Finally!

[uscfanhawaii]

To answer your first question. Stay busy. Do something to get you out of the house; part time job, volunteering, golf or a hobby of some sort. The wife and I have been on two cruises since retirement and we have two more planned for October. I am enjoying retirement. My wife and I are young enough and healthy enough to enjoy this time of our lives. You just have to make the best of it and enjoy it.

Thanks for the advice! I am now eligible with 30 yrs, but with my daughter still in College, I figure I will stay about 4 more years.

Sounds like you are doing VERY WELL in retirement!!

 

[Frixxxx]

4446 and that's all I'm saying..... June 30th, 2025

Bought back 8 years of Air Force Active Duty Time!

Will give me 31 years 6 days - Total!

 

[nnuut]

4446 and that's all I'm saying..... June 30th, 2025

Bought back 8 years of Air Force Active Duty Time!

Will give me 31 years 6 days - Total!

I wouldn't call that SHORT my friend. Time to build that TSP balance.

 

[Kaufmanrider]

Kaufmanrider,

Make sure that you are calculating your sick time correctly and how many days you have to burn up. My sick leave hours worked out about 6 for every 8 I used for my retirement. I had to be careful on how many sick days I used so I didn't give too much back but I didn't want to take one hour too much and loose a month or two towards retirement. Even though you are using sick days up because of retirement be careful, if you use to many in a row, your agency may require a doctors excuse. Congratulations and good luck.

Thanks NASA, I am not using any sick days right now. My plan is to save them all until December then calculate how many days I have left and burn them during my last few days. Won't give them time to ask for a sick slip

 

[Hallatauer]

Just to update.... retired since April 30th 2013. Packed and moved to north of Austin TX. Our belongings took from May 1st to May 16th to get here. We're very tired from unpacking and rearranging and moving and unpacking etc. Haven't heard a word from OPM... Health Insurance... nothing... nada.... wonder how much the furloughs are affecting them. Monday I plan on making a few phone calls to my agency personnel contact and see what she knows. Money wise were okay... we sold the house and just renting in the interim so we can survive without any duress. It's the health insurance as my wife is type 1 diabetic and her insulin and supplies are good for about another 2 weeks.

 

[jimijr]

Congratulations! Give 'em time at OPM, it has only been a couple weeks. By now you have received your last paycheck and on the next regular payday you will get your accumulated annual leave payout, hope you built up 400 hours or more. That comes from your agency and you will need it once you see what your interim payment is, heh.

You can leave your TSP alone if you want, I transferred mine to a TIRA I had previously established. If you do transfer it, it will take 30 days for OPM to notify the thrift board and then they can cut the check -- directly to your designee, not yourself for heaven's sake.

You've had a hectic time, now relax. I too worked rotating shift for 25 years at NWS. It took me six weeks to get that rotation out of my system, stop waking up at 4 am, get to bed at nightfall sleep an entire night and wake up with the sun. Meanwhile I kept walking around with a sh%& eating grin, "I'm retired!"

I agree with you, NASA, soem form of activity is a good thing. I didn't push it, though, I'm giving it time to develop naturally. It has been three years now, I'm sure something will turn up eventually.

Meanwhile I get my money for nothin' and chicks for free.

 

[Hallatauer]

I burned almost all my sick leave.. at 40 cents on the dollar it wasn't worth keeping. My wife burned my annusl leave heh... may see a check for about a grand I guess.

 

[Stoplight]

Just to update.... retired since April 30th 2013. Packed and moved to north of Austin TX. Our belongings took from May 1st to May 16th to get here. We're very tired from unpacking and rearranging and moving and unpacking etc. Haven't heard a word from OPM... Health Insurance... nothing... nada.... wonder how much the furloughs are affecting them. Monday I plan on making a few phone calls to my agency personnel contact and see what she knows. Money wise were okay... we sold the house and just renting in the interim so we can survive without any duress. It's the health insurance as my wife is type 1 diabetic and her insulin and supplies are good for about another 2 weeks.

HT,

Congrats ! I, too, retired 30 April, but LAST year !

Agree with JimJr ; Looking back through my retirement thread/story, I see I didn't get my OPM info until roughly now...first logged in to the OPM web site on 25 May, with my new ID and password. I'm a little surprised that OPM hasn't reduced the backlog, though...figured you'd have something by now...

RE: the health insurance ? That's something I would NOT lose any sleep over ! Just keep truckin' on, assuming you made no changes when you retired. The health care deduction WILL catch up with you, when they settle the final numbers ! In the meantime, I never had even a hiccup in coverage, from my providers...not even any kind of "new" ID card (BC/BS Basic).

I'm like Jimjr, too...waiting for a "new" direction to find me, while just enjoying the fact that I can tell people..."I'm retired !"

Best wishes !

Stoplight...

 

[Hallatauer]

Re: Health Insurance. We made a big change. We moved from New York to Austin TX. New provider in a new state and my wife is starting to run low on her prescriptions. We're heading back to NY today for my retirement party and to drive her car back here.. making a little road trip/vacation out of it. Hopefully everything is waiting for us when we get home next week. <crossing fingers>

 

[jimijr]

That reminds me, it was open season in December when I retired and I changed from BC Standard to Basic. That created a slight snag. I forget the details but it went through okay.

I had 2000 hours of SL when I retired, 80% of what I earned all those years. I looked at it as my disability insurance and was delighted to get 6 months service credit for it. It took OPM 9 months to get my case settled so I needed the $$ from AL.

Hope everything works out for you!

 

[Stoplight]

Thanks for sharing the wrinkles you both went/are going through ! Never thought about a major relocation and FEHB change, OR a retirement during Open Season !!! Guess I assumed everyone else was like me

Hopefully, those following us into retirement have some more info to contemplate...

Safe Travels, HT !

Stoplight...

 

[nasa1974]

HT,

Congrats ! I, too, retired 30 April, but LAST year !

I'm like Jimjr, too...waiting for a "new" direction to find me, while just enjoying the fact that I can tell people..."I'm retired !"

Best wishes !

Stoplight...

After telling people you are retired how difficult is it to stop smiling?

 

[Stoplight]

After telling people you are retired how difficult is it to stop smiling?

VERY !!!


Stoplight...

 

[Hallatauer]

VERY !!!


Stoplight...

I get amazed looks when I tell them I'm retired..... and that I'm only 52.

 

[nnuut]

52! If I would have done that I would have found another job and worked until I was 65!

 

[Handballer]

I retired in the last century. And loving every day since.

 

[Cactus]

I get amazed looks when I tell them I'm retired..... and that I'm only 52.

52!! :blink: You're younger than I am and I probably won't even be able to retire by 62. Following LMBF must have really been good to you. Are you still following that in retirement or are you investing more conservative now?


I've been meaning to ask you how the health insurance thing worked out? I am also looking at changing states after retirement, but never considered the health insurance changes. Thanks for pointing that out. I still have at least 9 years to worry about that.

 

[Hallatauer]

Where are we? Stilled screwed up 6 weeks later. Got a half, partial payment for May. Scheduled for a partial payment starting July 1st. That's a start in the right direction. They are trying to fix my retirement date... my last day at the FAA was April 30th and first day of retirement May 1st. Regional office processed it as my last day at the FAA as May 1st... which would have screwed me out of one month of payments. Had to have the regional office resend the corrected paperwork to OPM. I moved into my new address May 4th so I put that as the date to change my FEHB's. Surprise! They only process qualifying, out of open season, health benefit claim changes on the 1st of the month. Thanks for not telling me this. Talked to OPM on June 4th once I finally got my card and OPM#. They were very nice and helpful... telling me what they got from the FAA so I could see how screwed up it was. So still waiting on health benefits.....

Cactus... I intend to live another healthy 30+ years and the money coming out of my TSP I don't intend to need to live on.... It's play/travel/enjoy life money so I'm staying in the more aggressive approach with LMBF. With the pension, I won't die hungry. <g> Also researching the paperwork and 72t rules. F'ing complicated.

 

[Cactus]

Ouch, I thought the FEHB change would be resolved by now. Silly me; I should have known better. I've heard it can take 9 months for OPM to get your retirement check right. Let's hope it dosn't take that long for your FEHB. NY is a long way to go for health care.

 

[Hallatauer]

Shortly after my last post, OPM called me asking about my health care change in benefits... they couldn't figure out that I had moved and changed states. Got that straightened out and still waiting. Called OPM this morning and they said my application to the new insurance went out Friday, June 21st. 10 days it sat on someones desk waiting to be sent out. I know th furloughs are tough but you'd think after we straightened out the address change thing it would be sent out that day. Silly me too.

I faxed my request for TSP withdrawal, SEPP based on life expectancy/IRS 72t withdrawal. I got a rejection letter several days later. Called them and took a few minutes going back and forth trying to straighten that out. Seems when you fax something to them, it then gets scanned into a computer that processes it. Their computer read my form as a TSP-75 and automatically rejected my application. We figured out after the rep at TSP researched it and saw I did indeed file the correct form but after faxing and scanning it had become unreadable. Today I copied the form and sent them the original. We'll see how far that goes.

Tomorrow me and the wife are headed off on a much needed vacation scuba diving in the Cayman Islands. I hope that everything is done by the time we get back home... health insurance cards in the mail pile and pension deposited in the bank account. Until then, I'm not going to worry and fret and just enjoy ourselves for a week.