Your Retirement Age

[wareagle]

In January, I was unemployed and expected to stay that way, given my age (63 at that time).  I lucked out and got a job in June.  I took a significant pay cut, but still.....  At that time, I hoped to hang on for another three years and make it to FRA. 

The job is a major disappointment - mostly due to COVID, I think - and I don't think I'll keep it past this year.  I'll make 65 and probably retire this summer.  Mr. Eagle's health is not improving and his mobility is decreasing, so if we want to do any traveling, now is the time.  I don't think I'll regret it at all.

[Vkw10]

If I could retire this year, I would. It's been a stressful year and I expect the stress to continue for several years as we deal with economic impact of pandemic. But I'm only 57 and all my retirement planning has been aimed at 62-67, depending on health and continuing to enjoy my work most days. Right now, I'm fairly sure I'll retire May 2025, as soon as I'm eligible for pension.

[mamselle]

Thanks for reviving the thread.

It was kind of startling to see my last-year's answer and realize it was what I was just about to write in reply for this year.

Some things haven't changed much, yet.

M.

[waterboy]

Whenever my lottery ticket comes in.  Or 68...or 70...

[mahagonny]

I'm already past the lower end of the retirement age some have mentioned here. Money never burned a hole in my pocket. Work, save, work, save.

[apl68]

I don't see it feasibly happening before age 70--around 2038.  It's hard to be optimistic about what retirement will be like then.

[onehappyunicorn]

I genuinely think that, assuming I can work, I will work until I die. We don't spend a lot and we bought a very reasonably priced home so we're better off than many of our peers but we have a lot of medical bills as well.

[Volhiker78]

I will likely work longer than I expected at the beginning of the year.  This is not due to Covid but rather due to good news this year when a grant came through that was somewhat unexpected.  I have to stay an active employee for us to get the money.  But I've received permission to remain active but at low FTE in the last year of the grant (2023).

[mamselle]

I will likely work longer than I expected at the beginning of the year.  This is not due to Covid but rather due to good news this year when a grant came through that was somewhat unexpected.  I have to stay an active employee for us to get the money.  But I've received permission to remain active but at low FTE in the last year of the grant (2023).

Does your school have an emeritus/retained grant PI option? If so, that might be worth looking into.

Someone I worked for was able to complete their "life's work" book under that structure, and saw three more doctoral students through their degrees as well.

M.

M.

[Volhiker78]

Does your school have an emeritus/retained grant PI option? If so, that might be worth looking into.

Someone I worked for was able to complete their "life's work" book under that structure, and saw three more doctoral students through their degrees as well.

M.

M.

I asked my director and he said no, emeritus/adjunct  faculty are not allowed to get funding.  Since I am a 100% research track position, its not really an issue because my director said he is allowed to keep me 'active' at whatever small %effort I wanted.  So,  its possible that in 2023,  I'll be down to 15-25% effort overall. 

[mamselle]

Ah.

Too bad, the school's impetus would be to retain their claims on overhead from grants, which is what impelled the structure I mentioned above at that school.

But at least it's good that there's a way to keep your work grant-active.

M.

[Pomegranate]

Many thanks to everyone who has posted in this thread; I have learnt a lot. I am surprised however by how many people would like to retire so early. I am afraid that I will never want to retire (as long as my health allows me, of course). I am extremely busy, always swamped with work, and always complain about how I never have time, but I always look forward to having more time, such as through sabbaticals or times when I will never need to do admin work any more (and just enjoy teaching and writing). I see that retiring early will not be a problem for me savings wise, but I am truly afraid that I will never want to retire, even if I could comfortably, whether at 65 or 75. I am afraid life after retirement would be boring. Plus, it is nice to be able to travel for free everywhere in the world, for conferences, etc. (though yes, Covid has complicated it recently) In the meanwhile, I also see colleagues around who are in their 90s and not retiring.

[Cheerful]

I am truly afraid that I will never want to retire, even if I could comfortably, whether at 65 or 75. I am afraid life after retirement would be boring.

You may (or may not) change your mind over time.

In the meanwhile, I also see colleagues around who are in their 90s and not retiring.

What do people here think about that?  Are these age 90s colleagues contributing as much as other colleagues?  Should there be a mandatory retirement age?  If so, why and how old?  If not, why not?

[dismalist]

I am truly afraid that I will never want to retire, even if I could comfortably, whether at 65 or 75. I am afraid life after retirement would be boring.

You may (or may not) change your mind over time.

In the meanwhile, I also see colleagues around who are in their 90s and not retiring.

What do people here think about that?  Are these age 90s colleagues contributing as much as other colleagues?  Should there be a mandatory retirement age?  If so, why and how old?  If not, why not?

Good question. There should not be a statutory retirement age, but it should be legal to write one into a contract. Presently it is not legal to agree to one of the usual retirement ages, say, 55 -70 or something.

Me, I thought about retiring for a long time and decided on age 70, and I did retire at that age. There was the [small] fear of losing it in the classroom, but more that in the half wonderful job I had, I always had to go toe to toe with the admin.

[clean]

What do people here think about that?  Are these age 90s colleagues contributing as much as other colleagues?  Should there be a mandatory retirement age?  If so, why and how old?  If not, why not?

In the Olden Days, tenure included a mandatory retirement age.  That went away like 50 years ago (in the 70s I believe).  It is an age discrimination issue.  So the Why Not question has long since been resolved. 

The Federal government has mandatory retirement requirements for some public safety reasons I believe.  Airline Pilots face mandatory retirement at 60 I believe. FBI agents at 55 I think, perhaps other federal law enforcement agents. 

On the other hand, judges dont face a retirement age.

In private practice, doctors dont either.  Depending on the practice/specialty I dont see a reason to require doctors to retire due to age.  The balance to that is that malpractice insurance may well have age as a premium factor, and certainly loss experience for sure!  In addition, as one ages the doctor/surgeon may reach their ability to actually do the surgery (or as many) because o f the physical demands it may take.

Given that it takes a long time to get the education to be a professor or medical doctor, and that there is no public safety issue in general, I m not sure that there should be a mandatory retirement limit.

Among the checks and balances would be the Defined Benefit Retirement plans (the traditional pension).  Once one maxes out on the time function of the benefit, the only way to get more retirement dollars is to increase the salary component.  However, eventually, hopefully anyway, one realizes that they are only actually working for a small percentage of the salary and the non salary benefits.  Those non salary benefits may be outweighed by the idiocy of admincritters!

For instance, IF one has maxed out the time at say 30 years, and the formula is as low as 2% times years of service times average high year salary....(Sometimes LAST 5 year salary).  Under this formula (which is likely on the low side of benefits) the retirement benefit would be 60% of salary.  Working only gathers 40% more.  The question then becomes, IS putting up with those Admincritters worth the extra 40%? 

Also, the 40% is a theoretical cap.  Remember that IF you work, you pay for social security taxes on ALL of your wages, while you are working you will be contributing to retirement (even though your benefit will be maxed, or nearly so).  Using my own deductions, working would mean that I am paying 7.6% in social security type taxes, 6.6% in retirement, and almost $50 for parking just for the opportunity of NOT retiring.  So now you are working for about (40-15)% of salary and that is before paying your marginal income tax on the additional earnings, dropping the value further!  Finally, there are the other expenses of work clothes, special cleaning that is required, and the opportunity costs that working creates. 


I qualify for health insurance in retirement in 2 1/2 years.  My initial retirement target date is in 3 years.  I will be 60.  I should have enough money.  At that point, IF my projections support that I DO have enough, then there will be a high probability that I will end my 'work for pay' career. IF I continue to work, it will be because some other issues prevent me from doing something else (family conditions/situation).  However, at this point, I find it hard to imagine that I will be working at 62, much less 65.  However, I have been teaching summer school every year for as long as I have worked, and while I am committed to teach this upcoming year, I am not, and NOT teaching summers may change the total work situation as well. 

Once I reach 60, assuming that I have reached my financial goals, I expect that my tenure will be Day to Day, not even Semester to Semester, and certainly not Year to Year!  At that time I will work under MY terms, not theirs!