Retirement Revelation!
So, about a month ago, I was working on my gigantic, multi-tab retirement spreadsheet (known colloquially in my home as 'The Retirement Console'), replete with a ridiculous number of calculations, assumptions, and variations of SS income and pensions. As I updated the latest IRA, brokerage, 457 and 403b numbers, it hit me:
I CAN RETIRE NEXT YEAR
I'm 56.5 and I have worked for a state government for 26 years, and corporate jobs before that. I have a PERS retirement and 2 PERS accounts. FRA for me is 60 but I could have early retired any time after 55 with a reduced benefit. My husband is also a state worker with PERS accounts but with less time and he will be 65 next year. We have a brokerage account, some IRAs, some Roth's and a bunch of accounts I inherited from my Dad. We had a multi-part plan for retirement/semi-retirement:
- July 2027 - Sell our current home and roll the proceeds into a brokerage account
- Move to our vacation home in another state, currently a rental
- Hubs would retire with his state pension & SS
- I would continue working until 62 because...
BECAUSE WHY??? Because for some reason I thought I had to. I thought that was the only option. My current employer might possibly have agreed to me moving out of state and still performing my job remotely, but I thought it more likely I'd have to find a new one. Now then, I work in IT and I will be moving to a very small town that is lucky to have a Walmart and it was unlikely I'd be able to make more than a 3rd of my current salary.
BUT THEN I WAS LIKE- HEY! WAIT!
I can take my pension any time and make 1/3 of my salary. And even a bigger HEY...I realized that even if I could have done my current job remotely I DON'T WANT TO DO IT ANYMORE. Ever. Again.
I felt lighter. I heard angels sing. I saw the light at the end of the tunnel and I'm pretty sure it's not a train.
Another part of the retirement plan we discussed with our financial advisor was purchasing a small home for rental property or opening a brick and mortar shop which I would manage for retirement income. But then I was all, HOLD THE PHONE!
Not only do I not want to do my current job anymore, I don't want to work at all. Not even for myself. I had this stupid plan baked up for running a business and I had AI create a sweet business plan and I was really proud of it until my brain rose up and said BUT YOU WILL STILL BE WORKING. I'd have to be somewhere at a certain time and probably wake up at the crack of 8am. No can do.
Once I knew I wasn't going to need a chunk of money opening a business (and for crying out loud, what was I even thinking??) I knew. I knew we could do it! I knew I could walk away from my day job and begin my new career as a Professional Putterer. I am going to putter SO HARD.
Hubs was skeptical but, after I explained the numbers to him and spoke endlessly of Roth's and Medicare and the rule of 55 and IRMAA and the everloving RMDS, he decided it was easier to agree than to have to continue listening to my Retirement Console evangelism. BTW, I have an actual console now; I started using modeling software. You can look at the next 40 years with an average of 5-7% increase in yours accounts, or you can turn on the fun historical filter and re-live Black Monday and 2008! That's a bumpy ride, my friends. But my simulated accounts still hold up , even after the Dot Com bust.
So we are meeting with our financial advisor next week to talk about our accelerated retirement and plan the 12 month runway.
I have a countdown widget on my phone that I look at when I'm having a particularly annoying day at work. Hubs and I went on vacation recently and we have taken to calling it "retirement practice".
Please share your retirement revelations! I love talking about this (and my husband will thank you.)