Thanks for the love yesterday....I appreciate it. I am sorry I wasn't able to address every comment individually. But please know that I am glad you find something that you like here, whatever that is.
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One of the girls at the office was talking about "second careers." Her husband just turned 40 and will be "retiring" from his first career in about 4 years. He will have met his time minimum to qualify for his pension and then he will move on to something else. He isn't ready to retire fully, but is looking into what he would like to do in the future.
So this spun off into a general discussion about retirement.
G-man and I have talked in the past (like years ago) about leaving the government and
finding a second career. He has no interest. He really LIKES what he
does. But probably the issue with leaving would be his marketability in
the private sector. He has very specific skills, so he may or may not
be a good candidate in the "real world." He isn't interested, so it is a
moot point. He is happy doing what he is doing. He is in a division that is highly coveted within the agency. His management staff is so different from what he has had for the past 15 years. All staff are treated with respect. This is so different from what he has experienced for the majority of his career.
G-man is technically eligible to retire from the government in 2 years. We are no where near full retirement but he will have 25 years in. The fact that he has been there for 23 years is wild. He started out on a different pay scale (which I am not even sure still exists), and while we were engaged, he got a job that put him on the current scale (which is the one that most people think of when talking about government salaries).
His pension is based on his top 3 years of earnings. If we pretended he was retiring today, that would be his past 3 years here in CT. But he is still far from where his "top" earning will be as he progresses, so even if he wanted to, retiring from the government wouldn't be a smart move unless he was leaving for some mega bucks. My thought was collect his pension, start a career in the private
sector where salaries are higher, and retire (as in not working anymore)
way down the line. He wasn't interested in this option.
You work for the government for the benefits....not for the salary. Right now he would collect less than what he makes monthly from his second job. So this isn't really an option.
We have his TSP (govt 401k) as well. As of 2 weeks ago, it had roughly 127k in it. Even though we withdrew 38k in 2012, we are well above where it was pre-withdrawl (thank you dividends!). As of this week, we rolled down into the 10's....so we have about 28.7% of the original loan left to pay back.
We are so far from retirement that none of this really matters at the moment. But it is nice to know that it is all there for the future. Next in our retirement talk will be working on my retirement vehicles, but that will go along with my new job after the move. ( My current job doesn't offer a 401k or 403b, so we would be looking at a Roth if we did anything right now.....which we aren't!).
Is anyone else looking to retire and start a second career? If so, what did you do, and what are you doing now?
My husband was in the military for 21 years and then retired. I convinced him to get his teaching credentials and be a teacher with me. That worked out well, be both fully retired at 56.
ReplyDeleteSeveral of my kids' teachers are second career-ers. I giggle at the former police detective with the zoology degree who is teaching science....but 7th grade science isn't even biology based! It is actually more physics based.
DeleteYou've mentioned before his job, and I'm curious to know what he does.
ReplyDeleteMy blog is all about my second career. My first career was various non-career office jobs that didn't require my college degree, and raising a house full of kids.
The mister does grocery store accounting plus the same thing I am doing right now, so he's got two careers going at once.
I can't talk about his specific job. I know I put alot out there about things...but his job is not one that I can say much about. He works for the federal government...I have mentioned some of his field work but that is limit.
DeleteI work at a public university and I know of dozens of people who have retired from here and then returned in a different full time position. Many of them started right after high school or college and we have a 27 year retirement. So they're relatively young when they fulfill the requirement. They'll retire, start collecting that money, and then have another full time income to boot.
ReplyDeleteI'll only be 53 when I get my 27 years in. As of right now, I do not plan to retire and return. (Hmmm, puts a new spin on R&R, lol) But then, that's still 11 years away, so a lot of things could happen to change my mind over that span of time. Hubby is already retired, so I imagine we'll just be grandkid crazy and travel quite a bit.
We talk about it all the time. The only 2nd career that even appeals to us is managing our rental properties. My husband's job pays very well and he enjoys it, but it is taxing mentally. He is getting tired and would love to retire, but I don't think he realizes how bored he would get just yet. Financially, we are no where near ready for retirment, so it is not even an option.
ReplyDeleteI think retiring without an idea of how you will spend your time is a recipe for problems. I guess being able to have aa much leisure time as you want and only working as much as you want would be the best of both worlds....assuming the financial piece is set.
DeleteG-man will be 46 when he hits his 25 years....so lots of years to go. Seems that teaching/education is a theme when talking about second careers.
ReplyDeleteI'm so far away from retirement. I'm 28 now, & I'm still with the same company I started with when I graduated college (5 years). I really like my job, & the benefits are fair enough. I have no plans on leaving right now. Wherever I end up though, I imagine I'll have to work til I'm 65 when social security benefits kick in (if they're still around?) since we have no pension plan, just a 401k option. That'd be 42 years with my employer, wow. I know I may not stay, but that's the plan until something changes. My Dad is preparing to retire in 4 years. He's been with the same auto company since he was 18.
ReplyDeleteMy goal is by the time I'm 50 I want to transition to a part time consulting/project based type gig doing what I do now. I would like to be able to take off some time in between projects but still bring in enough money to live comfortably.
ReplyDeleteI may have asked you this before (I can't remember) but do you have the ability to borrow more from the retirement account? Also, can you withdraw from it, even with penalty?
ReplyDeleteI see that your consumer debt and car loans and student loans put together equal just under $40,000 (correct me if I'm wrong here.) If you exclude the student loans (I don't know if the rate on them is low or not), it would be roughly $18,000.
Wouldn't you like to have that paid off and stop paying interest on it? Is the retirement account balance high? If you can borrow more, or even withdraw a large portion and pay the tax penalty on it, I think you might want to consider doing that. If debt is dragging you down, it would be a really good way to totally "re-set," similar to what you've done, but more radical.
OK, I just saw the balance on the account by reading the account more carefully. What portion of that could you absolutely, even with penalty, not withdraw? I would dismantle whatever portion of that account is necessary to pay off the debt. If you've already withdrawn the contributed amount,and can't withdraw the match, or however it is structured, that is too bad. But that is YOUR MONEY. Forget the almighty tax treatment and the admonition that you'll go to financial hell if you touch it. Pay off your debt! I'd do it if I had access to assets (that are not producing substantial present income for me) that I could use to pay off debts.
DeleteGrr....my comment got lost....take 2...
DeleteRight now we can't take another personal use loan. The current loan needs to be paid off for 60 days before we can apply for another. We can take a house use loan (down payment or closing).
Not sure about taking something with penalty.
Doing another reset has been discussed. As of right now, the current loan won't be paid off until April 2017....and my car will be paid off Nov 2016. We will have to see where things are at that point. There is a chance that it won't be necessary by then.
Retirement, right around the corner. It is exciting but also scary. I don't think I will ever give up sewing until I can't see any more. It is just too lucrative and easy. I can teach and did sub for years but I make more sewing. I only teach now if it is a true emergency or for a friend.
ReplyDeleteI have always said I'd never retire as I loved the work I do, but now I am hoping to be able to retire in about 5 years. The governement cut backs here have made my job very difficult, I find I just can't keep up anymore and I'm exhausted all the time. when I do retire I plan on doing some casual or freelance work occaisionally or sewing to supplement my income as pensions here have been been put back till 67 years and they are very low. I'm 52 now
ReplyDeleteMy husband can retire with a full pension in less than 4 years. He will be 51 and have 30 years of service. He will retire because shift work is slowly killing him(his theory is that his company makes people do shift work in the hopes they won't last 30 years....there's some credence there). He plans on finding something part time that he enjoys. Thankfully we live fairly simple lives and don't need big $$ to survive. I will work more then because our kids will be 21 and 17. We will still be youngish(he will be 51 and I will be 43) so it will be(God willing) something to look forward to.
ReplyDelete