Tag: retirement-planning

Has it really been three years since I left teaching?

May 22, 2025

A picture of me from the 2022 EOY school faculty celebration popped up in my FB feed yesterday. Has it really been three years since I walked out the schoolhouse doors into early retirement?

I remember being equally scared and excited that day. Past ready to leave the day job, but wondering what the future would hold. We stuck to our financial plan and things worked out – despite everything that came our way. It was certainly an adventure as my husband and I tried all sorts of activities to see which ones we liked best. Volunteering and travel are still at the top of the list.

Three years later, I am now officially retired with the state teacher retirement system (I wasn’t old enough to collect retirement benefits when I left my job). Sadie and I have our weekly school based read-to-a-dog program and a number of really cool opportunities for therapy dog visits each month. I am an instructor at the Southeast Quilt & Textile Museum. I am also actively involved with the East Cobb Quilt Guild and sew with friends regularly. I found my tribe. My mind is engaged, I’m learning new things, plus giving back to the community. Life is good.

Teaching seems like another lifetime ago.

My laptop, keys and badge ready to be turned in on my last day as a public school teacher.

Today is my official retirement date, but I’m not officially retired

August 2, 2024

Don’t laugh. I’m totally serious.

New retirees have an official retirement date, but the Teacher Retirement System of Georgia (TRS) doesn’t consider one officially retired until after receipt of one’s first pension check. This will happen by mid-August.

I’m not worried about the money, because I knew there would be a two week delay after my official retirement date for the first pension payment.

The issue is I can’t get the health insurance premiums adjusted to the correct retiree amount now due until TRS notifies SHBP/ADP (company contracted to manage health insurance billing) of my retiree status. This is done via an electronic data file update that is uploaded twice a week.

Every time I contact TRS, I get a different answer as to when SHBP/ADP will be notified of my retiree status. Two weeks ago, I was informed they would be notified on 8/1. Today, I was told it would be after receipt of my first pension payment. I don’t know what to believe anymore. There’s a system update happening this weekend and most premium bills are generated by the 7th of the month. Perhaps I’ll get lucky and things will update in the next few days.

I’m thankful for the anticipated retirement benefit and thankful for the health insurance. I’ll be equally as thankful to save $1700/month in insurance premiums.

Photo by Leeloo The First on Pexels.com

Excited for what’s next

July 10, 2024

Last night hubs and I celebrated my birthday at The Blue Ridge Grille in Buckhead. It’s one of our favorite places to celebrate extra special events. The food and service were superb, as usual. I think the last time we were there was to celebrate hubs retiring from Home Depot. That’s been well over two years ago.

Anyhow, this particular birthday meant I finally achieved the “magic age” for my teacher retirement benefits to kick in. (No more mortgage level health insurance premiums either!) We celebrated what’s ahead as we finally exit the holding pattern we’ve been in the past two years. Retirement officially begins August 1st.

We don’t expect much to change when it comes to our day-to-day activities. We’re just excited to have the funds previously earmarked to pay exorbitant health insurance premiums now available to tackle some minor home improvement projects and put toward a couple more bucket list trips. Sadie is also slated to get a new dogmobile (my SUV) by year end.

We’ve also started thinking seriously about where we’d like to live in retirement. That’s a tough one. We love our location and neighborhood, but are not happy about future plans for our area. I’ll be attending a DOT open house today about the future express lanes coming to the top end of I-285. I’m curious to see how they plan to add toll lanes in each direction with all the multimillion dollar homes along the proposed path between Vinings and Sandy Springs. I’m more interested in how the planned entrance/exit ramp less than 1 mile from our home will impact the surrounding residential neighborhoods.

Dining table decorated for birthday celebration
Cute table decorations that greeted us when celebrating my birthday!