Retirement stories and suggestions

[Hallatauer]

I'm surprised FERS employees don't treasure the letter thanking them for not abusing their sick leave. To think that some would rather some monetary compensation. How dreadful. How inconsiderate.

I have a fireplace for that letter... heck, I won't get one... I've knocked my sick leave down from 600 hours to about 175 now... and I think my allergies are kicking in again... and arthritis.... can I retire with a zero balance?

 

[Bquat]

Now is the time for you short guys to start helping the people with 3 or more years in. They may not even think about retirement and how the TSP can effect it. The combination of the Fers annuity, Social Security and the TSP are being described wrong as a stool with three equal legs. Also a lot of supervisors won't schedual employees for a retirement seminar until they have less than five years until retirement. They should not call it a retirement seminar. It should be called retirement planing until you go to your last one. Lucklyly my brother and I went to one with 8 years left and were able to increase our TSP greatly before retiring. Please post these graph's and notes if you don't think you supervisor will fly off the handle.

I’msuggesting it may be a good time for mentoring about the real TSP diagram.

 

[Bquat]

Now is the time for you short guys to start helping the people with 3 or more years in. They may not even think about retirement and how the TSP can effect it. The combination of the Fers annuity, Social Security and the TSP are being described wrong as a stool with three equal legs. Also a lot of supervisors won't schedual employees for a retirement seminar until they have less than five years until retirement. They should not call it a retirement seminar. It should be called retirement planing until you go to your last one. Lucklyly my brother and I went to one with 8 years left and were able to increase our TSP greatly before retiring. Please post these graph's and notes if you don't think you supervisor will fly off the handle.

I’msuggesting it may be a good time for mentoring about the real TSP diagram.

Suggest that they go at 3 to 5 years and at 10 to 5 years left. Also tell you co-workers how the pyrimid works and how they should at least go for the matching funds. HR and supervisors don't talk about this in orientation.

 

[Steel_Magnolia]

I'm surprised FERS employees don't treasure the letter thanking them for not abusing their sick leave. To think that some would rather some monetary compensation. How dreadful. How inconsiderate.

When I retired I had 4 hours of sick leave left on the books after 24 years of service. I didn't abuse it, I just used it up. LOL

 

[nnuut]

I had 1,156 hours af SL when I retired.

 

[Steel_Magnolia]

I had 1,156 hours af SL when I retired.

So I'm curious. If you don't mind telling us, how did you feel about leaving that kind of SL on the table when you left? Was it a good thing for you?

 

[nnuut]

And 432 AL to cash in!$$$$$$$$$

 

[nnuut]

So I'm curious. If you don't mind telling us, how did you feel about leaving that kind of SL on the table when you left? Was it a good thing for you?

It counted toward longevity and put me to 70%, good investment. I did use a bunch of SL the last year that's what I had left, but saved all but 16 hours AL. If I could have put it and the AL in TSP I would have loved it,BUT!

 

[lochaven]

My retirement story is just beginning, so I figured I'd document it on this thread. USPS early-out with incentive at age 54 1/2.

CSRS Retirement Effective -- April 30, 2011
First Partial Payment -- June 2, 2011
Received OPM Letter with CSA Card -- June 5, 2011 -- Letter was dated May 17, 2011

Have planned well for a long wait -- no bills, max AL, no car payments, cash stash, bank savings and only $18 thou left on mortgage. Thanks to many of you who have provided their "Retirement Story."
Did I mention, this retirement gig is really sweet.

....to be continued

 

[PessOptimist]

It counted toward longevity and put me to 70%, good investment. I did use a bunch of SL the last year that's what I had left, but saved all but 16 hours AL. If I could have put it and the AL in TSP I would have loved it,BUT!

Dam CSRS types

FWIW I'm almost down to 2400 calendar days.

 

[RealMoneyIssues]

My retirement story is just beginning, so I figured I'd document it on this thread. USPS early-out with incentive at age 54 1/2.

CSRS Retirement Effective -- April 30, 2011
First Partial Payment -- June 2, 2011
Received OPM Letter with CSA Card -- June 5, 2011 -- Letter was dated May 17, 2011

Have planned well for a long wait -- no bills, max AL, no car payments, cash stash, bank savings and only $18 thou left on mortgage. Thanks to many of you who have provided their "Retirement Story."
Did I mention, this retirement gig is really sweet.

....to be continued

Over 15 more years for me...

 

[Kaufmanrider]

Over 15 more years for me...

I have just over 1800 hours of S/L on the books. I am first eligible June 5, 2013, under the Special Retirement. I figure I'll have about a year
of sick leave by then. Kind of too late to burn it all. So I'll wait until Jan 11, 2014 to retire to get the full year (1 percent) added to my retirement and max hours of annual leave to cash in.

 

[nasa1974]

I have my 240 hours of Al established, over 1000 hours of SL and I hit 41 years 11 months September 22, 2012. I'm gone babieeeeee!! Right now somewhere between September 30,2011 and June 1, 2012. See ya!!!

 

[Buster]

I have just over 1800 hours of S/L on the books. I am first eligible June 5, 2013, under the Special Retirement. I figure I'll have about a year
of sick leave by then. Kind of too late to burn it all. So I'll wait until Jan 11, 2014 to retire to get the full year (1 percent) added to my retirement and max hours of annual leave to cash in.

Ya gotta ask yourself..is that 1% gonna make you as much money in retirement over however long you live, than to take your sick leave time and use it while still active and retire earlier?..answer: NO..

 

[KevinD]

August 25, 2017 is my wife's first eligibility (MRA) for retirement from the USPS. My MRA is August 4, 2015. I just hope the post office stays in business long enough for me (and my wife) to be able to retire... :worried:

 

[KevinD]

Ya gotta ask yourself..is that 1% gonna make you as much money in retirement over however long you live, than to take your sick leave time and use it while still active and retire earlier?..answer: NO..

"They" know that. You know who they are..."them."

I have over 2000 hours of SL and I'll let it go just to get the heck out...

[PUI] Maybe I'll grow the balls to use some of it between now and then. [/PUI]

 

[clester]

I'm ATC and got 40% for sl and got it added to time also.

 

[driz]

"They" know that. You know who they are..."them."

I have over 2000 hours of SL and I'll let it go just to get the heck out...

[PUI] Maybe I'll grow the balls to use some of it between now and then. [/PUI]

You got that right. If you are someone with a nice comfortable spot unlike most of us then by all means it's worth hanging around. Still, you may end up losing as much or more than you gain through the wizardry of Congress with their high 5 proposal and pay freezes. All that crap could go either way but it still looks like at least part of that stuff is going to stick and you and I are going to get the weenie to some extent. That's one thing I always disliked about the feds vs. the state gov. jobs. They don't (almost) ever grandfather and they don't do tiers ect. It's like a game of musical chairs and you don't want to be the little boy standing there when the music stops playing. I used to be naive ( even worshiped Ronald Reagan and voted against my own pay check for decades); now I see's the light brotha. "Take the money and run" before someone else gets it. I can tell you one thing for sure. I ain't gonna be around in 2014 to get paid for all my sick leave...................................................

 

[nasa1974]

I know this is a retirement thread but it is nice to have sick leave on the books. A good friend of mine always used his leave and had very little on the books when he had a serious heart attack (not squalebear). He got through it with donations, some advanced SL and lot's of leave without pay. I was fortunate to have some decent SL saved up because I used at least two months recovering from my prostate cancer surgery. It would be nice to get paid for all that sick leave when you retire but at least it counts for something and you don't loose it.

 

[Kaufmanrider]

Ya gotta ask yourself..is that 1% gonna make you as much money in retirement over however long you live, than to take your sick leave time and use it while still active and retire earlier?..answer: NO..

I'll be 48, active, and I'll be retired early. Working two more years or burning sick leave, I'll make the same pay.

It may not sound like a lot, but that 1% will be around $900-1,000 a year, before taxes. Probably $50-60 a month after taxes. If i live to 78, around $30,000, not counting interest, but I won't invest it. I'll use the money to gas my Harley and buy some beer at the local watering hole.

You might not agree, but for me, it works. Now if I was 10-15 years older, maybe not?