Episode 148: How to Handle an Unplanned Retirement

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Today’s Smart Money Question:

We’ve had a couple clients recently who decided to retire earlier than planned. We’ll explain how we helped them, even with very little time to prepare, and how you could handle a similar situation. 

(Click the featured times below to jump forward in the episode)

Here Are Just A Handful Of Things You’ll Learn:

Not everyone retires as planned. We’ve had a couple clients recently who decided to leave the workforce earlier than expected. Here’s how we helped them with their unplanned retirements.

In the past 15 months, a client’s situation at work got progressively worse in part because of the pandemic. They decided to retire in 60 days and wanted to know what steps to take to make sure the transition was seamless. They had a lot of questions: Should I take Social Security now? What about health care? Will I get a severance? What about taxes?

Another client came to us with a similar situation but they were getting an inheritance. They wanted to make a sound decision. We can make emotional, rash decisions, but in this case, they had a couple months to make plans.

If you’re contemplating making a change in jobs or working toward retirement, make sure you go through the process of, OK, I need to look at this, this and this. If you decide to retire quickly, in 60 days for example, one of the first things we need to look at is health care and make sure you are covered.

Next, we need to determine what your final paycheck will look like. Will you get extra money for PTO time, sick days, vacation days, etc.? Maybe that last paycheck will be a big lump sum, and you’ll be hit with a lot of taxes. 

Another question to consider is when to take Social Security. If you take it before your full retirement age, depending on when you were born, there will be a reduction in your benefit.

Listen to the full episode or use the timestamps below to jump to a specific section.

6:12 – Health care

10:18 – Last paycheck

13:18 – Proactive tax planning

18:57 – Investing

20:25 – How you will be paid

 

If you’re contemplating making a change in jobs or working toward retirement, make sure you go through the process of, okay, I need to look at this, this and this.

-Matt Hausman

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