Holy crap.
I just went to the CalSTRS retirement calendar and ran two different calculations; the first involved my monthly retirement check if I "retire" in 2020 and go teach in an international school, and the second was my monthly retirement check if I actually wait until 2028 to retire (and forego the international school route). In the first place my monthly retirement pay would be about $2000/month, in the second place it was $5000/month.
Granted, in theory I could put that entire $2000/month into an IRA and not draw on it until I actually retire in 2028 or so, but dang, I'm gambling with 60% of my retirement.
What to do?
6 comments:
The real gamble is whether California will run out of money before they can fund your pension. CalSTRS is basically a money laundering branch of the Democratic Party, and we all know how good they are at managing money. :(
Part of me wonders if it would be better to become a retiree early, as they're less likely to change the benefits of people actually receiving them than the benefits of people who haven't started receiving them yet.
Which would you regret more?
Difficult to say. A few years of what I expect would be extremely enjoyable, followed by the rest of my life living not far above the poverty line.
You have too many talents to live "not far above the poverty line".
Go for your dream.
No regrets.
I'm looking at retiring-with my pathetic TRS pension-next year (God willing!). Since I left teaching and came back later, even though I will have 20+ years, my pension will be just over $2K a month. That's not viable especially when you consider the cost of health insurance in the interim. So I will retire from teaching, but I will have to find at least part time work to make up the difference. Luckily my husband when he was working contributed heavily to 401K's so while we will be comfortable barring catastrophic inflation, we won't rest easy at night. Costa Rica's looking pretty good right now.
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