the BIG decision

We finally made our second BIG decision on retirement. The first one was just to accept the early retirement package. We vacissilated on that one because of the high unemployment rate right now. Then we had to decide if we wanted a monthly pay out pension or a lump sum. I know several people who had taken a lump sum payment so I assumed that was best; either for having control of all the money now or for potential increase with interest payments. Well, about the fourth time I was reading through our pension 'book' (about 30 pages plus 6 booklets), I noticed that their monthly payments were larger than my projected monthly payments which I estimated by dividing the lump sum by 20 years/240 months (& planned to not touch for 6 years). There were also conflicting statements about if those payments were for now or when reaching full retirement age. They were describing several different retirements but it looked like we could start getting the payments right away. So I searched the internet, especially Larry Burkett, Dave Ramsey, & Ask the Money Dr. The main thing I found from Ramsey is that a lump sum is better if you can get at least 7% interest. I also prayed about which way to go & who could help us with this far reaching decision. A friend of ours told us he had gotten advice from many & that he wouldn't trust any financial counselors because they all push stocks. In desperation, I even woke up my computer & posted on Facebook asking if anyone had any wise advice about pensions. One dear friend wrote back saying that she had been advised to take the pay out since she was younger & would get more payments. I had read that about SS too (early payments are smaller but later payments lost 3 years of payments & our pension is 6 years early). We had one other confirmation on taking the pay out and no one recommending the lump sum so we went for it. Long story short, we now have a monthly pension plus our severance pay to meet our budget this first year, then our 401K and pension to meet our budget the next 4 or 5 years until we get SS. What a relief to not have to worry about full time jobs! It will be a little tight and we will will still look for full time jobs, but if/when we get them, they will just be a bonus to stretch our retirement savings. The thought that we almost didn't accept this early retirement package because of fear of unemployment reminds me how faithful God has been in leading us through these decisions. Now just 1,234,567... decisions to go ;)