Serious Contemplation of Retirement is Hard Work
As my time draws closer to retirement, I am finding myself doing a lot more research than I had anticipated. With multiple sources of income, I had to make sure that some did not offset others. Some forms of income offset Social Security, some do not. Had to do some research. Some of the calculations are not explained well for Civil Service retirement. Gotta research. Then there is the whole issue of Healthcare. I qualify for VA, but Deb does not, so we will probably stick with TRICARE, which has been very good for us. But TRICARE FOR LIFE has a different set of rules and deductibles. More research. Then there is the Thrift Savings Plan, or TSP – which is sizable, but has significant restrictions on how you can use that money. More research. Add to these things the actual process of a Civil Service Retirement, which is the ultimate example of government bureaucracy with dozens of forms to wade through and decisions to be made. Lots more research. It’s a wonder anyone in federal service actually gets retired! No wonder there is a significant number of deaths shortly after retirement! By the time you retire, you are exhausted from the process. So please forgive me if I don’t want to go anywhere or do anything for a week after retirement, whenever that is. I’ll be in recovery.
Oh, and I wrote a new poem going through the process of retirement….