It could take 10 - 30 years for the market

[jIM_Ohio]

lucky people, I still have 29 years before my pension is at Full, and 39 before I can claim it.

I guess I'm currently looking at a 2047 for my retirement. (if all stays constant by then )


I guess the beer if offered to me will be warm by then :P

Just because I want to retire in 2026 (18 years) does not mean I will achieve the goal. I will be 53 then and my kids graduate HS that year- the plan is quite ambitious.

[tripods68]

I could retire as early 2023 but DW is 7 yrs younger. More and more I'm looking to retire somewhere between 2028 - 2033.

[jIM_Ohio]

I'm could retire as early 2023 but DW is 7 yrs younger. More and more I'm looking to retire somewhere between 2028 - 2033.

This means you can retire early and use DW's health care for 7 years until her 401k has enough for her to retire too.

[tripods68]

This means you can retire early and use DW's health care for 7 years until her 401k has enough for her to retire too.

I'm not looking at way.

My health care cost is 100% paid by Employer if retire 2023. If I wait to 2031, I'll reach my highest pension payout. But I can still imagine myself working part time (retired consultant) for couple more years. DW will also be 56 years old and plan to reduce to part-time (Nurse consultant) until we are both ready to quit, completely.

[jIM_Ohio]

[sarcasm]
if you have a pension and then are working as a consultant, you are not retired, you are double dipping. There is a difference (to me anyway).
[/sarcasm]

[kork13]

I could retire as early 2023 but DW is 7 yrs younger. More and more I'm looking to retire somewhere between 2028 - 2033.

This brings up an interesting point.... In cases such as this, where one partner is older than the other (by at least 5 years), does everybody think people should (or would prefer to) retire together? Or should (would) the older partner just retire early while the younger continues to work?


Personally, I think if it were me, I might wait at least some of the difference to retire around a closer time frame to my wife's retirement date. I just would feel awkward doing whatever I want during the day while my wife went off to work. However, the parents of a very good friend are 55-ish (mother) and 68-ish (father). He's been retired for the last 5 or 10 years, while she still works just about full time. So it's definitely something that depends on the couple. Your thoughts?

[kork13]

[sarcasm] ... ... ... [/sarcasm]

lol bravo, good sir

[Gruntina]

This brings up an interesting point.... In cases such as this, where one partner is older than the other (by at least 5 years), does everybody think people should (or would prefer to) retire together? Or should (would) the older partner just retire early while the younger continues to work?


Personally, I think if it were me, I might wait at least some of the difference to retire around a closer time frame to my wife's retirement date. I just would feel awkward doing whatever I want during the day while my wife went off to work. However, the parents of a very good friend are 55-ish (mother) and 68-ish (father). He's been retired for the last 5 or 10 years, while she still works just about full time. So it's definitely something that depends on the couple. Your thoughts?

My Father in Law is quite a bit older than Mother in Law and he did retire first. Mother in Law retired a few years earlier than planned so she can spend quality time with FIL before he gets "too old” to enjoy time together.
My husband and I are less than a year apart in age. We will most likely retire closely together unless illness or the like gets in the way.

[tripods68]

[sarcasm]
if you have a pension and then are working as a consultant, you are not retired, you are double dipping. There is a difference (to me anyway).
[/sarcasm]

Point is well taken. I'm maybe in the minority. But retirement to me is when I'm able to collect full social security benefit at age 67. When I reach 63, I'll reduce from FT to PT for another 4 years until age 67. You could say I'll be semi-retired at 63 and collect full pension plus benefit.

[disneysteve]

This brings up an interesting point.... In cases such as this, where one partner is older than the other (by at least 5 years), does everybody think people should (or would prefer to) retire together? Or should (would) the older partner just retire early while the younger continues to work?

Most retirement articles I've read recommend that couples NOT retire at the same time. Retirement involves a lot of adjustments to the household, the relationship, the schedules, the finances, etc. Having both people retire at the same time forces you to deal with everything at once. Having one person retire a couple of years before the other lets you ease into it better. Rather than going from 2 incomes to no income all at once, you drop down incrementally. They also say it is better emotionally for the one person to get used to not working, having some redistribution of household duties, etc.

Obviously, I can't speak from experience, but this seems to make sense to me. Personally, I expect that my wife will stop working before I do. She only works part-time currently. I don't know what will happen, though, once our daughter is grown and on her own. My wife may find that she doesn't mind working full-time at that point since what keeps her from doing it now is needing to be around to take care of DD. Time will tell. But in any event, I don't think she will want to still be working into her 60s. It just isn't her style.

[jIM_Ohio]

This brings up an interesting point.... In cases such as this, where one partner is older than the other (by at least 5 years), does everybody think people should (or would prefer to) retire together? Or should (would) the older partner just retire early while the younger continues to work?


Personally, I think if it were me, I might wait at least some of the difference to retire around a closer time frame to my wife's retirement date. I just would feel awkward doing whatever I want during the day while my wife went off to work. However, the parents of a very good friend are 55-ish (mother) and 68-ish (father). He's been retired for the last 5 or 10 years, while she still works just about full time. So it's definitely something that depends on the couple. Your thoughts?

You have some distinct advantages, some possible problems, and both allow for good planning.

Advantages- retired spouse 1 can access IRAs at age 59.5 when other spouse might be age 52-55. This could reduce RMDs (required minimum distributions) to a lower tax bracket before spouse 2 retires. If there is a pension plus two 401ks involved, you can thank me later for this advice which lowered your tax bracket.

spouse 1 retiring early can lower AGI and taxes paid, allowing for Roth conversions before spouse 2 retires. Meaning this could be done as a tax planning strategy if the couple does not need spouse 1's income.
**this is part of my early retirement plan**

Disadvantages- if the spouse which retires first has the higher 401k/IRA balance, that balance needs to last until spouse 2 (the younger spouse) dies. So the draw downs in the account need to last longer than the lifespan of one person.

If the spouse which retires first had most of the income, there might be budget cuts needed until second spouse can access their retirement funds. Probably true if spouse 2 has more retirement monies in their name than spouse which retired first.

**the solution if you see this problem coming is to title more assets in the name of the spouse which fixes the problem. If spouse 2 is going to have most of the income and savings, make sure spouse 1 which is retiring first has more assets in their name at a younger age (shift contributions to name of spouse 1 accounts).

** the most common case for being in a higher retirement tax bracket is when retirement is from 5-7 sources:
Pension spouse 1
IRA spouse 1
SS spouse 1
Pension spouse 2
IRA spouse 2
SS spouse 2
Joint taxable accounts

The pensions probably replace 50-66% of income while working
SS probably replaces another 25%
If the IRAs are supplying 25% of pre-retirement income or more, your tax bracket just went up. And remember SS can be taxed at 50%, so it gets treated like super income as far as tax man is concerned.

[jIM_Ohio]

lol bravo, good sir

badda badda badda bing

I am here all week
[applause][/applause]
come back again tommorrow
[sucker][/sucker]

[tripods68]

Most retirement articles I've read recommend that couples NOT retire at the same time. Retirement involves a lot of adjustments to the household, the relationship, the schedules, the finances, etc. Having both people retire at the same time forces you to deal with everything at once. Having one person retire a couple of years before the other lets you ease into it better. Rather than going from 2 incomes to no income all at once, you drop down incrementally. They also say it is better emotionally for the one person to get used to not working, having some redistribution of household duties, etc.

DW and I had discussions about this. We envision in 15 to 20 years we'll still have a mortgage payment and our 2 young adults entering college. I doubt the 529s we are saving now will covered most of their college expenses. We fully expect to foot for most of the bills. We're just trying to practical.