Let's Talk Retiring from a University - How, What, When and More!

[Ruralguy]

Officially at my school there is no mentioned reduction in either service or scholarship (I'm at a 100-ish ranked SLAC) during phased retirement. However, some people have been allowed to put their entire load into one semester, and this basically take two sabbaticals in the other semesters.

However, since we don't do reviews on anyone once they are in sabbatical mode, nobody enforces service deficiencies especially, but also figure if they don't want to write papers anymore, who cares, and if they falter in teaching we'll be rid of them soon enough.

[clean]

Long, long ago, we had a phased retirement here. You could work 1/2 time for 5 years.  I dont think that they got full pay, though.  They could work full time 1 term and not the other, or 1/2 time for 1/2 pay for the other 2.  And at any time, they could decide not to continue/return.  However, after the 5th year, there was no more. 

That has long been gone, though.  (at least here). 

IF we still had it, I would absolutely do it! 

But the administration decided it was more of a problem than it was worth (to them).  Until the retiree fully retired, the line was not empty so they could not hire a replacement, and they could not necessarily cover the class load, and as they could decide to be full time or half time the term they chose, planning was hard.  (So they could work Full time in the first fall, no time in the first spring, then decide to be out Fall2, and work spring 2.  Hard to write a schedule!! 

Anyway it is no longer an option for us. 

[Kron3007]

Long, long ago, we had a phased retirement here. You could work 1/2 time for 5 years.  I dont think that they got full pay, though.  They could work full time 1 term and not the other, or 1/2 time for 1/2 pay for the other 2.  And at any time, they could decide not to continue/return.  However, after the 5th year, there was no more. 

That has long been gone, though.  (at least here). 

IF we still had it, I would absolutely do it! 

But the administration decided it was more of a problem than it was worth (to them).  Until the retiree fully retired, the line was not empty so they could not hire a replacement, and they could not necessarily cover the class load, and as they could decide to be full time or half time the term they chose, planning was hard.  (So they could work Full time in the first fall, no time in the first spring, then decide to be out Fall2, and work spring 2.  Hard to write a schedule!! 

Anyway it is no longer an option for us. 

I believe the paid phase wind down is part of a buy out package they are offering to encourage people to retire as.a cost savings device.  They will mostly not be replaced, but even if they are, junior faculty make much less so the math still works.

We have quite a few profs that are are retirement age.  Many have high salaries and are not overly active these days.

[spork]

I thought there was a post here about cleaning out one's office before one retires, but now I can't find it. When I began my current job, I made my office feel cozy. A mug and tea bags in my desk. Books on shelves. Framed prints on the walls. I emptied the room of everything except university-provided furniture when it became obvious in early March 2020 that campus would close because of the pandemic. My office remains empty. I don't miss its former accoutrements at all.

My wife and I extended the purge of material possessions to our house. We got rid of anything we hadn't used in the last year, no matter how small. The process was an excellent tool for identifying non-satisfying aspects of our self-identities and focusing more on what we enjoy in life. So in that sense we started retirement before actually retiring. Less physical clutter means less mental clutter. It is saving us money, too, because we more frequently ask ourselves "are we really going to use this enough to justify its price" before making purchases. That's in addition to the money generated by selling unneeded furniture, books, camera equipment, and clothes.

[apl68]

I wonder what happened to a lot of the stuff around my mother's office when she retired?  She had a fair number of souvenirs from overseas study trips she took as part of her work.  Guess they're in her and Dad's storage unit.  I know that relatively few of her books came home with her.  She probably gave as many as possible away to others in her department.

[GuyRien]

We have quite a few profs that are are retirement age.  Many have high salaries and are not overly active these days.

Curious if there is any pressure on them to retire. One option I've thought of is to just coast the last 3 years. So don't have the usual 3+ grants, but have 2. No Ph.D. students but do lots of research etc. But I worry there will be pressure to leave.

[Kron3007]

We have quite a few profs that are are retirement age.  Many have high salaries and are not overly active these days.

Curious if there is any pressure on them to retire. One option I've thought of is to just coast the last 3 years. So don't have the usual 3+ grants, but have 2. No Ph.D. students but do lots of research etc. But I worry there will be pressure to leave.

I don't think so.  Everyone seems to pussyfoot around the topic.  I suspect there are rules that preclude asking about it or pressuring.  That very well may be a union/Canada thing.  Perhaps that is why they have the carrot instead.

Regardless, what could they really do to pressure you?

[Puget]

We have quite a few profs that are are retirement age.  Many have high salaries and are not overly active these days.

Curious if there is any pressure on them to retire. One option I've thought of is to just coast the last 3 years. So don't have the usual 3+ grants, but have 2. No Ph.D. students but do lots of research etc. But I worry there will be pressure to leave.

I've got colleagues in their 80s who clearly should have retired years ago, but no one would dare even hint to them that they should, let alone pressure them.

[Parasaurolophus]

The pension numbers suggest I can consider retiring at around 77, though I'd do better if I held off until 80. Neither case looks great in terms of monthly dollars, however.

I'm not worried about it, though. Either something will change on that front, or it won't. And if it doesn't, well, my partner and I have a decent chunk socked away in a patch of land we can sell. Maybe it'll even have a house on it by then. I don't like working but, to be honest, I don't work all that hard as it is.

[GuyRien]

Gosh what pension is that. We get about 2% for each year of our 3 highest years. If you've been at your job for 25 years you get half your highest salary.

The pension numbers suggest I can consider retiring at around 77, though I'd do better if I held off until 80. Neither case looks great in terms of monthly dollars, however.

I'm not worried about it, though. Either something will change on that front, or it won't. And if it doesn't, well, my partner and I have a decent chunk socked away in a patch of land we can sell. Maybe it'll even have a house on it by then. I don't like working but, to be honest, I don't work all that hard as it is.

[Parasaurolophus]

Gosh what pension is that. We get about 2% for each year of our 3 highest years. If you've been at your job for 25 years you get half your highest salary.

It's a provincial plan. I pay in 10.24% of my salary every year. My employer pays in 10.34% of my salary. Then there's some formula to top it up a bit based on our highest earnings and the length of our contributions. So, not bad--except, of course, for the fact that we're not really salaried, so there may be dips in the numbers. And there are other bits and bobs like the Canada Pension Plan, of course, plus whatever RRSPs I scrape together. But it still works out to a monthly payment that's significantly less than rent now until I'm 80.

[GuyRien]

Ah your in Canada. That explains everything :-)
Just kidding. I think that's the problem with the US system, you are either a winner or your not.

Gosh what pension is that. We get about 2% for each year of our 3 highest years. If you've been at your job for 25 years you get half your highest salary.

It's a provincial plan. I pay in 10.24% of my salary every year. My employer pays in 10.34% of my salary. Then there's some formula to top it up a bit based on our highest earnings and the length of our contributions. So, not bad--except, of course, for the fact that we're not really salaried, so there may be dips in the numbers. And there are other bits and bobs like the Canada Pension Plan, of course, plus whatever RRSPs I scrape together. But it still works out to a monthly payment that's significantly less than rent now until I'm 80.