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Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Wow – I’m Excited :)

I had a great day today. I got my walk in this morning, went for my massage which was awesome as usual. Other than that, it was a usual day off – did three loads of laundry, fixed dinner, nothing exciting. No, the exciting stuff came later, about 30 minutes ago to be exact. We were just sitting in the living room, watching the news, when out of the blue, Harry says, you know I think I might want to think about retiring when I’m 55. (Note: this is only THREE years away!!) I have known that he’s gotten very disillusioned with his job situation. Harry works for the State of New York, has worked for the state since he graduated from college. But our state government is very dysfunctional, and the state workers take a lot of grief. This year the Gov. tried to furlough them for one day a week, but thank God, his union was able to prevail in a court challenge. Now the latest to happen in Harry’s office is that his boss is leaving, transferring to another department. But due to hiring freezes, he won’t be replaced, and the work will be parceled out to the remaining personnel in the office, who are dwindling.

So anyway, back to this exciting evening…..after that exciting statement, and my saying, are you SERIOUS, you are really ready to retire at 55 instead of waiting? We have checked the numbers and found out that if Harry retires at 55 instead of 60, his retirement will be about $200 less a month. This isn’t really a huge difference! Oh my – I have to say I’m having a little trouble catching my breath at this turn of events!! To think that in 3 short years, well it would probably be 4, but anyway, in just a few short years that we could be hitting the road!!?? Wow!

Now we start really thinking about planning and financials. I hadn’t really gotten to the sample budget point, as, well, 8 years seemed to be a bit far off in the future to start putting numbers together. But now, I guess I’m going to start thinking about it a little earlier than I thought! I guess what sums it all up, is what I said earlier in this post – Wow, I’m excited!!

3 comments:

  1. Jess:

    That is soooo cool! You have to be smiling from ear to ear :)

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  2. I sure am!! :) It is SO exciting, I still can't believe it!

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  3. Those years will fly.

    Len was a state worker in NJ. He had to take furlough days (2 per month) the last 4 months of his employment. He was told that employees would have to take 10 days off a year but would get paid back for 7 of them. In meantime, someone else had to work OT to cover for furloughed people. Does that make financial sense? However, since he retired before getting refunded his pay, all deals were off. So not worth hanging around for!

    So - now you have lots to do and great plans to make. Enjoy the planning. That is so much part of the fun.

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