Retirement

For the last few years I've been counting down how long I have until I can retire. I'm a county employee, so I'm vested in the state retirement system. In Florida, the state has an option called the DROP. It's a deferred compensation retirement plan that offers an incentive to retiring early. I'll be eligle for entry into the DROP as of September 1, 2007. That makes it 35 months and 5 days. And yes, I've been doing a count-down since it was in triple digits. I can do just about anything when I break it down into months or days instead of years.

With the DROP, I will actually retire from my job, but I will continue to work at my current job for up to the next 60 months. As I understand it, I will cash out my accrued annual and sick leave. While enrolled in the DROP I will continue to work at my current job, receive my paycheck, earn annual and sick time and receive an annual raise just as if I had not "retired." I put retire in quotes because while I have officially retired, I will still work as if I had not retired - retirement is deferred. The only difference is that I will start out with zero leave time and will probably not be considered for promotions. But, I don't expect to be promoted now. I've gone nearly as far as I can without being certified and the only other position I could go to, I really don't want.

Now, this is the good part: my monthly retirement check will be deposited into an account where it will draw interest while I am in the DROP. I have to be in the DROP for at least one month, but can stay for up to 60 months. Anyway, when I do finally retire, I will get my deferred compensation -I'll have approximately $120K (most likely more, depending on raises, interest rates, and so on) in the bank and will receive my monthly check in my own account.

I don't have to retire in 3 years, but I do have the option. If I understand correctly, I could wait until I'm 57 to actually retire, spend 5 years in the DROP and then retire at age 62 when I'm eligible for Social Security and Medicare. I'm thinking of waiting until I'm 55 to enter the DROP and officially, finally retire at 60. Each year I wait will mean a little more money going into the retirement account.

One of the things I'm wrestling with is: do I want to work an extra two to five years? Right now, today, hell no! I want to retire as soon as possible. Monday isn't soon enough! But, realistically and financially, it might make better sense to wait that two years. Shoot, I've already worked this long, what's another twenty-four months? And sometime, I will be talking to a financial planner of some sort to help me make the decisions I need to make.

Decisions, decisions. But, like the DROP, I can defer the decision until another day.