Well for me I had planned to work until age 65 so I could go on Medicare. Either that or hubby would have maybe stayed on his job until he was 67 so I could be on his employer health plan and also continue to bring in a paycheck. Not that I wanted to work until 65- I really was burnt out and tired of the schedule of work, though there were certainly some things I liked about it.
Unfortunately, there were changes in management in the workplace and to make it short- I and other long time employees were forced to resign, with no severance packages or anything like that. Small company- no pensions. Meanwhile, hubby was more and more expressing each day how he wanted to retire. He was getting tired of the commute and again- the schedule of work day in and day out. I am 63 and he is 65.
Soooo...last February I interviewed several financial advisors and chose one- an independent that is a fee only and does not manage your assets- just is paid for his advice and planning. We had decided at first that hubby would retire at age 66 (his FRA for SS), which is this upcoming April. But the FA said that of he wanted to, he could retire sooner.
Meanwhile, we had intentions of moving out of state at some point (and were considering a lot of different options for that) after my husband retired and the FA told us to check with some realtors to see what we could get for our home, so we interviewed a few of them also. After the long winter last year, we also made a couple of appts to go up to our state of choice- NH- to see some real estate and take a mini break for a few days. Checked out independent living cottages way up north there and a development in the lakes region, where we preferred to live.
But we were not ready yet, of course. That said, it really bothered us that we could not move forward. We felt we were getting older and were tired and, living in a very rural setting in isolation, we were ready for a change of lifestyle. We really liked the new construction development and location that we had seen in NH (nothing else like it in the state and at our price point) and I was very sad that we were not in a position to buy yet- or so we thought.
Thanks to TUGGERS when I expressed my feelings about the situation, on THEIR suggestions, I called our FA a week after that visit to NH to see if there wasn't some way we could buy the new construction home before our current home was sold. To our surprise he said to go ahead and buy it and not worry about our house selling as it eventually would and we could float some of our money or maybe even get some kind of temp. investment loan or something like that. Elated, I contacted the realtor for the new house, contacted a chosen realtor for our current house, and the following weekend we were up in NH signing papers and our current home was listed the same day. The next day on our way back to NY, the people who were to become the buyers of our house were there looking at it!
I immediately- that same day we got home from NH- started the downsizing process- listing our possessions on Facebook Marketplace. Our porch furniture was taken that very night we got back! We accepted the offer on our current home two weeks after the buyers looked at it.
We closed on our NY home on 9/30, moving on 9/27 into the former home of the people who purchased our home! They needed renters in order to qualify for the mortgage and we needed a temporary place to live until hubby retired. Costing us a fortune to live here but at least we have a 6 month lease- not easy to get. We have paid through February and unless they can get another tenant will be responsible for March as well. Money flying out of our accounts like crazy.
Because the new house was supposed to be done by 11/1 (which it turns out we didn't close on it until 12/31 (and it is still not totally done- but that is another story)), we wanted hubby to retire sooner, like in the Fall, but the process was very overwhelming. He had Medicare Part A, but now needed B and SS needed a form his employer to get him on that, and come to find out if he retired the end of the year and receiving the money in January (which he did officially retire on 12/31) he would get more money (due to an interest rate change or something?) in his lump sum pension (which was cut off at the knees years ago as the company went to a stupid cash balance plan- even after promising older employees that would not happen). Him taking the annuity monthly pension amount would be nothing to live on, which is one of several reasons why we chose the lump sum instead. There was a process for the rollover for that as well, as our FA wanted a Borkerage IRA set up for hubby (for more flexibiltiy with investments) and he only had IRA mutual funds with a mutual fund company. So I had to get that set up for him as well to accept the money.
The next step was getting him on a Medicare supplement and Part D plan, which he had to go through a broker his company uses to qualify for a $60 monthly HRA employer contribution. A nightmare in and of itself and too long a story. And then, of course, there was the issue of health insurance for me, which right now I am on his retiree medical at $545 per month for a high deductible plan! The FA wants me to go on an ACA plan when we move as we are currently living o;n our cash savings, which is freaking me out.
When I tell you dealing with all this involved more time and logistics than you would think would be an understatement. Plus building a new construction house long distance. I handled it all as my husband was commuting and working all day. Getting used to being renters for the first time in our lives and living out of boxes in our 60's. I have been crying for months.
To think, we have to go through this whole process again in 2 more weeks when we finally move to our new home. Changing addresses took me 6 hours to do on this last move. Then we have to get new health insurance for both of us. Not easy. I dread it.
I have also worked on getting medical records sent to the new state- where we had to immediately get a doctor for hubby who is on high blood pressure meds. Not as easy as it sounds. Lots of docs not taking new patients or Medicare or even my insurance. Try to get a recommeneded doc- oh well- no new patients. Ended up taking a crap shoot for a new doc in a practice. I am still trying to get my records sent from my current doc in NY, who just merged with another practice and his office is in a flux. So I have yet to get an appt with the new doc in NH for myself.
So back to the financials- our FA told me to use our cash savings for now to live on until we move and the dust settles. Right now I fugure we are good until June at least. We have a signed agreement with him for this year so he will work with us to get us through. He insists we do not take SS until age 70 and he insists we try to get our tax deferred account balances down (with some Roth conversions) as much as we can as to avoid at least a little bit of the tax torpedo that people incur when they are required to take RMD's at age 72 (or if they need to before). He is taking taxes into account and wants me to go on an ACA plan with subsidies which would involve keeping our income very low on paper. I am still nervous about everything with not having a paycheck coming in and watching our savings account dwindle is so scary to me..
Not only using the money to live on for everyday expenses, but we have so many other expenses with the new house- this little cottage didn't cost that much less than what we sold our home for so we have limited funds left from the former house sale to play with. I just keep withdrawing money and writing out checks and I cringe when I have to look at our savings and checking accounts. But- I have to have faith in this FA we hired to get through it.
So- this has been my- our life so far in retirement. We did get to go to our timeshares this summer and Thanksgiving week (where we got to see our house in person for the first time!) and we were able to squeeze in a planned trip to Utah in Sept. right before we moved into the rental and closed on our NY home. thankfully.
But very little-social life since I retired. Maybe two or three lunches with a friend since 9/'18., and a dinner with 2 former coworkers- again in 2018- and 2 annual friend reunions. 2018 Thanksgiving with my brother and his family. You can see there were so few of them I can remember them easily.
That is why we chose the development to live in in NH. It is not a 55+, but it is like that. Not an ACTIVE adult community with endless activities scehduled, but the residents do plan some parties and activities throughout the year. Some evenings they might get togather for a card game. A senior daytime bowling. Stuff like that. There is a clubhouse and a pool and as I mentioned this is in a tourist area so a lot to do right nearby and we can also walk to the boardwalk/beach/lake. It is quaint and very New England, yet like something you might also see in Florida. HOA does the tiny lawns and plows the private road and covers trash.
So this is just what it takes I guess, but certainly not how I envisioned retirement to be so far.
The good news is- we ARE retired and we did get our little retirement cottage in the area we wanted (which is near where our only child lives as well) and ,God willing, will be moving there in 2 weeks! And- we are so far healthy for the most part and that is priceless.
At some point hope we will look back on this all and laugh, but right now not so much. Sorry this is so long but I wanted for you to get the whole picture. The retirement process for us has not been easy but we are hanging in there.
