URS Retirees Share Their Stories | Shane Bennett
‘Nowadays, Sunday Nights Are a Pleasure’
By focusing on the long-term, this URS retiree was able to start a new chapter of life at age 50.
“Now I call my own shots about how I spend my time, and I’m able to do that because of URS. There’s no other way I could have done that without URS.”
Shane Bennett, 55, has been retired with a URS benefit for nearly five years. But he still vividly remembers that uneasy, Sunday-night feeling in the pit of his stomach as the workweek approached. “It usually came around 6 p.m.,” Shane said. “You have a great weekend, without a care in the world, and then get smacked in the face Sunday night with the reality of all the troubles and trials right around the corner.”
But today, thanks to his URS retirement benefit and decades of disciplined saving, those Sunday blues are a thing of the past. “Nowadays, Sunday nights are a pleasure,” said Shane, who retired in July 2019 with 32 years in the URS system. “Do you know what a pleasure it is to wake up Monday morning and go fishing or mow your lawn, when everyone else is worried about what they’re going to go face at work? Now I call my own shots about how I spend my time, and I’m able to do that because of URS. There’s no other way I could have done that without URS.”
The Magic of Saving
Shane receives a URS pension that gives him guaranteed monthly income for life. This, he says, provides enormous peace of mind, especially at such a young age. But the real secret to his early retirement? “My number one piece of advice is to put any extra money into URS retirement savings plans, even if it hurts,” he said. “Invest until it hurts.” (Learn more about URS Savings Plans at www.urs.org/us/savings.)
Early Inspiration
Shane’s career included jobs at the parks departments at West Jordan, South Jordan, and Draper City, and almost 15 years at Saratoga Springs as an APWA Inspector. His road to early retirement started decades ago when he attended a free URS Early to Mid-Career Seminar (www.urs.org/us/seminars) at age 25. “That’s when the lights came on for me — understanding how interest can work for me, not against me. They had all these graphs and charts that show how much your money can grow over the years and decades if you start saving just a little early in your career.” So, that’s what Shane did, starting out by putting aside just $25 per paycheck into a URS Savings Plan.
After his first raise, he doubled that to $50. A year or two later, it increased to $100. “I want to give a bunch of credit to my wife Sharon,” he said. “She was behind me 100% all the way and supported me every year. “We just had to keep our eyes on the prize. It’s no secret that government jobs don’t always pay top dollar, but the reward is at the end of the road. You can’t get tempted to go buy all those ‘shiny objects’ on your path — the new truck, the new boat, the new jet skis.”
Enjoying Retirement
Today, Shane lives in Riverton and spends his days fishing, hunting, working on his boat, and taking care of a duck hunting property he owns near Antelope Island. But the greatest gift of an early retirement? Shane said it’s having the time, health, and means to take his grandkids boating. “That’s been the greatest reward in my life — the time and money to travel with my wife and be with my kids and four grandkids at this time in my life.” And that, he said, is “100 percent — 1,000 percent” more valuable than any “shiny object” he may have passed up along the way
