Retirement Age

What age do you plan to retire?

  • 55

    Votes: 21 25.3%

  • 60

    Votes: 11 13.3%

  • 62

    Votes: 8 9.6%

  • 65

    Votes: 19 22.9%

  • 70 or above

    Votes: 24 28.9%
  • Total voters
    83
I am 62 and was planning on working another 2-3 years at the current job, power generation maintenance. In December the company offered a voluntary early retirement package and I qualified, so March 31 is my last day. They will maintain my current health insurance for 1 year at no cost, plus about 1.5 year salary lump sum. Probably will do some contract work to pay for fun, and may even come back to the plant on a long term project contract for a couple of years depending on whether they hold to the general policy of 12 months away before coming back as a contractor. Currently sending stacks of paper to Oklahoma City for medical SI, if that works out I may take some time this summer and get Commercial done. Going to be interesting after almost 34 years at same job but the timing of the offer was good. Have plenty of things to keep busy with.
 
Had I not gotten involved in aviation I would probably already be retired!
 
My mother is 85, had a stroke a couple of years ago. She's still working two half days a week.

Up until a few years ago, she was working in a health food store in addition to her nursing gig. I told her she was going to be the oldest retail worker in the state of Florida. She told me she had a coworker that had her beat, he was 93. Me, I'm 58, would like to keep going until I'm 70, then find something part time or seasonal. We'll see what happens, as my mother would say, "If you want to make God laugh, tell her your plans.".
 
Matthew said:
If anybody wonders, here's how Medicare works:
(the video is choppy, but the sound is good)

Click to expand...


Mr. Haney is pretty funny. But, keep in mind: Medicare is more "free" for some than it is for others.
 
Gerhardt said:
My brother does that too and has a little over $25K sitting in his HSA. This baffles me because I don't understand why someone would do that. He said that his company's forms are just cumbersome and it's not worth the effort. My HSA just has a debit card and I suck it out ASAP.

I'm curious, why are you leaving your money in an HSA and paying out of pocket?
Click to expand...

My HSA is invested in stocks which pay dividends. All those dividends are reinvested at no cost. It will be worth a bunch more when the time comes that I actually need to "suck it out." For the time being, the <$500/yr out of pocket medical expenses I have now can easily be covered by my wallet.
 
Last edited:
denverpilot said:
$25K won't even cover ONE DAY if admitted to an ICU. I can provide copies of a bill, if anyone's interested. All that HSA can cover is paying the deductible on a catastrophic plan. Quadruple it, and it'll cover three days in ICU plus the ambulance ride.
Click to expand...

Yeah, visited wife's cousin (age 55) in hospital yesterday. Been there over a month, 22 days in ICU. He figures it's over $300K so far. May go home next week.

Health is a precious blessing.
 
Count me in the "no plan to retire" category. Once I age out of 121 I hope I can find something else to do within the company for a few years before moving someplace warm to teach flying until I can't physically climb into an airplane! Then I will die.
 
I "retired" at 51. I'm "unretiring" at 56!

It certainly was fun while it lasted. :)
 
I will never fully retire. I enjoy what I do and have owned my own business's for 40 years. I have no employees to cause me headaches and work 25-30 hours a week in my Dental Lab. I also rebuild and restore airplanes as a side business and in the next couple of years I will phase out of the Dental field. I love building and working on airplanes and get paid very well for something I would do for free anyway. I'll be 65 this week and I'm hoping for at least another 15 years that I can work. As a sidenote, the healthiest old guys I know all work or worked to very late in life. My father retired last year from Dentistry at 87. He is 88 and still has his 3rd class and flys his Remos a couple of times every week. Another friend just gave up hid Real Estate License last year but still goes in the office every morning for a couple hours. He is 97 and in better shape than most 60-70 year olds. Have a few other friends that are in their late 70s to 80s still working.
The secret however is to do what you like to do and you will never work a day in your life. Too bad the vast majority of people hate what they do. Don
 
RJM62 said:
My goal was to be able to retire at 50. But when I got there, I didn't want to. So after the old lady and I split, I hurried up and sold the business, moved to the country, and semi-retired. I wanted to make sure it was a done deal so she wouldn't change her mind and come back. (She hates the country.)

Now I work a few hours a day and do whatever I want the rest of the time. Fly, fish, goof off, work in the garden, post on POA, or whatever. I think it's a pretty good situation.

Rich
Click to expand...
That's pretty much me too. Instead of fishing and working in the garden, I'm an artist and a musician, but I goof off a lot too. I feel sad for people who are so dependent on their work, that they can not imagine anything else. But then, we each choose how we want to spend our lives.
 
I asked a lot of captains at Delta when they planned on retiring. Some of them were disgruntled (some of them rightly so) about their retirement funds and how they were going to have to work every trip they could get till they hit 65. Some guys also had a different number 60, 62, whatever. I'd always thought 55 had a nice ring to it and I could probably make it happen but one guy I flew with gave me something different to think about. He said he could retire early but he could do the same amount of work at DAL (by just dropping his trips every month) and keep the benefits rolling. Seemed logical to me, so I'm planning on staying with DAL until mandatory retirement age. If I decide to quit sooner, I'm happy either way. Having the mil retirement (unless someone votes it out) is huge to be able to plan for retirement. I like the travel of flying widebodies; who knows - maybe by the time I'm 65 I'll be sick of it. Like so many others here I know guys who've retired and either died or been so bored that they went back to work. Get a plan; I dream about retirement plans almost daily! :D
 
The only person I know who seemed unhappy about retirement was an airline pilot.

I've spent my life in jobs which involve killing time so I'm good at it. I can't imagine actually working all the time...
 
To me business is a service to others - you enable them to gain things and you enable your employees to gain self sufficiency. Short of terminal illness, why would I ever stop serving others? I may change what I do at some point and shift toward building more...but I'll never retire. That's when I'm most valuable.

Different opinion I know.
 
Part of our retirement plan is to move. KC area has been home for a long time, but it's time for a change. My style is to toss a dart at a map, but somewhere "south" is where we'll look. And it has to have GA rental opportunities.
 
Had I not bought a plane, I'd have been pretty likely able to retire ~55ish and maintain a comparable standard of living.

My plane blew that out of the water. Not only will I not be able to retire early and keep the plane, I am no longer likely to be able to retire early (without the plane) OR keep the plane once I retire at a "normal" retirement age...
 
On a related note, I have an uncle who just made his last landing as a corporate pilot yesterday. He's been flying since his teens, and has been with his company for 37 years.

They brought out the fire trucks upon his last landing in the Falcon. He's a great guy and is likely going to renew his CFI and start instructing in his spare time, so if I can manage to put the time in, he offered to get me the IR.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10207411251174174
 
Maxmosbey said:
That's pretty much me too. Instead of fishing and working in the garden, I'm an artist and a musician, but I goof off a lot too. I feel sad for people who are so dependent on their work, that they can not imagine anything else. But then, we each choose how we want to spend our lives.
Click to expand...

My "work" is what I'd choose to do every day if I was retired. So, I guess you could technically say I'm "retired" now....I just keep collecting paychecks from people who value what I like to do on my time "off"!

(Please don't tell them I'd do it for free!)
 
I was "involuntarily" retired at the age of 52. I did some consulting and I still do sometimes. My wife retires in the fall (at the age of 57). That's when our "real" retirement commences.
 
My dad turns 88 this year, still works probably 80 hours a week, maybe more. He does it because he wants to, I hope to have his health and capability when I get to his age.

My expectation is that, at some point, I'll quit the day job so I can focus fully on my philanthropic efforts or else get into a business that's all about fun rather than making money. We'll see where the runway takes me.
 
For 33 years I loved my job at IBM.
For 3 years I tolerated my job.
My last year was so heinous I finally said "ENOUGH!"
I think I was over IBM before I reached the end of the parking lot on my last day.
Since 2010, IBM has asked me to come back four times, and threatened to sue me once if I ever went to work for anyone else.
Silly IBM. They should have checked to see if I ever signed the non-compete paperwork. Opps, I never did.

I'm in the old pension plan, I have all my 401K money, my 6 months severance pay, my Social Security, and I take the occasional contract, teaching or speaking fee and I'm very happy spending most of my free time flying.
I plan to live to be 313 years old and collect from IBM every single day of it. heh heh heh
 
I planned on retiring sometime between 65 1/2 and 66. The company (Intel) sold the plant where I worked (and leased back some space) and I was told I had to move (either to Arizona or Oregon). I said that they either let me stay were I was (or work from home) or I would retire early. My manager was fine with that, as was his manager. However, the 3rd level manager had decided that none of his people were going to stay and he wasn't interested in talking about any exceptions. So, I retired a few months after turning 63. I'm still active in national and international standards committees. Consulting to pay for the travel. If you need help with EMC (electromagnetic compatibility, the reason for 91.21) feel free to contact me.

The voluntary separation package that came along just before I was to leave the company gave me 12 months paid of the 18 months of COBRA. And well over 1/2 year's pay. Retirement gave me a bunch of money to cover medical premiums once I finally have to pay them. And COBRA runs out less than 4 months before I turn 65 and can start on Medicare.

Shepherd, I hope you collect from Big Blue for many years to come. :)
 
I am finally fully retired. I have worked for a succession of commercial real estate investors and operators, twice being reorganized out of a job and finally leaving voluntarily (and gladly). Twice I have been within one year of qualifying for retirement medical but that I have never crossed that finish line, so retirement medical is on me. Hello Medicare!

There is no legal action likely to succeed regarding the layoffs just before retirement medical kicked in. The companies knew what they were doing, and the layoff pools were sufficiently large, with diverse ages in the group, that my lawyer said that an age discrimination lawsuit would not be successful. Besides, that is not my style.

My final job was as the Director for Real Estate Investment at one of the largest State pension funds. I had direct responsibility for just north of $185 billion dollars. The real Estate component is about $14 billion in the four major property types spread around the world. It was simultaneously the most difficult and rewarding job of my career. But the pay scale is about 50% of what I would have made with a different employer. Including the State of California. That and the bureaucracy forced me to retire "early" at age 70. Life is too short! I left with most of the seats full of good people, and I wish them and the State the best of luck.

So this leaves me OK financially, with some substantial 401Ks and I am rapidly approaching the "mandatory distribution" age. My wife is also not retiring anytime soon so... there is a flying budget! I haven't been flying for quite a while so time to grab a CFI and get current....
 
Ghery said:
I planned on retiring sometime between 65 1/2 and 66. The company (Intel) sold the plant where I worked (and leased back some space) and I was told I had to move (either to Arizona or Oregon). I said that they either let me stay were I was (or work from home) or I would retire early. My manager was fine with that, as was his manager. However, the 3rd level manager had decided that none of his people were going to stay and he wasn't interested in talking about any exceptions. So, I retired a few months after turning 63. I'm still active in national and international standards committees. Consulting to pay for the travel. If you need help with EMC (electromagnetic compatibility, the reason for 91.21) feel free to contact me.

The voluntary separation package that came along just before I was to leave the company gave me 12 months paid of the 18 months of COBRA. And well over 1/2 year's pay. Retirement gave me a bunch of money to cover medical premiums once I finally have to pay them. And COBRA runs out less than 4 months before I turn 65 and can start on Medicare.

Shepherd, I hope you collect from Big Blue for many years to come. :)
Click to expand...

I've instructed my family to never report my death. :)
 
EdFred said:
Why stop then? You can do flight reviews and other stuff without a medical.
Click to expand...

It gets dicey if you want to do simulated instrument flight (or if the student isn't qualified to be PIC, i.e. his BFR already expired).
 
Tell me you didn't change your profile pic because I outted you?

upload_2016-3-23_8-49-21.png
 
I'm 49, and should retire at 60. My office has a (well funded) pension plan that pays 2% per year of service once you are vested at ten years. Normal retirement is allowed at 30 years of service (at 60% pay) or 60 years old, whichever comes first. A buddy of mine that retired at 60 and started collecting SS at 62 said that the combined income from both is almost exactly the same take home pay he had when working. Pretty good, and we get to keep our health insurance too (but still have to pay for it of course).

I'll hit my 30 years of service almost exactly when I get to 60 years old, so it should work out well unless life intervenes somehow.
 
Gerhardt said:
My brother does that too and has a little over $25K sitting in his HSA. This baffles me because I don't understand why someone would do that. He said that his company's forms are just cumbersome and it's not worth the effort. My HSA just has a debit card and I suck it out ASAP.

I'm curious, why are you leaving your money in an HSA and paying out of pocket?
Click to expand...
A couple of things about HSAs that get people thinking about using them for retirement savings:

1) You deposit into them pre-tax.
2) Earnings grow tax-free
3) If you withdraw and use the funds for qualified medical expenses, you don't pay income tax on the withdrawals.

The catch - if you withdraw and spend it on anything other than qualified medical expenses, you owe income tax and a 20% penalty.

Once you hit 65 and use it for non-qualifying expenses, you won't owe that penalty, just the tax. So, when you hit 65, you can treat it just like it had been a 401(k) or traditional IRA and it doesn't have any required minimum distributions.

If you were to contribute to it, up to the max each year, and pay for your medical expenses out of pocket, you could use that HSA as another tax-deferred retirement account.

--

I'm no financial expert on this, and there may be state tax laws that differ. It's something to look into, though. I just started an HSA last year, or the year before, when my company plan changed and am still learning all the details on how they can be used. So far, I've been putting cash into mine and using it to pay off bills as they come, or using the debit card at the pharmacy. I keep it topped off to whatever my deductible is. This is probably what most people do, but there are other ways to take advantage of it.
 
wilkersk said:
Have you checked out https://www.ssa.gov/myaccount/ ? You can get an estimate of your benefits, review your annual statement and social security/medicare wage history.
Click to expand...
Yes, I have been there. I went there when I turned 62, just to get an idea. When I punched everything in, the amount did not look right to me, so I went in to the SS office and asked. The lady at the SS told me it was wrong. She said that it is often wrong, because there are a lot of factors that it does not take into account. If you don't have any of those, it works fine. I have a lot of them. The biggest thing is that I have other income sources that will affect it, but no one seems to know how much so. But there are others as well. I've punched the numbers in a dozen times, talked to a dozen people at the SS office and a couple of financial advisors, and the only thing that I have figured out is that I need to file for it, then wait for the first check to see. One thing about SS, everyone knows the answer, and every answer is different. It is a lot like the IRS and internet forums. It just depends on who you are talking to. But I'll file, and I'll get what I get, and it will all be fine.
 
I find interesting by the poll results that the demographics of POA wish to work until they drop (70+ age leads the poll), yet we live in an unapologetic labor surplus in pretty much every industry of meaningful wage bracket. Talk about a Hunger Game. Globalization has truly brought home a nasty decrease in expectations and standards of living to this Country. I shudder to think what American life will be for the rank and file, economically, in 2050 at the rate we're going. There's no way the middle class is a solvent construct in 30 years at the rate housing, education and healthcare* expenses continue to expand unabated. I understand I have no control over the S%t sandwich my generation inherited, and that I will make less inflation adjusted than my parents as a mean line, but to have the HHE* indices continue to rocket as if I was getting inflation adjusted payraises every year is just a bridge too far. This thing has to deflate or it's America game over for the middle 75 million households. Expating would be the only way to maintain income parity in 30 years. Throw in the inevitable SS payments means-testing for millenials and forget it. This thing's DOA. Yikes.

As for my pipedream? I figure 57 would be a nice number to stop working full time. As an "accidental/opportunistic" airline aspirant, I always hear the idea of effectively dropping the schedule down to a de facto part-time work. For one, I think those days are coming to an end, as the airlines tighten the belt and make reserve utilization more "southwest like". Secondly, part-time positions in airline work will never work due to training costs associated with keeping more bodies current and qualified for less utilization rate, and thank God for that, because just doing a cursory count on POA about the amount of Tom, Dick and Harrys who would be willing and able to work for an airline on a part-time basis, it becomes clear the income leverage of full-time airline pilots who rely on that income to raise their families would plummet to regional levels in a new york minute. Way too many Richards willing to do my job for free is not a good thing; alas I'm aware of that, which is why I'm investing my hard earned cash on my wife becoming a medical worker so that I can have a second leg to the income and retirement plan, if and when the professional domestic-lift/near-intl pilot income scales plummets forever into "supplemental income" McWages under the weight of hobby pilots or cabotage (whichever happens first).

I'd still like to stop working full time in my 50s, so that I can shift more time to flying avocationally and have true scheduling flexibility to caribbean hop with my wife without having to beg and plead with an employer to give me permission to go live my life. If making money costs me too much time, it's a non-starter for me, particularly in the context of working in my 50s.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top