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Retirement!!!

Why you gotta be a teenager? Now, I have both time and money!:dance
Remember Hugh, if it's 3AM and your at the atm, it's time to re-think the next 2 hours
happay.gif
DAMHIK
 
STATUS UPDATE!!!

Today is my last working Monday ever. I have vacation on Friday, and Monday next week is MLK Day. Six more working days left!

Am I excited, or what?:brad



Just remember - for those of us who refused to grow up and continue to play with two-wheeled toys, there's no such thing as having retired too soon - only too late. :thumb
 
Just remember - for those of us who refused to grow up and continue to play with two-wheeled toys, there's no such thing as having retired too soon - only too late. :thumb

You don't have total control of your happiness in your first childhood but happiness in your second childhood is up to you. I started my second childhood the day I retired at 55.
 
Interesting thread.

I'm one of those folks with an old-style pension working with folks that had a choice 25+ yrs ago. As you can guess, I don't talk too much at work about any future plans. However, after you've done something for a few decades, it is time to move on to new challenges or different perspectives. In a few years that will be me. What happens at that time will be as much a mystery to me as tomorrow is today.

A few years ago, I read an article on the naming of a new CEO for BMW AG. According to the article, BMW selects perspective upper management candidates when they are in their early 40"s, puts them on a path and then selects new CEO's that's in his early 50's from that pool of candidates. At age 60, the CEO must retire from his position, but can stay with the company in some technical or professional role. In many aspects, I like that idea. Give the guy some training, if he's good let him be the boss for 8~10-yrs, then get some new blood in the top spot.

New blood is always good and we can all be that in a new spot or place.

Good luck.
Don't have the link but an interesting article in our paper last wk as a reaction to Romney & his comments about social this & that(trying to keep this ok politically). The writer said that German CEO's make ~ 10-15 times what the workers make there. & of course the workers make more than USA workers on avg. Our CEO'S make 2-300 times what the peons make,go figure... It does seem like I read years ago that the immigrant workers make lots less than the Germans do in various manufacturing jobs .
 
This has been a really interesting thread ever since I received a letter last summer letting me know that my projected retirement date has already passed...
I got a buy out letter, took it, worked a couple more years @ another school & was gone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:thumb
 
Any comparison between American workers & CEO's , with their counterparts in Germany is not in any way shape or form a fair representation.

The German system is so much different than ours here there are no factors I am aware of that can be compared fairly.

I lived/ worked in Germany and other foreign countries for protracted periods of time.
Any flack that tells you the systems are comparable is foolish.

The labor laws alone would make most employers here weep at the very thought.
 
And now I take her everywhere...

And happy & lucky to be doing it! My wife's 1st yr starting her retirement & tomorrow
we rally; at the BMWNEF Winter Rally with appox 550 mostly other retirees! I scoped
out the retirement scene a few years before she was ready.... and haven't looked back,
and seldom stay home long. Too many rallys and road trips I allways wanted to take
in. I don't see getting tired of it... hope she feels the same come year end!
"Breathing is easy... living takes effort" John
 
Any comparison between American workers & CEO's , with their counterparts in Germany is not in any way shape or form a fair representation.

The German system is so much different than ours here there are no factors I am aware of that can be compared fairly.

I lived/ worked in Germany and other foreign countries for protracted periods of time.
Any flack that tells you the systems are comparable is foolish.

The labor laws alone would make most employers here weep at the very thought.
The writer of which I spoke was making the comparison based on the fact that the guy(R) was running on statements that said our current pres was trying to make our country into something similar to the European economy. So, his point was to say how dissimilar they were, in fact. I brought it up as a fishing expedition, knowing someone here would "know" the facts & give me/others some insight,hopefully w/o getting into the D-house.
So, what I hear is, that they cannot be compared. Back to my retirement... & no rallies here as too white!
 
Sorry , I do not understand your last comment

"& no rally's here as to white"

What does that mean ?

I also should clarify what i said about unfair comparisons of systems/cultures;
many years ago I was asked to make a presentation to our board of directors about my areas of responsibility and earnings.

I gave my presentation and the only question asked was;

How much in " real money " ( read US $$)does all that mean ?

I was appalled , here we were a supposedly international company with a 2.6 billion dollar a year turn over, and the people leading and providing guidance were so small they could not comprehend that the money earned in a foreign operation was just that. Earned from the sweat of our employees in their native currency. Had no bearing on US corporation profitability.
I quickly did the conversions and then stated it would be the only time i would bother with it. It was there responsibility to know if they felt it was necessary.
The board never asked me that question again.

Besides the money mostly had to remain in the countries we were working in as the fees charged by those governments to take the money out and convert it to dollars was prohibitive.
We then actually became an international company by using currencies earned there to buy and trade for goods and services provided by the countries in which
we were operating.

Again , that's why i feel there is no fair comparison of labor /management in the USA vs other countries.
 
Funny , I don't think about snow too often :blush

We don't get it here that frequently, last year was a bugger for it. So far this year we have dodged the bullet.:D
 
Funny , I don't think about snow too often :blush

We don't get it here that frequently, last year was a bugger for it. So far this year we have dodged the bullet.:D

...and that's another nice thing about retirement: when it snows you can take yer own sweet time with it. Shovel (not too fast and not too much 'cause, well, retirement usually implies being older and....:bolt). - Bob
 
Paul summed it up well. I 'pulled the plug' at age 53, after 32 1/2 years in law enforcement, and the years since have been simply the BEST!

And Karen's math is impecable - every day worked past an 'exit window' is one less day of retirement - so true!

Don't ever let greed dictate your retirement timeline - punch out as soon as possible, then live within your means.

The 'Happy' factor, as previously mentioned, is priceless! :dance

Congratulations Hugh - now go out and do everything you can.

I don't know how I missed this thread but CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU HUGH!

And to Kevin, congratulations to you also! Like you I retired from law enforcement. I retired in July of 2011 at age 50 (51 shortly after) with what my city determined was 30.7 years of service (all of it with them) But I counted 30 years and 3 days. I was lucky enough to still be under the defined benefits pension. Staying any longer would not have made my pension any bigger and would've only taken days away from my retirement.

Retire as soon as you can without losing any benefits!
 
Yet another factor that played into my decisions to retire is that as the amount of your retirement pension rises it means you are working for a smaller amount of your salary. When I retired from the Army I was working for 34% of my base pay since I got 66% in retirement. I thought it wiser to take the 66% and then work for someone else who would be paying me for 100% of my efforts. I stayed with them until I was working for 50% of my salary.
 
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