I'm a teacher and I planned on retiring at the end of this school year. I am 65 and this is my second pension. Our district increased salaries significantly for the next school year. My pension is based on the highest 4 work years, so working one more year would increase my monthly pension by approximately $150.00. I'm tired of working, but should I stick it out for one more year?
We can't answer that for you but the way I'd make the call were it me is to answer two questions:
First, will the $150/month materially affect my life in retirement?
Second, could I sock away enough money from the extra year to do something that I can't do if I retire (take a once in a lifetime trip, replace the roof on my house, whatever)?
If either is Yes, then working the extra year should be at least a strong consideration, balanced with your health, etc. If both are No, I'd retire now
Yes I'd grant myself something outrageous if I worked a whole extra year I didn't have to!
Oh believe me, It will be something fantastic!
Tell all.
I got a facelift. I effing LOVE the way i look. Best money spent ever
Yes, all the people saying pull the plug now are missing the subtleties of the argument.
But, the one piece you forgot is how does OP feel about their job? The answer is very different depending on whether they like it or think it is soul crushing.
On a teacher’s budget, $150/month is a really nice dinner once a month. Source: wife was a teacher, though we did really well in life, I see her friends.
Yeah that’s definitely a point that has to be weighed
For me, not just no, but HELL no. $150 isn't worth it. But that's me, not you. Only you can decide that.
Yep. Not even close for me.
I guess the inverse could also answer the question. Would you spend $150 extra each month to have 1 more care free year? A year where you will be at your youngest too.
Does the 150 move the needle? Are you worried you won’t have enough down the road?
I keep forgetting about the" being at my youngest" part of the equation. That really is something to consider.
I'm tired of working
You have had your answer all along!
This exactly! My corp executive level job paid very well and another year would have meant a substantial amount of additional savings but I could just not do it. I was tired of working - my mental and physical health are worth more than a few more $ in the bank. Best decision ever!
You’d make your annual salary, plus $18,000 over 10 years. You’d also have one fewer year that your nest egg has to last. I don’t know if that’s significant to you.
You said you’re tired of working but not that you hate your job. One more year is not too bad, but not sure what your health is like.
If it were me, I’d stick it out. I’m tired of working, but my target date is four years from now, solely so I can pad my savings without much stress. If I hated my job or had health issues, I’d have retired a year ago.
No!
I would certainly look at the taxes and what not cause the $150 may end up turning out to be like only 52 cents (exaggerating). But you need to think hard on this.
Similar dilemma in postponing SS a year for additional 8%.
My plan was to retire at 70 to maximize my SS. I had a cardiac stent inserted last summer, and after that both my family doctor and my cardiologist asked me if I wanted to retire, or leave behind a very slightly wealthier widow? I retired, and don’t miss work at all - after two and a half months, there’s only one person from the old job that I occasionally exchange text messages with.
My advice now is retire as soon as your finances allow - there’s no point in maximizing your estate at the expense of enjoying your life. We’ve taken two short trips so far, and a month of traveling is coming up this summer. Get out of the job, and enjoy whatever time you have left!
Hell, no retire now! You can sub one day a month and make that!! Life is too short. I retired at 55 and it was the best decision I ever made.!! I only had 18 years but I’m healthier. I look great. I feel like it took 10 years off of me.
Yes, done right subbing is some of the fun of teaching with none of the bs.
Good insight. I did not consider that.
I faced the same thing, it will always be the $150 per month. Retire as soon as you can.
This!
Definitely not
no. dont drop dead because of 150$/month
No, another year of agony for 150? Thanks, but no thanks.
Could you para or similar for that one year to have less responsibility but still get your year? (Or admin, counseling, what have you?
You have to decide if you need that money
Thanks for all the input. This has been a much harder decision than I thought it would be. We are OK financially. I just think it's fear. I've been teaching 44 years! Change is hard. Maybe I feel guilty not working and bringing in a big chunk of money that we might need? I don't hate my job, but I do feel the toll it takes on my body. My deadline to decide is April 30th. It's pretty much all I think about right now. One minute I'm thinking....Nope! The next minute I'm thinking I can go one more year. It's mentally exhausting.
I retired at 67 a year ago and love retirement! My decision was to wait to take SS until 70(you gain 8% per year). I did a spreadsheet and taking the lower SS amount now would give me $135,000 in the three years, versus an extra $600 month if I started taking it in late 2025. While $600 is a lot, I wouldn’t break even on that $135k until I reached 86 years old. Only 25% of Americans live past 85 (don’t quote me but I’m close) and I’m taking the short odds! Same for retiring early- you don’t know how long you and/or your husband has left of great health. Start living it up sooner than later!
I’m going through exactly the same thing. I work for a school district, in administration, and got a decent raise last July. With the effect of that and waiting another year to collect social security, I would net about another $250 a month if I wait another year. (I also work 12 months a year so there’s that.) I flip flop about it every day. I am tired of the grind and getting up at 5:15 every morning, and am exhausted by Friday because I don’t get enough sleep. But I still keep asking myself if I should stick it out out one more year and down the road, will I feel like I should have? I also have a great boss, which doesn’t make my decision any easier. Good luck— whatever you decide.
You too! The "what if" game is real with this decision.
It was not with it to me, but my circumstances may be a lot different than yours.
If you feel you are going to strangle a kid if you work one more year, better retire, I you can get by, and have nothing planned that year work. It also the increase in salary for the year and the $150 in retirement, plus any yearly increase due to cost of living increases.
I would say it’s not worth it. Retire and go and enjoy the rest of your life
If you have 2 pensions and social security and hopefully some other retirement savings, go and enjoy life. If not, do what you need to do
No
Every day you are working is a day you aren't retired. I have seen plenty of one more year teachers. Do what is best for you, but another year working is a year you could be out enjoying life and sleeping in late.
That whole sleeping in late, and not having a rigid schedule is definitely a big part of why I'm ready to retire.
Be prepared though, because you have been multitasking for so long, having so much time to play with will be more of an adjustment than you might think. I retired from teaching 2 1/2 years ago and have had to work really hard to cultivate ways to use my time because I never had any when I was teaching.
How long did you just sleep late and read books all night long?
Not long enough. I can’t stay asleep late. Too much time spent online. Here mostly. I sub a lot because it gives me some structure. I was A public school teacher, so I wanted to see what private schools were like. I have found one that I just adore. Even did some long-term subbing there. But I also sub at one of the public school districts near my house. I also tutor and supervise student teachers. Believe me, once a teacher, always a teacher.
There is so much both said and unsaid in this…
Sleeping late is over rated. I slept late for my first year, now I don't. When the body has had enough sleep, you wake up, you can't force it. So I get up and do stuff. I only sleep 5-6 hours now
Go for it. You only live once
Wouldn't it make more sense to start taking the pension and then work a different job to make additional money?
Make $45000 and you can invest it and pull out $150 a month.
I do have a pretty sure work from home flexible job that will pay well in my back pocket . That's all part of the equation. I'm concerned if I pass up that opportunity, I won't get the chance again.
Sounds good to do something different!
But it's not just the $150 per month to consider. It's also the extra year's salary that could maybe go into a savings account.
What do you mean? It’s not an extra year’s salary. OP would start collecting his pension rather than working.
Is a year of your life worth 1800 times how many years you think you’ll live? 20 yr life expectancy would be 36k over length of retirement. Not worth it to me but a lot of personal variables to consider.
"Just one more fish so we're sure we'll survive the winter." This is a trap that evokes survival fears in your brain! Retire.
Thanks - I needed to read that!
Yes. This economy is stressful. Collect every paycheck that you can.
I had the same problem, I went through with my retirement ( pension) and ended up getting more in after tax pension payments because I don’t have to pay FICA, SS and my monthly pension contributions.
No...
I was tired at age 60. One day, crunched the numbers and found myself $1500 short per month to meet minimal budget. Where there's a will, there's a way... I figured I could draw that $1500 from my 401k up till I turned 62, then turn it off and draw social security. It's been 3 years now and I've been very happy. But as others mentioned, it's an individual choice based on your circumstances. You have to ask yourself how much that $150 per month means to you versus your free time. I could have worked another 10+ years, but I'm so glad I didn't.
Can you do something else for the school district for a year?
I thought about that, but I'm pretty set in my current position, and having to learn all new everything for just one more year sounds awful.
As a very newly retired person. I wonder about the flexible work from home job. Is that really retirement? Another person, longer retired, could probably have input on this question.
It's part time, and my husband is still working. It sounds pretty sweet to me. Work from wherever, whenever kind of job.
Sounds good.
For the me the answer was no. When I retired salaries were rapidly increasing at my workplace and staying another year would have given me a similar increase in my pension. When I considered how I felt about my work (I was tired of it) and the fact that no one knows how much time they will have, I decided it was time to retire and have never been happier. The only advice I have to give is if the $150 a month will make a significant difference in your retirement, keep working, otherwise, value yourself enough to retire and finally enjoy life!
No way unless you are burdened with debt and no retirement funds.
Next year it will be $175/month. When will it stop?
I would only work the extra year if my finances required me to. Otherwise, adios.
This.
That depends how healthy you are and how much you have in the bank. If you're in perfect health but only have 10 cents in the bank you should work another year and wait until you're 70 to collect Social Security.
On the other hand, if you're in terrible health but have a million dollars now, go ahead and retire now and take Social Security early now.
This would be a tough decision if it was deciding between working another year and more money. But it’s really a decision between having one more year of freedom and more money…and let’s face it, it’s one more year of freedom while you’re most likely to be healthy.
Pick freedom.
I’m not sure. A lot depends on cost of living in your area and how much your retired activities will cost.
My company has a pension. I’m delaying collecting the pension for a year after retiring. This will increase my pension by about $500 per month and pay for Medicare.
I have the lowest step of IRMAA so it’s about $174 plus $82 IRMAA plus $200 for the supplement per month. After two years, I’ll be off IRMAA (until I sell my house: any income that counts will put me back on IRMAA) so Medicare will be $174 (or whatever part B rises to) plus $200 (or more) for the supplement.
My dentist offers insurance for $448 per year.
I will not have coverage for eye care.
Point is: delaying the pension is a little uncomfortable right now. It will seem excellent because this small action should make health insurance more accessible for me.
Health insurance for seniors is complicated, seemingly by design. Staying healthy as long as we can is the most important aspect of retirement.
Do what fits your financial plan. That’s not the only thing you need to manage.
Socially, my company requires six months notice of retirement date. This means you are sort of “dead” to some co-workers, after you tell your manager. Some colleagues have hurt feelings because you are leaving them (because you went above and beyond). Some are jealous of your impending freedom. Some people will be happy for you.
It felt weird to me, during the last few months. I couldn’t do technology transfer to my replacement because they hadn’t been hired yet. They ended up hiring two people. And from what I hear, my old boss says, “we don’t do that anymore” when someone asks for some of the work I used to do.
You need to change from being a saver to being a spender. And you need to spend at a rate that leaves enough to cover emergencies. And covering end of life care is also a concern.
As I approached age 65, I started receiving snail mail from financial planners and people who try to sell Medicare Advantage. This may occur every year.
Handling your own investments and staying on top of your health insurance needs and what is available in your area is not quick. At some point, you will probably want someone else to do those tasks.
So the strategy is to not run out of money too soon.
And to some extent, it’s almost necessary to track every medical care bill, to be certain it was processed correctly. This takes more time and never ends.
Last summer, I received a letter from a collections company. Months before, I’d had a biopsy. The provider had pasted someone else’s mailing address into the form to the insurance company so the claim was denied.
It took me several hours of phone calls to sort out what had happened. Then I had to contact everyone so they could implement a solution. I’d never had anything like this happen before so I was learning about the system.
Having designed IT systems for people to interact with, in my career, I was somewhat amazed at how one simple typo and my response could have trashed my credit for years.
Am I going to be able to do this sleuthing in ten or fifteen years? Retirement is all about this kind of situation. It seems like we are off having fun every day. We still have to do due diligence to prevent disaster.
I know. Medicare is crazy complicated. I'm going on my husband's insurance if I retire. He is younger...
There is only one thing you cannot buy more of and that is time. The temptation of more money will always be there but time to spend doing the things you love will grow shorter and shorter
This is so true.
Get out now and forget about the $150. You’ll have two pensions plus social security.
Hell no. Enjoy your life and retirement, the clock is ticking down for us in the retirement age group. You have paid your dues, especially as a teacher,and now it’s time for the payback. Hope you do it
Hell no, the king and the pawn end up in the same box, free yourself
I wouldn’t
I retired as soon as I was able to at 54 teacher. My Dr asked me at my summer checkup 6 weeks after I was done what I'd changed. Before that I was on the verge of issues with bloodsugar and blood pressure. Was literally going to be put on medication. All my numbers were exactly in the middle of where they should be. 9 years later, 61, still great numbers! Stress was making me noticeably sick.
I retired two times, both times I went with that feeling. When it is time to go, nothing else matters.
It would depend what percentage that made up.
How much of the year do you have to complete to get that benefit?
That benefit comes out to what, 1 tank of gas every two weeks?
My father retired at the age of 49 many years ago. He started at the company at 18, went to Vietnam, came home and went back to work. The 2 years he was in the army counted towards his retirement.
When he met with the financial person at the company to determine if he could retire, he learned that he could have retired at the age of 48. He had to excuse himself from the room and go outside as he was ready to have a burst of profanity.
He couldn't believe that he gave up an entire year of his life for a job he did not enjoy.
Many people were worried that he'd get bored in retirement, especially considering how young he was.
Well, that was 1999 and he's never been bored. He gets to wake up and do whatever it is he wants each and every day.
So the real question isn't the money, it is the time. Is $150 a month plus the salary worth the 9-10 months you'll spend teaching instead of doing whatever it is you really want to do?
I'm so glad you asked this question! I'm going through exactly the same thought process right now. I (62F) planned to retire in 4 months, but keep questioning whether I should work another year for an extra $170 a month in my pension before taxes. I'm waffling, but will probably choose to retire in 4 months. Best wishes to you whatever you choose!
Exactly...it's the waffling that is making me crazy.
Me, too!
Waffle no more! 35 bucks a week isn’t worth it. Wake up from now on and do what YOU want to do. I did in January, best thing ever!
Same quandary here, but it’s 2 more years for $600 more per month. No doubt it would help, but I think I’ve already drank the retirement koolaid and there’s no going back.
Yes
You could easily make an additional $150 a month in a different job, maybe something you always wanted to try. Maybe even from tutoring or substituting once and a while. You can set your own schedule, choose when to work,. If that helps
Would you be able to do a good job educating the children?
Be honest with yourself. If you're burned out and couldn't provide a quality education, I think you should forgo the $150.
Honestly, the older teachers are usually the ones who can manage a classroom full of kids... Experience means a lot in education.
No. I was faced with the same conundrum a few years ago in my school district. Happily retired, collecting my pension and working part time. The “extra” $150 was 100% not worth it.
At 65, you have 20, maybe 25 years left if you're really healthy.
Do you want to spend 5% of your remaining life working for a payment of $1800 a year?
Only you can answer that question.
Retire now. Don't wait.
Another way to look at it is if you need the 150 after retirement that’s 1 day a month of subbing
Go for it survival is tough
It’s not just the $150/month it’s also the amount of the raise for the last year. So let’s say the raise is $10k for the year after taxes. That can pay off a car or other debt, increasing monthly cash flow on top of the $150.
All of that for 180 days of work? Might be worth it. But then again, OP could be teaching in a bad district and had hit the wall.
Hell no
No. Bail and enjoy retirement. Your time (a year) is worth so much more.
$150 isn’t t much IMO to work another whole year.
OP…what do you really think? Asking this group of strangers to talk you into working another year seems like you aren’t ready to enjoy the next chapter.
Well you do get the salary that comes with working one more year as well.
True … some work until 70 to get that additional salary … whatever it takes and to each their own.
I was able to retire at 62 - pension plus social security have kept my take home the same as working.
That's $1800 a year. Is that money going to make a significant difference in your quality of life?
It's a personal decision, but something to think about is the average life expectancy for a reasonably healthy 66 year old female is about 85. That $1800 a year (which is no small change) really is 19 x 1800 or $34,200. If there are COL adjustments those will be compounded by a larger base amount. Not to mention you can hopefully save some of your pay for the extra year (or use it to make some purchases or home improvement that you'd otherwise be laying out retirement funds for).
Guess it depends on one's financial situation. $1,800/yr isn't even going to move the needle for me, so there is no way I'd give up a year of my life...especially if I was 65 already...for it.
Almost 2k in a year. Definitely.
The other thing you will have is another Year's worth of income behind so it's more than $150 a month it's a certain amount of growth in your entire wealth portfolio. I personally would stick it out for a year, live cheap and spend that time getting ready for your retirement. But you got to do what you got to do and if you're a smoker or you have a health problem then maybe bail out now and enjoy the extra year of life.
If this is your second pension and your retirement numbers square up, then jump off the f* hamster wheel!!! Don’t be greedy be Freely Willy
Your 65 , the countdown is ticking…..☠️💀💀💀💀☠️
How's your health? What are you looking at getting for your pension, for social security? Is your house paid off? Do you anticipate large upcoming expenses?
Finances are good, health is good. People are surprised I am 65, including me! Maybe that's part of the hesitation. Do I enjoy teaching so much that it keeps me young?
Honestly, if you genuinely enjoy your work and aren't burnt out of working, then I'd keep going. I feel in some ways work with kids can keep us young.
Would that 150 help with your mental health?
Might pay the therapy bill?
No!
I'd offer two thoughts based upon personal experience:
First, towards the end of my work life I started using the time frame of 2 years to make decisions (5 years when I was younger). If I had 2 years left in my life (health span) would I continue to work? Easy answer for me.
Second, do not take for granted the positive value of your time beyond working. I have much more time for fitness (healthier now than 5 years ago) and relationships (more time for family & friends). Life is great when you control the schedule.
Listen to yourself: you’re “tired of working”.
I retired from teaching at the end of last school year. Another year would have given me $200 per month more. Dealing with the stress for another year wasn’t worth it. I made sure I could be financially secure, and figure I could always sub a couple of days a month to make up the difference, if needed. So far this year, I subbed once for a friend. I’m enjoying the stress free days.
The stress is real.
It really is. Feel free to DM me if you’d like to chat more.
"Present value" economic calculations are used to figure out what money is worth if it comes in the future. Money in the future is not worth the same as having it now. Why? If you had that money now, you could do something else with it. So, there is an opportunity cost to you if you have to wait to get that money later.
I did a calculation for you. Over the next 30 years, that $150/month is worth about $20,000. This assumes you could be getting 5% per year of value if you didn't wait. Plus, if that $150 a month isn't increasing with inflation, then we can add 3% inflation per year. Getting $150 per month for much longer than 30 years doesn't help much because of the exponential rate at which future money is discounted.
So, if $20,000 extra would convince you to work another, then there is your decision. Good luck.
Here is a link to a calculator. I used 5% discount rate (which is an assumption about what you could be doing with that money now, safely) plus a 3% inflation rate per year to get 8% rate, divided by 12 months = 0.67% "interest rate" per month for 360 months, with periodic deposits of $150 per month.
Here's more info about present value:
My pension does have COLAs. Would this still apply?
Then, use 5% rather than 8%, so the rate would be 0.417% per month. The answer would be about $28,000 with the COLA keeping up with inflation.
Thanks. Wow. That doesn't seem too useful.
Your welcome. Glad to help. You didn't say how much you make a year, but probably the extra year of working minus your commuting costs, taxes, etc. is going to be much more than the $28,000. On the other hand, think: How's my health? Am I feeling lucky? That extra year of enjoying life could be a big deal in the rest of your life.
How long do people in your family live? How long did your parents live?
If you have a good chance of living another 20 or 30 years, then MAYBE work another year.
If your genetics and general health say you have another decade or so, get out.
Do it
Your time is priceless
Your life is worth more than $5 a day. Get out and enjoy.
You could die in a year....live life while u can.
I will be 55 in the summer. I can “retire” next year. This is local, not state. State one is defer to 60.
Due to a pay bump, if I wait two more years, I’d go up about $150 a month for local and $200 for state. Am I doing it? Nope.
At 65? Hell no.
Edit: my district pays $125 a day to subs. So, you could sub a total of 15 days a year and it would be a wash. You’d have the rest off!!!!
Heck no!! Life is short…you do not know what tomorrow brings.
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Consider it as $1800 per year. Sometimes that clarifies a decision.
N O .
Yes. Retirement is long and inflation is steep. That’s $1,800/year which is probably the cost of car insurance or homeowners insurance. Plus you’ll get even more of a boost every time they do cost of living adjustments.
I feel like this with SS. Is it worth to wait until full amount? (year away) If I live longer than my husband, I will lose it as he tells me, since we can't keep both, so having 2 for now even if mine is less is more income. Sometimes I feel we overthink things.
I would retire. But I want to know, how do you have two pensions? Different industries?
Two different retirement systems in my state. One for all the small towns, suburbs, and a separate one for the big city. It was a no brainer to retire and "double dip" financially. It's been nice.
Personally I would look at the amount that one received in Pension now vs what one could make later. Take 1 year of your pension and divide by your month increase (or $150) and then by 12 for # of months difference (eg: $36,000 / $150 / 12 months = 240 months/20 years), so to break even on pension funds paid to you, you would not break even until your turned 85.
Then look at how much better your life might be, if you just stopped working and enjoyed your retirement. Perhaps you could be a supply teacher, and take the odd assignment for a year or so (make some extra funds to travel)
Luckily Teachers have the highest life expectancy (88 for men and 90 for woman), so either way you, on average, win!
Good news on the life expectancy.
The quality of your work environment is probably the deciding factor. Given that you are likely going to be comfortable economically when you retire due to at least two retirement streams, the $150 is not essential to a good retirement.
More money is almost always handy, but that can end up being a dog chasing its tail, since one more year almost always brings some gain.
If your work environment is fundamentally good and you basically enjoy the majority of your interactions with your admins, peers, and students then another years is worth considering, so let’s say in the 85% to 90% good to neutral interactions as a standard.
Less than that satisfaction level, why bother with a year’s worth of aggravation? You are looking at $1800 before taxes. So maybe $110-$120 take home?
I pulled out early because of stress in my career. A really good choice for me. But I had teachers as a student that enjoyed their work and I admired them greatly. Even in their 70’s they were showing up. I can’t be sure, but I don’t think it was just for the money.
If it is a drag on you, grab your hat and coat, head for the door. If it isn’t bad showing up each day and you don’t have a definite plan for retirement, grab the money and focus on what you will do when the alarm clock isn’t your boss anymore.
I'm a mix of both. I'm tired of all the edubabble. I still love what I do, and I have good friends at school. The students are sad, and are demanding I come and sub if I retire...lol. Physically though, its just wearing me out. I'm so tired at the end of the day, and I don't like feeling exhausted all the time.
I think your last sentence is your answer. Unless you have untreated sleep apnea, that is. ;)
I had that decision to make nine years ago. I couldn’t work one more week. (Public high school teacher)
Me too
No, just do something else that makes that little bit each month.
It depends more on your health, I think. Source: retired teacher
I am in this very position. I decided to retire at the end of this year. I just don't want to put up with students' behaviors, lack of support, all the extra meetings, entitled parents, etc... The extra money isn't enough to give another year of my life being in the classroom.
One way to think about this: You have a finite lifespan and a shorter time period when you will be healthy and fully mobile. If, for example, you have another 25 years on the planet with 10 of those being fully mobile then working for another year will take 10% away from your fully mobile period and 4% of your overall life.
I retired at 58 and could not be happier about the decision.
I am a school teacher pushing 58 and also want to retire. I was a banker for 1/2 my career. It’s difficult to offer sound advice without knowing your debt compared to income. My in-laws are the tightest two folks in the world. They are worth north of $5 million but live off of $3000 a month. I take that number as bare minimum to live off of without any debt. They do nothing except go to church and give some money to their son. I think $6000 a month take home will be plenty for us to retire, travel and keep helping our kids when needed. I don’t think $150 is make or break but you haven’t disclosed income compared to debts. 44 years is enough. Thank you for your dedication. That’s a great career.
You're 65, you've already got one pension, and will now have 2. An additional year of freedom in good health would matter more to me.
If you are not just done with it all, then yes.
No. A year of your remaining life (at 65) isn’t worth it. Retire and enjoy!
Honestly, you could earn $150.00 a month easily if you really needed it. Canceling a subscription or eating it out a bit less would probably make up the difference. If it makes you feel better, look at it from the perspective of how many hours you would have to work in a year (180 days x 7) or whatever, for a measly $150.00.
For $150 it would not be worth me staying and having to deal with the bureaucracy or the rowdy students. You can always sub or tutor if you need extra money.
The biggest gamble you can make is thinking you have more time. What if this is your last year of life?
Figure how much more money in your retirement check you would get a month working the extra year. I retired since it would increase my take home $5 a month. Wasn’t worth it.
As a recent retiree, I can’t really answer that until I know what your base retirement is. If the $150 is the difference between beans the last week of every month and shopping at Foodland whenever you want to, then I would stick it out. If the extra $150 is something you’d use for a current hobby or travel, and you know that you actually do want to travel (not just a pipe dream you’ve talked about but may not pull the trigger on) it would be worth it. If you already have a nice comfortable teacher pension, and it would just be a little icing, then maybe not so much.
I had told myself five years before I would hit my full Social Security, that I would retire them, and I did, despite the fact that my union had just won us four years of salary increases, and I would only hit the first two. But I have a nice pension, so I decided I could do without.
Depends. Will that make a difference in your standard of living? Will having an extra $150 a month reduce your stress? Will working one more year tear away at the core of your being? Only you can answer these questions.
My MIL died at 68 My FIL died at 47 My dad retired from General Motors after 33 years and has such bad health that he doesn’t go anywhere or do anything
FR… it’s about how much you need that $150 and how valuable your time left is to you.
To me, my time is my MOST valuable asset. YMMV
No. Heck no.
I’m a retired educator. I retired a year early. Any difference in your pension can easily be covered by working 1 day per week. Trust me. Retire and breathe again.
Yes
Remember the expenses of setting up for a new school year, wear and tear on your mental health with trying not to repeat everything from last year while being fresh with whatever might grab students attention. The new school year energy required with new students, their parents, administrators (new and old), office clerks who may or may not be helpful ALL this is screaming RETIRE!
If I had worked one more year it would have been $400 more per month. I’m enjoying my first year of retirement instead. I suggest if you need the money work another year. But if it’s not really necessary, enjoy your retirement.
That’s $18k benefit over the next 10 years. Get a part time job you enjoy if that small amount of money matters.
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NO
I would not. You can earn that easily doing something easy!
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