Poll: OMY - how many?

[Throwdownmyaceinthehole]

I'm stuck on OMY at 59. I went part time 20 hours last February, working from home, good pay and they pay half my medical. The pay covers about half our expenses and keeps me happily occupied, with occasional travel. And we are at 100% on Firecalc, so I could easily walk away. I have found other things to do, volunteer, work out,not clean house, but I still like working a bit. DH retired 8 yrs ago and likes me working...

 

[martyb]

Next week on January 18th, I will have worked OMY exactly. I'm still working, and my current plan is to hang it up around mid-year, meaning I will have worked a total of OMY&1/2. I chose the 2 yr option on the poll, since there's no 1 1/2 year option.....

 

[howdidigetthisold]

One more year started at 49. 50 came and I kept working hoping to quit at 55; actually, desperate to quite at 55. 55 came and went. Did some calculations and cross calculations of the pension and found out that I'd get a big jump in pay if I made it to the 30-year mark. So, I'm sticking it out "one more year" with Dec. 1, 2014 as my end date. Then I'll have served my 30-year sentence and have a pension (cola'd) that will keep me afloat and independent until I, or the pension, give out.

I highly recommend picking a real, live retirement date that's based on when you achieve your financial goal. Mine was to decide that my pension was good enough at 30 years. I could go for another 3 years after that and get a bigger jump at 33 years, but I want freedom before I die. Picking a retirement date made a huge difference to my state of mind. I can now say, "this is the last January 14 I'll ever have work for my employer." haha.

One word of warning. My uncle retired two days before he would have gotten a huge jump in his pension (worked for Honda). He thought he'd done his homework on when it was best to retire, but apparently not. He didn't get it in writing from the company. So, he missed a huge amount by only two days. Imagine living with that! It seems almost impossible that this could have happened, but it did. So, I'm getting my pension amount in writing from my company before I serve my last day just in case there's any dispute about the monthly pension amount.

One more year is grueling, though. So, in my mind, I'm semi-retired at my desk until Dec 1.

 

[LarryG]

I had decided in mid 2012 that I would bail at the end of 2012. I was burned out and hated the corporate world. I had also reached my "number" I felt necessary to retire, but by a nose. As the fates would have it, in late September of that year my father unexpectedly passed away, leaving my with an unexpectedly large inheritance that put my well past my "number". So I really didn't have to face the OMY syndrome at the end of 2012. Thanks Dad.

 

[Spanky]

I am still in OMY mode for more than 2 years until my youngest DD complete college. I am sure I could come up with more excuses then.

 

[fh2000]

I am still in OMY mode for more than 2 years until my youngest DD complete college. I am sure I could come up with more excuses then.

Graduate school, wedding, down payment for her first house?
Well, that is what DW is trying to pull me back with. But, no. My OMY is not renewable.

 

[robnplunder]

Graduate school, wedding, down payment for her first house?
Well, that is what DW is trying to pull me back with. But, no. My OMY is not renewable.

Right on. I am not going to allow external excuses for OMY. If I have to do OMY or TMY, it will be because I need to (not b/c my DD would need to go to grad school).

 

[Spanky]

I am guessing that most posters in this forum would not postpone retirement as they reach FI. I am flabbergasted by the number of people at Boglehead with million dollars of assets consider themselves as not financially independent and choose not to retire. Reference: Net worth Survey 2014.
They must be in the "OMY mode for more than 2 years" indefinitely category.

 

[Options]

We are partly in OMY mode right now. We reached FI to fund our everyday living a few years ago. But, with DW being in no hurry to retire (we reached FI well before our planned retirement age), we use the additional savings to fund a number of accounts earmarked for fun stuff like remodeling our retirement home or paying for future travel.

Ok, I guess I'll have to come clean after reading this post. I am in OMY mode, although am basically playing games with myself saying that official FIRE date is 2/3/15. FIRECALC and others show 100% now but w*orking this year and next allows for pent up spending this year (remodeling, new car, furniture, etc.). I rationalize staying by saying with all planned time off this year's w*rkweeks will only be 60% time one week, 80% the next week through remainder of the year. Still, after a wonderfully peaceful weekend off, 57 minutes after being at w*ork today, I was already mad. Perhaps I may not make that 2/3/15 deadline...

 

[robnplunder]

Ok, I guess I'll have to come clean after reading this post. I am in OMY mode, although am basically playing games with myself saying that official FIRE date is 2/3/15. FIRECALC and others show 100% now but w*orking this year and next allows for pent up spending this year (remodeling, new car, furniture, etc.). I rationalize staying by saying with all planned time off this year's w*rkweeks will only be 60% time one week, 80% the next week through remainder of the year. Still, after a wonderfully peaceful weekend off, 57 minutes after being at w*ork today, I was already mad. Perhaps I may not make that 2/3/15 deadline...

Ditto except I am doing some pent up spending now while I am in OMY.

 

[obgyn65]

2 years for me. Still working.

 

[Ronstar]

My original retirement year was supposed to be 2007. But it was tough finding someone to buy my share of the business. And when I did, it was contingent on me working a while longer. So I'm still working 1-2 days a week. It hasn't been that bad since DW is still working.

 

[stepford]

It's a standard joke among my colleagues: I've been saying "Two more years"... for about the last 15 years. Recently I've dropped that to "one more year", and since I'm 53.5 I may actually mean it this time.

I certainly hope so, but the powerful mixture of uncertainty, greed and a paycheck + ever incrementally increasing retirement benefits have sadly proven more seductive than the comforts of ER.

I had the perfect opportunity last year with a layoff threat (and the associated promise of a 6 month severance package). And I turned around and said (you guessed it) "Not now, but maybe in another 2 years". The money's good, but I should have my head examined.

 

[braumeister]

When my last employer got bought out and downsized by about ⅓ of the employees, I leaped at the opportunity and they let me go. I thought about it for a month or two, then decided I didn't need any more jobs so I simply let it go.

A little over 12 years later, it was still a good decision.

 

[whitestick]

I really wanted to go, when my employer offered a package, but I just wasn't quite where I wanted to be. Two years later they offered another package, with a tax free 60 months sweetener, and I just couldn't pass up tax free money, so I took it at 59 1/2. Still early, but not as soon as I had been planning on. As it turned out, I wish I had taken the original time out, as medical and life issues intruded, and you just can't get those back, no matter what. At least I had some time off and that was good.

 

[Khan]

I was always looking for "one less year". I took an early retirement offer when the incentive boosted my pension to $25k after 15 months retired.

 

[Brett_Cameron]

I did the two less years route. I was planning on 57-58 retirement but unacceptable changes in the work environment triggered an intense reassessment of my ability to retire and voila! did it at 55. now 58 and am ok!

 

[Spanky]

Two years later they offered another package, with a tax free 60 months sweetener, and I just couldn't pass up tax free money

Tax-free? Wow.

 

[eytonxav]

I retired in 2003, but returned to work. Retired again in 2006, but returned to work. Retired for good in 2013. I am not sure if this is OMY syndrone or some other form of insanity.

 

[panhead]

I will admit to delaying retirement for a year after deciding to throw everything we could scrape together to pay off the mortgage before pulling the plug.

This is sort of the situation I'm in. I voted 'no' in the poll as I've never really got to my "number" yet. The real truth is, that number is like trying to grab a fish. The more I refine it, the larger it gets....so maybe this is omy syndrome lol! over 10 years ago, I felt a 5% draw was reasonable with caution. Later that got altered to 4%, then 3%, and now I'm looking at 2.5% with a portfolio that generates more than that in income. I seriously doubt I'll go lower than this.

I should have enough $$ to pay off the mortgage at the end of the year. I'm not paying it down, but want to have the $$ ready in case my situation changes. With a 3.125% fixed 30 year mortgage, the only reason to pay it off would be to increase cash flow, but while I'm working, that's not an issue. At that point I'll have enough to cover all necessary and a few discretionary expenses and I'll effectively be in OMY mode. I'm hoping to have a portfolio that will generate between 35k-40k/year income yield (overall yield should be between 2.5-3%). That with a paid off house will be plenty for me to call it quits.

 

[robnplunder]

When my last employer got bought out and downsized by about ⅓ of the employees, I leaped at the opportunity and they let me go. I thought about it for a month or two, then decided I didn't need any more jobs so I simply let it go.

Lucky you. I "survived" years of downsizing, and a buy-out at my megacorp. Lay off & buy-out packages were generous but was not offered to me (no volunteers taken either).

 

[robnplunder]

I retired in 2003, but returned to work. Retired again in 2006, but returned to work. Retired for good in 2013. I am not sure if this is OMY syndrone or some other form of insanity.

... the latter .

 

[Spanky]

Lucky you. I "survived" years of downsizing, and a buy-out at my megacorp. Lay off & buy-out packages were generous but was not offered to me (no volunteers taken either).

It's kind of odd that they did not accept volunteers.

 

[braumeister]

It's kind of odd that they did not accept volunteers.

A possible explanation is that it's legally very dangerous to target higher paid employees in a layoff. Since they are the ones most likely to volunteer, it kind of makes sense to avoid the issue.

 

[robnplunder]

It's kind of odd that they did not accept volunteers.

At both megacorps (acquired & acquirer), layoffs are done to groups/projects/employee job functions no longer needed for the company. I managed to avoid standing in a wrong line, did enough to be needed, etc.. It is a curse.