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Dana Ferris, known here as DrLefty, will retire in July 2025 after 35 years as a university professor (applied linguistics and writing). She is the author of many academic articles, chapters, and books and is also a weekly columnist for a San Francisco Giants fan site. When not working or writing, she enjoys exercising, cooking, and traveling. She is the mother of two adult daughters, and she and her husband live in Davis, California, where they first met as undergraduates at UC Davis. You can read her Giants content here, and her Amazon author page is here.
2025 Retirement Countdown by Dana/DrLefty!
38 replies
AUTHOR: DrLefty on 1/1/2025
FIRST: Rick Connor on 1/1 | RECENT: Rachna Condos on 3/16
A Rental House?—By the Numbers (by Dana/DrLefty)
3 replies
AUTHOR: DrLefty on 9/11/2024
FIRST: William Perry on 9/11/2024 | RECENT: DrLefty on 9/15/2024
A Rental House? Questions to Consider (from Dana/DrLefty)
16 replies
AUTHOR: DrLefty on 9/9/2024
FIRST: Michael1 on 9/10/2024 | RECENT: Mark Eckman on 9/12/2024
Final Arrangements, a Learning Curve (from Dana/DrLefty)
28 replies
AUTHOR: DrLefty on 8/18/2024
FIRST: Jonathan Clements on 8/18/2024 | RECENT: parkslope on 8/22/2024
Aging in Place: Count the Cost(s)
3 replies
AUTHOR: DrLefty on 6/22/2024
FIRST: baldscreen on 6/22/2024 | RECENT: DrLefty on 6/23/2024
WHEN I WAS A YOUNG adult, my parents sat me down and explained that I might at some point inherit money from my grandfather’s trust, which had also helped put me through college. My grandfather passed away in 1984, and his wife—my father’s stepmother—became the trust’s beneficiary.
My father was an only child. The trust stipulated that, if his stepmother died before him, he would receive two-thirds of the trust, while my two siblings and I would share the other third.
I’VE DECIDED UPON MY retirement date: July 1, 2025. We just passed the one-year countdown point, so I thought I’d share some of my ideas and plans for my final year in the workforce.
This countdown idea, of course, isn’t original with me. Indeed, there are apps that you can put on your phone to count down the time until retirement. I was primarily inspired by a retirement blogger named Fritz Gilbert. He’s way more decisive than I am.
MY ALL-TIME FAVORITE movie is the Coen brothers’ 2000 classic, O Brother, Where Art Thou? At one point, Holly Hunter’s character, Penelope, declares, “I’ve said my piece and I’ve counted to three.” Her estranged husband, played by George Clooney, understood from long experience that once she had “counted to three,” her mind couldn’t be changed.
Last summer, I wrote an article that explored the decisions my husband and I are working through about our retirement date and location.
MY LATE FATHER SPENT his entire career, from the time he dropped out of college to marry my mother until the day he died at age 61, in the insurance business. My father was also a huge fan of the San Francisco 49ers, our hometown NFL team.
Last year, the 49ers cruised through the playoffs, led by the team’s dynamic young quarterback, Brock Purdy. But then, in the NFC Championship game against the Philadelphia Eagles,
A LOT HAS BEEN written, here at HumbleDollar and elsewhere, about the “when” of retirement. Not surprisingly, there are strong opinions.
For example, I’m a member of a Facebook group where the overwhelming consensus is, “Don’t work one single day longer than you absolutely have to.” Of course, many people don’t have the luxury of choosing their ideal retirement date because life intervenes: They get let go from their job or experience health issues that dictate the answer to the “when” question.
I’M NOT SOMEONE WHO enjoys spending money on luxury travel. I’d never pay cash for a business class airline ticket or a hotel suite. Nonetheless, on a recent trip to Spain with my husband, we flew business class and had suites in all four hotels we stayed at.
We also visited lounges in every airport before our flights, had access to executive lounges at two hotels where we could get free meals, snacks and cocktails,
THE PROLIFIC MR. QUINN recently wrote that people who were irresponsible in one area of their life, such as failing to return shopping carts, also tend to be irresponsible in other areas, like managing their finances. He’s probably right. Still, I’ve had times when, even though I’m a “responsible person”—I’ve had a successful career, my kids lived to grow up, and so forth—I nonetheless had pockets of disorder in my life.
For me, the two biggest areas of chaos were managing money and maintaining a healthy diet and exercise regimen.
“I’D BE HAPPY TO JUST come here every year,” I told my husband. We and our two daughters had arrived on Maui 72 hours earlier. It was May 2000—and our first trip to Hawaii.
We’d signed up for a timeshare presentation in return for discounts on tours and activities. By the time we got to the meeting, I’d fallen head over heels in love with the place. The timeshare salesperson had an easy time persuading me to buy.
MY HUSBAND AND I WERE late bloomers when it came to estate planning. Though we took care of the basics when we became parents, such as purchasing term life insurance and naming a guardian, we never had a professionally executed will and trust until 2016, when we were in our late 50s.
Observing my in-laws, now in their 80s, made us realize how important it was to get our own estate-planning house in order.
Comments
We do have the survivor pension benefit, so I’m good!
Post: 2025 Retirement Countdown by Dana/DrLefty!
Link to comment from March 16, 2025
I’m in the process of submitting my retirement paperwork, so the lump sum vs annuity decision is very real to me about now. My husband retired from a California state agency in 2016 with 20 years of service and went to work in the private sector. He chose a monthly pension with survivor benefits. In fact, I had to participate in the process and confirm that I was aware of his choice (I assume because of community property laws in California). His pension does get an annual COLA, usually right around 2%. I’ll be retiring on the same day from two separate university systems and will receive a pension check from each. While I can’t say I haven’t looked at the lump sum option, I’ll be taking the annuity with survivor benefits (and COLAs), just as he did. The upside of this is obvious—secure income for both and eventually one of us for as long as we live. The downside, of course, is that we don’t know how long we’ll live. A lump sum could go into our estate. There is one caveat to this, though. If, for example, we’re traveling together this summer and our plane goes down somewhere, my heirs are guaranteed at least the return of my pension contributions over the years. So if I have an early checkout date, they won’t “lose” everything.
Post: RDQ considers: A lump sum in lieu of a pension, withdrawal strategies, annuities and other mundane decisions – good luck.
Link to comment from March 16, 2025
Wow, that’s amazing! #goals
Post: Meeting Expectations?
Link to comment from March 8, 2025
I’m retiring in 3 months and 22 days. 😀 I’ve been on sabbatical during this winter quarter, and my husband commented that he thinks I’m “pre-gaming” retirement. He has a point. Though I have done some work—you’re required to propose a sabbatical project and file a report, and I have a spring quarter class I’m prepping for—I’ve spent most of the past two months as follows:
- working out every day (I’m on a 100-day Peloton challenge that started Jan 1)
- doing a substantial volunteer project for our church
- traveling (we took a two-week trip to South America in February and are in Arizona for spring training baseball this weekend)
- starting to get paperwork things done (e.g., applying for Medicare, applying for retirement, renewing our passports, etc.)
- reading a lot for pleasure
- Trying new recipes
This is pretty much how I think retirement is going to look for me, including a bit of work—I’ll be writing a third edition of one of my books over the next year, some journal articles, and finishing up with a couple of PhD students. If my husband were also retiring when I do, it might look a bit different, but this is how I see it at this point. And I’m liking what I see.Post: Meeting Expectations?
Link to comment from March 8, 2025
#TeamElaine
Post: Replacing the Replacement
Link to comment from March 8, 2025
When we moved into our new condo in 2019, one of the features I was most excited about was the huge soaking tub in the master bathroom. I thought about that tub for months as the condo was being built. I bought a new waterproof Kindle reader. When we moved in, I immediately had a handyman come install a grab bar, which is needed to climb into and out of the deep tub (I’m short), and for Christmas, I had everyone get me cool bath accessories, bath bombs, etc. I was READY. I’ve taken one(1) bath in it. Turns out it takes forever to fill the tub and I just get impatient with the process. I’d rather have a huge, oversized shower and no tub if I could choose. 😂
Post: Replacing the Replacement
Link to comment from March 8, 2025
I grew up in the Bay Area and still live fairly close to it and go often. My husband graduated from a Concord high school though his address was Walnut Creek. Lovely area, and being able to hop on BART to go to SF is great. I appreciate your wisdom about patience and timing. We’ve been pondering various scenarios as to housing and moving, but the pieces haven’t quite fallen into place. It’s not just about finding the actual house, but we need a couple of data points to fall into place before making a major financial decision. (One of them, of course, is the current trajectory of the stock market.) So, we wait.
Post: California On Our Minds
Link to comment from March 8, 2025
Jonathan is way better at titles than I am. I think he changed all but one of mine, and in every case, his suggestion was better than my original.
Post: Asking the Editor
Link to comment from March 8, 2025
We’ve been with State Farm since 1989 and have our auto, home, and umbrella policies with them. We have a local office and agent that we’ve gotten to know, and they’ve been great. Recently I inquired about adding a rider for art and musical instruments we’ve acquired and the agent laughed. They’re not writing any new homeowner-related policies in California, and umbrella policies fall under that as well. Depending what happens with them—we’re not in a high fire risk area, but the whole state is affected—we may look into USAA. My husband’s father was a career Marine, so I think we can qualify from that. My grandfather was in the Army in WWII.
Post: Home, Auto & Umbrella Insurance—“Longevity Benefit”?
Link to comment from February 26, 2025
I’m in a similar situation (retiring in July)and have been asking myself this question. Our emergency cash savings are in two high-yield savings accounts, but the bulk of our savings are in tax-deferred accounts (rollover IRAs and 401K/403B from our current jobs). If you can use the excess for Roth conversions without pushing yourself into a higher tax bracket, that’s what I’d do. Or put it into a taxable investment account.
Post: I’m new to my retirement journey. What should I do with extra cash?
Link to comment from February 26, 2025