A little bit of a scary time. My wife's decided, with my support, to take the early retirement option that her company is offering. If all goes as we expect, she'll be retired from this company as of August 31 of this year. She doesn't really want to, but given how this company has shown a propensity to lay off some very bright and capable people with no warning, and given that the CEO says she wants to lean-down the company, and has indicated that she isn't fond of mainframe business, we think it's a reasonable decision.
There are some alternate possibilities. One is that they will refuse to accept her acceptance of the offer. That might happen if they're swamped by people saying Yes. We think that unlikely. Another is that they accept her acceptance, but then turn around and fire her between now and August 31. That's a little more likely, but still not very likely.
So, that's that.
We're doing the reasonable things. We've looked at the forecast that we have of our both routine and extraordinary expenses for the next thirty years. (There is, alas, no way to forecast unforeseen expenses, though I wonder if there is a way to make a 'best guess'). We've talked to a financial planner from the company that handles our 401(k)s, and is handling this transition. We've given our best shot of ongoing routine and forecasted extraordinary expenses, as well as forecasted revenue streams from 401(k)s, pensions, and Social Security to the financial planner, who liked what he saw enough to suggest that we ought to consider hiring them for their Premium advisory service. (That's a notch above call-them-and-get-some-rookie-in-Bangalore.) He also asked if we've considered any charitable giving. It's a good thought, though, when I heard it, I mouthed to my wife - this was a teleconference with the planner - How much money does this guy think we have? Next week we talk with our estate planning tax guy -- he set up a couple of trusts for us, last year, which are intended to ensure that money after the death of one of us will go to the other, and not to Uncle Sam. At least, not as much of it as Uncle Sam would like. We've arranged for the financial planner and the tax guy to coordinate with each other.
Our best guess is that we're fine. Better than fine. We expect to be fine for the foreseeable future, too.
But you never know. Inflation could spike - right now, it's about 2%; in the 70s, it was as high as 7%. Granted, interest rates would go up at the same time, but not as much as inflation. That could be pretty awful. Or we could have abrupt significant expenses, sell-the-house-and-find-an-apartment expenses.
So it's a little scary. But we think its the right thing to do. Check back with us in twenty years.
5 comments:
Good luck! It all sounds like a bit of a tenuous time for you both.
A bit. Had to happen sometime, though. Better this way than the way the company has been terminating people.
Thank you very much. I'm relieved. I think things are going well. As soon as we get money flowing from my 401(k) -- you can have as much money in retirement funds as you want; if you can't buy milk, you're screwed -- I'll be happy. Well, except for the part about decreasing total assets. The financial planner warned me it would be scary -- all those years to acquire it, and now we're spending it?
Better to do it on your own terms. Good luck
Thank you. All of this is an interesting experience. I've always worried about money, but this will be the first time where it's all reactive -- neither of us will be earning any.
I like Stag's idea (in response to a different post) about finding money opportunities. I wish I knew how to do that. In some ways, I'm still a kid.
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