# Hubby is facing early retirement



## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

He is not ready to retire. He is not old enough to go on Medicare. But years of wear and tear on his body are making the decision for him. His knee replacement is being scheduled and he cannot go back to doing the jobs he has been doing for the past 35 years. I know I'm not ready to have him hanging around here 24/7. 

He just can't take the pain anymore and the bone on bone grating is doing more damage to his knee every day. The good side is that the surgery will be done in the winter so I won't have to hide the push mower from him. 

He says he can get a job where he won't have to climb ladders and crawl around on his knees. We will see. It's pretty hard around here for seniors to get jobs unless they want to work at Wendy's and he won't do fast food again. There's more than enough work waiting here for him to occupy his time. It's the finances and health insurance that bother me. One more year and we would have been ready.


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## painterswife (Jun 7, 2004)

Knee replacements are no fun. I hope it goes well.


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## from_wa (Mar 10, 2014)

Have him looking at being a Home Care Aid. In my state of Washington the rate is $18-22/hr and good insurance is $25/month. Not all jobs are medical in nature. Many are just helping someone with daily living skiill such as cooking meals, cleaning and taking to appointments or the store.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

With his macular degeneration (not yet bad enough to cause problems, but it can get worse) he doesn't want to take a job that involves driving. He could make real good money as a service tech ($50 an hour average) for machinery but it involves driving a lot.

There are some local jobs in his old line of work in the area. He used to do electronic assembly. They don't pay that much but they offer insurance and it won't involve crawling around on his knees and squeezing into tight spaces. We will have to wait and see. Right now we are focusing on rearranging furniture and other stuff so he can get a walker through the house. He has time still on his short term disability.


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## HomeCreek (Dec 30, 2021)

Danaus29 said:


> He is not ready to retire. He is not old enough to go on Medicare. But years of wear and tear on his body are making the decision for him. His knee replacement is being scheduled and he cannot go back to doing the jobs he has been doing for the past 35 years. I know I'm not ready to have him hanging around here 24/7.
> 
> He just can't take the pain anymore and the bone on bone grating is doing more damage to his knee every day. The good side is that the surgery will be done in the winter so I won't have to hide the push mower from him.
> 
> He says he can get a job where he won't have to climb ladders and crawl around on his knees. We will see. It's pretty hard around here for seniors to get jobs unless they want to work at Wendy's and he won't do fast food again. There's more than enough work waiting here for him to occupy his time. It's the finances and health insurance that bother me. One more year and we would have been ready.


When this became the case for me I went to work for the Board of Education. First in the shop and now as a driver. I work 182 days but get paid year around. Have state retirement that I recently became fully vested in and family coverage dental medical etc for 307 dollars a month. I get tons of off days. I have saved up over 70 so far and thats after donating some to people I work with that were off long term fighting cancer etc. I live rural so I bring the bus home each day. But should I decide to take a day off I dont even have to call and ask. I just go through the approved list of sub drivers and find someone to work for me and note it on my time sheet I turn in monthly. I only make 1800 a month. But again thats year around. I get paid for summer break etc. I work 3hrs a day. 60 or so hours a month. I also have tenure. If I want a little extra Ill pick up a field trip or ball game for an extra 100. After 2 years I received tenure. The key is to work for a system not a private company. 

I also go one county over in the evening after my evening route. In my little Honda Fit. I go to an office and pick up 6 plastic totes with payroll and permits etc and deliver it to 5 different mobile home plants in 3 counties. Total drive 160 miles. Im home before 730. And I make 650ish a week after fuel and other expenses..then I get to claim mileage on my taxes every year that averages around another 10k. So I am doing the bus 3hrs and the evening route 3ish. 6hrs a day sitting on my butt and average bringing home about 1100 a week and still have between 8am and 2pm daily to do something else if I want. And during summer break the week for thanksgiving 21 days for christmas spring break etc I only work 3 to 4 hrs in the evening because Im getting paid to sit home from BOE. 

My job primary to all this was a Corrective Manager position. I worked for a major auto parts supplier going to stores with problems and figuring it out and correcting it. If you saw me usually things werent pleasant as it meant someone was stealing or mismanaging etc and likely would cost jobs. I was on my feet 12hrs a day on concrete and travelled all the time. Glad to be retired from that. I have permanent back problems due to this job. 

The private courier is something that Id never considered and is in such need that I have other companies trying to hire me to do theirs as well. When I decide to retire BOE that will be my second retirement. So I have two private retirements that will pay me at 62. The BOE retirement will continue to my wife at my death. Shes getting a deal as she is 21 yrs younger than me. I have 7yrs til I hit 62. 

Tell him to ask around about the courier and I know there is a nationwide shortage of bus drivers. I love my bus job. Ive had kids from k to graduation and I even have a baby out there named after me. I get invited to bdays weddings etc. Next school year I will have 2 kids who had parents that used to ride my bus.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

@HomeCreek, I really appreciate the advice, but he has the early stages of macular degeneration. He doesn't like driving either.


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## Forcast (Apr 15, 2014)

from_wa said:


> Have him looking at being a Home Care Aid. In my state of Washington the rate is $18-22/hr and good insurance is $25/month. Not all jobs are medical in nature. Many are just helping someone with daily living skiill such as cooking meals, cleaning and taking to appointments or the store.


Thats not such an easy job. Lots of moving walking lifting.


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## Forcast (Apr 15, 2014)

Danaus29 said:


> @HomeCreek, I really appreciate the advice, but he has the early stages of macular degeneration. He doesn't like driving either.


Apply for SS disability.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

Forcast said:


> Apply for SS disability.


He won't get it. You have to be off work and get less than something like $1100 (last time I checked) for 6 months before getting disability. He qualifies for early retirement but not Medicare.


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## Snowfan (Nov 6, 2011)

Not sure what kind of work he did. I've known guys who used to be HVAC/R techs who became project managers, parts and warranty guys or sales guys for contractors. One guy, because of an injury, became a teacher in the HVAC/R field.
One guy got a seasonal job doing maintenance at a state park.
Good luck.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

He's the fix-it guy where he works. He has worked in many fields in the maintenance department. He does everything except hvac and welding.

We're hoping they will let him stay on in a light duty capacity for a few months but we aren't holding our breath about it. Management doesn't think he does much. The machine operators kept calling and asking when he was coming back when he took a medical leave over the summer.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

Maybe he can qualify for a temporary Affordable Care plan. The medical insurance for a couple months is our only big concern.


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