quote:

So I would recommend you stick it out until she's eligible for Medicare.

Or at least within 18 months of that when you can elect COBRA coverage with employer to carry her over. This is exactly the strategy one of my firms owners is on, with a similar age gap to his wife.

Sure you still pay the premiums, but probably better coverage and price than individual policy.

quote:

Seems more reasonable than assuming I will be the statistical outlier.

Great, now I'm depressed. And screwed....

quote:

It's about the best we can do. Seems more reasonable than assuming I will be the statistical outlier

^^^^^^^^^^^
It is one metric. The amount of alcohol we consume, our lifestyle, obesity and whether we smoke or not. We are as a rule outliving our parents and getting better preventative care. Things like high blood pressure and Afib which are risk factors for stroke are getting treated earlier and with better results. Of course you could be run over by a city bus tomorrow.

quote:

Great, now I'm depressed. And screwed....

^^^^^^^^^^^^
Help is but a phone call away. Seriously, I am self employed and like most aspects of my job. Having to stay home for awhile drove me crazy. I am lucky that I can work less if I want to, as long as I can cover the bills. I really cannot go anywhere with COVID the way it is, so may as well work.

I retired at 59 1/2 ( three years ago ) That magic number where your 401k becomes penalty free if you need it . So far I have only needed it once and it is NOT tax free . I started drawing my Social Security at 62 for reasons that I don't feel the need to explain and that along with my pension and my wife's LTD payment gets us by just fine . I was able to keep my medical insurance through my former employer although I am paying 100% of the premium which is just under 1000 bucks .
No two people's situations are the same and sometimes the same old tired financial advice that people offer will work for one but not the other . Do what is best for YOU and YOUR situation .
And if you do retire , find something to give you a reason to continue getting up early . Even if it's just a few days a week . I volunteered at a local Food Bank and work a few hours a week at my son's construction company running errands and picking up material . Good luck !

quote:

Originally posted by Bytes:
I am within 6 months of turning 65... I am gainfully employed with an EXCELLENT health plan. My wife is 5 years younger than me. The house is paid off and the only thing we owe money on is our car. We could pay it off but the interest rate on the car is nominal and we're making good money on investments. I don't hate going to work but I don't have the passion for programming that I once had. We've got about $700K saved. I just got a social security "statement" that says we'll make about $3K/month when I retire. Soooo, the big question: Should I stay gainfully employed until the wife qualifies for Medicare or should I "hang up the cleats" and enjoy the rest of my life. I'm a bit scared about the cost of health care for the wife. (She is THE most important person in my life FYI) I am totally unprepared and uninformed for this situation. My bad.

Any advice from the SigForum brain trust will be greatly appreciated!

While healthcare is a huge factor it's only part of the equation. You need to fully understand your full situation. How much income will you need to live the lifestyle you desire? How much comes from pensions, SSI and other savings? Does what you have saved and available cover the desired lifestyle?
All the big investment firms have advisors and software that can run your numbers with your full information and let you know when you can afford to retire. My employer used Fidelity and I found their guidance very helpful. Bottom line it's your responsibility to get yourself educated on your options.
Otherwise you may get to 70 only to discover you still can't retire in the style you like.

I won't offer advice, because your situation is very different from mine. I never married, and retired from USAF in 1980. I found work with a major semiconductor company right away and worked until a second retirement in 2005. I was immediately hired as a consultant in the same office for almost another 2 years, totally exiting the work force in Dec 2006. My reasons for leaving the job were forced on my by them, not me -- I really enjoyed my work and liked my coworkers. (I eat lunch with them every month -- at least until COVID hit.) I even get questions every so often about the software I wrote and maintained (which I AM able to answer).

I had just about a million Dollars in savings when I became free, and my house and car are both paid for. My financial life is fairly well set. All my grandparents lived into their 80s, I've outlived my dad by 6 years, and have 6 to go to match mom. Dad was a Type A smoker with high BP and died 11 years after massive strokes. Doctors are trying to insure I don't go that way. My Type 2 Diabetes is also under control, so I hope that doesn't do me in, either.

Do I miss going to the office and doing COBOL programming? Yes, I do. I was good at it and did some really fine work with it. (FWIW, COBOL is still a great language for business work.) Would I have continued working past age 69 if the situation would have permitted it? Yes, I would have. I enjoyed the challenge of reworking old programs to meet changing environmental conditions and regulations. I did things with COBOL that the creators of it never considered it capable of. It was fun, and I looked forward to doing it every day. My coworkers were all very fine folk and we worked well together. Work was one of my major social outlets, and I miss it.

Your situation is very different. You will need to consider many aspects of potential retirement: financial, social, health, familial, and interest. They are all important.

flashguy

quote:

Originally posted by Bytes:
Soooo, the big question: Should I stay gainfully employed until the wife qualifies for Medicare or should I "hang up the cleats" and enjoy the rest of my life. I'm a bit scared about the cost of health care for the wife. (She is THE most important person in my life FYI) I am totally unprepared and uninformed for this situation. My bad.

With respect, I disagree.

You have a finite amount of time and health remaining. The big question is whether you have enough money to enjoy the remaining time and health that you have.

Edited to add: I visit two forums on the web; 95% is spent on Sigforum and 5% on an early retirement forum. I highly recommend this post which was very helpful to me when I was deciding whether to retire: Some Important Questions to Answer Before Asking - Can I Retire?

You’re getting pretty good advice here, bytes.
Ensigmatic is a nerd, alright, but I have to differ with him on something he said.
The IRS life expectancy tables for men list average life expectancy at age 65 as 18 years, so average 83. And that’s average. If you’re healthy there’s an excellent chance you’ll live into your 90’s. Figure the good (hey, more years to enjoy life!) and the bad (will I have money to last that long?) of that.

For me, I went back to work full time at age 65 when the economy fell apart (the last time, 2008) and worked to 70 1/2. It made a huge difference for us financially; had a defined benefit pension, payed out more when I deferred payment; SS paid more; saved more in 401k. And the market recovered.

But we didn’t know when I made the decision to go back to work that the 401k would come back, did I?

I liked my job, but I couldn’t have done the cardiology night call any more.

Kind of the same boat as the OP.

We had to get the flock out of California. Both 59, I had a job I loved, but we needed to leave.

Thanks to some great input from you guys, we moved to the St. George, Utah area. Best decision we ever made !!

We decided for our sanity it was worth paying the 5 years of medical out of pocket. We went with a high deductible plan, we are both in good health. It runs a bit over $1,300 a month for both of us.

Now I know why I started this thread. A lot of folks on this forum are way smarter than me and many have "walked the walk". Thanks to all that have posted! I have taken screen shots of every page. There has been a ton of good info thrown out here. It's good to read and takes a while to digest. Please, if you're so inclined add your post. Promise, the wife and I will read every one of them.

quote:

Originally posted by sjtill:
You’re getting pretty good advice here, bytes.
Ensigmatic is a nerd, alright, but I have to differ with him on something he said.
The IRS life expectancy tables for men list average life expectancy at age 65 as 18 years, so average 83. And that’s average. If you’re healthy there’s an excellent chance you’ll live into your 90’s. Figure the good (hey, more years to enjoy life!) and the bad (will I have money to last that long?) of that.

For me, I went back to work full time at age 65 when the economy fell apart (the last time, 2008) and worked to 70 1/2. It made a huge difference for us financially; had a defined benefit pension, payed out more when I deferred payment; SS paid more; saved more in 401k. And the market recovered.

But we didn’t know when I made the decision to go back to work that the 401k would come back, did I?

I liked my job, but I couldn’t have done the cardiology night call any more.

Thank you

Any chance you can go to part time and keep your healthcare? Might be a good compromise.

Bytes, thanks for the thread. I'm several years away from 59.5 and haven't given a lot of thought other than the 401k rollercoaster etc. I don't really believe in retirement per se but another career based on the knowledge and experience accumulated over a lifetime.

Perhaps it's covid, the inevitable future of every fiat currency, or the fact that my grandparents made it into their 90s but my parents, both 81, mom, now in assisted living since March and dad, just had a stroke this week, pneumonia, and bacterial meningitis, that makes me think more about how to outlast my financial resources.

Call it biohacking, healthspan vs. lifespan, quality of life, or compression of morbidity, investing in one's health is as important or more important than any retirement account. Imo.

I'm still figuring it out but the switch has definitely been thrown to do anything and everything to die young as late as possible and enjoy life to the very end.

And yes, I'm aware Gandhi was assassinated

quote:

Originally posted by sjtill:
Ensigmatic is a nerd, alright, but I have to differ with him on something he said.
The IRS life expectancy tables for men list average life expectancy at age 65 as 18 years, so average 83. And that’s average.

I had thought it was somewhere around 83, too, but then I read this:

Average US Life Expectancy Statistics by Gender, Ethnicity, State. says "Male: 76.1 years - Average life expectancy of a US male (at birth)."

If I'd read further, I'd have seen, a bit further down: "Male over 65: lifespan expectancy is 18.1 years."

Still, that's a mere 18 years. We all know how fast 18 years can fly by

quote:

You have a finite amount of time and health remaining. The big question is whether you have enough money to enjoy the remaining time and health that you have.

All the money in the world does you no good at the end.

With your financial situation you should be ok.
For me the question would be how much I enjoy going to work? What do I plan to do with time? If you are healthy, enjoy going to work every day and have no real plans for after retirement then I would continue working.

quote:

Originally posted by shovelhead:

quote:

You have a finite amount of time and health remaining. The big question is whether you have enough money to enjoy the remaining time and health that you have.

All the money in the world does you no good at the end.

believe the above sentiment. plus -- you only have so much 'good health' remaining. how many miles do have left on your treads??

i have heard retirement divided into 3 phases:

go

slow go

no go

all the money in the world is pretty much useless once you get to the 'no go' years. face it -- you're sitting at the homestead with a warm blanket and a glass of milk at that point.

if you are one of those guys who wants to die at work because you have no identity / life outside of work then that's a different story (and if that's the case we don't need to discuss retirement anyway)

------------------------------------

Worked for Social Security for 42 years before retirement. Read the thread and I think there is lots of good advice here. A few general observations from my experience.

1. The number one mistake or regret I heard through the years is one probably nobody expects. This mistake has caused more misery and financial heart ache than all the others combined. If anyone tells you that you don't need part B of Medicare because you have "other coverage" look out! There is a good chance the advice is wrong. Not always, but frequently. I don't care if the advice is from an employers HR department or whoever. It would take me too long to list all the reasons why declining part B can be a bad idea, even if you think you have other coverage. Not saying its always a bad idea to decline part B, but frequently it is. As brief as I can - if you think you have other coverage, you may find out your plan assumes or requires you to file for part B. Even if you don't file, they will only cover what part B doesn't cover, even if you dont have it. That leaves you stuck with often huge bills. HR departments arent always familiar with the details of your health plan. Health plans change coverage. They might not be aware of changes. Contact the insurance company directly to find out if you have to file for part B. I have also heard stories that whoever picks up the phone at the insurance co has given bad information out. It's a big problem.

Just as an aside, there is never any reason not to file for part A. It's free. Also be aware of this. This is a little complicated. If you don't take part B, then decide to take it later, the only way you can sign up penalty free with a special enrollment period is if you were covered by an employer group health insurance plan CONTINUOUSLY based on FULL TIME employment, not part time. If it was part time employmnt, you have to wait until the next general enrollment period (Jan - Mar) plus you pay a penalty (higher premium). I have seen people go months with no insurance.

2. Don't make yourself crazy over reduced or less than full benefits. Here is something that would make many feel better. Just do a math problem. Take your full benefit amount, then subtract your reduced benefit amount. The result is your reduction. Remember that you get nothing for those months prior to full retirement age if you wait for full retirement age to file. Multiply that figure by the number of months you collect prior to full retirement age. Thats the lump sum you got that you would not have received if you waited until full retirement age. Now take the difference, divide it into the lump sum and that number (number of months) is the break even point, the point at which you are collecting more for having waited than if you collected early. It usually takes a lot longer to be ahead than most people realize.

^^^^^
Good points. Medicare Part B is essential.

Think that I am in the same boat as tsmccull

You may want to consider using this tool to see how your nest egg would have performed over time.
It's a good step within a part of a retirement plan, and may help you consider a few things you have not already considered such as withdrawal frequency. I think it is a good tool. I have been using it to determine my target number, so YMMV.

https://www.portfoliovisualize...nte-carlo-simulation

--K