# Anyone planning on retirement this year.



## Daniel A. (Mar 20, 2011)

Just wondering how many readers have a plan to retire this year or are thinking about it.

Having retired two years ago I've never looked back or regretted my choice.


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## leoc2 (Dec 28, 2010)

Within 5 years for me with a DB pension and 50/50 FI/EQ portfolio. How about you?


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## Maltese (Apr 22, 2009)

Within 5 years for me too with 37 years under my belt if I stay that long. I'm kind of afraid though because a friend of mine retired last June at the age of 65 and is now bored and in need of money. She's looking for work.


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## piano mom (Jan 18, 2012)

My husband's job will be terminated at the end of May. His intention is to collect the full year of severance and then about nine months of full E.I. (He calls it payback time since all his working years, he never once claimed E.I) We have an agreement that we would both make enough to cover our day to day expenses leaving our savings (investment only not including house) to grow to just over a million $ which I calculated will be about when we turn 50. At that point, we will start to prudently withdraw 3 percent annually, that with our rental income should serve us nicely, I hope. If not, back to work we go (should I say HE goes):biggrin:


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## Daniel A. (Mar 20, 2011)

Maltese said:


> Within 5 years for me too with 37 years under my belt if I stay that long. I'm kind of afraid though because a friend of mine retired last June at the age of 65 and is now bored and in need of money. She's looking for work.



One thing I did was get involved with hobbies I never had time for earlier this I did starting 5 years before retiring and I've not been bored. For some it takes many months to find things they like to do.
In year one I spent a fair bit of money but am now down to living within my pension.
In year one I thought about working parttime and quickly gave up on that idea after someone offered me a job.
After 40 years of work I just want to do what I want.


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## skiwest (Oct 24, 2011)

Dec 2013 was my date but now March 2014 as getting some stock options and it would be silly not to take advantage of that. Wife is now semi retired in that only going to do some contract work for a couple of years. Using this 24 months to settle things out while I still earn some money to fill up the money bag. Just 50K short of my number but want to have a 150-200k margin on that number.


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## Daniel A. (Mar 20, 2011)

It tends to take the first year to get the expenses lined up with income so having extra helps.


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## Islenska (May 4, 2011)

Actually I found retiring only meant switching activities. Sure the pay is less but you still get up in the morning. Everyone can figure out their financial picture, you live on what you have and probably the majority will do just fine. My thrill last year was to help a farmer combining for 6 weeks quite a change from the previous pharmacist work but enjoyable for sure. (No couldn't imagine buying a farm)!


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## Just a Guy (Mar 27, 2012)

I never planned to work in the first place, and see how well that turned out...


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## MrPCMan (May 3, 2012)

Yup, planning on retiring in June after 30 years service and a DB pension...is it the right move? I'm only 50 so this may not be my last job, haven't decided yet. I have dabbled in trading options a few years ago, may take that up again, as long as I don't lose all my retirement income...LOL.


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## Square Root (Jan 30, 2010)

been retired for almost 6 years with minimal regret. Never bored. i think only boring people are bored in retirement. Also, being well funded in retirement has made it more fun for us but this is not necessary. As long as you have a reasonable income level there are tons of great ways to use your time. It took me a while to adjust to my new life though and depending on the job you had, may be a concern for some.


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## Spidey (May 11, 2009)

Square Root said:


> been retired for almost 6 years with minimal regret. Never bored. i think only boring people are bored in retirement. Also, being well funded in retirement has made it more fun for us but this is not necessary. As long as you have a reasonable income level there are tons of great ways to use your time. It took me a while to adjust to my new life though and depending on the job you had, may be a concern for some.


I admit that I'm getting bored. (And I don't take insult at the "boring people" comment - It may be true.) I have a fair amount of activities I'm involved in - I'm a volunteer with a couple of worthwhile organizations, I kayak, cycle, ski, study French, and I'm starting to study Spanish. But my wife and everyone in my social group is still working. I can't quite put my finger on it, but there seems to be something about paid work that is very fulfilling. I took quite a low-level, temporary job for a couple of weeks and it actually felt quite good to get back into that groove again. There was even something extremely satisfying about seeing that little bit of money show up in my bank account, even though my portfolio often rises or falls by several times that amount on a daily basis.:smilet-digitalpoint


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## Barwelle (Feb 23, 2011)

rikk said:


> One time payments include 501 hours of unused vacation,


501 hours of unused vacation?? :eek2:

That's twelve-and-a-half weeks of vacay that you didn't use. How nice that they let you collect, then paid you out at the end! (My current employer's policy is that vacation time expires after 15 months... not sure if they would pay us for it though.)

Congratulations, by the way. Enjoy the freedom!


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## rikk (May 28, 2012)

Barwelle said:


> 501 hours of unused vacation?? :eek2:
> 
> That's twelve-and-a-half weeks of vacay that you didn't use. How nice that they let you collect, then paid you out at the end! (My current employer's policy is that vacation time expires after 15 months... not sure if they would pay us for it though.)
> 
> Congratulations, by the way. Enjoy the freedom!


Thanks ... fwiw, the agreement was could carry over 35 days/yr which I've been doing, plus there was a 37.5 hrs to use whenever, and I hadn't used any of this years 30 days yet ... I chose leave now and take the $$s  versus stay on and use up the hours. So you might want to look into whether you'd be paid or not.


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## Square Root (Jan 30, 2010)

@Spidey. Sounds like you have lots to do. maybe what you describe isn't boredom but simply missing the work environement? maybe you retired too early? Anyway good luck, good to have the choice.


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## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

Barwelle said:


> [ ... ]
> 
> (My current employer's policy is that vacation time expires after 15 months... not sure if they would pay us for it though.)
> 
> Congratulations, by the way. Enjoy the freedom!


Most of my employers have either allowed a maximum carryover into the next year of 5 days. Anything over is paid out as cash.

If you swear you are taking a big trip like going to France or Australia, they will on a case-by-case basis consider if they are willing to temporarily grant 10 days. They do monitor if you actually use the full vacation in the carry-over year.


+1 on the Congratulations to the retiree!


Cheers


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## uptoolate (Oct 9, 2011)

30 April 2014.


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## Financial Cents (Jul 22, 2010)

I've got years of work to go unfortunately. I like working, don't get me wrong, but I like working on my terms not someone else's. Maybe someday. Kudos to everyone recently retired or planning on retiring soon. Great stuff and enjoy


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## jambo411 (Apr 6, 2009)

25 months 28 days and 6+ hours, but who's counting?


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## Ihatetaxes (May 5, 2010)

Based on the growth of our household net worth I should be able to retire around 53-55 years old but with teenage daughters in the house at that time I might push it off until they head away to University!!! Either that or have a great man-cave with a lock on the door to be able to escape the wrath of living with a menopausal wife and two raging hormone teen girls. Even now I usually have a painted toenail or two and spend more time playing dress up, tea party and dolls than any man should!!


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## fraser (May 15, 2010)

I was retired thru downsizing at 58. I was fortunate in that I was financially prepared for it and I received an attractive seperation package. I worked for a company that had been downsizing for the past 18 of my 25 years. Am I glad to be out, yes. Did I want to go back and do some consulting, no. But I know a number of people who were anythng but prepared when they were downsized. We spent the last two years doing a number of travel vacations and preparing our home for sale. We consider ourselves to have retired this summer though I have yet to claim my DB pension.

The process of downsizing our home and downsizing our life has been a good one. We no longer need a 5 bedroom, walkout home. We have been clearing out this place for seven months. The city collection people probably do not appreciate our custom. So, the POD is being delivered next month. All our remaining possessions get loaded in and stored. We will be homeless. We will travel for five months and then decide...condo, bungalow, villa, townhouse, whatever. The only downside will be shopping for some new, smaller furnishings when we return. I hate shopping-most especially for home furnishings and soft goods.

The one thing that we have learned is that we in North America are simply too affluent. We have too much stuff-it takes over our lives. Over the past six months it seems that the more we discarded, the more satisfied we were. We really notice this when we travel. North Americans seem to carry lots and lots of suitcases compared to other groups that we have met. We are looking forward to lower utility bills, lower property tax bills, considerably less home maintenance, more volunteer opportunites and a great deal more travel. Oddly enough, last time we did this was 35 years ago. We sold our small townhouse, stored our few possessions with relatives, and travelled Europe in a VW van for six months. It is like deja vu, only we will be having more comfortable beds this time.

What concerns me most is what our children's retirement will look like and how unprepared many baby boomers are for this life altering event. We are very fortunate in Canada. Prior to leaving my employer I spoke to a numer of my peers in the US who were frightened of early retirement. Not because of the job loss but because of the loss of medical insurance. Sad but true. Makes one appreciate what we have in Canada-including our taxes (high as they may be) and our self serving politicians who never seem to get their greedy snouts out of the trough.


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## habsfan59 (Oct 23, 2012)

*2 more years....!*

I am presently 53 (spouse 52). At 55 we will stop working (2 for me, and 3 yrs for my wife,:chuncky: LOL). Both have DB (payable at 60, otherwise there are penalties). Will use our RRSP/saving/dividends until 60 and then collect our DB. We can always call for early DB payment but there will be penalties (this is Plan B). At any rate, we don't see ourselve working pass 55. Obviously it helps that no mortgage, no debt, kids out (and their education paid for). Time to enjoy (and spoils the grand-kid(s)).


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## Cal (Jun 17, 2009)

Summary for the Retirement Haze: http://brighterlife.ca/2012/10/25/having-trouble-adjusting-to-retirement/

Seems to offer a different perspective than the advertising banks and financial institutions would have us believe.


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## Square Root (Jan 30, 2010)

Nice link Cal. Read the piece(not the book). I agree retirement takes some adjustment. In order to get the most out of it you need to plan for it but more importantly be flexible in your approach and open to new things and people. Took me a few years (2-3) to really adjust. It really is a whole new life and will be what you make of it.


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## jack4567 (Nov 4, 2012)

*stopping working 8 years ago*

I stopped working at 47 in 2004 and became a self-finance advisor. I managed my investment portfolio with mutual funds . I am lucky enough to make my MF investments grows up a total return of 184.72% with an annual return of 7.97% vs. 3.71% of TSX (as at Oct 31,2012) over past 8 years. At beginning of the retirement, the ratio of my family annual expenses and total investment values, or withdrawal rate, was 5.72% , which is too risk to be retired. Right now, this number is down to 3.14%. I feel very comfortable with my investment. My wife stopped working 2 years ago. Both of us have no DB pension ( actually a little, negligible).


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