Since this thread has been brought back from the dead, I thought I would add a few additional comments..
Last year, I ALMOST retired.
2016, my company was bought out by our competition and THE COMPETITION WON the battle, meaning they started shutting down all of our competing production lines.
Feb 2017, the new company decided to do a "labor reduction" company wide.
Yep, I got the long walk to the carpet office at age 53 (everyone age 50 and up was on the cut list).
They offered me a real nice severance package, but I would not lose my job until May 2017.
May 2017 come and they offer an extension to Oct 2017.
Oct 2017 comes and they offered to give my job back with no change in position, seniority, pay or vacation. I could take to severance and leave, or take my job back.
They accidentally discovered that they didn't have anyone with the technical ability and knowledge they needed to perform my job.. Oh, they tried, had me attempt to train a couple of others but it was over those folks pay grade.
I decided to take my job back, for multiple reasons.
My DD is graduating HS this year, will be going into a 2yr community college program, then perhaps transfer to another college to get a 4yr degree..
So, I decided that keeping a job would be very helpful at this time..
The layoff notice also gave me time to take a good look at where my retirement is.. Our financial advisor gave us the great news that even if I could not find a job (discovered during my layoff notice that age discrimination IS alive and well in spite of Gov rules concerning age related discrimination!) we could pay for college for DD, pay health insurance and not have to take a major cut to our lifestyle!
Taking my job back also buys a bit more time to erase my early yrs of employment for SS. SS is based on a 35 yr average, as you get more yrs of qualified yearly earnings accrued over 35yrs your first (and lowest yrs) drop off.. Basically will increase my SS payments when I do become eligible to draw.
I do have my days that I wished I had taken the severance and walked (co is not much fun to work at anymore) but in the end it will make my retirement a bit stronger..
Looking forward to retiring at about 57-58 or about 4-5 yrs from now.
