<p>My longevity plan is to try not to live too long. If I start getting too long in the tooth, I plan to take up smoking and motorcycling.</p>
<p>Every time my DH aims for a “number” I raise it! First of all we disagree on whether the value of our house should be in that “number”. Also, we both have longevity in our families, and I am watching my father rapidly outlive his $. So I worry about $$ and don’t think I’ll ever have a “number” I am totally comfortable with, given all the unpredictable things that can happen (health issues, responsibility for family members, stock market disasters, etc). So, we just keep working and earning…</p>
<p>Ellemenope - I am assuming you already have the heavy drinking covered?</p>
<p>Good thought, WNP2, but perhaps smoking and drinking would take too long. Skydiving perhaps?</p>
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<p>For many, retirement has nothing to do with “having decades of playtime.” Some jobs are physical in nature, and there gets to be a point where one can no longer perform the job. Not everyone can slide into another job-due to their education, training, health, whatever. Other people want to stay in their jobs but have “forced retirement” limitations. My Dad and Stepfather worked in aviation, and there came a point where they were no longer allowed to perform their jobs simply due to age restrictions, and there were no other jobs available to them at those companies. Both had no say in whether or not they retired. My Dad stays busy with volunteering, but my Stepdad cannot work as he is a full time caregiver to my wheelchair bound mother. No playtime for him, unfortunately.</p>
<p>My DH can work until he dies as long as his mind remains sound. As a nurse, a great deal of my work is physical in nature. I don’t know how long my horrible back will hold out. There could be some other options, and I will want to look into them, but in this market, there’s no guarantee of transitioning into another field at an advanced age.</p>
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Hmmmm. So that’s why every birthday and Christmas I get a pack of non-filtered Camels and full tank of gas. It’s her retirement plan…Got it. Thanks for the tip. ;)</p>
<p>I have no plans to retire, there are lots of people around me my age or older (we are very close to retirement or at retirement age) who have no plans to retire any more - additional problem for those entering work force.</p>
<p>Nrdsb4 makes a good point. Most of the people who advocate later retirement age are in an office somewhere. My FIL worked as an electrician, out in the cold and damp. Working until he was even older would probably have killed him.</p>
<p>I am not advocating anything, everybody should decide for themselves. I have.</p>
<p>I’m so far off from retiring that I have no clue what my magic number would be. I’m almost 28, so it will be awhile!</p>
<p>I do know that between myself and my company I have about 10 percent of my paycheck going into a 401k plan, and that Fidelity suggests most people need to save at least 10-15% of their income each year for retirement. I also am fully vested in my pension, so who knows what that amount will be. Obviously the longer I work there, the bigger it gets. </p>
<p>I own my house, so that should be well paid off by then.</p>
<p>Good for you fendergirl!!! That is outstanding.</p>
<p>I’m trying.</p>
<p>Both hubby and I have city/state definied benefit pensions, so it makes the calculations clearer (or muddier). We get “years of employment” times “5 years of highest salary divided by 5” time “multiplier” to get our monthly pension, plus whatever little bit Social Security will kick in. I want out of my current job situation, and hope to retire from current job in 6 years at a relatively young age - at the youngest age that I can retire with “full” benefits, then get a half-time job. Our LAST, LAST, LAST college payment is next month (YEAH- our fairly-frugal ways paid off: 7 years of college payments paid out-of-pocket from current income!) and then all our extra income will go towards paying off the house and replacing vehicle. I’m figuring 3 years to do that, 3 years to sock away some more money, then quit and find a nice parttime job where the stress-level and demands are more reasonable. Please tell me it’s possible!!!</p>
<p>anxious, that’s interesting. i always wondered how pension amounts were determined.</p>
<p>I just looked up mine and it says the following:</p>
<p>The Retirement Plan will credit this percentage of your aggregate Pensionable Compensation </p>
<p>Then it proceeds to list a percentage based on what your age is. it looks like under 30 is 2.5 percent, 30-34 is 3.25 percent, 35-39 is 4 percent, 40-44 is 4.75 percent, 45-49 is 5.5 percent, 50-54 is 6.25 percent, 55 to 59 is 7 percent and 60 and over is 7.75 percent.</p>
<p>So I guess the older I get the more they put in the pension for me… right?</p>
<p>It’s a defined benefit plan, so you get a monthly annuity determined by formula. So no lump sum, just monthly benefit for life (if you pick that option) Say you worked for 24 years x the multiplier 2.3 = 55.2%; 55.2% x $50,000 (average of your 5 highest salaries) divided by 12 months = $2300 per month. Plus a little bit from Social Security, plus salary from half time job working at low stress job rocking happy babies to sleep … 
Surely I can survive on that?</p>
<p>Here’s my Dad’s cute quote - “I have enough money to live like the king for the rest of my life… if I die tomorrow… the trick is figuring out how long that money needs to last.” </p>
<p>I’ve started to realize that our savings won’t provide much income at 1% interest rates. If interest rates are higher when we retire, our income will be higher. But darn, mortgage rates would be higher for our kids. Just can’t win.</p>
<p>oh ok, i gotcha anxiousmom. :)</p>
<p>Ours is a cash balance plan, so they contribute more cash the longer we work there. Once we collect, we can choose a lump sum, or we can do a monthly annuity.</p>
<p>I think it will be interesting to see how the market holds out. I know my 401k is up 12 percent this year, it was up 28 percent last year, after being down by like 20 percent the year before. I know I’ve made back what I lost… so I guess time shall tell. I try not to look at it too actively as it’s supposed to be long term and fluctuates up and down.</p>
<p>anxiousmom, you also need to take into account that the defined benefit formula is calibrated to begin normal retirement payouts at age 65 (maybe slightly different for public sector plans). If you are going to retire early, there will be an actuarial reduction in your benefit to take into account that you are receiving the benefit at a younger age and likely will be getting benefits for a longer period of time. If the “normal form of payment” that shows up on your benefit statement is listed as a single (or straight) life annuity (SLA), that provides benefits for your lifetime only. A benefits that continues 50% of your pension to your spouse after your death would be about a 10% reduction in the SLA amount.</p>
<p>Not to discourage you, but just so you know, because many times, folks with defined benefit plans don’t understand the implications til they are making the decision to retire. Some plans also offer early retirement incentives where they’ll give you an extra five years of service or reduce the actuarial reduction. These can be quite attractive.</p>
<p>(taking off my pension administrator hat now…)</p>
<p>I am not sure that we can talk about careful financial planning in this type of market. I put lots in 401K, my company contribution alone is over 8%, my own used to be 25%, I lowered it to about half. But I do not think about this as my $$. It can all go down the drain very quickly no matter where $$ are. Situation is so unstable and we depend more and more on foreign countries with cultures and governments that are not in line what we have. And then there is looming question about health care and looking for a doc who will actually accept government payment. There will be less and less of those. And the last but not the least, the question of what to do for 8 hours every day? I am happy to fill my after working hours wiht 2 hours of daily exercise and new hobby in empty nest situation. There is no way I can extend these activities to fill additional 8 hours / day every day. I do not like shopping, TV, reading, travel, any house chores, cooking, cleanning, yard work. What I am going to do? The answer is - get depressed, go to the box and under the ground. The picture is not very attractive, so I better continue working until they kick me out. But I am NOT advocating late retirement, it is very personal decision.</p>
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<p>My Dad had a forced retirement by his company in his 70’s. He has several volunteer gigs and seems to be almost as busy now as he was when he worked. Retirement does NOT have to mean depression, stagnation, and death. It is to a degree what you make of it.</p>