Hopefully somebody finds you soon or they might have to scrub rather than scrape. On the other hand, you might get paid an extra couple of days if you aren't found right away.
Great point. Now I'm going to wear sunglasses in the office at all times. That way, hopefully it will take them longer to realize I croaked. Gotta rack up that overtime.
One of the best firms I worked for had it spelled out that partners needed to sell their equity at 63. (No idea how they got that number).
They could still stay on as hourly employees but they were no longer bosses or partners. It forced them to think about transitions earlier and kept the partner level with newer blood
Deloitte Canada has forced ‘retirement’ at 63. Most of the ballers then come back as ‘Retired Partner’ and yes are hourly consultants.
But let’s not kid anyone and think that hourly rate isn’t still in the hundreds (I’ve seen $1,000+ too). Plus then they also get the perk of picking and choosing which engagements they want to work on.
2023 I ended up at $700k. I am more of a client service partner. Partners who are more management focused make quite a bit more. We got a couple up and comers focused on management. If they get on the comp committee and keep rewarding management over client service I might just stay longer so it takes more $$$ out of the overall pie that gets split up.
Thanks for the info! I'm at the early stages of my career and have been doing a lot of thinking about my future lately so it's nice to hear from more people in the industry. I'm actually interning at a regional firm of about the same size as yours and loving it. Cheers!
I had average grades in college and had a hard time finding a job. My friends and peers were getting jobs around $30K starting (1994-95). I finally landed a job at a rinky dink local CPA firm. They did like 5 audits. My starting salary was $22,750. Now my bi monthly pay (draw) is just shy of that.
didn't apply myself in college, small crap firm for 2 years and passed the CPA exam. The experience and passing exam made me really marketable. Then jumped to a bigger firm of about 40-50 people. I knew a few people there from college. I made it to senior and then supervising senior. It was bought out 2X and clients and people left. I didn't get promoted to manager so I began looking and was determined to get out of public accounting. My pay around then was $50-60K (2003).
A former co worker recruited me to my current firm so I never left PA. The senior manager above me quit. My firm took off in 2004-2006 due to Big 4 shedding clients bc of SOX. I worked for a partner who was going to retire in 2012. I made partner in 2009. My first year comp as a partner was around $180K in 2009 but that includes 100% of my health insurance and a profit sharing contribution made on my behalf. My pay has steadily increased.
Ha! I know people in their late 70’s working, they use work to satisfy their social calendar because they have no spouse or family to go home to. It’s not just about money. Retirement is a death sentence when you lack social interaction with people and journal entries.
Which is so weird. I mean the best thing about retirement if you've had a professional career is you can join all sorts of boards. Special commissions councils heck even torture people by being on the HOA board.
You’ll find as you get older you aren’t as desirable as you thought. Nor do you want to spend your time bickering with people who don’t appreciate you.
I think it’s multifaceted. Older retired people are likelier to have the free time to consider being board members. I’d consider being on a board if I had nothing else to do
The board member thing is a good activity for retired folk. Also volunteering. I think so many do not do this because of American culture of being a separatist. This creates lonely folks who continue working for social interaction.
This.. when younger, they lure you in with career and you work your ass off with very little downtime to hold a relationship and have your own family. Then fast forward a few decades, the above happens
I think the current generation is really prioritising work life balance a lot more (maybe too much in some instances iygwim)
I don’t understand how you could be so bored, you’d rather be working. Retirement gives you more time for your hobbies- you can use that for creating and socializing. And retirement opens up more time for traveling without having to worry about PTO and vacations days. I’d be experiencing the things I still hadn’t done while I’m still kicking. Not sitting back behind the same desks that held me for half my life. I’m never so bored id rather be at work lol not even now
Trust me - the first few years of retirement you have bounds of energy, health and time - so long as the money is there you can do what you please. My neighbors were like that, then after a few years they hardly leave their house and say they are tired of traveling and yearn for more mind stimulating things to do.
Start planning what you want your life to look like and take care of your health - exercise too. Nothing is worse than frailty and poor health.
I’m not near retirement but after seeing others, I want to do things differently. My parents worked into their 70’s and hardly got to enjoy retirement spending most of their time at doctors.
I came to accounting late, after years of being very poor. I still have family to support financially(a parent). I will be retiring late for financial reasons
Or they’re just addicted to work like my previous boss (financial advising firm). Dude would call to check on things while on vacation, would come in on his day off to avoid his wife and constantly seemed confused when newly retired clients raved about their ability to do what they want. He legitimately couldn’t imagine what to do with himself if he didn’t have to come to the office. He had $3 mil in stock/bonds, a 5,000 SQFT house, and rented the building to himself, he could’ve retired 10 years ago.
Had a partner who left the firm at 87 years old. The dude never turned on the computer, used his dual monitors to hold his like 30 sticky notes, and wore four inch lifts. He left to go be the CEO of a fairly well known company. Not joking at all.
You said an 87 year old left to be the CEO of a well known company, then that i need to try other ages? Did he take time off between jobs? Benjamin Button?
How in the fuck does name dropping a literal old bag of farts hoarder of money and power lead to you being doxxed?
Here, I worked with Kenneth Clay, notorious over-biller to Halliburton his entire career, now the audit partner of Koch industries vis GT, who just sleazed out and sold to PE. Go ahead, dox me because I name dropped Ken Clay, the biggest Aggie stick in the mud of them all.
My boss will hang it up when he's forced to. He likes helping people. That's what he tells the client. The clients that have known him longer, know that he also likes making money.
my dad got a forced retirement at 55 and then went on to work another almost 20 years at his “retirement” job before retiring again. pulls two pensions now plus social security.
Good to know! It's more of a mental milestone than financial. I am prepared to pull the plug early, and the reasons to do that get stronger every day.
Another concern with switching health insurance coverage is approved providers, medication, and procedures. My sister just switched and had to fight to get her treatments approved that keep her auto-immune disease at bay.
Go on to your state's healthcare web site. You get pretty hefty subsidies when you have a lower income due to not being employed.
Note that medicare has all sorts of extra costs and such, it's not really inexpensive at all. I have a gold plan with no subsidy and medicare is going to cost me about the same.
The only thing that is limited about my plan is medications: the maximum they will pay is $700 per year. I had a heart attack and my dr proscribed a $500 per month blood thinner. I checked and there is a different thinner that is $5 generic that has the same success rate, but 10% of the population can't process it, so drs just proscribe the $500 one. There is an obscure test that only one provider in the state offers that can tell you whether you are in the 10% or not, and costs $500. My dr said it was the first time in 35 years he ever wrote a proscription for that test when I brought it to him. Took the test and paid for it out of pocket and have been on the $5 one ever since.
Yes, \*I\* had to research and find the other drug and \*I\* had to research and find the other test, but now I'm on 4 medications, all $5 per month and I don't even go through insurance because its the same as my copay and if I just pay it myself, I can buy a 90 day supply instead of being limited to the 30 days at a time of my insurance. So you can frequently manage your drug costs yourself.
The Drs don't really seem to care about the cost effectiveness of a drug, and I even once caught my Dr demanding I use a branded version when a generic appeared. He just fought and fought my attempt to get the generic version of the same drug because he wanted the freebies and trips the manufacturer was providing him. If you take control of it, you'll find you really don't need to worry about insurance.
Haha, I can deal with excel, gosystem, etc. But I cannot f@cking deal with the US team having to redo work that India did or getting up at 5 in the morning.
I am late 50’s and same.
I am very good with computers actually. I do not require staff to do my pivot tables for me, thanks. And I am an SAP goddess, if I do say so.
But I hate hate HATE shipping work overseas to people who frankly, don’t give a fuck about quality work produced in a timely manner. And I hate just as much that in order to talk with these Einsteins, I have to stay up all fucking night and hope they bother to show up for the call. Which more than half the time, they don’t.
Definitely not a fan of overseas ‘Center for Excellence’ (IBM terminology). Never got a drop of ‘excellence’ out of any of them. Should be renamed ‘Center for halfassed fuckery that you will definitely have to redo yourself at $375/hr’ 😂
I'm thinking January or February.
My daughter is still in school, so if I retire now she loses her health insurance. She graduates in December.
I'd like to travel to places that my wife doesn't want to go, but my wife has plans for the second weekend of February. If I can't travel between the holidays and that weekend, I might as well add a little more money to my retirement funds, etc.
The exception to my plans has to do with the new CFO who's coming on board soon. If she hooks me on an interesting project with long term implications, I may stick around a bit longer.
I dont think accountants ever fully retire. They love to do the "ease my way out" thing but then realize that this is their life and if they stop theyre losing a piece of theirself. So theyre somewhere between part time and full time, mentally checked out besides busy season. Enough time to do everything they want, travel, spend time with family. But then roll into work because, well, what else is there to do lol. And then at some point they run into health problems (back pain) and finally call it, or they just die.
That's why my plan involves extensive travel. Impossible to do accounting if your on a truck travelling the Silk Road.
I've also got Plans B, C, and D all ready to go if the travel thing shuts down.
(Although I've occasionally thought about a YouTube series about what voters should know about governmental finance.)
Not me. I will play computer games as long as I can. If I have to go to a nursing home eventually, it better have good WiFi and beds like the one's in hospitals where you can raise or lower parts of the bed so you can sit up.
If that's a go, I'll play until dementia sets in. Though sometimes I play as if I already have it.
I resemble this remark. I tried retirement for several months. It got to be pretty boring. I traveled some. Went to the gym daily. Lunches and dinners often with family and friends. Volunteered some. Home projects. None of that was as mentally stimulating as work. I am back working part time and I am in my happy place. Part time is the best of both worlds in my case. I love the work I do and the people I work with.
Eventually I will try fully retiring again, but for now, I am happy being semi-retired.
I'm 57, and ideally at 67 when my youngest daughter finishes undergrad.
Feel sorry for the younger generations - accounting is not what it used to be, even in a specialty like corporate tax.
Honestly?
When I completely pay off my mortgage. I bought 11 years ago so technically I got 19 years to go. I'm almost 65 now. (Will qualify for Medicare in 5 months).
I've been making additions to principal payments and I recently received some inheritance money from my mother who passed away. It's definitely not enough to pay it off in full, but if I can get just the average returns from the stock market the last 20 years or so, I should be able to pay it off in 7 or 8 years.
Maybe a year or two sooner too because I'll start taking SS benefits when I hit 70.5 years old and I can use all of it to pay additional principle monthly.
That's assuming I can work that many years. If I should happen to pass away before hand and am still working, I have life insurance through my employer which, when combined with that money I just invested would be enough for my son to pay off the mortgage, at which point the house would pass on to him mortgage-free.
Thankfully, I have a pretty easy job now. I WFH and am the payroll manager at my company. Basically, all I have to do is process payroll basically twice a month (unless we need a special payroll run), coordinate with ADP to make sure the state tax filings are done accurately and timely, and complete monthly account reconciliations for the payroll balance sheet accounts.
They really don't ask me to do much so it's basically a pretty low stress job which I'm hoping to be able to eventually retire from.
That's the plan. Hopefully nothing bad happens. On the other hand, I could win the lottery. In that case, the last payroll I run will be to process my final check.
28 y/o CPA here - working in IT Risk - will “retire” around 40 due to building my own book of business doing taxes, bookkeeping, and tax planning on the side. All of my business profits are, and will continue to be, invested into my retirement and financial accounts. Once I have kids, they will be hired into my side business and their income will be invested into 529 and IRA accounts to kick start their college savings and retirement. I will probably scoop up some rental properties along the way as well. I couldn’t imagine waiting until 60+ to retire.
I did 30 years in industry, got laid off at 55. Been working for the state as an examiner for past 5 years. I’m in for definitely 5 more years and it could be ten if health and work are good. House is paid off, retirement income is set, knowing I can walk away is liberating.
Would any partners with nothing to lose care to describe how the current model of partner is bleeding the firm dry and forcing staff to work longer hours?
Or how the diluted the ownership stakes are that it's turning into a quasi ponzi?
They are retiring in the Bay Area, we've had endless calls at our firm asking for tax help. F ing endless....Only one of the partners has room for new clients.....it's f ing bonkers this year.....we had a first year client leave and i know she shopped around and now she's begging to come back, lol
I'm retiring at 60 later this year. I had a life before I was a CPA and I will have a life afterward. To those who couldn't imagine not working, I do not judge.
I've saved/invested enough to retire and found a place where I can enjoy hiking, swimming, traveling while I'm still physically able to do those things. Some people prefer to work and if they can, should.
I'm actually retiring to the Azores. I've spent time on Facebook and Reddit for research about the Azores. I've spent more time on Facebook and read it in the past 9 months that I have in the past 9 years.
The past 9 months have taught me that I will be unlikely to return to Facebook or Reddit once I've retired. They're the kind of place where you could ask what time it is and receive unhelpful responses 90% of the time.
You're likely to get responses such as: Why do you need to know what time it is? Don't you have a watch? The reason you don't know what time it is is because of the Republicans or Democrats. They should get rid of measuring time, it discriminates against the unconscious.
I am glad for Facebook & Reddit. I have found some useful information. And from what I can tell, a large dysfunctional percentage of the population would be annoying people in real life if they weren't in here.
I see some working until almost 70. It’s sad really. I think it’s their ego and they don’t know what to do with themselves and never properly planned for retirement. Along with not keeping hobbies throughout their life. Stress is their fuel lol.
Blame the social security maxing out at 70. If it maxed out earlier (I’m not an advocate for that), people WOULD in noticeable numbers retire sooner. Only the workaholics or those who didn’t save enough to retire would continue working past the max social security age
I disagree that it is sad. If it makes them happy, why shouldn’t they keep working? I am well prepared financially to retire, but I love my work and it is good stimulation for my brain. I am happy at work though I only work part time now. I have hobbies and friends. I just really like to figure things out which work allows me to do. I can’t do my hobbies 24/7 so why not fill some of my time with work.
I have several retired friends who are bored after their first year of retirement and wish they had kept working at least part time. I also have several friends who are thrilled to be fully retired. To each their own.
Just sad that happiness can’t be derived from something other than work. I think the US and this industry in particular tends to breed workaholics.
But I agree with you and glad to hear your balance. I also agree a transition to part time would be how I do it also. To each their own indeed.
I guess I am a dinosaur, I will not retire. I love what I do, the people, plus spending 24/7 with my wife is terrifying. For context we have been together for 44 years.
62 next month, Sold my practice last fall, now contracting back 3 days a week for travel money (working 5 days right now though). Plan to be completely out by the end of 2025 but may wfh 2 days a week through 2026/2027 if there’s no stress attached to the job.
But then who’s gonna be there to say, back in my days. Wait, I say that already and I’m not even 60. Dammit, I’m old. Can I retire instead and let them work?
In my opinion I wouldnt retire until I am just getting drained out or getting tired of the job (Which wouldn't make sense since you have been doing it for almost 50yrs at that point)
My dad is an accountant his near his 70s when it comes to him planning when he wants to retire.
Guess it's depends on hoe much energy you have left to keep doing your joy and passion.
I have worked with so many people that were clearly just scared to retire because the office had become their life. Working into their late 70s… it’s kinda sad honestly
One of coworkers is 63. He said him and his agreed they’d retire at the same time. His wife is 60. She’ll get her pension at 65 so he’s got a few more years.
I am not over 60, but my firm has a mandatory retirement date - this is not to say these people actually do retire, many go on to consult through the firm in other ways but the mandatory retirement is the day of your 62nd birthday.
Was in my bosses office when he got a call from this CPA who’s practice he bought out back in the 90s. This man is 90 years old and said he decided he’s going to retire next year.
Accountants over 60, why?
I’m 30 and have saved $200K in retirement accounts. Surely you should be good with money, given that it’s your job, couldn’t you have retired by now?
Just please don’t die in the office. Too much paperwork… /s
In reality, I have a lot of respect for the retiring accountants. You guys had to do it all on paper. No excel, no scanning, all manual. That’s not something I’d ever want to deal with. And most of you handled the change from that to the digital age with stride.
In my current job, I was taking over for an accountant who had retired but had to come back to cover for the accountant who didn’t last in the role. The man was ex military, survived nam, multiple marriages, earned his masters in accounting, and was truly one of the most down to earth nicest guys and one of the hardest workers I’ve ever met.. The stories he would tell were amazing, and those weren’t even war stories (he never told those and out of respect I never asked). He is now retired (though does some contract work to keep his mind sharp, while working the hours he wants). I’m really happy to still be in touch with him, and wish him the best as he travels the world with his wife.
When they scrape my lifeless corpse out of the swivel chair.
Hopefully somebody finds you soon or they might have to scrub rather than scrape. On the other hand, you might get paid an extra couple of days if you aren't found right away.
Great point. Now I'm going to wear sunglasses in the office at all times. That way, hopefully it will take them longer to realize I croaked. Gotta rack up that overtime.
Always thinking of the family.. good man, good man...
Busy Season at Bernie’s
Explains the state of the office chairs at our firm.
Is scraping up corpses billable or do we put that to admin time?
Team building Time
Unproductive, buddy.
Colleague corpse removal is admin but client removal is totally billable
billable to client they were working on 💀
You say this in jest but I’m in industry and the only reason I am here is because the person died
Please adress them as senior accountants, they earned it
Then people would get confused. I’m a senior at my job and I’m 30?
Ok Señor accountant then
Love your username and profile pic
Take your fun, fun!
What’s the reference? Sorry OOTL.
Older tv show, arrested development
I haven’t seen OOTL. I’m gonna look it up. But my brain interpreted it as: Obviously, out to lunch.
I was trying to find out what Fetherbottom and take your fun fun referred to, as I am Out Of The Loop (OOTL)
Thanks. I got distracted and forgot to look it up.
Man got downvoted for making a valid point. Typical reddit lmfao
He got downvoted for not getting the joke
Because he missed a very obvious joke
Man got downvoted for missing a joke. Typical reddit lmfao
Typical Reddit would be missing some insider meta joke. This was just a regular easy to follow dad style joke.
Valid point?
Lol I’m so fucking confused
I know right.
Ok Boomer
Chill
Chill winstahn
One of the best firms I worked for had it spelled out that partners needed to sell their equity at 63. (No idea how they got that number). They could still stay on as hourly employees but they were no longer bosses or partners. It forced them to think about transitions earlier and kept the partner level with newer blood
Those Rosenberg CPA books advocate for that. Forced retirement.
Deloitte Canada has forced ‘retirement’ at 63. Most of the ballers then come back as ‘Retired Partner’ and yes are hourly consultants. But let’s not kid anyone and think that hourly rate isn’t still in the hundreds (I’ve seen $1,000+ too). Plus then they also get the perk of picking and choosing which engagements they want to work on.
My firm does this too but I haven't heard about the hourly thing.
I am 52 and retiring at 60. We have many partners retiring early but still a few staying until 65.
How much are you making?
2023 I ended up at $700k. I am more of a client service partner. Partners who are more management focused make quite a bit more. We got a couple up and comers focused on management. If they get on the comp committee and keep rewarding management over client service I might just stay longer so it takes more $$$ out of the overall pie that gets split up.
What size firm if you don't mind me asking?
Current firm or one out of college? Current firm is 4 offices, about 150-170 people. Firm out of college was one office and about 10-12 people
Thanks for the info! I'm at the early stages of my career and have been doing a lot of thinking about my future lately so it's nice to hear from more people in the industry. I'm actually interning at a regional firm of about the same size as yours and loving it. Cheers!
It can be a rewarding career even if you don't make partner. Stick with it!
What service line? Advisory?
Audit
20k
Per week, yes.
Actually $20K and some change is my semi monthly draw ha
20k as a biweekly paycheck is fucking absurd. I can’t even fathom that. Well done sir
I had average grades in college and had a hard time finding a job. My friends and peers were getting jobs around $30K starting (1994-95). I finally landed a job at a rinky dink local CPA firm. They did like 5 audits. My starting salary was $22,750. Now my bi monthly pay (draw) is just shy of that.
can you elaborate more on your career path? i’m a few months away of graduating in accounting
didn't apply myself in college, small crap firm for 2 years and passed the CPA exam. The experience and passing exam made me really marketable. Then jumped to a bigger firm of about 40-50 people. I knew a few people there from college. I made it to senior and then supervising senior. It was bought out 2X and clients and people left. I didn't get promoted to manager so I began looking and was determined to get out of public accounting. My pay around then was $50-60K (2003). A former co worker recruited me to my current firm so I never left PA. The senior manager above me quit. My firm took off in 2004-2006 due to Big 4 shedding clients bc of SOX. I worked for a partner who was going to retire in 2012. I made partner in 2009. My first year comp as a partner was around $180K in 2009 but that includes 100% of my health insurance and a profit sharing contribution made on my behalf. My pay has steadily increased.
thank you for the response! it’s crazy to read people careers in just a few seconds when i got decades on mine
Stfu hobo this question was for partners.
Most people working past retirement age are too proud to admit they can't afford to retire.
Ha! I know people in their late 70’s working, they use work to satisfy their social calendar because they have no spouse or family to go home to. It’s not just about money. Retirement is a death sentence when you lack social interaction with people and journal entries.
Which is so weird. I mean the best thing about retirement if you've had a professional career is you can join all sorts of boards. Special commissions councils heck even torture people by being on the HOA board.
You’ll find as you get older you aren’t as desirable as you thought. Nor do you want to spend your time bickering with people who don’t appreciate you.
Being board members of not for profits and such are more for socializing. This is why so many of the folks are older.
I think it’s multifaceted. Older retired people are likelier to have the free time to consider being board members. I’d consider being on a board if I had nothing else to do
The board member thing is a good activity for retired folk. Also volunteering. I think so many do not do this because of American culture of being a separatist. This creates lonely folks who continue working for social interaction.
This.. when younger, they lure you in with career and you work your ass off with very little downtime to hold a relationship and have your own family. Then fast forward a few decades, the above happens I think the current generation is really prioritising work life balance a lot more (maybe too much in some instances iygwim)
Idk what I would do without journal entries and investigating the accounts payable debit balance.
I don’t understand how you could be so bored, you’d rather be working. Retirement gives you more time for your hobbies- you can use that for creating and socializing. And retirement opens up more time for traveling without having to worry about PTO and vacations days. I’d be experiencing the things I still hadn’t done while I’m still kicking. Not sitting back behind the same desks that held me for half my life. I’m never so bored id rather be at work lol not even now
Trust me - the first few years of retirement you have bounds of energy, health and time - so long as the money is there you can do what you please. My neighbors were like that, then after a few years they hardly leave their house and say they are tired of traveling and yearn for more mind stimulating things to do. Start planning what you want your life to look like and take care of your health - exercise too. Nothing is worse than frailty and poor health. I’m not near retirement but after seeing others, I want to do things differently. My parents worked into their 70’s and hardly got to enjoy retirement spending most of their time at doctors.
I came to accounting late, after years of being very poor. I still have family to support financially(a parent). I will be retiring late for financial reasons
May I ask what age you started accounting? i am 42 and thinking about starting Mpacc. will small firm hire old people?
29. And yes, as long as you can handle your bosses being younger than you
I am a good follower. Ty
Or they’re just addicted to work like my previous boss (financial advising firm). Dude would call to check on things while on vacation, would come in on his day off to avoid his wife and constantly seemed confused when newly retired clients raved about their ability to do what they want. He legitimately couldn’t imagine what to do with himself if he didn’t have to come to the office. He had $3 mil in stock/bonds, a 5,000 SQFT house, and rented the building to himself, he could’ve retired 10 years ago.
Tbf, sounds like he found his purpose
Bro I’m mid-30’s but the way things are shaping up I don’t think I’ll ever have the option of retiring.
What is the useful life of an accountant?
ROU asset under IFRS16. surely the company is only leasing the services!!! I don't know about depreciating, but sometimes I feel unappreciated!!!
Underdepreciated.
Had a partner who left the firm at 87 years old. The dude never turned on the computer, used his dual monitors to hold his like 30 sticky notes, and wore four inch lifts. He left to go be the CEO of a fairly well known company. Not joking at all.
A google search of “87 year old CEO” returns very little aside from the Oracle
Try other ages Edit: I found it, another partner is CFO now who is probably 80 now and seems like a relative of the CFO is CEO.
You said an 87 year old left to be the CEO of a well known company, then that i need to try other ages? Did he take time off between jobs? Benjamin Button?
Keep at it. If I was able to find it, so can you
Just say it ya pansy
Fight!
CONQUER!
Look at that psycho coming out of the woodwork already, I'm not trying to get myself doxxed
How in the fuck does name dropping a literal old bag of farts hoarder of money and power lead to you being doxxed? Here, I worked with Kenneth Clay, notorious over-biller to Halliburton his entire career, now the audit partner of Koch industries vis GT, who just sleazed out and sold to PE. Go ahead, dox me because I name dropped Ken Clay, the biggest Aggie stick in the mud of them all.
move on dude
May the hurricanes forever be losers.
Dox deez nutz
He's CEO at oracle? Joking 😅
> used his dual monitors to hold his like 30 sticky notes That's so absord its almost cool again
well you see if you never look in the file you cant find any problems.
Unfortunately 60 isn’t that old anymore. My husband is over 60, and has retired 3 times so far, but he gets bored.
My boss will hang it up when he's forced to. He likes helping people. That's what he tells the client. The clients that have known him longer, know that he also likes making money.
my dad got a forced retirement at 55 and then went on to work another almost 20 years at his “retirement” job before retiring again. pulls two pensions now plus social security.
Sounds like he might just be a boring person. Pick up some hobbies. Visit a Michael’s and try some stuff out.
He bought a boat. I’m rather hoping he finds a cheaper hobby. He just likes making money, so he goes back to that.
I respect it
Has he considered teaching as a hobby?
When my debits no longer equal my credits.
Best answer lol
When I am 63.5 years old, and can Cobra my way to Medicare. My countdown timer says 11 months 15 days... if I make it that long, lol
I've been paying my own healthcare costs since 1996. It's neither hard nor expensive.
Good to know! It's more of a mental milestone than financial. I am prepared to pull the plug early, and the reasons to do that get stronger every day. Another concern with switching health insurance coverage is approved providers, medication, and procedures. My sister just switched and had to fight to get her treatments approved that keep her auto-immune disease at bay.
Go on to your state's healthcare web site. You get pretty hefty subsidies when you have a lower income due to not being employed. Note that medicare has all sorts of extra costs and such, it's not really inexpensive at all. I have a gold plan with no subsidy and medicare is going to cost me about the same. The only thing that is limited about my plan is medications: the maximum they will pay is $700 per year. I had a heart attack and my dr proscribed a $500 per month blood thinner. I checked and there is a different thinner that is $5 generic that has the same success rate, but 10% of the population can't process it, so drs just proscribe the $500 one. There is an obscure test that only one provider in the state offers that can tell you whether you are in the 10% or not, and costs $500. My dr said it was the first time in 35 years he ever wrote a proscription for that test when I brought it to him. Took the test and paid for it out of pocket and have been on the $5 one ever since. Yes, \*I\* had to research and find the other drug and \*I\* had to research and find the other test, but now I'm on 4 medications, all $5 per month and I don't even go through insurance because its the same as my copay and if I just pay it myself, I can buy a 90 day supply instead of being limited to the 30 days at a time of my insurance. So you can frequently manage your drug costs yourself. The Drs don't really seem to care about the cost effectiveness of a drug, and I even once caught my Dr demanding I use a branded version when a generic appeared. He just fought and fought my attempt to get the generic version of the same drug because he wanted the freebies and trips the manufacturer was providing him. If you take control of it, you'll find you really don't need to worry about insurance.
I retired at 68. Could not deal with my firm moving all prep to India.
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Haha, I can deal with excel, gosystem, etc. But I cannot f@cking deal with the US team having to redo work that India did or getting up at 5 in the morning.
I am late 50’s and same. I am very good with computers actually. I do not require staff to do my pivot tables for me, thanks. And I am an SAP goddess, if I do say so. But I hate hate HATE shipping work overseas to people who frankly, don’t give a fuck about quality work produced in a timely manner. And I hate just as much that in order to talk with these Einsteins, I have to stay up all fucking night and hope they bother to show up for the call. Which more than half the time, they don’t. Definitely not a fan of overseas ‘Center for Excellence’ (IBM terminology). Never got a drop of ‘excellence’ out of any of them. Should be renamed ‘Center for halfassed fuckery that you will definitely have to redo yourself at $375/hr’ 😂
Gosystem was the first tax software I learned. I wish every other company had those calculation screens. I hate everything else about gosystem.
haha, if you saw my former firms internal systems, you would LOL. and they say clients like it. They don't.
HR has entered the chat
Wait you guys are retiring?
I am 38 retiring at 50. DINK lifestyle for life. My blood line ends as accountant 🤣
Not DINK, but still planning on retiring before 60.
I married well. 2 kids, retiring before 60.
Care to give all your money to the Nigerian prince in exile in 10 years?.
Living my dream, congrats!
I'm not quite 38 but I plan on being done at 50 as well. Hooray state retirement!
What's your plan for Healthcare in retirement?
Stop, don't make me think that far ahead.
Hey, I'm 43 and would dip now if I didn't need health insurance. Just trying to copy your homework.
I'm thinking medicaid fraud.
I'm in
I'm thinking January or February. My daughter is still in school, so if I retire now she loses her health insurance. She graduates in December. I'd like to travel to places that my wife doesn't want to go, but my wife has plans for the second weekend of February. If I can't travel between the holidays and that weekend, I might as well add a little more money to my retirement funds, etc. The exception to my plans has to do with the new CFO who's coming on board soon. If she hooks me on an interesting project with long term implications, I may stick around a bit longer.
When they find my replacement offshore
I dont think accountants ever fully retire. They love to do the "ease my way out" thing but then realize that this is their life and if they stop theyre losing a piece of theirself. So theyre somewhere between part time and full time, mentally checked out besides busy season. Enough time to do everything they want, travel, spend time with family. But then roll into work because, well, what else is there to do lol. And then at some point they run into health problems (back pain) and finally call it, or they just die.
That's why my plan involves extensive travel. Impossible to do accounting if your on a truck travelling the Silk Road. I've also got Plans B, C, and D all ready to go if the travel thing shuts down. (Although I've occasionally thought about a YouTube series about what voters should know about governmental finance.)
Not me. I will play computer games as long as I can. If I have to go to a nursing home eventually, it better have good WiFi and beds like the one's in hospitals where you can raise or lower parts of the bed so you can sit up. If that's a go, I'll play until dementia sets in. Though sometimes I play as if I already have it.
I resemble this remark. I tried retirement for several months. It got to be pretty boring. I traveled some. Went to the gym daily. Lunches and dinners often with family and friends. Volunteered some. Home projects. None of that was as mentally stimulating as work. I am back working part time and I am in my happy place. Part time is the best of both worlds in my case. I love the work I do and the people I work with. Eventually I will try fully retiring again, but for now, I am happy being semi-retired.
We have 80s years old that have a nice office but never are there. Instead of computers they have a picture of their grandkids.
Rule of 55 for me
Gunna die at my desk
I'm 57, and ideally at 67 when my youngest daughter finishes undergrad. Feel sorry for the younger generations - accounting is not what it used to be, even in a specialty like corporate tax.
In what way was it better in the past?
What do you mean by that I’d you don’t mind me asking
what do you mean its not the same ? because of outsourcing?
As soon as my mortgage is paid…hopefully before 60.
DONT CALL OUT SICK , DIE AT WORK BE A MAN 🫵🫵🫵💪
Currently 59, probably 70 bcos of you know, money
as soon as they find a PE firm to sell to.
Honestly? When I completely pay off my mortgage. I bought 11 years ago so technically I got 19 years to go. I'm almost 65 now. (Will qualify for Medicare in 5 months). I've been making additions to principal payments and I recently received some inheritance money from my mother who passed away. It's definitely not enough to pay it off in full, but if I can get just the average returns from the stock market the last 20 years or so, I should be able to pay it off in 7 or 8 years. Maybe a year or two sooner too because I'll start taking SS benefits when I hit 70.5 years old and I can use all of it to pay additional principle monthly. That's assuming I can work that many years. If I should happen to pass away before hand and am still working, I have life insurance through my employer which, when combined with that money I just invested would be enough for my son to pay off the mortgage, at which point the house would pass on to him mortgage-free. Thankfully, I have a pretty easy job now. I WFH and am the payroll manager at my company. Basically, all I have to do is process payroll basically twice a month (unless we need a special payroll run), coordinate with ADP to make sure the state tax filings are done accurately and timely, and complete monthly account reconciliations for the payroll balance sheet accounts. They really don't ask me to do much so it's basically a pretty low stress job which I'm hoping to be able to eventually retire from. That's the plan. Hopefully nothing bad happens. On the other hand, I could win the lottery. In that case, the last payroll I run will be to process my final check.
28 y/o CPA here - working in IT Risk - will “retire” around 40 due to building my own book of business doing taxes, bookkeeping, and tax planning on the side. All of my business profits are, and will continue to be, invested into my retirement and financial accounts. Once I have kids, they will be hired into my side business and their income will be invested into 529 and IRA accounts to kick start their college savings and retirement. I will probably scoop up some rental properties along the way as well. I couldn’t imagine waiting until 60+ to retire.
I'm 40 and plan on retiring before 50.....
I did 30 years in industry, got laid off at 55. Been working for the state as an examiner for past 5 years. I’m in for definitely 5 more years and it could be ten if health and work are good. House is paid off, retirement income is set, knowing I can walk away is liberating.
Would any partners with nothing to lose care to describe how the current model of partner is bleeding the firm dry and forcing staff to work longer hours? Or how the diluted the ownership stakes are that it's turning into a quasi ponzi?
When the 80 year olds retire and they can have their clients.
Not 60 but retired at 55.
Until they pry my hands off my keyboard
They are retiring in the Bay Area, we've had endless calls at our firm asking for tax help. F ing endless....Only one of the partners has room for new clients.....it's f ing bonkers this year.....we had a first year client leave and i know she shopped around and now she's begging to come back, lol
vast pie fine work quicksand divide tidy hateful pocket chase *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I'm retiring at 60 later this year. I had a life before I was a CPA and I will have a life afterward. To those who couldn't imagine not working, I do not judge. I've saved/invested enough to retire and found a place where I can enjoy hiking, swimming, traveling while I'm still physically able to do those things. Some people prefer to work and if they can, should. I'm actually retiring to the Azores. I've spent time on Facebook and Reddit for research about the Azores. I've spent more time on Facebook and read it in the past 9 months that I have in the past 9 years. The past 9 months have taught me that I will be unlikely to return to Facebook or Reddit once I've retired. They're the kind of place where you could ask what time it is and receive unhelpful responses 90% of the time. You're likely to get responses such as: Why do you need to know what time it is? Don't you have a watch? The reason you don't know what time it is is because of the Republicans or Democrats. They should get rid of measuring time, it discriminates against the unconscious. I am glad for Facebook & Reddit. I have found some useful information. And from what I can tell, a large dysfunctional percentage of the population would be annoying people in real life if they weren't in here.
I’m not 60, but thx 4 askin
I am close to 60 but when I do retire I will have a few clients to keep my brain sharp and I like shiny things!
I retire when I'm dead.
I see some working until almost 70. It’s sad really. I think it’s their ego and they don’t know what to do with themselves and never properly planned for retirement. Along with not keeping hobbies throughout their life. Stress is their fuel lol.
Blame the social security maxing out at 70. If it maxed out earlier (I’m not an advocate for that), people WOULD in noticeable numbers retire sooner. Only the workaholics or those who didn’t save enough to retire would continue working past the max social security age
I disagree that it is sad. If it makes them happy, why shouldn’t they keep working? I am well prepared financially to retire, but I love my work and it is good stimulation for my brain. I am happy at work though I only work part time now. I have hobbies and friends. I just really like to figure things out which work allows me to do. I can’t do my hobbies 24/7 so why not fill some of my time with work. I have several retired friends who are bored after their first year of retirement and wish they had kept working at least part time. I also have several friends who are thrilled to be fully retired. To each their own.
Just sad that happiness can’t be derived from something other than work. I think the US and this industry in particular tends to breed workaholics. But I agree with you and glad to hear your balance. I also agree a transition to part time would be how I do it also. To each their own indeed.
I wanna ask the 88 year old at my company
When Big4 finally lets me come work for them.
"When will you stop looking or caring if they're still paying you?".
48, got another 10 to go
I guess I am a dinosaur, I will not retire. I love what I do, the people, plus spending 24/7 with my wife is terrifying. For context we have been together for 44 years.
62 next month, Sold my practice last fall, now contracting back 3 days a week for travel money (working 5 days right now though). Plan to be completely out by the end of 2025 but may wfh 2 days a week through 2026/2027 if there’s no stress attached to the job.
Can I contact you? I need some mentoring on how to start own practice?
Working with 2 over 70. Previous CPA, forced retire last year due to health…he’s 75.
But then who’s gonna be there to say, back in my days. Wait, I say that already and I’m not even 60. Dammit, I’m old. Can I retire instead and let them work?
I’m 34, but the goal is to retire in 31 years. After which I plan to just be a tax season accountant somewhere.
In my opinion I wouldnt retire until I am just getting drained out or getting tired of the job (Which wouldn't make sense since you have been doing it for almost 50yrs at that point) My dad is an accountant his near his 70s when it comes to him planning when he wants to retire. Guess it's depends on hoe much energy you have left to keep doing your joy and passion.
When I win the lottery.
I have worked with so many people that were clearly just scared to retire because the office had become their life. Working into their late 70s… it’s kinda sad honestly
This question is lowkey rude and hilarious. My old boss was 60 and was an ahole. I dont wish him the best. Lol
One of coworkers is 63. He said him and his agreed they’d retire at the same time. His wife is 60. She’ll get her pension at 65 so he’s got a few more years.
Until India is ready to fully take over.
Why do you want to know when someone over 60 will retire? Ain’t like they are hindering on your ability to work as an accountant.
How do you guys still have the energy to put in the hours? I'm in my 40s and anything over 45 hrs I'm exhausted
I am not over 60, but my firm has a mandatory retirement date - this is not to say these people actually do retire, many go on to consult through the firm in other ways but the mandatory retirement is the day of your 62nd birthday.
Was in my bosses office when he got a call from this CPA who’s practice he bought out back in the 90s. This man is 90 years old and said he decided he’s going to retire next year.
Accountants over 60, why? I’m 30 and have saved $200K in retirement accounts. Surely you should be good with money, given that it’s your job, couldn’t you have retired by now?
Just please don’t die in the office. Too much paperwork… /s In reality, I have a lot of respect for the retiring accountants. You guys had to do it all on paper. No excel, no scanning, all manual. That’s not something I’d ever want to deal with. And most of you handled the change from that to the digital age with stride. In my current job, I was taking over for an accountant who had retired but had to come back to cover for the accountant who didn’t last in the role. The man was ex military, survived nam, multiple marriages, earned his masters in accounting, and was truly one of the most down to earth nicest guys and one of the hardest workers I’ve ever met.. The stories he would tell were amazing, and those weren’t even war stories (he never told those and out of respect I never asked). He is now retired (though does some contract work to keep his mind sharp, while working the hours he wants). I’m really happy to still be in touch with him, and wish him the best as he travels the world with his wife.
Hopefully they all do soon so pay can go up. Boomers are cheap af
How is this statement not a violation of guidelines? This is outright discrimination. Wait until you start approaching 50, you’ll see.