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Please excuse the extreme naivete I am about to disclose, but that is really kind of the point. I guess what I am trying to say is I am 45, and have little to no assets, although I think I have acceptable earning potential, a job, and generally low debt. The thing is I don't really even know how to get an accurate enough picture of my financial situation to know what to do.
If I had to guess, I'd say I have around $50,000 dollars or so gathering dust in a state retirement annuity. I say gathering dust, because I don't know what else it is doing. I don't think I want to keep working at my current job long enough for the pension to matter. I have been working for nine years and two months, and my salary has moved in that time from around $45k per year to about $75k, though only a little of my life seems to reflect that change.
Aside from what is in retirement, I have little to speak of, less than 10k that's for sure.
I know I can't retire; that's crazy, but my work situation is becoming untenable for other reasons, mostly that I can no longer be happy doing it. I am a business/tech analyst by trade, and pretty good at it, if for no other reason that I am more technically deep that most people who do my job. Like a lot of other people, I would much rather be doing something like operating a food cart at music festivals or something, anything that involved less reporting to other people.
And now, every day I do to work I try to remind myself not to quit my job, for this one reason: After ten years, one is "vested" in this state, Massachusetts, USA. From what I can tell that gives you two options: One, take the money that has gone into your retirement fund out completely. Up until ten years, there is a penalty for that; after then years, there isn't, although it is considered taxable income for the year you withdraw it, so the Fed, and perhaps the State, get a cut. Okay. That probably doesn't leave much.
Two, you can leave it in the system, in which case you qualify for a meager pension after turning 55, and you have access (in theory, who knows if this will change) to the same health care options of a state employee for life. That's the one that has everyone telling me, "Finish your ten years, and leave the money where it is."
I think they might be right, but I am really wondering what people who know what they are talking about would say. I want out of my job, not because I hate my job, but because I have come to know I need a different life; I need to leave Massachusetts. I know that.
But so then, what to do? Part of me is really seriously tempted to just cash it in and see what I can do for myself if I set up elsewhere, because I must do that. But then part of me (maybe the wiser part?) feels like if I take that money out of the state system, and lose access to the health care, i will regret it.
As I write this, I hear this answer playing back in my head, "You know what to do. Finish your time and leave the money where it is. Watch your budget."
And I guess that's the larger thing I am trying to ask. Should I simply ignore the money in the retirement plan, and try to make a go of changing things, and if so, how much money do I need to have ready to hand to think I could last long enough to find a way to make another go?
Again, apologies, this sounds ridiculous, but I do not have a natural ability to manage money, and I could use any advice you might have. I have friends that make half the money I do and live better.
Thanks.
If I had to guess, I'd say I have around $50,000 dollars or so gathering dust in a state retirement annuity. I say gathering dust, because I don't know what else it is doing. I don't think I want to keep working at my current job long enough for the pension to matter. I have been working for nine years and two months, and my salary has moved in that time from around $45k per year to about $75k, though only a little of my life seems to reflect that change.
Aside from what is in retirement, I have little to speak of, less than 10k that's for sure.
I know I can't retire; that's crazy, but my work situation is becoming untenable for other reasons, mostly that I can no longer be happy doing it. I am a business/tech analyst by trade, and pretty good at it, if for no other reason that I am more technically deep that most people who do my job. Like a lot of other people, I would much rather be doing something like operating a food cart at music festivals or something, anything that involved less reporting to other people.
And now, every day I do to work I try to remind myself not to quit my job, for this one reason: After ten years, one is "vested" in this state, Massachusetts, USA. From what I can tell that gives you two options: One, take the money that has gone into your retirement fund out completely. Up until ten years, there is a penalty for that; after then years, there isn't, although it is considered taxable income for the year you withdraw it, so the Fed, and perhaps the State, get a cut. Okay. That probably doesn't leave much.
Two, you can leave it in the system, in which case you qualify for a meager pension after turning 55, and you have access (in theory, who knows if this will change) to the same health care options of a state employee for life. That's the one that has everyone telling me, "Finish your ten years, and leave the money where it is."
I think they might be right, but I am really wondering what people who know what they are talking about would say. I want out of my job, not because I hate my job, but because I have come to know I need a different life; I need to leave Massachusetts. I know that.
But so then, what to do? Part of me is really seriously tempted to just cash it in and see what I can do for myself if I set up elsewhere, because I must do that. But then part of me (maybe the wiser part?) feels like if I take that money out of the state system, and lose access to the health care, i will regret it.
As I write this, I hear this answer playing back in my head, "You know what to do. Finish your time and leave the money where it is. Watch your budget."
And I guess that's the larger thing I am trying to ask. Should I simply ignore the money in the retirement plan, and try to make a go of changing things, and if so, how much money do I need to have ready to hand to think I could last long enough to find a way to make another go?
Again, apologies, this sounds ridiculous, but I do not have a natural ability to manage money, and I could use any advice you might have. I have friends that make half the money I do and live better.
Thanks.
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