YIKES, What am I gonna do ???

[kanyonkitty]

I have to go back to w...., wo...., wor...... YIKES WORK TODAY

OK, now someones' gotta fess up and tell me who STOLE summer ?????

OK, so nobody is gonna take the blame, HUM

Well, gonna go out and wash my truck then head off to a days worth of BORING meetings.

Ya'll have a wonderful day.

Kitty

[Tweety]

My condolenses to you How many years 'till retirement? I know someone else who's counting!

[kanyonkitty]

6 Years And with the way the stupid laws/requirements keep changing, those 6 years can't go fast enough.

It's to the point that I feel like asking "What time do you want me at your house so "I" can get your child ready/prepared for school"

Gone are the days where "people were responsible for their own actions"

What part of "you are supposed to be WAITING at the bus stop 5 minutes prior to scheduled bus arrival time, NOT the bus is waiting at the stop for you to arrive

OH well, eventually, I'll be counting down the days instead of years

[GoodoleBob]

Well Kitty, as one whose has had to wait in line in back of a School Bus which is also waiting for little Johnny to halt his lazy, skate board carrying, no books to be scene, butt out the door...trust me...none of us are having any fun with this routine.

You can look at it this way if it helps any...It's a job!

Endure my friend, and eventually time will solve this problem for you.

Bob

[Honda03842]

The best thing I did was marry my wife. The second best was to stop working. If I had known RVing was so much fun I would have stopped working sooner.

May your retirement be soon and wonderful

[dkasten39828]

Kittty, you and I are in similar boats... 5-6 years to go. At least we can see that "light" at the end of the tunnel.

While I will actually retire end of January 2011 with 31 years, I am taking advantage of the Deferred Retirement Option program they still have. So I can work up to another 5 years, if I choose to. Same salary & benefits except no additional retirement contributions made to my retirement account. That is locked in. They put the employer contributions in an interest bearing 401K-type account which I can cash out or roll over when I leave.

I still like what I do and who I work with, so it's not such a bad prospect.

[Stan47]

I had a small pension with a defense contractor I worked for in the seventies. The company had been sold and split up, but when I finally found the pension fund, it was being administered by MetLife--a good thing. The age of eligibility was sixty, and I took it, reduced bennies and all, figuring I might not live to 65. (That was before wrecking the rig last year BTW)

When I turned 62 last year that made me eligible for Social Security at a greatly reduced amount. I filed for SS retirement, again figuring that the way things are going there may not be such a thing as SS in three or four years. I have not yet received a payment this year, because they wait until a certain point when you have other income. Even if I earn enough to defer the entire SS amount this year, it sits there as an instant-unemployment insurance scheme for me. With my current job I have no unemployment or disability benefits because it's considered part-time. Of course, I've driven 16,000 miles for the job since last November, but that's not how they measure it.

IMO, anyone who is close to the minimum retirement age ought to consider taking the retirement a.s.a.p. You can keep working, whether it's SS or a private pension. I just don't think that we boomers can afford to depend on the government and our employers keeping their promises regarding retirement. So I say take the money and run.

[awellis3]

As a retired high school English teacher, I can sympathize, Kitty. I had to put up with that kid in class.

Now I sit on my porch and watch the buses go buy and sip on the second cup of coffee.

Teach

[MACK C-85]

Well our rug rats started back today.....

Our daughter was really concerned (flipped out would probably be a better description ), not only was she starting Middle School, she is going to a different one than all her elementary classmates. We were standing in front of the school this morning when we noticed another girl that was wrapped around her mom bawling, Becky looked at her and up at us, as to ask persmission, and Carol told her "it looked like someone could use a friend". Becky went over to her, offered her a hug and a kleenex.....By the time the doors opened the two of them headed off to a new experience together.....Dad and Mom couldn't have been PROUDER!!!

Our new friends moved to our area just two weeks ago from Ottawa, Canada.

Mack

[tedontario]

Well Retirement is Jan 21 2011 for me. I am a long haul trucker in Ontario CA. When you do that work in ON CA and reach 65 your AZ automatically expires. It can be renewed on a year by year bases but that for sure is not my plan. I have been at it since June 1965 and I will be more than glad to hang it up. I have a Union Pension which will not be a lot but glad to have. I will also get Canada Pension plan and Old Age Security. At the moment I am home recovering from a broken heel and I could just say to heck with it and be done. The only problem is a bit of pride as I am the senior driver and I hate to go out due to and injury and if I go back we get to go to Disney World. Next May is our 40th anniversary and Disney World's too. As it is one of our favourite camp spots just seems like a good point to aim for. To every one who has made it to retirement I say congratulations, to me thats like the big prize.
Ted

[GoodoleBob]

My wife took Social Security at 62 since her job of 28 years was ended by the poor economy and her companies subsequent closure. Jobs are really hard to find too for older people.

When I turned 62 I went to visit the SS man and discuss my choices. He explained about the hold back clause since if I stay working the amount of earning creates the need to retain the check flow for the first several month of each year...not to my likling at all...I wanted to double dip...but afraid not. So I chose to stay working for a while and crank the monthy payout higher, at about 8 dollars more per each additional month I stay employed...that plus medical insurance is a biggy in my world. I actually enjoy working still...retirement will never be one big camping trip for me either...or cutting the cord and fulltiming as some chose to do. But when the feelings right I will do as we all do eventually.

Bob

[kanyonkitty]

1-2-2016 I will turn 62, and I plan on hanging up bus driving (unless they offer me a $5 -700 dollar bonus to finish out the year. But then again, recently, they have been offering a $500 bonus if you tell them 6 months in advance of your retirement date so I could tell them in june of 2015 that I'm done Jan 2016, will have to see what is offered in 9/2015.

I will have 22 years in at the school, 14 years state of NJ pension, and SS that started when I was like 15. So, I plan to call it quits when I'm 62, I want to collect my $$$ for as many months as I can and NONE of us know how long we will be around to collect. I "should" do pretty good on my pensions, well a least I hope. I did get estimated figures a few years ago.
Man I hope the saying is true that as you get older time goes faster, I want my MONEY !!!!! Thats my plan and I'm sticking to it.

[Stan47]

One reason I say take it as soon as you're eligible is that it's a guarantee they will be increasing the "full retirement" age, and a good bet that the early retirement penalty will get worse as well.

Ted, I can empathize with the broken heel. I have been fighting with a heel spur for a couple of months. Since my job requires me to stand in one spot sometimes for a half hour it has been especially bad. Had a steroid shot right in the heel, which was nasty but helped the pain some. And I finally got fitted for orthotics, at least for my dress uniform shoes. Those dam things cost nearly a thousand bucks. Thank God for medical insurance!

[Drake]

Retirement is the way to go...take it as early as you can and "live long and prosper." I'm a retired H. S. English teacher as well, aswellis3...whoa that looks like a typo! I still teach 1 (count'em... 1) class at the community college and mentor new teachers from Sept.-Dec each year; this keeps me busy enough. I retired in '01 with 29 years, at age 56, and took Soc.Sec at 62. I have been blessed with good health and have had a chance to do many things since 2001 that I would never have had the opportunity to do had I worked 6 more years. One of the reasons I became a teacher was that I realized early on, you just can't buy time. The summers gave me time with my family. Give me the time over the money any day. Again...I am blessed.
I despair for folks working today. Generally the companies don't want to pay benefits and they certainly don't want to pay retirement. My advice is to stash every penny you can in your own retirement fund (preferably one not run by a bunch of crooks) when you are young. Otherwise, unless you inherit money, you will work until you are at least 65 with no guarantee of Soc. Sec. at retirement.