DROP Retirement

[tinabuggy]

I have been reading this forum for a few weeks now and have a question. I am 47 yrs old, will be eligible to enter the DROP program in August after 30 yrs at my job. If you are not familiar with DROP, I would continue to earn my salary and my retirement check would be put into an acct for a total of 5 years.
My husband can retire in 5 1/2 years which is the same time I would be done with DROP. My problem is I am beginning to dislike/bored with my job. I have done this same job since high school. I do not want to change jobs within, as I make a decent salary.
If I complete DROP and continue to put money into my Roth IRA and 401B we should have over $500,000 saved. In addition we both would have our pensions with fully paid medical that we could live off comfortably.
Right now we have around $240,000 saved. I have figured that I could pay all our bills with my retirement check and still save his regular check if I leave in August. I am debt free and just have my regular bills to pay.
I go back and forth trying to decide if I should stay or leave. I am afraid that I will be bored home alone for 5 years waiting for my husband to retire. I am a homebody and enjoy being home, taking care of my garden, chickens, doing housework, cooking etc. We would like to install new floors and windows in our house but I am putting it off until after I decide what to do. Maybe do this work at home would be an incentive to continue to work longer.
I think some of this is purely a mindset knowing that I could leave in 5 1/2 months. Any suggestions on what I could do to get out of this mindset? Am I obsessing too much about retirement? Suggestions or comments??

[themoneymonk]

If you decide to do the DROP program, are you locked in? Do you have to do the full five years to be vested in those retirement earnings?
Or can you leave whenever you want and take the money you already have? If you can leave whenever you want, I say go for it.

[DutchGirl]

I don't think you have to worry (much) that you'll be sitting at home doing nothing. Sure, there are people who do that after retirement, but if you're an active person, you will find lots of things to do, in your house and around it.
There are a lot of books on retirement; I borrowed a few from the library for my mum who retired six months ago. The borrowing was a good idea, because some books were useless. But others were very useful - some more "philosophical", others more practical (from finances, insurances, inheritance to "things to do" etc).
Maybe reading some may help you as well to get a clearer picture of your current "alternative options"?
(My mum was a teacher; her new activities include: sleeping in (jay), running, fixing up the house a bit, tutoring three kids (one on Wednesday, two on Thursday; possibly more in the future), visiting elder and sick people, visiting her mother (who is 92), helping her kids (including me) by cleaning / painting / moving and soon she'll be babysitting at my sister's ).

[BennKar]

There is a DROP program where I work. My understanding is that even though you sign up for DROP, you can retire any time before the DROP period is up (3 years is the max where I work). From everyone I talk to it seems like entering DROP is a no-brainer. The only downside to entering DROP is you will get lower pension payments down the road, if that is a concern for you. However the lump sum you will get when you leave, if invested decently, will probably do just as well as adding those years to your pension payout.
It seems most people I've seen, once they know they can retire any time in DROP, they want to stay. That freedom to know you can quit any time seems to help them make the years go by. I'm not sure if I would enter DROP (or even stay long enough to be eligible, or if it will still be offered!) but I will sure consider it fully when (if) the time comes.