dh sudden retirement

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Vaeagen
Posts: 168
Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2015 8:03 pm

dh sudden retirement

Post by Vaeagen »

Hi all,
Just thought I would throw this out and see what thoughts you all have about this...here is the background...my dh is 55, he has worked for civil service for a little over 34 years...currently his last job he has been working as a medic for our local county (actually he was/is, technically, working on the morg. truck). In his title he can retire at 55 with 25 years in so he can retire and we were planning for him to retire in Dec of 16....but the county we work for has offered an incentive to leave, $1,000 for every year of service so for dh that is $34,000, before taxes of course! Obviously it seems too good a deal to pass up to work just one more year. Besides that, on the personnel side, as I have said before on other posts, dh's mom has begining to moderate Alzhiemers. dmil is 81 and dfil is 83 so both of them are going to be needing more and more help as time goes on...so another reason to retire. Dh should get about 60% of his pay...plus his saved sick and vacation as well as a months pay from previous hard time the county took from us (a long story), not to mention the incentive. Of course, he will most likely get a pt job but I think we should be able to swing it...we just won't be putting as much into savings....my question is....

Any surprises anyone found that they didn't expect when they or their spouse retired? BTW, I will still be working full-time and both kids are adults...if that helps...
dlrcpa
Posts: 1546
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 8:45 am

Re: dh sudden retirement

Post by dlrcpa »

Health insurance/coverage is the biggest issue.

Next is the condition of your house and cars. Houses always need "stuff" done to maintain. It's expensive if you have to hire people for repairs. If you are handy around the house maybe it's not a big deal. Last year and this year we have a lot of house expenses. Try to be proactive and solve problems while they are small.
Vaeagen
Posts: 168
Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2015 8:03 pm

Re: dh sudden retirement

Post by Vaeagen »

Oh thanks for the input. I forgot to mention...health insureance it taken care of. Our County is continuing our coverage...so that is ok. The house seems to be good. We seem to have everything under control at the house. Dh is not the most handy but for the most part we give it a good try and then we call in an expert if we have to. We have been good savers (hence being here) so we can handle any repair.

Keep those ideas coming.

Valerie
frugalmom
Posts: 1710
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 10:52 pm

Re: dh sudden retirement

Post by frugalmom »

Well I was kind of disappointed when I retired that the incentive that they gave was taxed with a big chunk of it going to Uncle Sam-it seemed like almost half from what I remember! THEN if I remember correctly it was considered income for the year so I had to claim it on my taxes-like sheesh it felt like it was double dipped into. My bil is my CPA so I just give him the numbers and he does it for me(I know I am so spoiled-we just take him out for lunch to pay him and I hear he charges like 200.00-Idk for an hour or for a tax return-too afraid to ask!). But I live in CA and they tax us out of the wazoo-you breathe or move you are taxed!

Of course,you don;t know all of this until you get that final check and you are thinking hmmm should I have even retired early. I was supposed to get over 50k and it was more like 26k I got back(this was about two years ago or so).
Vaeagen
Posts: 168
Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2015 8:03 pm

Re: dh sudden retirement

Post by Vaeagen »

Oh EllenMarie, I hear ya! NY and Ca are alike in that we are both high tax states. We are expecting that about 40% of dh's incentive will probably go to taxes. So out of the $34,000 we should get about $20,000....but still nothing to sneeze at. I am sure we will get slammed with taxes for the year...I wish we could move some stuff into the next year....we are going to defer what we can.

It is just so complicated trying to figure out what he will actually be "bringing" home in his penion since it is less but it is not taxed the same way as his salary is/was. I figured it is better to just wait and see. Also I know that the State pension always underestimates your benfits...so when they get the final amount they always go up (they don't ever want them to go down, for obvious reasons). So we will just wait and see.

Thanks for the ideas.

Valerie
rinty
Posts: 1919
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 3:54 am

Re: dh sudden retirement

Post by rinty »

Vaeagen wrote:Hi all,
Just thought I would throw this out and see what thoughts you all have about this...here is the background...my dh is 55, he has worked for civil service for a little over 34 years...currently his last job he has been working as a medic for our local county (actually he was/is, technically, working on the morg. truck). In his title he can retire at 55 with 25 years in so he can retire and we were planning for him to retire in Dec of 16....but the county we work for has offered an incentive to leave, $1,000 for every year of service so for dh that is $34,000, before taxes of course! Obviously it seems too good a deal to pass up to work just one more year. Besides that, on the personnel side, as I have said before on other posts, dh's mom has begining to moderate Alzhiemers. dmil is 81 and dfil is 83 so both of them are going to be needing more and more help as time goes on...so another reason to retire. Dh should get about 60% of his pay...plus his saved sick and vacation as well as a months pay from previous hard time the county took from us (a long story), not to mention the incentive. Of course, he will most likely get a pt job but I think we should be able to swing it...we just won't be putting as much into savings....my question is....

Any surprises anyone found that they didn't expect when they or their spouse retired? BTW, I will still be working full-time and both kids are adults...if that helps...
Val, DH paid 40% taxes on his final bonus too............its still a nice amount of money and ( Like You) we had no mortgage to consider.

Its been nearly a year since he has retired and we have still had a few run ins with the tax people, but its finally settled. DH worked for 50 years (!!!) He began work at 15 and retired as a director of a national company so All Was Well there : ) He has a more than decent pension pot, and we still have our "other" bits and bobs for extra income. Of course major bonus in England is FREE healthcare so we don't budget for that. We did "chose" to have private healthcare when he was earning so we could queue jump if need be but the healthcare we have access to is excellent in this area so no worries about not having private healthcare. DH has some issues and takes a fair few meds but again, here in England, now he is retired all his prescriptiosn are FREE so that's another bonus.

We can and do save but only for a cushion, we have everything we need, we run 2 cars, take 2 holidays a year and have helped the children out towards buying their own homes.........and both girls weddings are paid for already thank goodness !!! : )DH had needed to retire and was lucky/blessed that the offer with cash was made when it was ........tell DH to take that money and run.

Be aware though if your DH is like mine...........that they may well be tempted back into the workplace. DH spent about an other year, in a role he was head hunted for. He was too flattered to refuse ! It was a final health problem though and I am glad he realised it and dropped it like a rock. It bought a few extras but the tax thing meant he was paying A LOT, so no worries giving it up and getting back to the basic planned retirement income. You are a planner , Val, it will all be fine.............
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