Strategic long range planning and retirement

When I worked at Intel, we had a process we went through regularly called SLRP-strategic long range planning. You worked out your goals for the next 3-5 years. Short range was the specific steps you would take as goals for the years and quarters in that 5 year range to meet those long range goals. It is also a process I use in the home improvement space. I have a list of long range goals with shorter term goals for each year and month. It makes things a little more organized.

On March 18, I spent the morning at a seminar held by the Arizona State Retirement System for those planning to retire within the next year. The Pro isn't really planning to retire again, but if the City comes to agreement with a management company, he will be working for the management company and not the City. That means, he retires from the state retirement system. The seminar was to help us understand out options and help choose our next steps.

On the SLRP front, I've always contributed to 401K or equivalent where it was available. I've been saving the max that I could in order to have a retirement reserve that would enable me to live the lifestyle I want in retirement. The Pro wasn't able to save much since divorce frequently eats up any savings made during a marriage. However, we've continued to save since we married. The pension he will get when we start drawing from ASRS will be a nice addition to Social Security and the other savings we have.

A not unsurprising fact was that, even with Medicare, healthcare concerns will drive most people's retirement decisions. The plans available through ASRS are significantly more expensive than the Medicare Advantage plan the Pro was using before starting to work for the City. When the time comes, we will have a lot of research to do about which plan to choose.

When will we both retire? The Pro retired the first time when we got married. He served a local Welfare Services mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints for the first eighteen months of our marriage. Prescott lured him out of retirement by asking him to come back to manage Antelope Hills which is where he had his first head pro job. He loves it here. This was the only course that could coax him to come back to the grind.

Since we've been here, I've worked part time as his assistant. I take pictures for tournaments, help with scoring, buy for the Pro shop, do the merchandising, and help with technical things on the computer. We have really enjoyed working together, but until February, my other job was competing for my time. I worked as a corporate secretary for a small publicly traded company and helped with the video conferencing business unit which I used to run. It was challenging and fun, but it also took up more time than we wanted. So, I resigned. It is certainly easier not to juggle the two positions. I have more time available for helping the Pro.

When the Pro does decide to retire, will I also retire? That question is up in the air. A lot depends on when he wants to pull the plug. If it is before I am eligible for Medicare too, I may get a full time job for benefits. I may get a part-time job again and use the family option under ASRS for health care. This whole situation is still too fluid to know. I am fine with the uncertainty on this planning front as there are many options available.

What about the long range planning? We expect that when he does retire, we will have the house paid off. That likely means that the house we still own in Utah will finally be sold to our tenants. While no mortgage may not the be best thing from a tax perspective, I just hate debt. While we might be able to bring in more in income from the money than the outgo for the mortgage payment would be, I simply want to have no house payment. That gives us a lot more flexibility.

We hope we can serve a mission together for our church. That will depend again on when, as well as how his health is doing. If it is within the next few years, this is a likely outcome and we're planning for how to make it happen.

We have a growing family of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. We will want to visit them often when we have fewer commitments on the home front. There are a few places we'd like to visit. Mostly, we expect to continue to serve in our community and play golf regularly.

So, we have long range plans but they are very open as to the expected date to accomplish the goals. Until my marriage with the Pro, I expected that I would continue to work full time until well into my seventies. Thanks to him, that may no longer be necessary. However, working part time might be fun. We just have to see.