Retirees: What Are The Expenses You Didn't Count On For Retirement?

[retiredTxfeeder]

I guess I'm one of the ones everyone on here is trying not to be like. I got hurt April 25, 2013. Tore my rotator cuff and incurred some nerve damage as well. UPS wanted me to go to therapy instead of taking a lost time injury. They put me on TAW for 2.5 months while I went to therapy 3x a week. I came in every day and got my 10 hrs/day while I watched tv in the break room. When my shoulder didn't heal, I opted for surgery. They immediately put me on comp and said to call them every week for status reports. 6 months later they said I should be healed and go back to work. The last couple of years my knees and back had really bothered me, but I never complained. The 9 months I was off my knees got so bad that I knew I couldn't climb up and down off a tractor 20-30 times a night (I was a local driver) anymore. I made the decision to retire right then and there. Our home will be paid off in 3 months or so. Both kids are through with college. Wife still works, so I'm still on her insurance. It takes a good 3 months for your paperwork to go thru Atlanta and get looked at and approved. Everything worked out so far though. I requested my 2014 vacations and option week. Income tax refund came in. Wife got a bonus at work. 38 years at UPS has wrecked my body. I'm 59 years old and started at UPS at 21. I'm in pain every day of my life. I've only been retired for a couple of months, and I sometimes depend on others to do stuff for me. I sometimes pay to have stuff done that I used to do myself. Upside is I can do whatever I want, when I want. Hopefully my overall health can improve a little now and I only fill my 3/4 ton Silverado with gas every 4 or 5 weeks. My wife hates me because she still has to work. I cook dinner about 3 or 4 times a week and that is a good thing. I can cook a meal for $14-18 as opposed to $50.00 when we eat out. I wish I had gotten out earlier on my own terms, but that's ok. I'll deal with it.

 

[cat2u]

I'm almost there for retirement and trying to crunch all the numbers to see if we will be OK for retirement living.

I have been keeping track of all expenses for the last couple years. some expenses will go down like gasoline, tires, etc for the car. laundry, razors (ha ha)

are there some unexpected expenses you did not count on?

yes, State taxes . The County and City taxes are not taken out. I previously had $10 additional taken out per pay period. I owed State almost $400. I did not take into account my pay period changed to 1 time per month. I am going to call the Benefits line and tell them to take out $40 per pay period. This was my first year of retirement. I live in Indiana so your County and City Taxes may vary from mine.

 

[Areyoukiddinme]

gratz to you retiredtx, i bailed 51 weeks ago after 34 years of package most of that commuting 60 miles one way. i will be 54 in june and when people ask me about retirement i laugh and say "it doesn't suck"... i was fortunate enough to leave with no injuries, except a few mental scars..i just pray that the gang i worked with gets the same opportunity to enjoy life after brown.

 

[Xexys]

yes, State taxes . The County and City taxes are not taken out. I previously had $10 additional taken out per pay period. I owed State almost $400. I did not take into account my pay period changed to 1 time per month. I am going to call the Benefits line and tell them to take out $40 per pay period. This was my first year of retirement. I live in Indiana so your County and City Taxes may vary from mine.

Same thing happened to me only I owed the State a measly sum of dollars. Now I have the correct amount taken out so that we get money back each year.

Good for you for taking the plunge and getting out while you could still walk. My 30+ years of UPS was broken up; at the start I was a loader for 5 1/4 years; then drove for nearly 17; then clerked for 8 years. My body is sound with only the occasional minor back pain, nothing like it was when I was driving. Oh yeah, I got much shorter. For some reason when I started I was 5' 9" tall, now I'm 5' 7 1/2". I guess it was all that thrashing around in the truck in the back country route that I had.

 

[Rick61]

Which pension option did you take? Whole, 50% or 75% spouse survival? Do you keep a life insurance plan? Do you consider a part-time job for money or discounts or to get out of the house? Do you still help with kids/ grandkids expenses?....The healthcare expense in the south is $200 for me and $200 for the wife. I thought that was good. And after all this Obamacare shellshock, I really think it is a good deal.

It may be too late to reply but I took the 50% option. In hindsight I wish I would have left 100% for the wife. I think it really depends on how well your wife can support herself during and after retirement. My wife is disabled so I wanted to make sure she was okay and still be able to retire myself and pay the bills. I do also have life insurance for the same reason. It's really selfish to not leave something for her in my opinion since she put up with a lot of crap too. She never knew when you would be home(or maybe you wouldn't) and in most cases she practically raised the kids by herself so take care of the wife. (Assuming every thing is okay between the two of you) Anything less than the 50% option and she has to sign off in front of a notary that she is forgoing her share of her own will.

 

[rod]

It may be too late to reply but I took the 50% option. In hindsight I wish I would have left 100% for the wife. I think it really depends on how well your wife can support herself during and after retirement. My wife is disabled so I wanted to make sure she was okay and still be able to retire myself and pay the bills. I do also have life insurance for the same reason. It's really selfish to not leave something for her in my opinion since she put up with a lot of crap too. She never knew when you would be home(or maybe you wouldn't) and in most cases she practically raised the kids by herself so take care of the wife. (Assuming every thing is okay between the two of you) Anything less than the 50% option and she has to sign off in front of a notary that she is forgoing her share of her own will.

I just figured my wifes next husband would take care of her---------jk

 

[Catatonic]

I just figured my wifes next husband would take care of her---------jk

Not even you are that callous!

 

[olroadbeech]

im not worried. gonna sell house and live in my RV and travel like a bird. north in the summer and south for the winter.

will stay close to a Costco for free samples.

 

[Catatonic]

im not worried. gonna sell house and live in my RV and travel like a bird. north in the summer and south for the winter.

will stay close to a Costco for free samples.

I take it you are not married.

 

[By The Book]

I guess I'm one of the ones everyone on here is trying not to be like. I got hurt April 25, 2013. Tore my rotator cuff and incurred some nerve damage as well. UPS wanted me to go to therapy instead of taking a lost time injury. They put me on TAW for 2.5 months while I went to therapy 3x a week. I came in every day and got my 10 hrs/day while I watched tv in the break room. When my shoulder didn't heal, I opted for surgery. They immediately put me on comp and said to call them every week for status reports. 6 months later they said I should be healed and go back to work. The last couple of years my knees and back had really bothered me, but I never complained. The 9 months I was off my knees got so bad that I knew I couldn't climb up and down off a tractor 20-30 times a night (I was a local driver) anymore. I made the decision to retire right then and there. Our home will be paid off in 3 months or so. Both kids are through with college. Wife still works, so I'm still on her insurance. It takes a good 3 months for your paperwork to go thru Atlanta and get looked at and approved. Everything worked out so far though. I requested my 2014 vacations and option week. Income tax refund came in. Wife got a bonus at work. 38 years at UPS has wrecked my body. I'm 59 years old and started at UPS at 21. I'm in pain every day of my life. I've only been retired for a couple of months, and I sometimes depend on others to do stuff for me. I sometimes pay to have stuff done that I used to do myself. Upside is I can do whatever I want, when I want. Hopefully my overall health can improve a little now and I only fill my 3/4 ton Silverado with gas every 4 or 5 weeks. My wife hates me because she still has to work. I cook dinner about 3 or 4 times a week and that is a good thing. I can cook a meal for $14-18 as opposed to $50.00 when we eat out. I wish I had gotten out earlier on my own terms, but that's ok. I'll deal with it.

I have a question or two. If you were to do it over would you have stayed as long? Was the 591/2 age withdrawal for the 401k a factor?

 

[retiredTxfeeder]

I was ready to hang em up. Wife had a problem with it. If she's not happy, nobody is happy around here. I would have stayed longer to make her happy, but after the rotator cuff tear and time off, my body wouldn't let me. Initially it was pretty icy around here, but I basically took over the house duties. I cook dinner 3-4 times a week, and it's ready when she gets home. I wash clothes (the ones she allows me to wash) I keep the dishes from piling up in the sink, and I run to Kroger several times a week for groceries. I was aware of the 59.5 on the 401k, she was not. The 59.5 came 5 days ago, and I promised her we would get her a new car, and I intend to do that. She deserves it. Her car is 14 years old. As of right now, I'd say everybody is happy.

 

[Catatonic]

I was ready to hang em up. Wife had a problem with it. If she's not happy, nobody is happy around here. I would have stayed longer to make her happy, but after the rotator cuff tear and time off, my body wouldn't let me. Initially it was pretty icy around here, but I basically took over the house duties. I cook dinner 3-4 times a week, and it's ready when she gets home. I wash clothes (the ones she allows me to wash) I keep the dishes from piling up in the sink, and I run to Kroger several times a week for groceries. I was aware of the 59.5 on the 401k, she was not. The 59.5 came 5 days ago, and I promised her we would get her a new car, and I intend to do that. She deserves it. Her car is 14 years old. As of right now, I'd say everybody is happy.

My wife was unsure as well ... that's her nature. She is retired however herself.
I help a lot around the house.
She got a new car recently ... hers was 10 years old.
Some similarities between us.

 

[retiredTxfeeder]

I had my eye on retiring at 55 originally, but the $$ didn't work, plus my significant other kept finding excuses why we couldn't afford it yet. Our daughter is still in college. She graduated. Check. Daughter met Mr. Right. Got engaged. Well, now you have to wait till we pay for the wedding. Took care of that. Check. Finally she ran out of roadblocks to throw up in front of me. Got my 35 years credit in. I accomplished everything I set out to do at work. Well, I had wanted to get 35 years safe driving, just because it is so hard to achieve. Made 34 just before I retired. I came up short on that. Then the medical stuff came up. She is warming up to it more and more nowadays tho.

 

[brownmonster]

My wife is younger then me and works full time. She can quit working when I retire. She doesn't think I should work any longer then I have to.

 

[rod]

I was 53 when I retired and my wife was 49. I tried like hell to convince her she was too young to retire but that was hard to do when she heard everyone telling me I was too young. She actually quit a couple of months before me.

 

[olroadbeech]

im not married anymore. ( he cheated. BIG surprise!) we sold the house for 465K and I got half. but I have to give him half my pension and 401K.

living in RV now. gonna retire( next year ) to FLA in winter and Alaska in summer. looking for fun guys but NO LTR.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

At any point had you thought about giving him all of the proceeds from the sale of the home in lieu of losing 1/2 of your pension and 401k?

I only lost 16% of my pension as we were only married for my first 8 years at UPS. The formula New York uses is double the number of years married while at UPS up to a maximum of 50(%). She took half of my 401k balance on the date of our divorce.


Resident know-it-all.

 

[coties2c]

.,bbmhkhuk
lu

Sent using BrownCafe App

 

[tomgirl]

I have been retired for 5 years now. I was doing good with my retirement pay. But now that the working UPSer's voted for the new contract. My health insurance is crap. They should of left our insurance alone. I feel UPS betrayed all the retirees.

 

[jumpman23]

Its a shame the company don't give a dam about its employees. Even though were the ones who make the company all their money and fix all the problems these numbnuttz create everyday. Welcome to the new UPS huh lol.