Eight Years

Eight years ago during the holidays I was between diagnosis and treatment. That was when I joined the forum.

It's been a strange ride, but I'm still here with a nice low PSA. It is possible to get through this thing. There have been a few bumps along the way, radiation proctitis, a bit of ED and urgency. All treatable and all annoying.

The last few years my overall health has been fine and I'm now thinking of an early retirement at 61 or 62. That means retirement before I'm eligible for Medicare and I have no retirement benefits through an employer so I'd have to get a private plan. I'm having trouble trying to estimate what a health plan might cost. My healthcare budget is the one gating item on when I get to stop this working thing.

Andrew

I'm onboard with retirement at 62 (or 61 even), which I plan to do. Congratulations on eight years. 👍

Andrew -

Quite honestly one of the ongoing highlights of my stay here at HWPC has been the pleasure of reading your always excellent posts as well as enjoying your always goodnatured but also delightful humor.

I look forward to doing so in the future, too! (Notice I didn't say for another eight years because I wonder how many of us really want to look that far ahead, but I'm sure it would be great if you were still here then!)

As for the retirement planning, yes, that one is definitely a biggie, and requires some first-class planning. In my own case I did start SSA benefits at age 62, a decision I made largely because I was also going to be getting a Florida state pension (read secure retirement income) because the University of Florida where I had worked for years was, for financial purposes, considered a state agency. So losing a bit on the SSA benefits for not waiting until older wasn't as big an issue as it might have been. A personal reason as well was that my wife (who was still alive then) and I had planned on doing some things together as soon as I had stopped working, and the extra income from taking the SSA benefit early helped with that.

But everyone is different, of course, and I think you'll be making very good decisions for yourself. But do remember, as I'm certain you are already aware, that lots of retirement decisions are going to be permanent ones (choosing which SSA benefit to take, for example), and will require your best thinking to make the decision that's right for you.

Looking back on my own retirement 12 years ago, in retrospect I would say that, yes, getting the retirement health care part of it right was the most important thing, as you are suggesting is going to be true for you. And also keep in mind that once it's set up and running, whatever health care package you choose, it may be possible to change it later, if you want to, but it also may be difficult to do so. Yes, my advice based on experience would be to put the major emphasis now on a really good retirement health package, and get the one that seems best for you.

In fact, I think you may find that once the health benefits thing is well planned, a lot of the other retirement issues will just seem to fall into place. At least it seemed that way to me.

Overall, being retired sort of reminds of the humorous remark grandparents sometimes make, "If I had known my grandkids were going to be so much fun, I would have had them first!", except that I would modify it to read "If I had known retirement was going to be so much fun, I would have done that first!"

Anyway, best wishes for a most successful retirement. For one thing, it'll give you much more time to post on Internet forums!

I retired back in 2006 when I was 60. A good friend in HR told me that in all her years in counseling people about retiring, only one had come back saying he had retired too early.
A deciding point for me what that I was able to carry my health care coverage into retirement. Later, when I had prostate surgery in August of 2010, four years after retiring, it was interesting to see that Medicare re-calculated the costs of the surgery since I had become medicare eligible just a week before I had the prostatectomy, and everyone got less money than they had anticipated.
I'm sure you'll decide wisely. Happy New Year, too.

DjinTonic said...
Congrats -- this is further proof that it pays to study the night before your PSA test (oh, wait, maybe that's PSAT?).

Djin

LOLOL

I actually studied hard for retirement, and i think its gonna pay off. In 29 hours i will be OFFICIALLY RETIRED.

Well done Andrew.......I think the oak and walnut saw dust has done you well. Eight years clear bodes you well. Retirement will work for you at an early age because you have things to do with your saw. Health insurance and co-insurance and deductibles can eat you alive before Medicare, so please be careful. Have you planned to be retired for 25 years?

Congrats on 8 years... Yeah the wildcard to any early retirement is health care.

I am 76, had prostate removed 1/2012, 3 years later 39 radiation treatments, now PSA .01, ED and urgency upon exertion, retired, as for health insurance, i have United Healthcare and very satisfied with them, good luck to you....

Congratulations all around and thank you for all of your thoughtful and fun posts on this site. I am also considering retirement in the near future (turn 60 soon). Realize that early 60’s would be early retirement and am weighing the extra income resulting from more years of working relative to the extra time I get to enjoy the things I have been putting off for years. I am fortunate that I am fully vested and covered by my companies policy upon retirement once I hit 60. Wife says it would be a waste of that benefit if I work till I am 65 (as Medicare kicks in then). Working the math on other aspects. I wish you all the best with your planning and a happy New Year.

Thanks for all the good wishes and encouragement.

I'll have to admit that one problem I have with retirement is not working and getting a regular paycheck. More of an emotional thing. I've been working and earning money since I was 12 and there is that fear that once I stop working, I'll lose something - so much of who I've been has been defined by my work. I guess one might say that it's more a problem of redefining who I am and what I do.

As far as health care, I likely will do a COBRA conversion for awhile and then will have to buy a plan. I've worked in the high tech business all my career and my retirement is all self-funded through 401ks and investments - there's no pension and no retirement health care plan.

I didn't mention that likely I won't be retiring in California. As much as I love my home state - I just can't afford to retire here so I'll be relocating too. Just adds to the fun of change.

Peace,
Andrew

ITS - Glad to hear you are doing well and thinking about early retirement. Took me about 2 weeks to forget about work and was glad to be free from the 44 year routine after college.

I retired 1.5 years ago at 66 and my wife, 6 months ago. Like you, retirement is funded with savings, 401K -> IRA's, and investments plus SS. We have had no outside income since my wife retired and have not collected any SS or her small pension.

It is really tough to watch the money flow out after a lifetime of working and savings. There is something wrong with cash going the other direction as I have been burning about $20K+ in cash every 3 months this last year and the upcoming year looks to be worse with my wife in full time retirement mode. The cost of Medicare, Medicare Supplement, Medicare drug plan, and separate dental plan is not a trivial expense either for two people. It is a lot less costly than private insurance with much better coverage but no free lunch there either.

You already have the hobbies so retirement should go well for you and you can take on some new hobbies or go to a concert on Weds night with no more work considerations. Good luck with your planning.

It can be disconcerting moving from the accumulation stage to the distribution stage. But keep in mind that's exactly why you've been saving all those years.

I retired at almost 61, two years ago. I did struggled with the decision and I sometimes still do. But whenever I think about the stress and pressure I was under I know I made the right decision. I worked through the surgery and radiation treatments. It was the inguinial hernia surgery that was the final straw for me (and an ahole boss).
I always tell my friends to keep working as long as you can stomach it. Once you stop, it's over, you'll never want to do it all over again.
I used COBRA for 18 months until my wife (9 years younger) decided to started working again for insurance reasons only. She now has a PPO/PSO plan.
The ACA plans aren't too bad, but they only seem to offer HMO plans. None of my providers accepted any of them.
However, my providers all seem to accept medicare. Hopefully, they still will in a couple of years when I turn 65.