When did you retire?

[M R Dux]

Got retired from 27 years of chemical plants when I fell down a flight of steel steps and hit a concrete curb with my head. The fall wasn't bad but the stop was terrible. After 4 shoulder surgeries and 2 cervical fusions surgeries, the company decided they didn't need me around any more. Got a less than 50% disability rating so that kept me from drawing disability but also from being attractive to other companies as an employee. Workman's comp in KY is worthless so I had to find something I could do physically and that might keep me in truck gas and crappie baits. Started my own business and will have to stay at it till the day they put me in the ground. That's what makes me crazy when I see my taxes being used to take care of those who refuse to lift a finger to help themselves or who come here illegally with their hands out.

Retirement? My wife has a nice retirement fund that will keep the lights on but that's about it.

[justfishin2]

Sorry to hear how you were treated. The wife is still battling WM over injuries she suffered on the job over 3 years ago. Their version of worker's comp almost stopped the doc as she was being wheeled into surgery. No 50+ year old woman should be made to load bags of rock and pavers day after day with no help, and now that the surgery has proven to be unsuccessful, she is disabled...able to only work a few hours/day. Looks like she may have to take what they offer or give it all up to a lawyer. She would like to be able to retire on disability, and I can't fault her for that, but because she has a short work history it wouldn't be much. I'm still not positive I will retire in October, but that is the way I'm leaning. Stopped today and talked to one of the people whose mail I deliver, and he showed me pics of crappie over 12" he has caught the past 3 days from a local lake that everyone swears has nothing over about 8" in it. That pushes me toward hanging it up and trying to make up for lost time.

[Barnacle Bill]

Well, I have my "application" for retirement in hand. I had no idea it is so complicated to retire from the government. If things go as planned my last day will be Oct. 31. If I could stand to work another 3 years I would earn nearly $10K more per year in retirement, but there may be a lot of trade offs that outweigh the difference. Decisions, decisions. After I'm retired maybe I will share some of the truly stupid things my employer has done that affect all of us-you would be shaking your heads if you knew the half of it.

It depends on what part of the government you work for.

[justfishin2]

B Bill, I'm sure you are right about that. What I should have said was that I'm amazed that every time I fill out a form it seems to result in another form being required depending on how I answered questions on the previous form. Ugg...typical for almost any branch of the government. The older employees were under the civil service retirement system, and I understand that it was much easier to "quit." This FERS system that all of us are under now is different. We have social security withheld and contribute to our own retirement much like a 401K. That is a much better deal for all taxpayers as civil servants just got 80% of what they were making and never had SS withheld nor contributed anything.

[lowe rider]

My official retirement is today but I had a knee replaced in March so I've been off on sick leave. We lived in Illinois near St. Louis but had wanted to move to Kentucky Lake when we retired. We bought a forclosure house near Paris Landing 3years ago and closed on the sale of our house in Illinois on May 19th. We're all moved in down here but still trying to get organized. We had a 24x40 metal building put up in the backyard and it was just finished last Friday. This will give me a place for the boat ,truck and the fishing gear.

Th wife and I plan on working some down here after things settle down some but for now we are just trying to get organized and catch our breath. MOVING IS A PAIN.

[stormcloud]

I retired at 65 and 10 months on the first of July 2008. It was full retirement age for me. I've had 6 years of good health that I never expected. Haven't had any money problems to date. If we don't have it, we don't buy it. Never been boarded except sometimes in late December through January when it's just too cold to work outside. I fish about five and a half months out of the year. During the summer it's hard to keep up with the yard, flower beds, garden, canning, making jelly, etc. We fill two freezers and eat out of them the rest of the year. When I quit I was working for a good company that was good to me. But I had had enough. It was better for me and it was better for the company. I miss a lot of those guys but I have never thought about going back.

[Ranger R61]

Retired in 1991, at 54 yrs old, from working in the data processing industry. Got into finance and retired from that in 2005. If I lived closer to a BPS I would like to work part time in the fishing department. Started SS at age 62.

[rockmike]

I'm 68, and still in the office at 6:00 every morning. May hang it up at 70---can't decide how I'd handle retirement. One of my partners retired and said the worst part of being retired is that you no longer looked forward to weekends. Some folks thoroughly enjoy retirement and others just sit on their butts and die. Then again, fishing every day might be fun for a year or two.

[Cane Pole]

I retired when I got my govment job about 30 YEARS AGO.

[NUBSTER]

Retired 16 years ago yesterday. Now at 78, I feel like I live in a much different country and I don't like it