So, I made a decision...

[Wounded Bear]

For better or worse, I've decided to retire. I put in my online application for my SS benefits based on my 62nd birthday coming up.

Now, I have to survive until Nov/Dec.

I just checked on line and the result was: A decision has been made and the answer is in the mail. Waiting.

Bye bye corporate Amerika and your bullshit Puritan work ethic and crap pay. I also found out I had a pension hiding in the background for 20 years or so that will help ease the transition.

I'm getting too old for that shit.

[femmocrat]

1. Congratulations, Wounded Bear.

Once you make that decision, it is like the weight of the world has been lifted off your shoulders. I felt exactly like you did -- too old for that shit! Plus, you look around and the bosses are half your age! LOL

I retired in June and don't miss it a bit. Hope you have a very happy retirement!

[Wounded Bear]

2. Well, the weight hasn't "lifted" yet...

As I said, I have to hang on until everything starts up. I still have bills to pay, unfortunately.

But yeah, I'm definitely looking forward to it.

Thanks for the response.

back!

[femmocrat]

3. Yes, I had a three-month wait, too.

And they decided to pile on as much shit as they could in those last 3 months. I actually cried tears of joy on my last day.

Be strong!

[Wounded Bear]

6. That part is pretty standard...

My sister actually has gone through this recently. She's in better shape than I am in many ways, but the experiences she's shared have helped me figure out what to do.

[NYC_SKP]

4. Great news, Wounded Bear!

I hope it goes well, happy to hear about the pension.

I'm not too far behind you, but not sure how hard it will be to make ends meet.

Enjoy your retirement, may it last a long time!

[Wounded Bear]

5. Thanks for that...

I've already been looking at low cost housing and might touch on subsidies I might qualify for. Hell, my SS check might be small enough to qualify me for SNAP. I'm currently in a pretty toxic living situation. That's what I'm most looking for.

[lunatica]

7. Two days ago, a day after my 66th birthday

I applied for Divorced Spouse benefits which is my ex-husband's Social Security while I'm still working.

Just in case this may come in handy for you in the future, you can get your complete Social Security benefits and also work full time, without any limit in pay once you turn 66. That's what I'm doing.

I can get my own Social Security benefits but I'm entitled to the amount which is higher. It turns out that my full Social Security benefits are less than half of my ex-husbands. Divorced Spouses only get half the benefits that the husband/wife gets from his own Social Security. Also, my getting half his SS benefits does not affect him or his subsequent children or wives benefits. So it's a win win for everyone. In 30 days or so I will be getting over a $1000 dollars more a month and still have my entire salary too.

And if by any chance I end up getting more in my own Social Security benefits, which will still be taken out of my salary, the SS Administration will give me the larger amount. But I can only get one, not both, so keep that in mind too.

You may be able to get legitimate work in three years.

Congratulations to ending the pain in the ass corporate drudgery! For now I'm still able to live with it, and the psychological lift I've gotten by getting the large chunk of extra money every month has me feeling much better!

[Wounded Bear]

8. Thanks for that...

but I've come to the decision that I can't hold out for 4 more years. I can't find steady work, nobody wants us old farts. I've been relegated to temp jobs fit for much younger folks.

So, I'm going for the lower amount now rather than torture myself for those years.

[PassingFair]

9. It will free you up to do some real LIVING.

Jealous!

[lunatica]

12. I was also trying to make the point

that in 4 years you might want to work again without worrying about having a job like the one you're quitting now and not lose any of your SS. It's just so you have another way of making some money without any restrictions while you're getting benefits.

I hope everything turns out well and that you're happy and healthy for the rest of your days. It's good to quit that horrible job. That is no kind of life for anyone.

[Wounded Bear]

13. Yeah, I know about all of that...

I'm not going into this completely blind.

The really good thing I'm looking forward to is not having to work, and maybe doing it just to make a few extra bucks or something. Maybe just to get out of the house. Whatever. The working scam has had me by the short hairs for so long, I'm looking forward to some freedom, TBS.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

14. Even if you start taking your SS early, you can still work

without taking a hit to your benefits once you turn 66. It's only before you're 66 that you can't earn more than a certain amount (I think it's something like $14,700) without reducing your monthly benefit. The benefit is reduced depending on how much you make above that. But you can draw SS early without affecting your ability to earn any amount money once you're over age 66.

[Wounded Bear]

16. Right now it's above $15k...

[lunatica]

26. I had my 66th birthday on wednesday and was at the SS Administration on Thursday

where I applied for it and got it. I've been waiting for a few years to turn 66 because I was making way over $14,000. But I've been living from paycheck to paycheck for a much longer time. Now I'll get enough to actually make it through to the end of the month and slowly be able to fix broken and breaking appliances in my condo. But the best feeling is the psychological boost of not being in the mode of constant worrying about finances. I'll be getting over a $1,000 extra a month. That's going to be a whole new experience for me since I got a divorce 20 years ago.

[magical thyme]

10. Congratulations!

I'll be 61 soon. I'm thinking I'll be able to quit the shitty p/t job next spring and start collecting SS in the fall.

I'll continue at the MLT p/t and hopefully when I'm available 7 days/week will get more than 1 day/week. I'm currently training at the former sister hospital/now urgent care center where none of the techs wants to work, so that may help. And there are a couple techs that are overdue to retire, so hopefully as they start dropping, that will open up more work to. If I get 3+ days/week, the little over $14K will come back to me after I reach full retirement age. Also, at 65 I'll get a $300/month pension unless HP steals it.

In the meantime, I'll live on one check and use the other to pay off the student loans and fix up the house. Until I'm able to sell this place for a decent price, and then I can quit work altogether and downsize the house and location.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

11. I retired almost three years ago

because my employer was moving my job to a distant city that I definitely didn't want to live in. I qualified for the company's early retirement buyout package so I took it and never looked back. Then I waited another two years to apply for Social Security; found the online process very easy. Shortly after I applied online I got a phone call from a very nice SS employee who advised me to take a slightly different start date so I could get a little more money. Every communication I've had with SS has been very helpful.

I still have an occasional part-time job and a few off and on writing gigs, as well as a modest nest egg, so if I'm really careful I shouldn't have to eat a lot of cat food (which is expensive anyhow, a fact my cats seem not to appreciate). So finally I'm getting to do some of the things I've always wanted to do. I can't afford to do much traveling, so that isn't an option, but there are plenty of other interesting things I can do. I was definitely "too old for that shit," and although I liked my job (at least until my employer merged with a bigger one) I'm very happy to be out from under that whole corporate thing.

You will like being retired.

[Laffy Kat]

15. Your life is just beginning!

Happy for you. And ENVIOUS, of course.

[Wounded Bear]

17. Thanks for that...

I'm looking forward to it.

[MrMickeysMom]

18. I've decided to wait until age 66...

The options have narrowed in my once growing field of respiratory care. But, due to the way we've never paid attention to health care delivery, I am still gonna punch the clock and enjoy every day while doing that. I can do this, because I LEFT the corporate world in 2007, and make far less money. However, I do what I like as a therapist. Most of all, I work with some very good people who are WAY underpaid, who are in a more oppressed area of providing physician's services and right now I'm trying to keep my attitude alive in a way to help them. I feel like I must keep fighting and fighting in my own way to help the generation behind me.

I can wait. I won't have a pension. I'm lucky in the MM's dad has one and has retired, but we've decided to invest in aging in place in our house, which WAS paid off, but we'll owe in what we're trying to do.

I see the world closing in on the generation behind us. I'll be 61 soon. What WILL the next 5 years be like? I've GOT to do what I can to make them better for those left pumping it out and getting no where.

I do want to know WHEN you get to the retirement stage here, how that will help you. I'm still quite uneasy, so I imagine how the 40 and 50 somethings I work with feel.

Best to you!

[Wounded Bear]

20. Kudos in doing something you love that helps people...

Sounds like you have the motivation (at least) to make it. Best of luck to you. I was an engineer once. That all dried up.

[MrMickeysMom]

21. What kind of engineer were you, if you don't mind my asking...

I worked with mechanical mostly when I was working as a clinician along side them in testing medical devices. Also, electrical engineers. Then, there were the technicians, who had a hate/love (mostly hate) relationships with the engineers who were project managers.

We all hated the CEO and BOD, and thought every division head was severely out of touch. Real Dilbert stuff.

[Wounded Bear]

22. Yeah, Dilbert knew what was going on...

Always one of my faves. He understands what technical people have to put up with in the corporate environment.

I was in electronics. Started off as a technician in the USMC, fixing radar systems on jet aircraft. Back then, the system was primarily vacuum tubes.

When I got out, I hooked up with a small company in So Cal (didn't want to work for a big one) and kind of grew with it. After a couple of mergers/takeovers, I was laid off in 2003. During that time I worked as a technician/tester, design engineer, and manufacturing engineer. We were first sold to Ball corp, then to two hi-tech firms in succession, the last one being a hostile takeover where they dismantled us. My job went to San Juan, Puerto Rico. I trained the guy who took it.

Since then, the field kind of dried up, especially for old farts like me who were too much into hardware and not enough into software. Never could get programming. Just not my thing.

Anyway, I've been working for temp agencies lately, barely surviving, often with help from family and such. I'm looking forward to at least having a steady income.

[MrMickeysMom]

23. That's a damned shame, WB...

You not only had the background and experience, they juiced everything out of you and made you train their plan to dwindle the US tax base.

Maybe when you have stead income, you'll write about it. I'm betting you'd have a LOT to say!

[mackerel]

19. I'm trying to make it to 67 if I can but if been through two big lay-offs in the past 10 years.

I dunno, it just seems to be a trend, I worked for one company 10 years and then the next 5 years. I've been employed at my most recent place 6 years and they were talking about phasing out positions at the last finance meeting. I've got 13 years left before early retirement but I'm starting to wonder if there will be work or positions available in the meantime.

[DFW]

24. I turned 62 in March. It used to sound SO old.....

Of course, now that it's me and not my grandfather, it doesn't sound so old any more.

I figure I'll retire some time in the next 25 years or so. Despite some of the BS we ALL put up with in our work life sooner or later, I still like my job, and figure it's better to drop dead doing something I like than to die of boredom.

[lovemydog]

25. You deserve it Wounded Bear.

I wish you well in your retirement.

[Scuba]

27. Had I known how much I like being retired, I'd have retired 10 years earlier and lived in a shack.

[malthaussen]

28. You didn't ask, but good decision IMO.

Get it while you can.

-- Mal

[Wounded Bear]

29. Thanks for that...

I'm looking forward to it.

[In_The_Wind]

30. It sounds like things are looking better for you, Wounded Bear.

[Wounded Bear]

31. Long term, yes...

but I have to survive the next 2-3 months somehow.

Hanging on.

[In_The_Wind]

32. Eat more beans.

I don't drive anywhere until I can manage a few stops before returning home. There is a bakery outlet store about 5 miles from here where milk and orange juice are also discounted. On my way out I make coffee in a go cup. I've had some extremely lean months so I do understand your concern over the next 3 months. You'll make it.

[Wounded Bear]

33. Thanks for the advice, but...

my current living situation doesn't lend itself to storing quantities of cheap food. I'm renting a room in somebody else's house and have limited space in cupboards and fridge/freezer. I can't really cook other than the microwave. It's one of the things I'm looking forward to the most. I don't live well with others, especially in this environment. I need my 'own' space, even if rented.

It's what frustrates me most of all. My living conditions are kind of toxic and I can't afford to move until all this goes down.

Meanwhile, yeah, I've been scrimping as much as possible.