My final day of employment was February 1. First day of retirement was Groundhog Day!! Like the movie, now every day is the same, but different!
I actually tried to retire earlier, but was asked to stay through the end of the year. So I worked 3 days a week for 5 months, with full benefits, working remotely when doing some pre-retirement vacation travel in September, and basically taking the last half of December and all of January off with vacation and Holidays. On my year end review, one co-worker called it "CardsFan's long, slow taxi into retirement". I kind of liked the comment.
Seeing the market tank has given me a little heartburn, but that's why we planned conservatively. WR will be about 3.5%, dropping to 1.7% in 6 years when we hit FRA and collect SS.
Thanks to all on this Board for the inspiration to pull the plug at age 60. Not as early as some, but it beats the heck out of working any longer.