Deciding when to retire is a personal decision for every CalPERS member, influenced by myriad factors, including your specific retirement formula. Some work longer to maximize their future pension, while others opt for what many consider an “early retirement.”
As a handful of these retirees recently put it to us, the value of time ended up being of great importance to them as they mulled over their retirement dates — and now, they say they’re happy with how things worked out.
Here’s a glimpse of what these CalPERS retirees have been able to achieve by retiring in their 50s, how they’ve adjusted to their newfound free time, and ways CalPERS benefits have offered security throughout.
Larissa Seto, 56, Retired at 55 from the City of Pleasanton
Larissa Seto worked as an attorney for Bay Area municipalities for more than 20 years before retiring at the age of 55.
A combination of personal and professional factors pushed her toward retirement, she said, something she realized was attainable after consulting with a financial advisor.
As a result, she filed her CalPERS retirement application in the spring of 2024 and has been retired for a little more than a year. Seto says she doesn’t regret her decision — looking back proudly on moves she made while on the job, including contributing to additional savings plans her employer offered on top of what she was contributing to her pension.
Once Seto retired, she says she was able to take care of a lot of pressing matters on her to-do list.
“I stuffed a lot of things into my first 90 days of retirement. I sold my house, I bought a new house, my son went off to college, and I helped transition my father into a memory care facility,” she explained. “So, there was a lot going on.”
Aside from these items, Seto says she’s also been able to soak in the peace of retirement — which has allowed her to travel a bit, see friends more regularly, and explore volunteer opportunities. Seto already volunteers at a local food distribution center; now, she’s looking into getting involved in programs that help new immigrants acclimate to their neighborhoods, as well as children’s literacy programs.
While she’s adjusting to this new lifestyle, Seto also says she tries to be intentional with her volunteer commitments, trying not to spread herself too thin and allowing time to enjoy herself after decades of public service.
As she explained, “I’m just being careful with my time.”
In terms of how Seto is doing financially, she says she’s stable. Now that she’s an empty-nester, she’s downsized her home and is able to maintain herself just fine — assisted, in part, by her CalPERS pension.
“You know, what used to be the American dream — I feel like the pension still gives us this 1950s ideal life.”
Vince Scola, 56, Retired at 55 from the California Air Resources Board
As a forensic scientist for the California Department of Justice, and later for the California Air Resources Board, Vince Scola says analyzing data had been his life’s work — and it ended up playing a factor in his decision to retire at 55 in 2024.
“There were just a lot more positives to retiring in my mind,” Scola said. “It was more about what I wanted to do in life. I made sure the numbers worked with the pension and everything. That really helped.”
After 30 years of service, Scola retired alongside his wife, who’s also a California public servant. Once they were on the same page, they began to plan for their retired life in a somewhat unique way while still working — they started to “ease into” it by using their vacation days.
“We gave it a test run. We started taking three-day weekends. We wanted to see how that went, and then we started doing four-day weekends over time,” Scola said. “By taking that time off, you start to really value time. It wasn’t so much financial — it was more about your mental state.”
Scola and his wife then dove in, submitting their paperwork and committing to a retirement date — a process he says was relatively simple through the CalPERS website, and facilitated with educational materials provided by CalPERS too.
Scola says he considers himself and his wife to be in their “go-go years,” so fitness and health are a priority.
“Since we’ve been retired, it’s just been a lot of pickleball,” he explained. Scola says they’ve also recently gotten into cycling and spin classes, picking up their gym routine, and are now exploring archery lessons. By the same token, he also said they’re reading more.
Scola said that future retirees, or even current ones, who worry about being bored in retirement should view it this way: you now have an opportunity to explore your passions and interests, and to see what else is out there.
On whether he believes his CalPERS pension has facilitated his retirement — Scola says yes, undoubtedly.
“I will say, as a state employee, we are lucky that we have a pension,” he said, noting that having additional savings has helped maintain them in this chapter. Still, Scola added, “We would not have retired early if we didn’t think the pension couldn’t cover us.”
Scola’s advice to other CalPERS members who are considering retirement is rather simple. “The biggest thing: opening myCalPERS account. Know your retirement numbers,” he said. “You may be closer to retirement than you think.”
Burdette Connor, mid-70s, Retired at 55 from Caltrans
Burdette Connor started working for Caltrans in the Bay Area in the 1980s, and after 22 years of service, she retired with the agency as a transportation planner at the age of 55 — a lifelong goal of hers, and one she’d been planning for a long time.
“I was one of those people planning very early on, because I knew I wanted to retire at 55,” she explained. “Time is so precious, and you just never know how things will go with your health.”
Connor says she began taking advantage of savings plans her work offered in her mid-30s, and she began aggressively saving, while also cutting back on other expenses in an already-expensive part of the state.
“I was really living quite frugally; I was bringing lunch every day. These were things that I had planned in my mind. I knew I would have to cut back in some areas, because I was going to try and save a lot. And that’s what I did.”
Self-taught in these matters, Connor had a plan to retire at 55 and move to the East Coast to be closer to her daughter and her grandson, whose lives she wanted to be a part of while she could. And so, upon retiring, she executed her blueprint — resettling in New Jersey and buying a home there.
This was her first home purchase ever — something Connor had dreamed about for many years — which she said she was only able to accomplish in retirement.
“That was a huge thing,” Connor said. “And I paid my house off a couple years ago after 18 years … I always thought, ‘One day, I want to own something.’ And there’s nothing really like having your own place.”
Connor was able be around her daughter and grandsons, just like she wanted, and now she’s fully enjoying her retirement. She lives in a 55-plus community and fills her time with activities with other residents in her development. Connor also travels quite a bit, having traversed the U.S. and even venturing up to Canada a bit along the West Coast.
As she reflects on what she characterizes as fairly “tight” years, financially, when she was working — Connor says she is proud of herself for doing what she needed to retire with dignity.
She shared an anecdote about bringing her lunch to work every day for many years, something she’d get teased about from coworkers who would go out for lunch instead. But when the time came to retire, Connor said those same coworkers admired her.
“They would say, ‘We wish we could go with you. You’re so lucky. You brought your lunch all those years.’ And I’d say, ‘Yeah, I did,’” she said. “Little things like that, they pay off. They really do.”
William Mesusan, mid-70s, Retired at 56 from Santa Clara County
An inspired life was awaiting Bill Mesusan after he retired from Santa Clara County’s Roads and Airports Department 21 years ago.
He was 56 at the time and was given an opportunity to retire early through his employer — which he said he was hesitant about, but curious to explore considering the deal on the table.
“It was a little early for me. But I was kind of ready, because I wanted to live a little bit more of a creative life,” he explained.
After some thought, Mesusan took the plunge, and now knows he made the right choice for himself and his family.
Not long after entering retirement, Mesusan picked up a part-time job to help make ends meet. He worked at a bookstore in town and made a discovery one night while restocking the shelves that made him reconsider his living situation.
He stumbled across a book titled, “The 5 Best Places to Retire to in Mexico,” and took it home. After reading it, Mesusan said he was sold on the idea of heading south of the border for a new adventure, and that’s exactly what he and his wife did.
They sold their home in San Jose and moved to an area in central Mexico just south of Guadalajara, near Lake Chapala. Once there, Mesusan started freelancing for a local magazine and began developing a passion he’d had for years: writing.
During this time, Mesusan traveled around the country and picked up photography along the way. However, after about a year in Mexico, he and his wife moved back to California — although the writing didn’t stop there.
Once he was back in the states, Mesusan continued to travel and explore the writing bug he’d unleashed.
During a trip to Europe, he came up with the idea to write a medieval mystery novel — which, as it turns out, ultimately became a series of books (“The Andalusian Trilogy”) that Mesusan self-published and marketed on his own. He published the latest entry in May, and the trilogy serves as three of four books he’s self-published in retirement.
In addition to his writing escapades, Mesusan has dabbled in other interests. He gardens and he also experiments with music. He’s re-taught himself how to play guitar and now collaborates with international artists on mixes that he puts on SoundCloud.
On whether he believes he chose the right path by retiring when he did, Mesusan doesn’t hesitate. “Yeah, I’m more than content with how things worked out.”
While life in retirement was a little bumpy at first for him, Mesusan said everything worked out. And to those on the fence, he offers this advice: “I would say if somebody is contemplating (retirement) and they feel they want to take that step, they might be surprised how much they can step up to that challenge and make it work.”
Are you living your best retirement life? We’d like to hear from you. Email editor@calpers.ca.gov to share your story, which may be included in a future PERSpective article featuring retirees.