To retire or not retire?

cmhyland · Feb 18, 2013

gilbertmsg said:
I have 95 days left, after serving 34 years in the US Army. I will work some and work harder around our 10 acres. My retirement will cover our bills and whatever I make will be for fun. I start leave on 1 Jan 13, and after 90 days I'm sure I'll be ready to go back to work. Not going to work my life away, plan to play golf, fish, and ride our horses.

Eddie

Thank you for your service Eddy,
I hope you have a very long and happy retirement.

Regards,
Chris

bigblock · Feb 18, 2013

I retired eight years ago from a police department in South Florida after working there for 20 years. When I started working there they had a pension after 20 years but after working there for about five years the city decided that they wanted out of the pension plan and converted us to a 401/457 plan. I voted against that change but was strongly in the minority so the pension was history. Well, we all remember the stock market taking a big dive in the 90's and taking the majority of my retirement funds with it. In spite of that, because of health problems and general disgust with police work, I retired as soon as I was eligible. I have no financial security and will eventually be broke but I'm still glad that I did it.

Many will probably think that I am foolish to do this but I am happy now and feel that I did the right thing. I had eight years of police work with another agency before moving to Florida but get no benefits from that job. Law enforcement ruined me, physically and mentally. Stress and frustration got to me and I needed to get out. My current situation is far from ideal but it beats the heck out of being a cop. I'll deal with poverty if I happen to live that long but right now I'm happy and stress free. I don't even watch police shows on tv. If I had it to do over I would have been a fireman.

sam5570 · Feb 18, 2013

bigblock said:
I retired eight years ago from a police department in South Florida after working there for 20 years. When I started working there they had a pension after 20 years but after working there for about five years the city decided that they wanted out of the pension plan and converted us to a 401/457 plan. I voted against that change but was strongly in the minority so the pension was history. Well, we all remember the stock market taking a big dive in the 90's and taking the majority of my retirement funds with it. In spite of that, because of health problems and general disgust with police work, I retired as soon as I was eligible. I have no financial security and will eventually be broke but I'm still glad that I did it.

Many will probably think that I am foolish to do this but I am happy now and feel that I did the right thing. I had eight years of police work with another agency before moving to Florida but get no benefits from that job. Law enforcement ruined me, physically and mentally. Stress and frustration got to me and I needed to get out. My current situation is far from ideal but it beats the heck out of being a cop. I'll deal with poverty if I happen to live that long but right now I'm happy and stress free. I don't even watch police shows on tv. If I had it to do over I would have been a fireman.

bigblock i agree with totally, the last job i had was awful when we lost the contract on what i was doing the company said we got work for yea and i said thanks but no thank's you people have done your dead level best to make my life misserable the past 6 years and thats it, my boss said sam at your age it's going to be tough finding employment in this area, i said yeas your right i guess thats why you have treated me like sh**** for all these years, hope you sleep well and hung up the phone. i may be the first one in the soup line but i be d**** if i 'm going to be treated like crap just to make a living. now i'm not saying thats right or wrong that's just the way i feel. i been out of work sence jan 1 and feel 100 % better, don't have no money but i feel better. as the old saying goes never felt better and had less in my life.