a hotel last year. But the company I work for is very nice to me and treats me well with good bonuses and raises and matches my 401K up to 10%. Because of the new job, we have more discretionary dollars to travel and we do so to various places including Disney.

 

[Moliphino]

Sadly not retired. I'm 36, so I have a long way to go unless I win the lottery.

 

[Smugpugmug]

I'm nowhere near retirement. I'm still grinding away at work.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Fully retired end of 2020 after 45 year financial planning career. Marie retired from work outside the home back in 1976 as a SAHM and following that, a SAHN (stay at home Nana). And following that, the primary caregiver with her recently deceased uncle, and me as secondary caregiver.

 

[Meriweather]

We're fully retired.
Both 69 years old.

 

[Praying Colonel]

11 months and 6 days, but who's counting....

 

[Babs Johnson]

I retired at the end of 2022 at age 65. DW is 63 and is still working full time, perhaps until the end of 2024.

I don’t intend to collect Social Security until age 69 or 70.

 

[Kitty 34]

DH and I are both retired and have been for a few years now. I was almost 62 and he was 64 when we did. We both collect our pensions and SS.

 

[robinb]

I'm fully retired after being a computer consultant, then SAHM for 17 years, and then working a few months a year (Jan - May) at at full time job grading grade school students in the WIDA program for multilingual learners. My DH is still working as long as it's interesting and "fun" but I think he may retire next year. We don't have any financial needs for him to work and want to do other things while we still physically can. I have two friends in their mid-60's in nursing homes now, one from untreated diabetes (until it was too late) and one from a stroke. It's scary to think of that so soon.

 

[sasywtch]

I retired at 60 (I wanted to work until 62). With my state pension and ss, I bring home more than I did working. I thought about waiting until 66.6 to collect ss but it came out to about $80K I could collect in those 4-1/2 years. I had plans of not working but 3 months after I retired, my daughter became paralyzed and CA has a program IHSS that pays for caregivers to care for someone in the home instead of a nursing home. I get approx. $3200 a month for that. (we've tried getting someone to come in a few hours a day to relieve me but no one wants to do this for $16 an hour).

 

[BlueStarryHat]

I worked in my chosen field-art and design-for 20 years, until my mental illness got so bad I had to stop working. I started receiving SSI in 2008. I am currently back doing art, and hope to get some pieces on a site like Zazzle or Society6. If it interferes with my ability to stay on Medicaid and SSI I'll have to forget about that idea. Only allowed to have 2,000 in the bank at any one time.

 

[CynBeth]

I'm nowhere near retirement. I'm still grinding away at work.

Same here.

 

[darnheather]

I picked other. I'm a student for another year. I'll probably never retire because I will enter the workforce at the age of 50. This was my choice though because I wanted to stay at home with my children as long as possible.

 

[leebee]

I am 67 and would love to retire, but the concept of the extra money keeps me working. It's also meant we've been able to have DD, her husband, and his son move in with us for minimal rent while she was in grad school. This has been a hard year for me health-wise, though, and the thought of retiring is definitely more intriguing than ever. I promised my current crop grad student TAs that I'd stay until they finished up- which should be spring of 2025, but I might only make it thru December 2024. We hadn't planned on helping support DD and her family, so I hope to continue working until we can rebuild our savings account from that. DH is 63 and just started a new job that he is STOKED about. I can easily see him doing this until he's 70. He also has a company that feeds his avocational interests. THis is company #3 (but the only one still in operation); methinks there will always be a company.

 

[CGB]

I have two more school years before I can retire at 55. If I pull my pension immediately, it'll be cut 30% (6% a year for drawing before 60). A lot of my coworkers have retired at 55, then waited to start their pension until 60. I waffle on whether I will or won't... but I'll need to make a decision next summer. DH fully retired at the end of 2021 at 63. He pulls a military pension, civil service pension and social security. Summers have become our "retirement test" with each other.

 

[antmaril]

I have been fully retired for 15 years. I retired at age 56 with 36 years of service.