Retirement decisions

mke
mke Member Posts: 584
edited June 2014 in Life After Breast Cancer
Retirement decisions
· Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Comments

  • mke
    mke Member Posts: 584
    edited April 2008

    I've been reading the "stop living like you are dying mom" thread and it isn't only kids who don't want to hear about some hard truths. 

    My husband has sort of been forced into a somewhat early retirement and there are a lot of decisions to be made.  He has the choice of taking more of his pension now or less now so that I will get more later if I survive him.  Whatever he decides he has to stick with.

    I'm pressing for the more now on perfectly logical grounds.  His parents lived longer than mine, I've had BC 3 times, and I'm not that much younger than him.  I've made jokes about how irritated he will be with me when I die and I'm still costing him money through a lower pension payment.  But he's having a hard time putting that check mark in that box and signing the form.

    We also talked about the insurance and decided that we probably should take it as we would likely need some benefits in the future (like those prostheses (sp) I need to get fitted for).  And there are still more things to decide on.  It's kind of exhausting.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • gsg
    gsg Member Posts: 3,386
    edited April 2008

    Hi, MKE.  Such a tough decision!  My husband, who is still working, was eligible for a small pension from a place he worked years ago and we opted to take the lesser amount, so it would continue if something happened to him before me, but it's not a huge amount of money we're talking about so it was an easier decision.

    I would definitely take the insurance...especially given lifetime caps, etc.

    I guess pension decisions are kind of like breast cancer treatment decisions...everybody has to pick what they're comfortable with.  Good luck to you both!

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited April 2008

    A little story.  My uncle and aunt decided that she would die first.  She was always the "sickly" one.  Therefore, they didn't have money taken out for the spousal insurance.  He died first.  She passed away about four or five years after he did.  The did manage to save a little bit of money and she received small amounts of $$$ for the condition he died from,  Mesothelioma.  Sooooo, we don't know what's gonna happen.

    I don't envy you making this decision.  We made the wrong one.  So, I surely wouldn't advise you!  LOL

    Shirley

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Categories