Your Retirement Age

[mamselle]

Monday* or never.

And since I have nothing in place for Monday...well....

M.

*Not totally facetious...a significant birthday approacheth....

[downer]

Quite a few people I know in their late 50s without kids are now either retired, semi-retired, or close to retiring. Even some with kids are thinking about it. I'm sort of semi-retired although I guess with my work load this semester, not really.

I'd probably want to keep teaching for a long time if only to keep access to a university library. But I could do a couple of online courses each semester and that would be enough.

[Tee_Bee]

Age 70 for me is the target. My social security retirement age is 67 in any case, and I didn't start contributing to TIAA-CREF until I was 34. But if I am still productive and having fun I'll keep at it a while longer. It's indoor work with little heavy lifting.

[Cheerful]

Thanks to posters so far!  I have benefited from reading your different experiences and perspectives.  Hope this thread continues.  I'm interested in reading more.

I now see what 70s are looking like.  I just dont see that I can accomplish anywhere near what my parents did in their 60s IF I wait into my 70s.  I have some things that I would like to accomplish and more and more I realize that the future is far from guaranteed and that health can be fleeting.  IF you have goals, you postpone them at your peril.

Glad you're doing better, clean!  I agree with what you say about the 70s and want to retire long before age 70.  Ideally, I would like to have the option of retiring as soon as possible and then make my decision rather than having it made for me.  The federal retirement age shouldn't be raised just because people are living longer.  Quality of life matters.

In sum, if we combine wealth (retirement income), health (ability to work), health care and the presence or level of family commitments  I suspect that we have the vast majority of factors that determine one's retirement timing decision. I imagine 'hassle factor' or enjoyment of the job and having something to 'retire to' (echoing my retired chair's advice 'dont retire FROM something, retire TO something).  What other factors do you think would influence the decision?

This list covers many factors, thanks.

[spork]

[. . .]

when I want to retire will depend on two things:

-My health
-How badly and how fast academia deteriorates. That it will continue deteriorating as a career is a given (glut of PhDs and other higher degrees) the only question is how fast and how bad.

When I will in fact retire will depend on my health and my finances.

My thinking up until a few years ago was that I would continue working until 70 or 72, with my wife, four years younger, retiring at about the same time. Now I'm at 53, regaining my health after almost two years of idiot physicians not identifying the cause of the problem, and work has steadily become less satisfying. Job conditions are probably going to deteriorate over the long term as the pool of potential students shrinks. So 65 is looking more realistic.

My wife and I have stepped up our efforts to do now what we say we will do during retirement -- such as travel internationally -- while we are still physically able to do it. Recently we have checked Istanbul, Morocco, and Belize off our list.

[secundem_artem]

I'm 63 and according to Sociable Insecurity, my retirement age is 66 yrs 4 months.  Assuming no major health crisis, my planned retirement age is 70.  For a number of reasons, Mrs. Artem and I were not in a position to save much towards retirement until we were in our 40's.  My TIAA account has done VERY well the last few years, but Mrs. A's employer's pension contributions were in the form of shares in their failing industry.  And then she got downsized out of a job.  So my decision to hang on until 70 looks like a firm one, barring any unforeseen disasters.

More recently, Artem U has begun making increasingly unsubtle noises about convincing some of us alte kakers to consider early retirement.  Our Bored of Trustees has just approved a buyout package worth approximately 2 packs of gum and a bag of chips.

Retirement at age 70 it is.  At which point we will move back to our home country where the exchange rate and health care system should be more conducive to not living on cat food. 

All this of course, assumes that Agent Orange does not collapse the entire global economy with another of his idiotic tweets.

[Kron3007]

I'm still fairly young, so who knows what will change by then but I don't really envision retiring until I have to for health reasons.  I like working, but again that could change by he time I reach that decision. The earliest I can see would be 65 though, based on pension etc.

[AJ_Katz]

Some academics have no desire or intention to retire.  Others would like to retire many years before age 62, if possible.

At what age would you like to retire?

At what age do you plan to retire?

I'd like to retire at 60, if not sooner, which is still 20 years away.  However, I don't know what future health conditions might afflict myself or partner, so would be willing to work until 65 or 70, as necessary.  My mom passed from cancer in her mid-60's, as did a colleague in his mid-50's, so I plan to retire as soon as possible and buy that RV we've been dreaming about and travel the U.S.   

[science.expat]

I'm in my mid fifties and have changed jobs and countries a few times. I'm currently in a new leadership role which I really enjoy and I'd like to be in higher level positions before I retire. So right now, for financial planning reasons, I'm saying 72 which would give me just over 15 more years of working. Of course, health or other circumstances could change this.

[professor_pat]

I'm 64 now and retired at 62. I am completely happy I did; the point was to retire while I still had good energy to enjoy it, work on nonacademic writing projects, dabble in art, travel, etc.

With the extra time and available energy, I've had good success in publishing those projects. I've had some amazing trips that were fantastic partly because I'm still young enough to clamber around in challenging environments, and although I hope to stay clamberworthy well into my 70's or beyond, realistically this is my good decade for all that.

I'm living pretty frugally and can get by leaning partly on SO's income, though if I were on my own I'd increase my freelance editing work to generate the needed additional income. I don't think I would have kept working my academic job even in that situation—it was time to close that career out.

[bento]

I wish someone would decide this for me.  Like in Greece, where the government says to academics "You are out at 65 and will never work in academia again".

I can't make up my mind.  I love my job so much, but the administration types are more frustrating to me every year (or I have less patience).  I wanted to keep working long enough to see my discipline become truly diverse and inclusive, but that is just not happening fast enough.  I have no health reason to retire, and the savings are adequate. 

The only advice I have is: When you have decided to retire, don't announce it too far in advance.  People pretty quickly start talking about you as if you were already a ghost.  I've seen this on multiple occasions.

[0susanna]

Age 70 for me is the target. My social security retirement age is 67 in any case, and I didn't start contributing to TIAA-CREF until I was 34. But if I am still productive and having fun I'll keep at it a while longer. It's indoor work with little heavy lifting.

Age 70 has been my target, but I find myself increasingly bored and frustrated with higher education's growing obsession with administrivia, while having less patience with students who don't know what they don't know and don't care about learning. Maybe I'm just in a cranky phase, but at last check, it looked like I could probably retire comfortably at 67, and I'm seriously considering that option. Nothing set in stone, yet.

[dr_codex]

Age 70 for me is the target. My social security retirement age is 67 in any case, and I didn't start contributing to TIAA-CREF until I was 34. But if I am still productive and having fun I'll keep at it a while longer. It's indoor work with little heavy lifting.

Age 70 has been my target, but I find myself increasingly bored and frustrated with higher education's growing obsession with administrivia, while having less patience with students who don't know what they don't know and don't care about learning. Maybe I'm just in a cranky phase, but at last check, it looked like I could probably retire comfortably at 67, and I'm seriously considering that option. Nothing set in stone, yet.

Update: According to my TIAA rep, I could retire at 67, and spouse at 62, with minimal increases to current contributions. Better than I'd hoped.

[Cheerful]

Has anyone changed their retirement plans or dreams since January?

[apl68]

We have a staff member who has been making noises about retirement.  She's 63 but could pass for older.  I've been trying to encourage her to hang in there for another couple of years, so that she doesn't have to take any penalty on her SS or state pension.  Her finances are tough enough as it is.  Plus, she's a very dependable worker, and would not be easy to replace.