29.0353 Years
I was spending a bit of time doing some personal tasks the other day and I happened to log into my retirement account through the state of Michigan. I was actually checking to see if I needed to add our trust as a secondary or contingent beneficiary on the account. However, while I was in looking at my account a number caught my attention and caused me to take a long pause.
29.0353
It didn't specifically say years like the total of this post, I think instead it referred to the number as "service credits". I never really took it that seriously when I used to tell people that I could technically retire when I was 50, and yet here I am and the reality is finally staring me right in the face.
I've actually on got about 24.0353 years under my belt in the public education system, but when I first started working we had the option to "buy years". For a small fee of $50 per paycheck for an eight year period, I was able to buy five years (or service credits). That means at 25 years I can retire with the same benefits as having 30 years of service. At 30 years it would be like I had worked 35. You get the idea...
I'm still on the fence about what I want to do. As fun as it sounds to spend my days lounging around the deck and grilling dinner, I know I would probably get bored. In fact, things aren't that bad where I work now, so I could honestly see myself putting in another five years if I wanted to. @mrsbozz still has several before she can retire anyway.
Then again, we all know that life in the public sector pays the bills, but it doesn't pay the greatest. I could always retire and then try to find something in the private sector to supplement my income. The idea of starting all over is quite scary to me though. I'm pretty comfortable here and I have things running in a pretty efficient way.
My dream job would be some small business with an abundance of funding that needs someone to run their IT for them. Manage some servers, manage some users, keep things running, play with new technology, actually, exactly what I am doing right now. Just way better pay.
But money isn't everything right? I've learned over the past several years that my time is much more important than my money. I can always make more money. Time on the other hand is fleeting and it slips through your fingers much quicker than you can even comprehend. Where I work now gives me time to spend on HIVE, I get plentiful time to camp in the summer, and if an emergency comes up I know I can step out without much push back from those around me.
That likely wouldn't be the case in the private sector. Time is money in that world and every penny is tracked down to the second. Since the $1.787 Billion Powerball jackpot is now off the table and they aren't pushing me out the door here, I might have to just stick around.
It's humbling to think I have been doing this career thing as long as I have. I find myself in a quite reflective mood this morning and with who knows how much time ahead of me, I absolutely want to make the most of it.
One other thing I noticed while I was in my account was the fact that my year to date contributions seemed quite low. It's not that big of a deal since the pension system is more of a pool than an individual investment system, but like I said the number seemed low. In fact, it was about 3x less than the amount I have invested on my own in other accounts. Which makes me pretty glad that I started those other investments now!
The scary thing is, my good friend is proof that one major medical incident can flip all that upside down in the blink of an eye. We just never know...
So yeah, I guess I took a bit of a detour there in my train of thought, but less than a year until I can retire. What would you do? I don't think @mrsbozz would let it fly, but spending my days sleeping, playing disc golf, and BBQ'ing does sound like a lot of fun doesn't it?
SMR
The price of my favorite small modular nuclear reactor company NuScale has taken a bit of a dip lately. It sounds like holders are taking some profits while the price is up and that in turn is driving the price down a bit. With their recent agreement with the TVA, I still think SMR is a long term hold. I won't be selling my shares any time soon.
Silver
I got a nice message the other day with a welcome surprise from someone in the #silvergoldstackers community. I don't want to ruin it for you, but I will be sharing more about it in the future. Keep an eye out for that!
The next ten days look pretty amazing in my neck of the woods. There is a good chance I will be doing several of the things you saw in this posts photos. Plus maybe a little disc golf and some mandatory yard work thrown in for good measure. Oh yeah, we might drive down to catch one of my nieces soccer games too. Sounds like my weekend is booked solid already!
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It looks like your life is pretty good really. Sounds like you got a good deal on the pension. I've been paying into mine for a long while and retirement may not be too far away. I just have to decide when I'm ready. You need some sort of plan to avoid boredom whilst living affordably. A few other investments may help with that.
Enjoy the weekend.
Yeah, I don't get to travel quite as much as I would like, but I can't really complain! I know it would be much too soon for me to retire now. I just need to come up with some kind of plan.
Glad you are getting some amazing weather coming up. We have had rain and sun intermingled for the last two days. Seems we are finally getting some much needed rain.
As long as you fun in your time then people can require whenever I think. The people that have nothing to do once their retire often seem to be the ones that had problems.
Yeah, that is the thing I would worry about. I could see myself becoming a lump and I definitely don't want that to happen.
Hehe well you go camping and things so I don't think you would be a lump
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I, too, have been thinking a lot about retirement lately (although I've basically been semiretired for the last 16 years).
For the last six years I've been more or less left to my own devices, but recently the institution where I teach has begun to dictate my exams, my classroom policies, and even my grading structure. It's becoming increasingly clear that I'm not viewed as an educated (master in ed, master in math), experienced (two decades), skilled (highly qualified by the definition of the law) professional tasked with educating the members of the community, but rather as a human resource tasked with the administration of transferable credits.
Being that my wife is Norwegian, it is a possibility to maybe head over there (she can retire in 2 years) which would get me out of the states and I wouldn't have to worry so much about healthcare. There's the cold, but, I'm thinking more and more that the peace of mind might be a worthwhile tradeoff.
In the past I've traded crypto for a living, and I could go back to that, but there is a level of risk/stress to that as well...considering possibility doing online math tutoring since it's the actual teaching that I enjoy.
Still a lot to figure out (and worry about), but I guess I do feel a little better seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.
!PIMP
!PIZZA
Yeah, education isn't what it used to be when I started here in my youth. My wife says nothing shocks her anymore. She used to have such mundane issues to deal with as a school social worker. Now it's like an episode of COPS every day. Just some bizzare crap and the higher ups thinking they know best, both sides using schools as fodder. I'm not surprised there is a teacher shortage. Crypto is like a hobby for me. I hope it amounts to something, but I should be good even if it doesn't.
I will be retired this November in pretty good shape as a former Nurse. It was a good career run for me, fulfilling and satisfying. I gonna miss it. My poor health has cut it short but doing all the math I would do well since I put a lot of planning into it years ago.
For now, making up for a lot of missed time with my two sons.
Time to explore and pursue those options @bozz
Now, where did I put that Bucket List?
!BEER
That's awesome. I think I have planned decently well, but I am sure there is something I didn't think about. I'd like to pad things a bit more if possible. I think it would be different if my wife didn't still have so much time to work. If we retired at the same time, it might be different. That is always still an option I guess.
I often think about how I want to spend my days in the future, and honestly, the idea of balancing work with enjoying life really hit me. It’s inspiring to see how you’re weighing your choices—it reminds me to value my own time now while I’m young.
You definitely should! It goes by much too quickly. My biggest piece of advice would be to savor the boring moments. If you are just living for the big events, you are missing 80% of what life has to offer.
That was such an epic move on your part to buy those credits. I've never heard of that before. I left the workforce at 46 and don't regret "early retirement" one bit. I would say, it would be a good idea to have a side-gig lined up that you really enjoy—even if it's part-time. The one thing that surprised me was how lonely it can get at times without the office interactions so I've had to build socialization into my daily routine.
I officially become a pensioner next year. The company I worked for allows us to begin receiving it at 55. The payment will be lower than it would be if I started it later but it's more valuable to me to draw it for a longer period of time vs. a shorter amount of time with higher payments. A good portion of it will probably just go into BTC anyway.
Yeah, I had some people at the time encourage me to do it, so I figured why not. They have changed the program now, so it isn't as lucrative for people to buy into it. The crazy thing is my wife's mom was a teacher and she never told her to buy her years. That's why she has a bit longer than me until retirement. Socializing is hard for me, so I can only imagine not having people at work would be even harder. I'd probably have to go and get another dog... nope.
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Time flies so fast and that's life hayyyyss
For sure!
Enjoy your time after retirement, as every stage of life has its own sweetness. You can do many useful and beautiful things, as you mentioned to us examples of that.
Yes, I hope that is the case. I want my time to be meaningful.
I retired pretty early in life due to some family issue...and never thought of going back...May be after spending some peaceful life does not want to go out to tussle in the competitive corporate world...sounds strange but now enjoying on every simple things in life....
That's great you were able to do that even if the circumstances that caused it weren't that good.
If was sudden change of circumstances and when I landed in the countryside i liked it..better than the messy life of city dwellers.
Time really does fly, big respect for your years of service 🤞🏻
Thank you!
I would take it if I were you, then have a second career if you decide you want to. Public sector retirement has it's pluses! And you get retirement and health benefits right away. Time is fleeting, and you don't it back. Retire, retire, retire...
SMR may have dipped as people take profits, but it has a strong future. I'm not selling my shares either so you might be in good company. Then again I could be a lunatic...
And silver, you can't go wrong. If he gets high enough you can take profits or even convert to gold.
You only live once and having lots of free time in your 50's is better than most people can ever get!
Yeah, I think I have a lot of thinking to do in the next year or so. The longer I stay the more I earn, but I am not sure it will be worth it compared to private sector money. Then again, money isn't everything. A lot of people go to work for Ed tech companies, but I don't know if I have the personality for that!
The fact that it's just the two of you means you have a lot more flexibility in life, and don't need to provide for college funds and become Bank of Mum & Dad. And it's for this exact reason we stopped working some years ago. We have our own place, so we'll never end up on the streets, that's the main thing. The biggest thing is medical, but we're luckier in UK as we have the National Health Service to fall back on, albeit not perfect but at least we'll be treated. As to spare time, don't worry, you'll find plenty of things to keep yourself occupied. Don't overthink things, and embrace it when you think the time is right
Thanks! Yes, those are all very good points. I think health care definitely scares me the most. As I said, I have seen how quickly those bills can pile up. I wish we had something standard over here, but that's a whole hot mess! I'm sure my wife and I will be having many discussions about the options in the coming months/years.
Ah!!! I have the same thoughts, @bozz. I, too, am grateful that my employer, also in the public school system, has kept my unique position, and I also "bought years" towards my retirement, plus I have many, many sick days that translate to months towards retirement. (You see, when I got sick and went through several surgeries, I received donations of sick hours from other very kind people, and I hardly touched mine.) My thoughts are: I should retire (in several months and have 30 years) while I am still young, have a second career, and do something I really, really want to do while earning a decent income for my monthly upkeep. Not that I don't enjoy my work, and I think you know what I mean. Then I can step up my investments every month using my pension. I am under the CalPERS system, you know that 30 years is ideal. But who knows... just thinking about it.
Yeah, it's a scary thought. I definitely have some thinking to do and some options open to me. I'd hate to go somewhere else and have it be worse than where I am now for any number of reasons.
I also work in the public sector and my retirement is basically 2% for each year I worked there, so I am at 24 years now so I can retire with 48% of my salary. The earliest I can retire with no reduction of benefits is 62 so 13 more years for the total of 37 years or 74% of my salary.
Like you I don't mind it where I work, so I could go longer like say to 65 which would get me to 80% of my salary... One Important factor to consider is health insurance though... Once you retire you have to pay for it yourself and it is not cheap...
Right now I get my insurance through my wife and she still has to work several more years than me, so I am not too worried about that. After that we will have to figure something else out. We have some kind of multiplier, so as long as you have your 30 years in you get some base amount for your pension depending on your final salary and the equation they use. I know it wouldn't be enough to get us through, so I either need to keep working or find something else.
Time flies!
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