Multi-topic thread on retirement and second car

[dinkman]

congrats on the pickup, looks great!
dont the og m2 and new supra have the same b58 engine? surprised you hated one and are really liking the other

 

[Deneed4spd]

congrats on the pickup, looks great!
dont the og m2 and new supra have the same b58 engine? surprised you hated one and are really liking the other

OGM2 had the N55 motor.

 

[dinkman]

OGM2 had the N55 motor.

my bad

 

[BimmerFan]

my bad

No worries. The new M2 has the S58 engine as in the G80 M3 and G82 M4. The Supra has the B58. It all gets very confusing.

 

[bloominguez]

Aside from the obvious (?) event at Spring Mountain that we get for free (you can also go on your own if you want to pay for it), both BMW and Porsche have dedicated tracks where you can go and drive their cars with their gas, their tires and on their insurance, and have some serious fun flogging the bejeezus out of their cars. With Porsche, it's mostly the sports cars, with BMW it's mostly the ///M cars. It ain't cheap, but it's less expensive than buying an extra car like I did.

BMW does it in Greenville SC and Palm Springs CA, and Porsche is in Atlanta, I believe. I've done the former (several times, both places) but not the latter, although a friend did it and had a blast. Now that I think about it, BMW also added reoccurring events at the Brickyard. So you get the fun of doing it, plus get to drive on a historic track.

The benefit to the manufacturers is that people get to see what the cars are capable of, and often go buy one afterwards.

+1 on the BMW schools. I've gone (fun work event). I also paid for both of my daughters to go so they can see what cars are capable of. They had a blast spending the day together in the same car (you share a car and swap drivers).

Even better, BMW also has motorcycle classes at the GSP plant, in addition to the car stuff. Take a GS out and ride over obstacles, practice panic braking in the dirt, etc.

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[dinkman]

No worries. The new M2 has the S58 engine as in the G80 M3 and G82 M4. The Supra has the B58. It all gets very confusing.

i stopped paying attention since the s65!

 

[DCV]

4 more months and I’m out at 62 when my pension calculation changes. I’ll hold my nose and work for the orange convict for three of those. I have no intentions of training anyone to take my place or complete and major tasks…cruissssssse control activated. I want to thank all of the tax payers for paying my salary which allowed me to buy lots of fun cars and motorcycles. Now I’m not a total scofflaw as the work I did on spectrum auctions raised over 400 billion for the US Treasury and the frequency bands used by cell networks were freed up for non federal that you use every day. So I reserve the right to cruise for a few months. And if Musk, Rammydammy, Patel and the other clowns don’t like it…well wahhhhhhh

 

[BimmerFan]

I have no intentions of training anyone to take my place or complete and major tasks…cruissssssse control activated.

LOL, @DCV. I had a team meeting scheduled for 10 AM last week when my boss gave me a heads-up that he was sending out an important email about work from home at 10, so I delayed the meeting so that everyone could read it and we could discuss.

One of my folks asked if I was going to announce my retirement. I said no, when I retire I just won't show up one day. LOL

Natch I jest, as I have to give notice or I won't get paid for my accrued and unused vacation (currently at 264 hours).

 

[DCV]

I only need to give one month notice. It’s not an easy process as a Fed to retire, given all of the paperwork that’s got to be filed and processed by various agencies. Lots of people will be retiring, many of them crucial to daily operations and that’s really going to slow things down.

 

[Roadhawk]

LOL, @DCV. I had a team meeting scheduled for 10 AM last week when my boss gave me a heads-up that he was sending out an important email about work from home at 10, so I delayed the meeting so that everyone could read it and we could discuss.

One of my folks asked if I was going to announce my retirement. I said no, when I retire I just won't show up one day. LOL

Natch I jest, as I have to give notice or I won't get paid for my accrued and unused vacation (currently at 264 hours).

LOL - perhaps 5+ years before I retired I was telling my folks I planned to retire soon and needed 2 years to train up a replacement and that they should assign me someone to do so. They eventually did around a year before I retired and ultimately he couldn't manage much of the technical stuff I used to do. So after years of my requesting more $$$ and contract support they finally approved my requests....after I retired....and hired an extra contractor to take over my technical work. My work was important (for the nation) and I still cared that it was done well. I'm happy to say its still in very good hands.

 

[DCV]

I have trained people to take my place, but then they got offers for lots more money and stock options once they got the right skills and experience, so they left. Good for them, but I'm not staying around to do that again. Same for new hires and recent graduates, I can at best get them a GS-13....step 1.....well the good ones get offers from Amazon or other tech places for lots more money than I can get for them and stock options. I've lost three interns like that, I bring them in....train them up, get them the skills they need, then when the graduate......Amazon, Raytheon or Boeing comes in and offers up 130K or more....as a starting salary. So, yea, I've had enough of that and now with Agent Orange coming in..... nobody will want to work for the feds for years. But I suppose it's what they want, people to quit/retire and not even get hired. It'll come back to bite them in the ass in about 3 years or so.

 

[Roadhawk]

The guy who took my place was 10 years older then me and had extensive military and defense contractor background. He seemed a good fit but couldn't quite manage most all the very specialized technical stuff I did. In the end he pretty much just managed my contracts and left the technical work to the contractors. He was a good guy and had to work because he withdrew $ from the market after the 2007 collapse - big mistake - and said he couldn't afford to retire. He passed away last year shortly after he finally did retire...

 

[Roadhawk]

I only need to give one month notice. It’s not an easy process as a Fed to retire, given all of the paperwork that’s got to be filed and processed by various agencies. Lots of people will be retiring, many of them crucial to daily operations and that’s really going to slow things down.

Yeah...I worry...but what can you do?

I was also a fed (34 1/2 years) and when I retired I had to be read out of all sorts of stuff in addition to all the normal retirement stuff. I also had to transfer or dispose of material from 4 1/2 safes spread over 3 different locations...probably took me 2-3 weeks just to do that alone (with much shredding of papers involved). And no - I took nothing home ( I mean why?....I'm retired and am nobody now....and I like it that way).

I also had a "thing" going on with the Vice Chair of the Joint Staff wrt to a very good thing he was trying to implement (that directly involved my work) where I thought I had some better ways to do things. Only recently I was informed (without any details) that much of what I was pushing for actually got implemented. This took a lot of my time in my last 4-6 months that caused me to have a very busy and stressful few months before retirement and prevented me from just cruising and enjoying myself at the end. I still wouldn't have changed a thing...

 

[DCV]

I’ve made sure not to have any classified materials in my name or have the codes to any safes or scif rooms. My boss wanted me to get a TS but I told him I would be gone in a year, so it was pointless to go through all that process, then get out. The only reason I’m still in is because at 62 I get the 1.1 multiplier in the pension calculation in April. If I go out now, as compared to May 3rd, I’d lose close to 700 dollars a month.

 

[Roadhawk]

LOL - I had my TS clearance since I was 18 (until I retired). I've felt a great sense of freedom these last 10 years...quite a weight lifted off of me...

 

[BimmerFan]

He passed away last year shortly after he finally did retire...

Gawd. This kind of thing happens far too often.

I'm retired and am nobody now...

Yeah, we've been saying that here for years. LOL. j/k

The only reason I’m still in is because at 62 I get the 1.1 multiplier in the pension calculation in April. If I go out now, as compared to May 3rd, I’d lose close to 700 dollars a month.

My employer has a nice defined pension plan, but it also has the option of taking a lump sum. Basically, at retirement, they buy an annuity to make the monthly payments as defined. Alternatively, you can take the amount of money (lump sum) that they'd spend on the annuity as a one-time payment. Most folks have taken that option. The rate of return on the annuity is rather conservative, so if you can manage your money fairly well, or if you don't think you'll live long enough to make it worth while, then it's a better financial move. Natch as interest rates change, so does that lump sum amount.

So, as rates go down, it costs them more to buy the annuity, so the lump sum goes up. And vice-versa. One of my former coworkers didn't want to retire, but rates were going up, and as he told me, "if I stay another year, it will cost me $200K". So we had a bunch of people leave then (the rate adjusts in May). I was going to pull the plug a few months ago (micromanager above me really pissed me off) but my HR guy told me to wait, as it would cost me $50K unless I gave it until January. Now with rates dropping, if I can make it until June 1, that's another $100K for me (based on projections). Plus, of course, my salary.

Of course, it's a slippery slope. At some point we have to stop waiting and just do it.

 

[DCV]

Yes, I could also use my TSP 401K and buy an annuity.....that can vary a bit as the interest rates do. So, if I take out 3K per month.....and look at that balance after 25 years or so or take the annuity and give them all of my balance now and they give me xx dollars per month for life......it's a wash really. But if I keep it, and do my own withdraws....then I can still get a lump of cash if I need it. Given how wonky bank mergers are with vulture capitalist firms buying assets....I can see where my annuity could be bought, then cancelled. So, yea I do not trust what might happen under the Orange Convict and banking laws.

 

[Z51L9889]

Gawd. This kind of thing happens far too often.



Yeah, we've been saying that here for years. LOL. j/k


My employer has a nice defined pension plan, but it also has the option of taking a lump sum. Basically, at retirement, they buy an annuity to make the monthly payments as defined. Alternatively, you can take the amount of money (lump sum) that they'd spend on the annuity as a one-time payment. Most folks have taken that option. The rate of return on the annuity is rather conservative, so if you can manage your money fairly well, or if you don't think you'll live long enough to make it worth while, then it's a better financial move. Natch as interest rates change, so does that lump sum amount.

So, as rates go down, it costs them more to buy the annuity, so the lump sum goes up. And vice-versa. One of my former coworkers didn't want to retire, but rates were going up, and as he told me, "if I stay another year, it will cost me $200K". So we had a bunch of people leave then (the rate adjusts in May). I was going to pull the plug a few months ago (micromanager above me really pissed me off) but my HR guy told me to wait, as it would cost me $50K unless I gave it until January. Now with rates dropping, if I can make it until June 1, that's another $100K for me (based on projections). Plus, of course, my salary.

Of course, it's a slippery slope. At some point we have to stop waiting and just do it.

My last two jobs did not have defined pension plans. However, I worked for GM/Delphi for 20 years and was vested in their pension plan. I left in early 2007 and immediately applied for a lump sum payout. As it turns out, my timing was perfect -- Delphi discontinued the buyout option TWO WEEKS after I applied, and the plans got turned over to the PBGC after the GM bankruptcy less than a year later. My pension would have been worthless had I not taken the buyout. I have several friends that lost their entire pensions and are still working in their 70's because of this.

The moral of the story is: Retire when you have enough assets to let you live the way you want to in retirement. Does it really matter if you will "lose" a potential increase in your future payment by retiring if you already have enough money to retire?

As it turns out, I ended up retiring without notice a month before I actually planned due to some very disrespectful actions by my management team. I forfeited payment on two weeks of vacation, but I didn't care at that point and didn't need the money. I haven't missed the lost payment at all, and I definitely haven't missed the job, lol.

 

[Roadhawk]

The moral of the story is: Retire when you have enough assets to let you live the way you want to in retirement. Does it really matter if you will "lose" a potential increase in your future payment by retiring if you already have enough money to retire. I forfeited payment on two weeks of vacation, but I didn't care at that point and didn't need the money. I haven't missed the lost payment at all, and I definitely haven't missed the job, lol.

This is (and was) certainly my thinking....and I think its "right" thinking. Too many folks are caught up in "I could just make a bit more" if I hold on a few years longer or whatever....and I think this is reversing priorities....or at least what I think priorities should be.

Of course my perspective is colored by not ever really having financial hardship and also by not valuing (overvaluing IMO) the idea of being rich. Its a lucky position to be in not enjoyed by all for a variety of reasons. Several of my fiends and relatives don't have this luxury and either are struggling to make ends meet or can't retire as their situation leads them to a place where they might not be able to live as they do now after they retire. I've never been in these situations and I really feel for them.

 

[dinkman]

more like ... if i work just one more year i can afford the markup on the new zr1!