Retirement Planning Advice or Tips?
I’ve been at LLNL for about 30 years, enrolled in TCP1, approaching 60, and am looking to make an exit within a year or so. Any retirement planning tips or advice in the vein of “Things that I know now that I wished I knew then”? One specific question I have is in regards to the TCP1 cost-of-living adjustment. I think that I once heard that this inflation adjustment is made once each year on a specific date so that if one is planning on retiring anytime around that date then it’s better to retire immediately before it than immediately after it? Anyone know when this date is? Also, any other tips or advice would be appreciated.
-Doug
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9 comments:
Hi,
I retired jan 1St 2016. Using a financial planner that knows everything about LLNL helped me beyond expectations .
Try them:
https://www.insight2wealth.com
Also, go talk to,someone in HR a few months before you pull the plug. (It can be discrete if you want.) They will clue you about the i’s and t’s, including the COLA date thing. Good luck and thank you for your service.
Major advice: move to a better less-expensive state after retirement.
I agree with the advice to start talking with HR about your retirement plans several months before you actually retire. Also, make sure you know about the time limits involved (ie, starting your medical coverage in retirement before 90 days passes, etc). Being in TCP1 takes a lot of stress off you in terms of worrying "Will I have enough money to last through the rest of my life?". We are very lucky to still have such a good pension as TCP1.
One more thing, realize that a lot of the "taxes" that came out of your paycheck during your work years won't be there after you retire so you'll be making your pension dollars work much farther. You won't have to contribute the huge paycheck reduction amounts to support the pension any longer. You won't be paying the Social Security tax. You won't be paying the Medicare tax. You probably won't need term life insurance and you certainly won't need long term work disability insurance. When you add these items up you'll find that you might make less in "gross" while on your pension but the "net" won't be so bad. Oh, and learn to relax and enjoy your retirement that you've earned!
Stay as long as you can tolerate. You can't come back. If you do, it is completely different. Low importance.
2.COLAs are about 2% in July-Aug. Prorated.
3.Watch the work rules if you take social security early. Penalties are staggering
4. You'll be forced into medicare at age 65,It is much more complicated but works out about the same. You lose vision coverage. Get glasses the last year.
5. If your spouse is lots younger than you expect a 5-10% reduction in your pension.
6. You will miss the scope of the techical challenges.
7. You will rapidly become obsolete without the on the job technology updates.
8. You will smile...a lot.
9. If you took TCP2 you could stay on the job and collect rerirement. . Very rare opportunity.
10. Lots of paperwork. Find one of your very organized buddies who just did it. That's your mentor.
11. Visit Zermatt in October, take the funnicular up to Gormegott (sp?). Revel in the Matterhorn, the glaciers, the forrest, the Alps, avalanche control measures, the spas, swiss wine, Swiss women...Thank the Lord you are alive.
Original Poster (Doug) here. Thanks for all the tips and advice, everyone. Yes, I have been thinking that despite the annoyances of working at LLNL (like all the safety training, mandatory meetings, bureaucracy) that I will miss the technical challenges and that I will rapidly become “obsolete” in my research field because I won’t be keeping up with the latest developments and literature. On the other hand, I’ve done my time in my field and am ready to use my new free time to investigate new fields as a recreation. So I think that I’ll be fine there. Will of course miss many of the people, though.
The fact that retirement income like a pension isn’t taxed as heavily as employment income is a big plus. (Also, no more after-tax mandatory paycheck contributions to the TCP1 retirement fund.) So when I work out my expected after-tax pension and compare it to my after-tax employment pay, they’re actually not too different. Also, the availability of a retirement health plan helps a lot. Will talk to someone in HR soon about my planned retirement to make sure that I’m fully up-to-date on what to expect when I check out of the Lab. Thanks again, everyone.
-Doug
The fact that retirement income like a pension isn’t taxed as heavily as employment income is a big plus.
Wrong unless you are referring to payroll taxes. Otherwise, pension income is taxed the same as payroll income. Do some more research.
In addition to not paying the ~7% payroll taxes, pensioners have the option of leaving California for Nevada. Changing domicile will save an additional 10% in state income taxes, as well a lower sales taxes, much lower gasoline taxes and property taxes. Plus you can leave behind overwrought Moonbeam politics and own a semi-automatic center-fire of your choice.
I suggest moving to Alabama.
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