Walk away from $1 million a year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Full disclosure: I've been on unpaid sabbatical for a year and with the year now up I have to either return to work or retire. I don't want to return and I've now decided that I won't.

Congratulations OP. You won. Go enjoy life and your family!
I hope to be you in a few years

[Anonymous]

Good for you OP! Enjoy your life.

[Anonymous]

What insurance co?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What insurance co?

I’d rather not say, but it’s a very large and well known one.

[Anonymous]

Congrats OP. DH is a newish partner and I hope this will be us in our 50's.

[Anonymous]

I work in a place that has 1000+ employees. In any given year, we see approximately 25 employees retiring. Among those who retire on their own terms, I have never seen any of them regretting his or her decision. On the whole, they literally change, from losing weight to just looking better and healthier being away from work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I should add that all the kids are out of college and married. We have a mortgage of about 2k a month and no other debt.

You can afford to do it but why not find a job you'd like even if it pays a lot less. This will enable your nest egg to grow for another 5 years. If you are making a million a year you obviously have some type of skill. When I retired at 60 after making more than $1M a year, I set a five year goal of making enough money to cover our overhead so we didn't have to live off our investments. During the five years our investment portfolio almost doubled in value because I didn't have to touch it. Now I'm winding down this work and having a lot of fun.

+1. This is huge. Retiring is not just about finances, it's also hugely about the major psychological shift of no longer working, regular social interactions with colleagues, loss of status in the professional community, and lots and lots more time with your spouse. I think if you can downshift to a part-time gig, or take a sabbatical and return part-time, that might be a much better way to ease into retirement and to give you some sense of how you want to spend your time. I know of several couples that separated in retirement because work no longer functioned as a buffer in the marriage. Having earned $1M annually, it strikes me that you probably spent a considerable time at work. How will your wife deal with your new lifestyle?

[Anonymous]

Yay, OP! You made the right choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What insurance company allows that? Unless it’s a govt or military type job, I can’t see this being allowed. I know- we investigated it and the ins co said it’s not legal to insure no employees in the private sector excluding cobra .

OP here. I assure you it’s legal for group health insurance plans to cover retired employees. Ours is a very reputable law firm and insurance company and neither is hiding anything from anybody or each other.

Same at my firm. Retired partners can stay on health insurance until they become eligible for medicare, at their own cost. Been like that forever.

We’re hoping that the case with DH’s firm. But nothing is in writing — it’s all a handshake agreement. This, we worry.

Congrats OP! DH will walk away at 55.

[Anonymous]

Congrats OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What insurance company allows that? Unless it’s a govt or military type job, I can’t see this being allowed. I know- we investigated it and the ins co said it’s not legal to insure no employees in the private sector excluding cobra .

OP here. I assure you it’s legal for group health insurance plans to cover retired employees. Ours is a very reputable law firm and insurance company and neither is hiding anything from anybody or each other.

Same at my firm. Retired partners can stay on health insurance until they become eligible for medicare, at their own cost. Been like that forever.

We’re hoping that the case with DH’s firm. But nothing is in writing — it’s all a handshake agreement. This, we worry.

Congrats OP! DH will walk away at 55.

Yes, it should be written into the partnership agreement.