I guess you never know. I wonder about that too, but I think it’s unlikely at least for the next ten years.
Part of the equation is “miserableness of the job”. At the moment, mine is not too bad. It’s often stressful and often requires offshift support. But it could be worse. The great thing is that I have 5 weeks vacation (plus holidays plus 6 personal choice holidays). It gets hard to plan around work obligations to use it, but I’m trying to make that more of a priority.
@colorado_mom, same here. I have a lot of vacation days accumulated, and I want to use more soon. I think I’m going to ask if I can take a bunch of half-days in August, when D2 will be here before she starts graduate school.
If you guys have vacation days, if you give them enough notice, don’t they have to allow you to use them? Whether you have obligations or not? Otherwise, what’s the point of having vacation if you aren’t able to use it?
My H had months of leave and wanted to use them when S was born, to care for him when I went back from maternity leave. He was told that if he was gone more than 6 weeks, he would be seen as nonessential. He ended up working evenings for those 6 weeks and a full day on Wednesdays.
“Vacation” still needs to be coordinated with other workers and for H, no one did his work while he was away, so he always had to work very hard before vacation and upon returning where there was a HUGE pile on his desk.
As some of you know (and thank you for reading my posts!), I’m recently divorced, one year ago to be more specific. I got the house in the divorce. My ex also is fond of the house and yard but we agreed that it would be difficult for him to be the homeowner given that he lives with his parents and rarely leaves his parents’ home, 150 miles from here. But his parents will die sometime and he’ll be freed from that obligation, and I will want to sell the house sooner or later. I’ve considered asking him if he’d like to buy the house then. Question: Would it even be possible for him to get a mortgage when he’s had only cash income for the past several years? Would lenders consider Social Security and pension income the same as income from a job? I’m not counting on him purchasing the house, but if it seems that it would be impossible for him to do so, I probably wouldn’t even ask him if he is interested. Thanks.
Yes - coming back to work is always such a huge mess, and it takes a while to deal with all the piled up work. That and unpacking are the two things I dread! We have decided to set our sights on retiring at 61 and 60 in another 4 years. It is a little worrisome that our airtight defined benefit plan pensions could be reduced by bankruptcy in this great state of Texas, or eroded by inflation. Still, seeing other’s health issues, it just seems better to carpe diem while we still can. And if a grandbaby comes along - I’ll jump on the retirement wagon even sooner!
I’m far from a mortgage or credit expert, but …
Did he declare his cash income to the IRS? His returns would count as proof of income.
I can’t imagine that income from SS and pensions wouldn’t be counted, but I have no direct knowledge.
Does he have sufficient assets to put down a reasonable down payment?
Thank you for the response, @IxnayBob. When we were married, his cash income was reported on our joint returns. I don’t know if he filed this year. He has sufficient assets for a down payment.
@rosered55,
When you’re ready to downsize, you can offer your ex right if 1st refusal and give him xx days to buy otherwise you are free to sell to home ER will give you your best price and terms with a clear conscience.
It really isn’t your issue if he can or can’t get financing. If he’s the sole beneficiary of his folks he may get some assets that way and/or sell their home.
If you’re already ready to move, offer it to him at FMV if you’d like and then put it on the market. He can rent it out until he is ready to move in.
Ex-BIL was very fond of the duplex my father’s construction company built which sis and he lived in during their marriage. When sis decided she could no longer stay married to him for her health and the health of her daughter, things got ugly - in their state he had to move out. He actually tried to tell the lawyer that was sister’s renter on the other side that he needed to move so he could move in (in part to have ‘shared custody’ of my niece). Sis about had a cow. Sis had a very good lawyer that said BIL was the WORST he had dealt with. BIL went through 2 lawyer firms before he got a female sharp attorney that was able to keep him in his place and the divorce got finalized after years. So sis kept duplex, did sell the other side to her long time tenant. Then when niece graduated from HS, sis wanted to move away, and the market was soft. Brother was able to negotiate between sis and ex-BIL and now ex-BIL is happy owning the one side of the duplex and sis was glad to sell and be out of the town. He had been renting a house all the years in-between.
My life just changed. I now need major dental work. Cannot retire and give up the insurance. Sometimes you just have to keep working.
Going back a page or two, I have certainly had more than a handful of clients over the last 30 years who regretted retiring. Not most though. Many of those that did retired because of an early retirement package or the fact that their defined benefit plan meant they were essentially working for very little at the end. I’ve had clients where they actually were going to lose benefits by continuing to work.
Interestingly, most of these were very active people who were involved in hobbies and other community activities, so it’s not as if work had been their only identity and life.
Our lifestyle and cost of living would change extremely minimally if we were retired, with the huge exception of health insurance. H is definitely working for the insurance for us. He’s going to be Medicare eligible 5 years before me, in 7 years. I try not to unduly worry because who knows what the options will be at that time? I keep saying we will either have far more than we need or be medically bankrupt. Don’t think there will be an in-between.
“Our lifestyle and cost of living would change extremely minimally if we were retired, with the huge exception of health insurance. H is definitely working for the insurance for us.”
Isn’t this another problem with our healthcare structure in this country and why a single payer system could benefit? There is talk about job creation. If folks can’t retire only because they are fearful of having access to ongoing, reasonable healthcare instead of leaving jobs that could be opened to the next generation, to me that is an issue.
@morrismm – I have never found dental coverage to provide much in the way of benefits. I refer to it as dental care reimbursement benefit as opposed to dental insurance, since most plans are capped at $1500-$2000 in annual benefits. Or perhaps you have amazing dental coverage. Sorry about your needed work.
@doschicos—agree.
Certain dental procedures are covered under medical insurance…
What kind of procedures have people had covered under medical?
Loss of health insurance is our single biggest concern about dh retiring.
Jaw surgery… Tissue grafts… All were medical.
Yes, our medical insurance provides some coverage for many dental procedures including wisdom tooth extractions, cleanings for peridontal disease prevention, crowns, and fillings. We haven’t had much else–orthodontia wasn’t covered but mouth guards for nighttime tooth grinding WAS covered.