[ale] Retirement musings - was Anyone out there?
Jim Kinney
jkinney at jimkinney.us
Wed May 3 20:56:35 EDT 2023
On May 3, 2023 4:48:13 PM EDT, Charles Shapiro via Ale <ale at ale.org> wrote:
>I myself am grateful I've spent my career in a field where I don't have to
>worry about being shot, cut, burned, run over, or falling off a high place.
+100!!!
>
>-- CHS
>
>On Wed, May 3, 2023 at 1:33 PM JEFFREY LIGHTNER via Ale <ale at ale.org> wrote:
>
>> The "temporary" is what got my laptop the ability to attach to them
>> remotely (the only time I ever went on site was for the fingerprinting and
>> the badge I never got to use). I could get into non-critical user
>> applications (e.g. web pages, internal training, video conferencing,
>> messaging). However, I was not allowed to login to any of the Linux
>> systems directly - I could only see screens shared by others. The crazy
>> thing was 2 of my team members got their clearance soon after I started and
>> much of my time was spent directing their actions as they were both more
>> UNIX knowledgeable than Linux and I had expertise in both.
>>
>> Part of the confusion may have been the political situation - I gather at
>> one point they stopped working on clearances because they thought all the
>> contractors had been discharged when in fact those from my agency were not
>> (yet). The SysAdmin team lead told us more than once that it had taken up
>> to 18 months for clearance for at least one person and he'd been strongly
>> told NOT to request status of pending clearances in that case. There
>> seemed to be no rhyme or reason to how long it took. So far as I could
>> tell only one person I'd listed on my submission was ever contacted for
>> confirmation.
>>
>> Of course there has been a strong demand for IT workers so I could have
>> gone back to work but having 2 jobs go away in short order made me feel
>> like a message from the universe to stop working. I certainly had not
>> planned on even thinking about it for a few years before the layoff and
>> even in December of that year wasn't thinking that way yet. If not for all
>> the free time I'd likely not have so closely examined my finances.
>>
>>
>>
>> On 05/03/2023 12:45 PM Chuck Payne via Ale <ale at ale.org> wrote:
>>
>>
>> So, you didn't get a temporary clearance? Six months is a long time. It
>> took me longer to get my federal position ( 1 1/2 year ), but when I was a
>> contractor, I get a temporary clearance and I was able to work while they
>> did full background checks. I know because of Covid-19 there were backed
>> up, a lot of contractors I am working with are just getting their
>> invertviews to finish out their background checks.
>>
>> Now, what I find crazy. If I live where I am working and go to another
>> government job, I have to redo my security clearance, why can't we have a
>> central office that all of the Government uses for clearances? To me if you
>> have for example a Public Trust which is what most need to work for the
>> government unless you are dealing with items that need higher. You can't
>> take clearance from the CDC to DOE. You have to start over. Speaking of
>> retirement, the only reason I became of Ageist in IT, when I got laid off
>> six years ago, at the nice age of 49, I got replaced by three 20 something,
>> all of whom quit because they say that the work I did by myself was too
>> much. I wasn't making six figures, but they were able to take my salary and
>> divide it by three for those kids.
>>
>> Jeffery good luck. I regret taking the fed position but it pays the bills,
>> I need to stay here for 15 more years, I got 12 year who will be in college
>> with most folks retire, I will have to work to make sure she has what she
>> needs.
>>
>> On Wed, May 3, 2023 at 12:13 PM JEFFREY LIGHTNER via Ale <ale at ale.org>
>> wrote:
>>
>> Having been part of what is laughingly called "The Great Resignation" I'll
>> share my thoughts.
>>
>> In Apr 2020 I got laid off after ~16 years due to the pandemic.
>>
>> I dutifully found another job around Aug 2020 but due to political reasons
>> Trump got involved and it was clearly going away. In fact in Jan 2021 they
>> replaced my team members and I in SysAdmin moving us to an application
>> support role. However, it was clear that was not going to last long.
>>
>> Due to waiting for government security clearance I'd been hanging on
>> thinking having the clearance in hand would be valuable for future job
>> searches. However, after 6 months my clearance had neither been granted or
>> denied and it was not possible even for management to request status. My
>> own feeling was after 6 months they should have been able to grant it to me
>> or arrest me for some unknown wrong that would make them deny it. :-)
>>
>> Since my lack of clearance limited me to an advisory role (i.e. no hands
>> on - just video sessions telling others what to do or learning how they did
>> things there) I had a lot of free time. I used that mainly to take
>> online training but also began tracking my retirement savings then doing
>> research. I found out that I could retire early using my savings (not
>> social security - see below). As it appeared the universe was telling me
>> I shouldn't work any longer I resigned in Feb 2021 even though the agency
>> indicated it could place me elsewhere. I later learned that the agency
>> finally had to end all the positions at that employer in April so my timing
>> wasn't bad..
>>
>> Some of what I read/decided:
>> 1) Although one can begin taking social security at 62 it is at a reduced
>> monthly amount from what it would be at full retirement age (FRA) and is
>> reduced throughout the rest of your life not just until your FRA.
>> 2) FRA is based on you birth month and year. For me it is 66 & 8 months.
>> From what I can see it is different by 6 months for each year (e.g. if I
>> was born a year earlier it would be 66 & 2 months but a year later would be
>> 67 and 4 months.
>> 3) If you can wait until 70 (i.e. beyond your FRA) it bumps up the amount
>> you get paid each month even further.
>> 4) Social security earnings can be reduced before FRA by any other income
>> you have (the average mentioned is losing $1 for every $2 in other
>> earnings).
>> 5) If you have homestead property in Georgia certain counties give you an
>> exemption from school taxes in the first year after you turn 62. For me in
>> Cobb county that was a significant reduction.
>> 6) In the year one turns 62 there is a $35,000 exemption and in the year
>> one turns 65 there is a $65,000 exemption from Georgia income tax on
>> retirement earnings. In my case it surprised me because I wasn't actually
>> retired yet but the state treats certain other income as if it were
>> retirement so it saved me money.
>> 7) Obamacare (Healthcare.gov) can give you insurance even in Georgia.
>> They have varying plans but there is an offset credit you can get based on
>> your income. I chose a "gold" plan which was more expensive monthly but
>> has a lower annual out of pocket cost (in network of course) and the credit
>> was fairly good (i.e. I pay less than $1k per month mentioned in an earlier
>> post).
>> 8) At 65 you MUST sign up for Medicare even if you are not drawing social
>> security. The period to do this is the 3 months before your 65th birthday
>> through the month of your birthday and 3 months after it. Otherwise there
>> is a penalty. I gather that if you're still working (or are on a spouse's
>> plan) you may not have to pay for Medicare but you do have to enroll. Of
>> course you can't do Obamacare once you're eligible for Medicare. I have
>> done my enrollment but will still be on Obamacare until my birth month. I
>> haven't gone through all the options at Medicare yet to finalize what plan
>> I'll do. Do NOT buy a book about this. Every insurance company on earth
>> will send you information without you having asked for it. From what I
>> read you have to sign up for Medicare part A (and part B) before doing any
>> other options such as Medicare part D (drug coverage), Part C (medicare
>> advantage) or Medigap. Medicare Advantage is when an insurance company
>> takes it all on and it appears any payment you make is to them and they in
>> turn pay your part A & B premium. Medigap is where you pay Part A & B then
>> pay for another policy to an insurance company to cover the costs A & B
>> don't pay.
>>
>> Most recommendations I read about social security suggested strongly to
>> wait until at least FRA or even better 70 if possible. The reason for
>> reduced monthly payment below FRA and increased at 70 is they expect one to
>> live a certain amount of years so the total payments should be about the
>> same for your lifespan. The few contrary opinions I read essentially
>> boiled down to take it as soon as you can because there's no guarantee
>> Congress or budget constraints would reduce or eliminate social security.
>> Having watched all the debate on that subject over the years I felt it was
>> less of a risk for someone already 62 as they almost always talk about
>> grandfathering in older folks (in fact usually 55) as they'd have no time
>> to get alternate savings if they didn't have them. I chose to defer until
>> FRA (and if possible 70) so have been living off my 401k since Feb 2021.
>>
>> I've been encouraging people for years to max out 401k deferrals (which
>> can be even more for "catch up" deferrals once one hits 50). The tax
>> savings alone make it worthwhile during your working years and if there is
>> an employer match it is free money. The downside is you have to pay tax
>> when you begin withdrawing but only on what you withdraw each year. Be
>> careful about this - I spoke to some folks who were advised to move their
>> money into annuity and didn't realize they had to pay tax on the entire
>> distribution the year they moved it into the annuity. (Annuities are a
>> whole discussion in themselves). You can move money from your 401k into
>> rollover IRA (non-Roth) with no tax penalty once you leave the employer.
>>
>> The biggest hit to my 401k of course was stock market reverses in the last
>> year. Luckily among the many recommendations I'd read was to move 3 years
>> worth of expected living expenses into something non-volatile like cash.
>> I did that (into a rollover IRA of course so I didn't have to pay taxes on
>> it all at once) before the bottom fell out of the markets and have since
>> told folks I felt my decisions in 2021 made me feel a bit like
>> Nostradamus.
>>
>> I've seen the reverses of the IT tech bubble burst of early 2000s, the
>> great recession of 2008-2009 and the wild up and down of the pandemic for
>> the past year or so. I joked that I lost more money in 2022 than I ever
>> thought I'd have. Despite all that my 401k (and now IRA) have definitely
>> increased since I began (belatedly) in the mid 90s so I still recommend
>> 401k deferrals.
>>
>> All the foregoing is based on my reading and decisions and experience. I
>> am NOT a CFP, a lawyer, CPA or any other kind of tax or financial
>> professional so be sure to do do your own reading and/or professional
>> consultations before deciding for yourself.
>>
>> On 04/24/2023 11:57 AM Jim Kinney via Ale <ale at ale.org> wrote:
>>
>>
>> No one ever said on their deathbed, "I wish I had spent more time at
>> work."
>>
>> A major point for officially retiring for me is it makes a clear process
>> where I'm training the next generation and then acting as oversight to
>> verify the training worked, then acting as a guide while they implement the
>> next version/replacement of what they inherited. I realized I don't want to
>> keep doing this until I drop dead over my keyboard. There are other things
>> in life to enjoy.
>>
>> I'm still looking for a big Belgium quad beer taste with less than 10
>> calories and under 1% alcohol so I can drink more of them and stop becoming
>> rounder and sloppier.
>>
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Apr 24, 2023, 7:35 AM Solomon Peachy via Ale <ale at ale.org> wrote:
>>
>> On Sun, Apr 23, 2023 at 04:12:11PM -0500, Leam Hall via Ale wrote:
>> > Really, though, why would you retire? Why not build a life you don't
>> > want to retire from? How many of us do for free at home what we get
>> > paid to do?
>>
>> A man's still gotta eat. And pay for tools/supplies.
>>
>> I never have been terribly happy with my profession in of itself, but I
>> will be the first to agree that its relatively high compensation has
>> enabled a lot of [mis-]adventures over the years.
>>
>> Work to live, not live to work, eh?
>>
>> - Solomon
>> --
>> Solomon Peachy pizza at shaftnet dot org
>> (email&xmpp)
>> @pizza:shaftnet dot org (matrix)
>> Dowling Park, FL speachy (libra.chat)
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>>
>> --
>> Terror PUP a.k.a
>> Chuck "PUP" Payne
>> -----------------------------------------
>> Discover it! Enjoy it! Share it! openSUSE Linux.
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