Well, it's time to go home. I retire next month

[woodbutcher]

Dang,think I`m getting that"CRS"disease lately.Forgot to mention in my previous post.My Father was a house painter for almost 60 yrs before he retired completely.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

[David2011]

Congrats! I retired last December. Loving every minute. Funny thing is you're running away from Houston; I'm heading there shortly but that's where all of my family lives. Otherwise we would probably go to LA as well.

I've tried retirement........ think it's 4 times now?Haha.Get bored go back to work,and it's not about the lack of money.Money yes,but that's just to support my rifle addiction.

My best advice is try to get on a schedule of part time $$gigs with plenty of time to develop your retirement interests.Best of luck.Naps are the best part,haha.

A friend recently asked me what I'm doing with all of my free time. "WHAT free time?" said I. I've been cultivating my retirement interests since I was 10 years old but didn't know it at the time. I fill my days with boolit casting, reloading, shooting, building radio controlled planes and flying them. I was going to gunsmith but until the stupid manufacturing and ITAR regs are fixed I won't apply for the FFL. I don't want to try to fly under the radar with BATFE involved.

[akajun]

It's been a long ride, 35 yrs with this company. I had planned on retiring next June. The company is cutting the G&A budget so they offered a voluntary severance package and I accepted it. They offered three weeks of pay for every yr of service but they capped it at 52 wks, shucks...
It looks like I will be able to escape Houston around the first week of September. I'll be able to go back to a simpler life in the farm community I live in, in the middle of nowhere.
I still plan to work some as a consultant but from home. I've got a couple of companies wanting my services now.

Congrats, Enjoy your retirement, if you ever make it around Baton Rouge let me know, we can sling some lead.

[Down South]

Congrats, Enjoy your retirement, if you ever make it around Baton Rouge let me know, we can sling some lead.

Thanks for the offer. I just may take you up on it.

[trys357]

Congrats! Enjoy yourself!

[Down South]

Well, I had a sit down with HR yesterday. I was accepted for my voluntary severance package. They would allow me to leave on the first day of September but requested that I stay until possibly the end of September. I have an important position and they requested that I stay and interview the candidates that want to fill my position.
It works for me. I have several more loads of stuff to haul from Houston and I can't get done by September the 1st. I might as well be drawing a pay chek as long as I'm having to move stuff back.

[pworley1]

Congratulations! I have done it twice. It gets better every time.

[Murphy]

Down South,

Congratulations on your retirement. I can say without a doubt I'm looking forward to mine in 14 months (Age 66). I've still got most of my health and hope to stay that way.

I'm fairly sure after the first month or so of not having to set an alarm, I'll start getting busy with the wifes plans for me. After that, I'm going back to what I did full time prior to getting a steady job (and a wife).

Ahhhh, it was a great life I had going. Girls, guitars and guns. Okay, so I'm down to only 2 of those as an option to fill my time. All I need is to find a decent gun range. As for the picking and grinning part, I can do that in my reloading/casting shop out back any ole' time of the day or night.

I'll have 35 years in on the same job when I leave there.

On a final note, a versus from a song I may very well carry a guitar into work that day and sing as my farewell speech.

Everybody, looks good...at the starting line,
Get on your mark, get ready, but you better keep this in mind,
Well you can hit the ground running like your shot from a gun,
Going the distance is the hard part son,
And everybody...looks good, at the starting line.

Murphy

[Down South]

If you took a package
1st Congratulations!
2nd see a good tax accountant especially for work in the first year.

Well, here I still am. They requested that I stay until the end of September. They will fill my position internally and they wanted me to stay and interview candidates for the job. I finished the last interview today. Next Friday is my last day.
It worked out though. I've been hauling stuff back to Louisiana every weekend with one load left to go.

On the tax accountant. It doesn't appear that I will need one. They are going to pay me lump sum a full yr salary.
I checked my federal income tax bracket and I'll fall a few grand below the next higher tax bracket.
My state tax bracket will remain the same too.
What it will save me is the max Social Security tax for 2019 since all the income will show up as 2018 income and I will have paid out the max on SS for 2018.

[smokeywolf]

Down South, not sure about this, but I think I heard or read that lump sum payouts are taxed at a different rate than standard income.

Mine was 'pretty generous' and had to be rolled into an annuity account or it would be taxed at 40%.

[MrWolf]

Well, here I still am. They requested that I stay until the end of September. They will fill my position internally and they wanted me to stay and interview candidates for the job. I finished the last interview today. Next Friday is my last day.
It worked out though. I've been hauling stuff back to Louisiana every weekend with one load left to go.

On the tax accountant. It doesn't appear that I will need one. They are going to pay me lump sum a full yr salary.
I checked my federal income tax bracket and I'll fall a few grand below the next higher tax bracket.
My state tax bracket will remain the same too.
What it will save me is the max Social Security tax for 2019 since all the income will show up as 2018 income and I will have paid out the max on SS for 2018.

Check with a good tax accountant/CPA. Find one in your state as each state can vary considerably. Also look into catch up contributions to retirement accounts if applicable. Good luck. Retirement is great. With cold rain and such my back/neck and arthritis are killing me today. Started a small fire this morning to knock down wet chill some. Lucky me don't have to worry about working today.