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PessOptimist's Retirement Story
- Thread starter PessOptimist
- Start date
evilanne
Well-known member
PessOptimist,
What do you really want to do once you retire? I'm sure you will be well off no matter what you decide. I would think of the military pay off like you would any investment...it sounds like the payoff would be advantageous for both you and your wife with a 2.5 year pay off...8K/22K is 36% payoff annually. You could take out a short term loan for 2-3 years and pay it off once your retire with the increased pay and still come out ahead. It is really great to have such high class "problems," but it is advisable to have something in mind about what you want to do once finish your initial "to do" list. Good Luck
What do you really want to do once you retire? I'm sure you will be well off no matter what you decide. I would think of the military pay off like you would any investment...it sounds like the payoff would be advantageous for both you and your wife with a 2.5 year pay off...8K/22K is 36% payoff annually. You could take out a short term loan for 2-3 years and pay it off once your retire with the increased pay and still come out ahead. It is really great to have such high class "problems," but it is advisable to have something in mind about what you want to do once finish your initial "to do" list. Good Luck
"Getting pressure at home about staying employed until the end of the year. Bosses say we would welcome you staying a little longer. Not with a lot of enthusiasm. Big decision and time to decide."
PO, reminds me of an old man story- Early in my career we had an old fed who had overstayed his welcome and finally decided to retire. Upper management was so excited they threw him a huge party, gave him a big award in recognition of his years of service. Each one of his managers and their managers stood up at his retirement party and went on and on about his contributions to the agency and how sad they were that he was leaving. When it was time for the old fed to speak he got up with big tears in his eyes and told them that he didn't know they liked him so much he just couldn't let them down by retiring. He pulled his papers and stayed! Four more years!
PO, Tough decision. To retire or not. Couple of question to ask yourself; 1) Am I ready to retire (mentally), 2) If I stay will it add to my retirement package, and 3) Do I dread the drive into work every day?
I retired at 60 with 42 years government service and that included my military time. I knew that staying past 42 years wasn't going to add anything to my pension so I started to make arrangements 5 years out. Didn't want to be one of those guys that retired with 50+ years of service and then move to the great beyond one year into retirement. Told my boss that I wasn't going to stay past 2012 and if a nice buyout came around I might leave sooner.
Retirement was good. Then the phone call. A friend of mine back at NASA called and asked if I was interested in coming back to work as a contractor out of the construction office. Long story short I failed retirement and now have 46 years working for the government. However, I'm looking at a second retirement in the near future and spending more time with the grandkids. I haven't said anything to my bosses yet.
PO, Good luck and you never know what the future will bring. Enjoy
Buffalo_Nickle
Member
Interesting, I have always had the understanding 40 years was the limit on the Gubbermint "Teat". Thats alot of read newspapers and hot coffee.
dhstdog
Member
I retired in January and although it is early, I didn't realize the stress I had on me and have cherished every day! I day trade and flip alt coins during the day and spend more time with my family. You will never read a book where the author states he regrets spending to much time with family. I will no longer miss baseball games, birthday parties etc. Day drinking is the best! �� Best of luck on your decision. I was capped on my pay while employed and now bring $1400.00 more a month home being retired.
PessOptimist
Well-known member
I have been thinking about unfinished stuff at work and now the position immediately above me has been filled and some of the daily “fix this now” pressure is off and of course the desire for higher annuity.
Since some stress is gone the thought is stay until the end of the year. I can fulfill the idea of having 448 hours AL to sell back at retirement. I may not live until the end of the year which I understand gives my S.O. ½ my salary for life? Not sure that is true. It is stated in my benefits statement on my agencies’ site.
Today my new boss and I were talking about things and how it was going and expectations etc. He as usual asked about my retirement plans and since I am up front about things I said I was thinking about staying until the end of the year.
Aarrgh, why did I say that? I guess I want to stay and attempt to finish unfinished things. Or I am too wimpy to stick to the original 30 APR 18 plan?
Thank you for all the inputs. I will address them in the order received.
pmaloney, not sure if they like me or not. They find me useful at the present time.
evilanne, the money would come from existing funds. It would never actually get “paid off” as all moneys coming in from all sources would be spent. $22k never to be repaid but enjoying the $8k per year. This is not simple to do and may affect other things. Sitting on the pot on this.
Scout333, food for thought. I never have figured out what anyone really thinks. The people who work for me were my peers for years and are usually willing to point out things they think I should have done better. I really hope that if I become the “old fed who had overstayed his welcome” that one of them will tell me.
nasa1974, in answer to your questions “Couple of question to ask yourself; 1) Am I ready to retire (mentally), 2) If I stay will it add to my retirement package, and 3) Do I dread the drive into work every day?” maybe, yes, yes. Ready to retire (mentally) yes and no.
I would love to not get up at 4AM every day and listen to traffic reports while getting ready and trying to plan which route to take to make the 15 mile trip 35 or 60 minutes long and not try to answer the “hot” issues from yesterday combined with the new “hot” issues that will come up that day and thinking about all the “hot” issues already on the plate that are being worked. I also like resolving these issues and whittling away at the existing list of issues. The job has ongoing tasks and is also like a call center to resolve new issues. I would love to leave it all behind but would also like to stick around to resolve the long standing issues. I have no delusions about my departure stopping business as usual and believe in the dipper taking water from the bucket theory. Perhaps ego makes me not want to leave unfinished business but in the overall scheme I will be soon forgotten.
dhstdog, great stress is gone. Don’t understand pay cap but am not a usual Fed. Not CSRS either. Day drinking-I could get in to that but will led to no production from me.
PO
Since some stress is gone the thought is stay until the end of the year. I can fulfill the idea of having 448 hours AL to sell back at retirement. I may not live until the end of the year which I understand gives my S.O. ½ my salary for life? Not sure that is true. It is stated in my benefits statement on my agencies’ site.
Today my new boss and I were talking about things and how it was going and expectations etc. He as usual asked about my retirement plans and since I am up front about things I said I was thinking about staying until the end of the year.
Aarrgh, why did I say that? I guess I want to stay and attempt to finish unfinished things. Or I am too wimpy to stick to the original 30 APR 18 plan?
Thank you for all the inputs. I will address them in the order received.
pmaloney, not sure if they like me or not. They find me useful at the present time.
evilanne, the money would come from existing funds. It would never actually get “paid off” as all moneys coming in from all sources would be spent. $22k never to be repaid but enjoying the $8k per year. This is not simple to do and may affect other things. Sitting on the pot on this.
Scout333, food for thought. I never have figured out what anyone really thinks. The people who work for me were my peers for years and are usually willing to point out things they think I should have done better. I really hope that if I become the “old fed who had overstayed his welcome” that one of them will tell me.
nasa1974, in answer to your questions “Couple of question to ask yourself; 1) Am I ready to retire (mentally), 2) If I stay will it add to my retirement package, and 3) Do I dread the drive into work every day?” maybe, yes, yes. Ready to retire (mentally) yes and no.
I would love to not get up at 4AM every day and listen to traffic reports while getting ready and trying to plan which route to take to make the 15 mile trip 35 or 60 minutes long and not try to answer the “hot” issues from yesterday combined with the new “hot” issues that will come up that day and thinking about all the “hot” issues already on the plate that are being worked. I also like resolving these issues and whittling away at the existing list of issues. The job has ongoing tasks and is also like a call center to resolve new issues. I would love to leave it all behind but would also like to stick around to resolve the long standing issues. I have no delusions about my departure stopping business as usual and believe in the dipper taking water from the bucket theory. Perhaps ego makes me not want to leave unfinished business but in the overall scheme I will be soon forgotten.
dhstdog, great stress is gone. Don’t understand pay cap but am not a usual Fed. Not CSRS either. Day drinking-I could get in to that but will led to no production from me.
PO
PO,
Retirement is a personal commitment and you are dealing with the same reasoning that those of us that have retired dealt with as well. Only you can decide if it is worth sticking around until the end of the year. You retire because it is right for you; financially, mentally and physically. Good luck.
Retirement is a personal commitment and you are dealing with the same reasoning that those of us that have retired dealt with as well. Only you can decide if it is worth sticking around until the end of the year. You retire because it is right for you; financially, mentally and physically. Good luck.
dhstdog
Member
They cap your salary at $164,900.00 so each pay period would show me how much they DIDNT pay me! Doesn't count toward retirement or for anything else. A few of us tried the old leave without pay ever other Friday since it wouldn't change our pay and we were working for free. Our director denied our requests. I'm 50 and have plenty to do as my wife doesn't pay me what I'm worth either.
PessOptimist
Well-known member
PessOptimist
Well-known member
I remember seeing the cap in the GS pay schedule now. I tend to not remember things that will likely never apply to me:laugh:. I am sure being in that situation wouldn’t sit well with me either.They cap your salary at $164,900.00 so each pay period would show me how much they DIDNT pay me! Doesn't count toward retirement or for anything else. A few of us tried the old leave without pay ever other Friday since it wouldn't change our pay and we were working for free. Our director denied our requests. I'm 50 and have plenty to do as my wife doesn't pay me what I'm worth either.
I’m 65.75 and will have plenty to do after retirement. As far a compensation from any significant other, they all seem to have their own accounting methods and believe all interactions starting from when they acknowledged your existence at first meeting are priceless and added to that account
.I may take some heat from that last statement.
Enjoy your retirement. I am trying out some of the activities you mentioned. All my chores are done and the normal Friday crisis at work was resolved yesterday (I work 4x10, bosses work 5xwhatever) and I can’t finish the taxes until I get some info from SO. Trying out a little Saturday day drinking. May post something later in the lounge and see if anyone else has time they wish to kill today. I recommend the patio or PUI threads.
PO
PessOptimist
Well-known member
I wasn’t sure where to post this, the day job could use a bump but I suppose this is retirement related and my retirement thread could use a bump.
I am still planning on retiring at the end of the year. Many people tell me I cannot. I say I can and will. I believe I have about 90 work days left on my AWS. I am trying to pass on knowledge but the pace of daily tasks for me and workers makes that hard.
I am 66 years old and need to pay attention to medical insurance. Right now FEHB is primary, Medicare is secondary. At retirement that reverses.
Trying to keep up with changes.
Another thing came up just now. SO gave me a snail mail letter from SS.gov about changing my medicare ID from my SS number. Great. They say a new card will be arriving “sometime”. I go to “secure.ssa.gov” and it tells me I have to go to a new site for medicare info. www.medicare.gov. That site tells me not to worry as my new card is “in the mail”. It and the ssa.gov site have lots of information about making sure my payment goes to CMS who is Noridian Healthcare solutions whom you can find out almost nothing about other than they were BCBS North Dakota and got a fat .gov contract. I am quite sure some SES and a few GS-15s got a SSE and bonus for that. Not to mention a bright future with Noridian. I am so disgusted with .gov. My own fault, I dedicated my life to .gov or .mil and all my retirement eggs are in the .gov basket.
I will probably get my new medicare account number eventually but am sure claims will be rejected in the mean time because someone in power said “engage” though the change was not ready to be implemented.
PO
I am still planning on retiring at the end of the year. Many people tell me I cannot. I say I can and will. I believe I have about 90 work days left on my AWS. I am trying to pass on knowledge but the pace of daily tasks for me and workers makes that hard.
I am 66 years old and need to pay attention to medical insurance. Right now FEHB is primary, Medicare is secondary. At retirement that reverses.
Trying to keep up with changes.
Another thing came up just now. SO gave me a snail mail letter from SS.gov about changing my medicare ID from my SS number. Great. They say a new card will be arriving “sometime”. I go to “secure.ssa.gov” and it tells me I have to go to a new site for medicare info. www.medicare.gov. That site tells me not to worry as my new card is “in the mail”. It and the ssa.gov site have lots of information about making sure my payment goes to CMS who is Noridian Healthcare solutions whom you can find out almost nothing about other than they were BCBS North Dakota and got a fat .gov contract. I am quite sure some SES and a few GS-15s got a SSE and bonus for that. Not to mention a bright future with Noridian. I am so disgusted with .gov. My own fault, I dedicated my life to .gov or .mil and all my retirement eggs are in the .gov basket.
I will probably get my new medicare account number eventually but am sure claims will be rejected in the mean time because someone in power said “engage” though the change was not ready to be implemented.
PO
PessOptimist
Well-known member
PessOptimist
Well-known member
I guess I will find out soon. It definitely wont get me in to work and since DOE doesn't really know my agency exists, who knows?
PO
PO
PessOptimist
Well-known member
Update time. First the discussions with my bosses. Tuesday or Wednesday I was in my immediate boss’s office talking about stuff when our supervisor came in. My boss was bantering with me about my retirement date as usual. The supervisor asked if something had changed. I made it perfectly clear that I was retiring at the end of the year. They do keep trying and I guess I should be flattered?
Yesterday my boss came in to my office to discuss things and mentioned that I had 33.5 hours time off award that I cannot sell back and I should get them on the leave schedule. Nice of him to remind me and a confirmation they have accepted that I am leaving.
According to my spread sheet I have 42 10 hour tours of duty left. Minus 3.35 that is 38.65 days. I better get the work stuff prioritized cause that time will be gone before I even know it is.
Actual retirement stuff now.
I submitted the package to the HR retirement person who is brand new as the person handling my retirement moved on. Great. He seems to be doing OK. He says “everything looks good”. Time will tell.
One would think that the SF3107 would be all you need. You also need a SF52 requesting retirement where you have to state a reason for requesting retirement. They also need statement of military service, marriage certificate(s), SF2818 about FEGLI life insurance and W4s for fed and state withholding. Some of this is in my eOPF folder but whatever. All must be paper copies signed in ink.
Left to do so far:
Submit a new request for a Retirement Benefits Estimate next week as my pay changes 10/14/18.
Get rid of items on my “moveable property account”. (there is no signed paperwork involved here about becoming responsible for property-it just appears on your account)
Get files off my “personal” drive on the agency system. (seems real simple but…too big to zip and send in an email, can copy it to a thumb drive but only agency approved thumb drive which you cannot insert to a personal device to download)
Get rid of paper in the office.
Try to get rid of stuff left in office by previous occupant. Or leave it for new occupant.
Try to get pertinent information to people about current/ongoing/shelved projects.
PO
Yesterday my boss came in to my office to discuss things and mentioned that I had 33.5 hours time off award that I cannot sell back and I should get them on the leave schedule. Nice of him to remind me and a confirmation they have accepted that I am leaving.
According to my spread sheet I have 42 10 hour tours of duty left. Minus 3.35 that is 38.65 days. I better get the work stuff prioritized cause that time will be gone before I even know it is.
Actual retirement stuff now.
I submitted the package to the HR retirement person who is brand new as the person handling my retirement moved on. Great. He seems to be doing OK. He says “everything looks good”. Time will tell.
One would think that the SF3107 would be all you need. You also need a SF52 requesting retirement where you have to state a reason for requesting retirement. They also need statement of military service, marriage certificate(s), SF2818 about FEGLI life insurance and W4s for fed and state withholding. Some of this is in my eOPF folder but whatever. All must be paper copies signed in ink.
Left to do so far:
Submit a new request for a Retirement Benefits Estimate next week as my pay changes 10/14/18.
Get rid of items on my “moveable property account”. (there is no signed paperwork involved here about becoming responsible for property-it just appears on your account)
Get files off my “personal” drive on the agency system. (seems real simple but…too big to zip and send in an email, can copy it to a thumb drive but only agency approved thumb drive which you cannot insert to a personal device to download)
Get rid of paper in the office.
Try to get rid of stuff left in office by previous occupant. Or leave it for new occupant.
Try to get pertinent information to people about current/ongoing/shelved projects.
PO
