NeuroTalk Support Groups - Considering retirement...

NeuroTalk Support Groups (https://www.neurotalk.org/)

- The Stumble Inn (https://www.neurotalk.org/the-stumble-inn/)

- - Considering retirement... (https://www.neurotalk.org/the-stumble-inn/106508-considering-retirement.html)

Wow, that is a good plan! I will be 55 with 24 years and still take about a 25% penalty of what I would get if I was 60. On the other hand, I will be receiving a pension for five years before I turn 60. I understand why there is a penalty.

I think you're doing the right thing Barb. It's better to make the decision now and be able to plan ahead. The MS decided for me without any notice. I never thought I'd be retired at 43!

My best advice is to make sure you have something...anything...to occupy your time that will give you some social interaction. That's what I've been struggling with. Volunteering somewhere sounds like something great for you if you're up to it. Best of luck to ya :)!

I just had an appointment with a retirement counselor with my pension plan. I am feeling ok about my decision. I just hope I can last another 2 1/2 years:).

What would happen to your plan, if you have to retire earlier?? Would it be much less?

You can't retire until you are 55. I would have to take sick leave and then go on disability. At 55 I would then be on either diasability retirement or retirement depending on which one paid the most. It would be significantly less. Over the next 2 1/2 years, I will be able to increase my average salary by over 15 % through guaranteed summer teaching. Your pension is based on your age, years of service, contributions, and the average of your last four years of teaching. I will also be able to use up to one year of sick leave to add on to my years of service, and be reimbursed for about 4 other months of sick leave. I also found out that since I am single with no children, I will receive additional money that I can either take as a cash payment, roll over into an annunity, or add onto my monthly pension. I will just have to hope for the best:)

Long story about how planning helped me.

Feel free to not read, if you are not interested.

First of all, congrats, Barb, that it looks like things are going to work out for you, even though it means taking a penalty. I agree, that if you are worried about being able to stay there long enough, early retirement sounds like a good option.

I "retired" (became eligible for disability) at age 46.

I had planned, somewhat, for my retirement, too. In the earlier years of our marriage, we contributed to IRA's, but, as kids came, and family expenses increased, contributions to those went by the wayside.

Thankfully, a job that DH held for 8 years had contributed 7% of his check all of those 8 years towards a retirement plan which we rolled over to a mutual fund IRA when he left there.

At his current job, we contribute 6% of his check, and they do a 50% match by contributing another 3%.

Also, I worked for a county health dept. for almost 9 years, then a school district for 4. They are both on the KPERS (KS Public Employees Retirement) plan. I think lots of states have those.

Here's where my planning really paid off. They deduct 4% of our check. Except for the first year -- nothing. To be "vested", you have to contribute for 10 years. 3 of those years, I could not contribute, because I worked less than 20 hours per week.

So, I would've contributed:
9yrs(county) - 1(first yr) - 3(<20hrs) + 4(school district) = only 9.
and I needed 10.

If you are vested, you are eligible for LTD and retirement. If you are not vested, all you get is that 4% of check back, with 4% interest. Because I worked only part time all of those years, I contributed less than $5,000. That's all I would've got, with 4% interest.

But, I chose, after my first year, to "buy" into the plan, paying double (8%) for a year. Because of that choice, I managed to just barely meet that 10 year requirement before I was let go. Was actually let go from both those jobs. Ran out of FMLA time at county (was off 8 months, FMLA gives you 12 weeks). And HR Director at school district got tired of my running out of sick time every year, and taking the FMLA time that I was entitled to.

Because I am vested, I get minimum amount of LTD ($100/month) because I also receive SSDI. If I did not receive SSDI, but was deemed eligible for their LTD, I'd get 60% of wages.

I also, assuming that I stay on their LTD plan until retirement age (almost 20 years away), will receive retirement benefits as if I worked for them for approx. 30 years, rather the 10 that I did. It will be over $600 month.

So, from LTD, . . .
instead of getting about a $5000 check, + 4% interest,

I receive $100/month for about 20 years (approx. $20,000)
+ over $600/month from retirement age until I die.

If I would not have bought that year of my plan, when I was in my 20's and did not anticipate MS and disability, my financial future would look much different.

We did have to refinance our home in 2003, due to medical expenses not covered by our insurance. DH's company is based in St. Louis, and they had no in-network providers near us (Wichita, KS area). We didn't understand, at the time, some of the out-of-network costs, related to all the tests related to dx-ing MS, and two surgeries that I also had during that year. Thankfully, although we started off with a 30-year mortgage again (we had only 5 years left, and our second mortgage was slightly higher than our first), we should have that paid off by the time we are 65. We are much more savvy about insurance now, after tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills.

And, like everyone else, the value of our investments went down with the economy. But, we are just sitting tight, and assuming that they will continue to go back up. We have 20 years to before DH retires, and, we're managing to pay what we had planned to contribute to our kids college expenses out of our current income, so we don't have to withdraw anything while it's value is so decreased.

~ Faith

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dejibo (Post 582465)

I started planning my own retirement when I was 25. opened all the right accounts, and made the 401k dance happen, and filed all the right paperwork. As a state employee, at 20 years you get a full retirement with full benefits, so I knew I could get out at 45 and be ok. Woo! it pays to think ahead. I was able to walk away, even tho I was just a couple years shy of my 20, I had all the right contacts, and all the right accounts, and since I had been planning for it anyway, my budget survived well.

Kudos to you!!!

One of the first things I thought when I was diagnosed with MS was that thank goodness my finances were in order, cars and houses paid off etc. I can't imagine dealing with this miserable disease along with not having enough money to pay the basic bills.