Today I wanted to talk about one of the things keeping me busy until retirement. Working full time! Sounds not so exciting right? Well, it's not time for me to retire yet but, I know that working now will pay off great later in life when I'm ready.
Keep your job for
as long as you can before you take the plunge into retirement. I plan on working full time until it's time to withdraw my social security since that check will be larger. It's based on your last 5 years of working along with your full years of work - so it makes sense not to go part time just before retiring. It's harder to do but, if you can it should be worth a larger monthly check to pay bills and put money in the bank. Keep an eye on that mail from the social security office which will show you how much you'll get if you retire and withdraw social security at age 60, 62, 65 or later. It's a big difference!
Check out the Joy of Not Working for tips and ideas on when to make the decision to retire and to do it with gusto!
If you can physically continue to work, I'd suggest you do it. I know quite a few people that decided to retire before social security would hit or just when it would and then regretted that decision. They sometimes end up going back for part time work to make ends meet. I hope not to do it that way and that's why full time is better, for me at least.
Maybe one idea to consider is working with your employer about changing your schedule instead of working 5 days in a row, maybe you can work 2 or 3 with a day off. For many people, having that one day off between work days makes a big difference in being able to keep up that work pace.
Part time work usually doesn't include any benefits such as sick time, vacation pay or personal time off with pay. Can you really afford that? Many of us can't so take some time to really think about all those things before you can the plunge into retirement too.
We'd love to know your thoughts on working full time until your magic age to retire, let us know in the comments area below.
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