Retirement Planning - A Look Back

I have been asked by a blog reader if I would do something like a balanced life series when it comes to retirement planning and preparations.  Here's the relevant part of her comment:  

"Hello Bless,
.... I wanted to ask if you would consider doing a series on how you prepared for retirement, financially, mentally, spiritually, etc., similar to how you've shared your monthly balanced goals. Retirement touches and engages all aspects of ourselves, similar to the balanced life goals, so I'd love to read a series on that. Thanks for considering this as I'm sure others would benefit from such a series as well!"

I must admit that I feel very flattered by the request!  But, to be quite honest, while I knew that I would eventually retire, one day, I really didn't sit down and consider all aspects of how retirement would impact me.  When it came to retirement, I focused more on the financial aspects of retiring and living on a fixed income than on anything else.

Just to give a little background on my retirement planning:

There was a time when I considered taking an early retirement (prior to accumulating the 30 years of service required to receive a pension at my work place; I was not eligible to receive Social Security)  But, I would have had to pay an "early retirement penalty" with a certain percentage of my retirement pay being deducted based on the number of service years I lacked.  I was still paying a mortgage at the time and putting my daughter through university, so, I decided that I couldn't afford to retire early.  

Then, I decided that I would retire after 30 years.  When 30 years of service rolled around, I had finished paying off my mortgage, but, my daughter was attending grad school and I was paying her tuition and her rent ($2,000/month rent for a 400 square feet studio apartment, but, it was in Berkeley and close to the campus).  So, I decided that I will work a little longer and perhaps complete 35 years of service before retiring.  Part of my thinking was that it would enable me to replenish some of my savings which I had used to fund my daughter's education.  That is how I decided when I would retire.  Once again, it was mostly a financial decision.

At the time, I had an area called "Career" in my monthly balanced life goals and my retirement planning took place concurrently with other day to day activities and monthly planning.

This is from a Monthly Balanced Life Goals post from July 31, 2015.

"Career:  Celebrate 32 years of working at my place of employment (on July 5)!  Long term goal is to retire in 3 years, with 35 years of service - Completed 32 years of service. :)"

Shortly after I wrote that, I was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer and my attention was focused on health matters.  I still thought about retiring, someday, but, didn't write anything about retirement planning until almost three years later, on March 31, 2018, in a post titled Making a Start on Friday:

"I also made a start on the retirement plans!  I registered to attend a retirement seminar!  The seminar will provide information about the process, available benefits, and so forth,  So, that's something I will be doing in the next few weeks.   There are several forms to be downloaded and filled out, too, and submitted with copies of various documents, but I don't need to do that until after I attend the retirement seminar and get more information.  Just registering for the seminar seemed like a big step, to me!  Suddenly, it seemed more real!  I need to make a list of questions I have, so that I remember to ask them if they are not covered in the seminar."

Then, after I registered to attend the retirement seminar, I started to think about my retirement budget:

"On Friday, once I made my decision to attend a retirement seminar, I calculated a couple of different estimates of what my retirement pay would be, depending on when I retire (right now, end of  summer, etc.)  I admit I have done this on previous occasions, too, just to get an idea, even when retirement was several years in the future.  Although I don't know what my deductions will be and, therefore, my net pay, yet (I have always based my budgets on net income, after deductions), I want to get an idea of what I will receive and how well will I be able to manage on a retirement income.  Financial experts often recommend trying to live on your retirement pay for a few months (preferably 6 months to a year) prior to retirement, to get an idea of how things will be. "

If you read the original post, which I have linked, you will be able to see just how much I focused on the financial aspects of retirement.

I was unable to attend the first retirement seminar I had registered for because my registration hadn't gone through and I was too late to sign up for it, when I called.  So I had to register for another retirement seminar which I attended on May 3, 2018:  

"Today, I attended the retirement seminar in the morning.  It was very helpful, but, a lot of information to process!  I had already found out some of it, but, it was helpful to have them give an overview, too.  I still need to sit down and read the information I was given and absorb it all!"

A week later, on May 10, 2018, I met with the Human Resources personnel to further discuss retirement plans and options.  During this meeting, I was made aware of the fact that I had the option of using up all my accumulated vacation time (there were almost 3 months of accumulated vacation time) before I retired or getting paid a lump sum for the unused vacation, which seemed like a very attractive option to me!  

The May 2018 Balanced Life Goals review reflected my retirement planning activities:

"Career:  The goal is to continue to work while planning for retirement.
- Continue to do my assignments in a timely manner - On-going
- Meet with supervisor to go over assignments and establish priorities - Accomplished
- Attend the retirement seminar (scheduled for 5/3) - Attended the seminar and received much information.  Scheduled the final counseling session for June (to fill out and hand in the retirement paperwork)."

My June Balanced Life Goals Update revealed that I had been busy during the month of June, gathering all the various documents I needed to submit my retirement paperwork:

"Career:  The goal is to continue to work while planning for retirement.
- Continue to do my assignments in a timely manner - - On-going
- Read up the brochures and other retirement related information - Did so; still more to information to process, though!
- Print out and fill out the required paperwork (lots of forms!) - Did most of them, but some will have to be redone, because of retirement date changes!
- Gather all the documents (birth certificates, marriage certificates, divorce papers, etc.) that are being required to be submitted and make copies  - Accomplished
- Attend the retirement counseling session (scheduled for 6/20) - Accomplished"

By this time, I was giving some additional thought to retirement and what I would do once I retired.  For example, when it came to Spiritual matters, I decided to wait until I retired to continue to attend the Friday night meditation sessions at the temple:

"- Take time for meditation - continue to attend the Friday night meditation sessions at the temple - I decided to wait until I had retired, as it was a bit of a rush to get home from work around 6:30 p.m., go to pick up my friend and then, drive to the temple to be there by 7:00 p.m.  It didn't give me enough time to change out of work clothes, freshen up a bit, feed the cat, have a cup of tea, etc.  And all that rushing around in the half hour preceding wasn't very conducive to slowing down to meditate!"

I was also aware that, after I retired, I would have more opportunity to participate in temple activities, as they had something taking place almost on a weekly basis.

In July, 2018, there was much thought and weighing the pros and cons of when to actually retire,  whether to take my accumulated vacation days before I retired or accept payment in lieu and the financial consequences of doing that, in terms of having to pay additional taxes, etc.  After talking matters over with several others, including a former supervisor who shared her experiences with retirement planning, I decided that I would take my accrued vacation days before I retired.

This meant that I would officially retire in mid-October, 2018, but, my last day of work at the office would be on July 20.  In a way, I was easing into retirement.  However, as a result, I had to revise my retirement paperwork to reflect the October retirement date.  The paperwork took me a long time but, eventually, they were completed and submitted in mid-September, as I had to submit them 30 days prior to the retirement effective date.

On October 15, 2018, my retirement went into effect, officially.  By that time, I had had plenty of time to get used to being retired!  

Of course, the one question everyone else asked me was, "What are you going to do when you retire?"  Or a variation of it, such as, "How will you occupy your time?  What will you do all day?", etc. I had several replies to that question, but, that will be another post, I think.  This post is already long enough with the various links to past posts, etc.

If you are already retired, how did you prepare yourself for retirement?  If you are still working and considering retirement, how are you preparing yourself for it?