Taking Early Retirement - I Retired Early

February 16, 2010
by Jeremiah
2 Comments

US Government Civil Service Early Retirement

Working for Civil Service

I have always thought that working for the US Government as a civil servant, would be the way for some people to take early retirement. It sure worked out well for my cousin Tom. Both of my aunts were nurses and one worked for the veteran’s hospital and the other worked for the county hospital.

Differences between Government and Municipal Service

The aunt who worked for the vetern’s hospital was a true government civil servant. The other aunt who worked for the county had a job that had a lot of the same benefits and retirement as a civil servant, but she was not a true government civil servant. She was just like my cousin Tom. She worked for a municipality but she was not a governement worker in the true sense of the word.

If you entered Federal Service prior to January, 1987, you were covered under a plan known as CSRS or Civil Service Retirement System. These people do not contribute to Social Security and they don’t gvet any at age 66 or whenever.

Questions People Ask About Early Retirement

Who is eligible for early retirement?

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has authorized the agency to offer early retirement to eligible employees. The agency may exclude employees in certain jobs that are critical to the agency’s operation. The agency may revise the list of eligible employees before the early retirement window closes. Unless you are excluded, you are eligible for early retirement as follows:

If you are under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS), you must have served in a position covered by the CSRS for at least l year out of the 2 years immediately before retirement. If you are under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), this rule does not apply.

You must be at least 50 with 20 years of service or have 25 years of service at any age. At least 5 years must be civilian service, whether you are retiring under CSRS or FERS.

You must be serving under other than a temporary appointment. Continue Reading →

February 11, 2010
by Jeremiah
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The 80/20 Rule

You have probably heard about the 80/20 rule before. If you work or have previously worked in a sales organization you might hear that 80% of the sales are generated by 20% of the sales people. In everyday life, you may have heard that 80% of your income goes for 20% of the things you purchase. For example, maybe your house payment and your groceries take about 80% of your pay. And then you get to figure out how to allocate the other 20% of your take home pay for all of the things you need. According to statistics, 80% of the IRS taxes come from 20% of the tax paying people in the United States.

When it comes to retiring early, one of the biggest challenges you face is reallocating the 80/20 rule so that 20% of your income goes to 80% of what you need. If you think of it in those terms, it comes down to a cartoon I saw 20 years ago in the Wall Street Journal where two guys are walking down the street and one says, “I’ve been looking at my nest egg and have come to the conclusion that I either need a smaller nest or a bigger egg.”

So how much do you put aside for retirement? It depends. It depends upon how old you are – are you in your 20s or in your 40s or in your 50s? It depends upon how much you earn. It depends on your job and if you are a professional or if you are a technician or if you are a blue collar worker.

For the sake of example, let’s say you are single, you’re 40, and have some sort of technical job like an Registered Nurse (RN) or Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) or maybe you work in Information Technology as a server administrator or programmer. For this example, I am going to assume that your place of work does not offer a retirement plan such as a penion or 401k retirement plan. If your workplace offers these retirement plans, so much the better. But let’s assume that your place of employment does not. Continue Reading →

February 9, 2010
by Jeremiah
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Saving for Retirement at 20 Years Old

Most of the people I knew when I was in my twenties thought retirement was for old people. Those people already “in the home” or getting ready to go into the old folks home. People who were 60 or so.

I was a little different, since I started thinking about the day when I would not have to go to work every day, when I was in my early twenties and working in a grocery store. And I remember my cousin retiring when he was in his early forties. I was just a teenager, but I asked my Dad what that meant – being retired.

It meant, my Dad told me, that my cousin Tom was probably all set for the rest of his life. As it turned out, Tom’s wife got a brain tumor and died about 15 years ago. But before she died, I remember Tom saying he was glad he retired when he did because it gave he and his wife all that time to be together. They had a great time and lived life to the fullest.

How about you? Are you around twenty years of age? If you are, retirement may be the last thing on your mind too. With that said, it should be at least towards the forefront. Why? Because the amount of money that you are able to save throughout your lifetime can have a significant impact on your future, the amount of money you have, and how you live until you die. Do you really want to be homeless or living with family when you should be able to support yourself? Continue Reading →

February 4, 2010
by Jeremiah
3 Comments

Consider Getting an RV

In the 1960s, when many who are now entering retirement age were youths, a movie called Easy Rider made quite a stir. It was the story of two young men (Peter Fonda and Dennis Harper) riding motorcycles across country to discover America and enjoy the freedom of unrestrained travel.

The song that got most associated with that movie was called “Born to be Wild”. This is an image of unrestrained freedom that seems to stay in our spirits even as we move through life and into our retirement years. Small wonder you may have, as your retirement dream, the idea of selling the house, moving into an RV and hitting the road to discover America yourself. Maybe not as young hippies but with that same sprit of adventure and fun.

This is an “alternative lifestyle” that many people enjoy in their senior years. And to be fair, RV technology is so advanced now-a-days that you really can enjoy virtually all of the luxuries of home but be able to rove the countryside bedding down anywhere you can find an RV hookup and some water.

Continue Reading →

February 2, 2010
by Jeremiah
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What Does Retiring Early Mean?

Retiring early means not having to work every day from 8 to 5 with an hour for lunch. Or having to work every day from 7 to 5 with an hour for lunch. Or having to work every day from 7 to 6 with an hour for lunch, just to pay your bills and give you and your family the life you and they deserve. It means you are not working but the money still comes in every month. It means you have everything taken care of financially and you’re not doing any manual labor to get it done.

When you think about it, it is really a dream come true. You can go out and enjoy the day with your kids, or your wife, or the special person in your life and not have to worry about money. For me retiring early meant I did not have to leave home and drive on the freeway in ice storms or through slush covered streets with people who did not know how to drive in the winter with snow and ice.

I got my inspiration, about retiring early, from two people. The first was my cousin who was quite a bit older than I and retired after 20 years of working for the city planning department. He was 42 and one weekend in October, he came over to our house and told us that he and his wife were leaving for Arizona. My dad wanted to know how long he would be gone and he said, “We’ll be back in April.”

Continue Reading →