This is the latest in an occasional series of blog posts commenting on impending retirement.
Decision-making can be a liberating experience.
It brings relief and an almost palpable feeling of weight lifting off one’s shoulders.
I made such a decision this week. I have decided when I’m going to officially “retire.”
It will occur on my 66th birthday, which arrives on Dec. 17, 2015. That will be the day I plan to start collecting Social Security income.
Big deal, you say? What’s so special about that? For starters, that will be the day I can start drawing SSI without incurring a penalty if I choose to keep working part-time. I become eligible for my full Social Security benefit on my 66th birthday. I am working two part-time jobs at the moment and I’m likely to keep working at them even after I start drawing my “retirement” income.
I feel quite good about making this decision. It signals another big turning point in my life since the moment I stopped working full time as a daily print journalist. I won’t go into the details of that event, except to say that I wasn’t ready for that moment to arrive. It did. The circumstances of that moment still anger me but a year and a half later I’m actually glad to have moved on to this phase of life.
My wife and I haven’t been this happy in years. We’ve been able to travel some in our RV. Our granddaughter is growing and developing beautifully. Our sons are thriving. I’m working these two part-time jobs and enjoying them both immensely, mostly because neither of them places much pressure on me. The auto dealership job allows me to meet people and get reacquainted with old friends; the blog I write for PanhandlePBS.org allows me to stay involved with public affairs TV programming.
Of course, I have this blog to which I often contribute several times daily.
I now await another key stage of my retired life when I turn 66 and will start collecting some income for which I’ve worked many years.
There’ll be more to report on this blog as we move forward.
A decision on when to start collecting Social Security might not seem like a biggie to some. It is to me. I’m glad I’ve made it.