Saturday, April 8, 2017

Jumping Off The Cliff

What the world thinks I am doing........



What my friends think I am doing......

What I am actually doing.....



The BIG NEWS here at Chez Sluggy is that Hubs has decided to retire from his job effective June 30th.
Hubs turned 59 earlier this week and his goal was to retire before 60.

I had to wait until he actually told his bosses he was leaving to let the "cat out of the bag" on my blog however.
And you know, since I've known the definite date for over a month now, that has been killing me.  ;-)

So this changes everything here at Chez Sluggy.
Well not everything.
But everything concerning money, day-to-day living, money, shopping, money, our relationship and money.
Did I mention it changes our money situation yet?!?  ;-)

July 1st I stop expanding our Net Worth and transition into depleting it.
**Gulp!!!**

I have been counting down the paychecks left until Hubs leaves work and then paychecks are no more(that count is currently 7 left).  Thinking about it in terms of paychecks just makes it seem even scarier.  8-O

7 more paychecks and then there is no more pay coming in.
Now that doesn't mean we have no money coming in, just no paychecks.

Our "paychecks" will now start coming out of all that money we've put aside for this time in our lives over the last 33 years.

Hubs company is top notch when it comes to taking care of your employees in my book.  Not only did he make a good salary over the years but we got good medical bennies(though we paid A LOT for them out of his pay)and the company matched a part of every dollar we put away for retirement.

Now that he's retiring, they even have a dedicated retirement counselor to help guide him through separating from the job and filling out all the paperwork and setting up all the support systems we'll be needing.

He had his first session with the counselor earlier this week and we found out two very good pieces of information--A)The retiree medical savings account the company funded is larger than we had anticipated(if you have a spouse/domestic partner you get another 50% of whatever if in the account) and B)Hubs company does have a health plan for retirees(meaning we don't have to worry about having to navigate the ACA-or whatever is out there in it's place-for healthcare until Medicare kicks in).

His counselor was impressed at how much planning we had already put into place over the last few years.  We know our basic numbers on all our accounts and know pretty much what we will do with them and when.
The only real big unknown is how much he government will tax what we withdraw, which affects how much of our own money we actually get to live off of or just how much we need to withdraw each year.

I have heard/read that the transitioning period from working life to retired life is a stress all onto itself.

So we are into this period and yes, it's stressful.  But I guess any period where you are letting go of one way of thinking and living and stepping into what for you is the unknown can't help but be nerve wracking!

But beside stressful, in other ways it is exciting and rife with possibilities.


So, here goes nothing, or should I say, everything.........

Sluggy


20 comments:

  1. The exploding nipples is sort of scary. Hubs must have enjoyed his time off and making beer. How are you planning to adjust to him being home forever? This new phase will be interesting to hear about.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Congratulations to you both on your next phase of life. I like to think of retirement as just retiring from the job/career I have known, in order to build my life, which might continue to include earning, at my entire discretion.We have an appointment on Thursday with a financial advisor, and see if where we think we are is in alignment with the "expert". I will be following you and learning all the tricks to pick up for use in the next 8 years before we hope to make the leap off the cliff.

    ReplyDelete
  3. How exciting for both of you. I hope you and he both have a wonderful retirement. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow! I am genuinely happy for you! Congrats on a job well done! On a purely selfish note, with your husband retiring from his job, I hope you don't plan on retiring from blogging. I'd miss reading your posts!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Fabulous... I echo Line... please continue to blog. :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Congrats. You guys have worked hard to prepare for retirement, so now it's time to enjoy it. My parents planned well but a couple years before my dad was to retire he fell ill with a disease and they never did get to enjoy it like they had planned.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Congratulations! For us, the adjustment to my husband being home all the time was harder than the money part, but not all that difficult and I we adjusted quickly. Four years in and I can say I love retirement. You will too!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Congratulations to you both! You've worked hard to save up money for this, so I'm thrilled that you are now at the point where you get to make the jump and enjoy more time together and reap the benefits of your hard work. Bravo!

    ReplyDelete
  9. You have planned well grasshopper. Snatch the pebble and go enjoy retirement!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Congratulations!! I imagine it's scary, but it's what you worked so hard for!!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Good luck in the next chapter of your life!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Exciting but scary times. Likely his health issue this winter sped things up a bit, at least in his mind. We have been talking more about what retirement will look like...can see us slowing the company down in a couple of years to spend a few months each winter in Mexico with Buddy. We can still operate the business from there in his online sales training capacity and will get to have lives again :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Very exciting, Sluggy! Congratulations!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Financially you will be fine, keeping him busy and out of your hair not so fine. Hey total eclipse of the sun on August 21st in Ashton Idaho, about 11 miles south of West Yellowstone. Cindy and Ty's place, how about it?

    ReplyDelete
  15. How scary! How exciting! Good luck to all !

    ReplyDelete
  16. Very exciting and challenging at the same time. I secretly hope TheHub does not read this post because I am not ready to have him here all day every day.

    ReplyDelete
  17. That's very exciting! You guys are very well organized have planned out all of the details, I'm sure. Now it's just about the confidence of executing against the plan, which can be scary, I'm sure. You've got this.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Exciting and scary, I know! My hubby retired at 59 abour 18 months ago. Financially we are fine because we had our ducks in a row prior and we also have VA medical and pension.
    Hubby was so exhausted from his civilian job, he was pretty much a couch potato for the first six months. Now, he is busy all day with hobbies and yardwork, and happier than he's been in years.

    Best wishes to you both

    ReplyDelete
  19. I am just catching up on all of the blogs I missed while I was on jury duty. Good thing because I would have missed this. Congrats to you and Hubby! This is terrific news! Freedom for you both!

    Hubby retired at 54. He is now 70 and we have never regretted it. I only worked a few years over our marriage so I wasn't working when he retired.

    It's a wonderful thing when you can both do what you want when you want. Some days we seem to be busier than when he was working but that keeps us going.
    It's sounds like you have done wonderful planning and will be just fine. So many expenses go away when you retire like paying into Social Security, Medicare, commuting expenses, etc. Your gasoline bills will drop and I could go on and on but I won't.

    It's wonderful that you don't have to worry about medical until your Medicare supplemental plan. That is a huge expense that so many people don't plan for. I have always said that planning starts with being in the right job.

    Everyone told me that having him home under my feet would take some getting used to but it didn't. I loved it and still do.

    Again Congratulations to you both!!!!!!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete

Hey there! Thanks for leaving a comment.
All Anonymous commentors will be deleted.
Please include your name in your comment, or choose the 'Name' option and put your name or whatever you call yourself, in the box. Thank you.

Though I moderate it's partly to keep trolls at bay but also partly so that I read every comment. I don't often respond to comments so if you need me to answer you please write me at my email addy posted on my "About Me" page, linked on the side bar.