For those already RE - was your last year easier or did time slow down?

[Al in Ohio]

I'm approaching my one more year countdown in a few more months. Just curious from those who have been there. Did the knowing you only had one more year make it easier, make it more or less stressful, have an effect on how mentally each month went by?

All thoughts on this would be appreciated.


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[braumeister]

I was ready (well, more than ready) to RE, but the old problem of inertia had hold of me.

So I just hung on, because I could see that the company was going to be bought out and there would be a massive layoff. I figured it made sense to wait for that, collect some severance and unemployment and go my merry way.

Eventually it happened, just as predicted, and I was a very happy camper. That was 13 ½ years ago, and it has been sweet. It wasn't added stress that got to me, it was just the suspense of waiting for it.

 

[W2R]

I had worked so very, very hard on my plan to retire, and had actually written long lists of what I expected to get done (in preparing for retirement) for that entire year. While the last year went slowly it was bearable. I loved the triumph of watching my plans slowly fall into place just as I had hoped. I got every single thing done that I wanted to get done and that was very fulfilling.

Also, I spent my last half year taking 2 week vacations separated by a week of working. That helped. I loved the gentler transition into retirement that I got from using up all my vacation time that way. For me that was more valuable than getting paid for it.

The count-down also helped. Congratulations on being so close to ER!

 

[MBAustin]

I skipped OMY. A lot of things fell into place very quickly so my entire decision process took only about 3 months and I RE'd 2 months later. But those last few months were so much better once I was pretty sure I was out of there. Didn't give a cr*p about the politics anymore, unless it affected the folks on my team.

 

[sengsational]

I considered myself "between jobs" with no hurry to "correct" that, but a job landed in my lap that I knew I'd like and be able to easily conquer. I took the job with the attitude "I'm gonna do it my way" (because there were no other people in the department that knew the tech as well as I did). Of course I did the BS work, but spent no time or effort on it. I always spoke my mind with an attitude of "if you don't like my version of the truth, just fire me". To my surprise, this made me a valued employee, hehe! But we had an org shakeup that annoyed me, so I walked out. Bottom line is that I worked hard on the cool stuff, and pretty much only the cool stuff, but never " slacked off".

 

[Alan]

The last year went by very slowly then 2 months later but it got better as the year moved on due to handing over my projects to others and the last few months were just boring.

 

[SumDay]

Geez I wish I were eligible to answer this question.

 

[Ronstar]

My last year was real easy. I worked 2 days a week, 1 of which from home. Made for an easy transition into retirement.


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[Retire2013]

I had a six-year count down. But I was really lucky in that my company got acquired and my department was no longer needed so I got severance and I had already reached my number so I got out one year earlier. So I did not really know how the last year before ER would have felt. But I can share how I felt two years prior to ER. It was filled with excitement and some anxiety. Excitement that I was getting so close and everything was turning out as planned and anxious whether the Market would cooperate.

Wishing your last year will go by quickly and enjoyably!

 

[utrecht]

My last year was my most enjoyable year. I was working undercover in the Organized Crime Squad and was working several big cases. At that same time, I got a new partner. I really enjoyed training her as she helped me bring my cases to a close. She learned a lot in a very short period. About 3 months out, I had pretty much closed my cases and didn't open any new ones as the kinds of cases I worked normally lasted several months. I spent my last 3 months assisting the other detectives in my squad with whatever they needed. I had no pressure on me at all which relieved a lot of stress. More importantly I was now free to say what I thought on a daily basis and no longer felt the need to bite my tongue. I'm sure my supervisor got tired of me telling it like it was, but that was his problem. My last year went by very fast.

 

[Which Roger]

Most of the stress came from the fact that although I knew I would be leaving in about a year, nobody else did. So I needed to balance continuing to get my w*rk done with withdrawing from the day-to-day BS. Once I told others that I was leaving (one month before my RE date), things were somewhat awkward, but showing the boss that I was willing to make the effort to transition my workload to the new people instead of simply not caring anymore eased most of the tension and awkwardness.

 

[razztazz]

Final year went very slowly. Mostly because the crap I worked for were making everything personal. Can't side step that kind of thing. Otherwise I suspect it would have been faster.

On the good side 2 days after I left it was as if I had never worked for that place. It was like I just woke up one day with a pension and money and medical benefits, like .... Hey, where did this come from?

 

[Al in Ohio]

These are helpful comments so far. One thing that has helped me as the date approaches is that I have been working an average of 80% full time now ( usually every Monday off eliminating the Sunday night blues and yielding endless three day weekends and working at home every Thursday also. Started that a year ago and I love it. They switched my salary to an hourly rate and would you believe I made close to the same income as full time the year before! Go figure. Part of that was. Double bonus in the same year due to a new HR policy of shifting the time of year for bonuses.


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[unno2002]

[FONT=&quot]My first few weeks, or month or so, were strange, and it seemed that each day was forever. After the first months, suddenly the months slid by. I’m in my third year of retirement, and it seems like it was yesterday.[/FONT]

 

[heeyy_joe]

My last year was a blast, it was empowering to be free enough to call BS every time it arose.

 

[Walt34]

I don't remember it going by much faster or slower, except the last two months or so they took me off cases because I wouldn't be around for court. Our office had no janitorial service because of evidence control/access issues and that was normally rotated around weekly so everyone took a turn. For the last two months that was my sole duty - vacuum the carpet once a week and empty trash cans daily. For sure I was the highest paid janitor in the County that two months. Didn't bother me a bit - the rest of the time I read the newspaper, surfed the web, took a long lunch, etc.

 

[scrabbler1]

My last year was real easy. I worked 2 days a week, 1 of which from home. Made for an easy transition into retirement.


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Similar to my situation. As I saw the pieces of my ER plan rapidly falling into place in 2007-08, I reduced the number of weekly hours worked from 20 to 12, or from 3 days a week down to 2. I had already been working 20 hours per week since 2001, some of those years mostly from home. So it wasn't a huge change to my everyday life to go down to the coveted ZERO!

When I reduced my weekly hours worked from 20 to 12, more of my duties at work were taken away, leaving me with only the one big project I had been working on since early 2007 (just before I reduced those hours). I was able to devote pretty much 100% of my time and energy working on that one big project which was fine with me. I was also able to avoid even more of the BS at the office which was also fine with me.

 

[ERTX]

2014 was very hectic. Moved from Thailand and tried living in 4 different U.S. cities. Finally picked a city late 2014 and my household goods arrived 18 days ago. Thank Gawd I have a 3 car garage....if don't want to deal with it, toss it in the garage for later. It looks like a hoarder on steroids in there. Sold 3 houses in 2014, the one in Las Vegas was listed on Wednesday and signed a contract on Friday. Looking forward to tackling the taxes, fed/state.

 

[Midpack]

No change in stress for me, if anything less so. However my last year was very slow until the last 3-4 weeks, then tempus fugit extremus! Probably because I was acutely aware that most (boring or unpleasant) things I was doing were 'for the last time! That made me

 

[travelover]

Once I announced that I was retiring, things slowed way down because I was basically bypassed. I went in late, took long lunches and left early. That helped.

 

[Goonie]

My last year was a blast, it was empowering to be free enough to call BS every time it arose.

+1
I filed all of the official paperwork for ER one year in advance. I was the lab manager, as well as plant foreman for my last 15 years there. After I filed the paperwork, I didn't give a rats butt about anything concerning the job anymore, and was very open about my thoughts and feeling about how things were being done around there. (I have no idea why the boss disliked me so. )

About 3 months prior to my departure, I turned the lab operations and management over to my [-]fairly incompetent[/-] replacement. I remained plant foreman, and moved my office out into the maintenance shop, where I kept a chair warm, drank coffee, read the newspaper, listened to the radio, and occasionally went out with the work crews to lend a hand with their work...some great fellas!

My last year there sped by quickly, even more so the last 3 months of it. And the last week really sped by......of course I left half way thru that week because I'd had all the BS that I could stand! In 5 weeks, it will have been 8 years since that glorious day!

 

[utrecht]

Once I announced that I was retiring, things slowed way down because I was basically bypassed. I went in late, took long lunches and left early. That helped.

I forgot to mention that I also went in late, took long lunches and left early for probably the last 3-4 months. I also was maxed out on the amount of vacation time that they would pay a lump sum for so I took off every other Friday just to stay even with the max amount.

 

[Cobra9777]

It was all a bit surreal. I knew what was coming, but no one else did. It was exciting but scary, and I had many moments of doubt, regret, guilt, giddiness... pick an emotion. To make matters worse, I had recently allowed myself to be talked into a new role, and was trying my best to play the part of my earlier mover/shaker self. Yet, large parts of my workday were spent reading intranet sites about my pension, stock options, retiree health insurance, etc.

After I finally let my boss in on the plan, we had a "quiet period" for about a month while my replacement was chosen. That was a fairly awkward period, with several visits from SVPs, HR, et al, to find out what was "really" going on and "fix it." After it finally went public, I felt overwhelming relief. All pressure was instantly gone. I cleared my calendar and spent two days answering really nice emails from people I had worked with over 25 years.

I ended up staying on for 4 more months. I worked a special project, helped my replacement get oriented to the new role, and used up my remaining vacation balance the rest of the time. Yeah... surreal is the best word. By the time I finally turned in my badge, it was a non-event. I had already mastered the art of piddling around the house and there was no going back.

 

[truenorth418]

My last year was mostly a tough slog, even though my financial plans were in place and I was mentally prepared. The last 2-3 weeks were pretty cool though, as word began leaking that I was departing I was no longer expected to complete all the BS projects and it became clearer who my true friends were in the organization.


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[bssc]

The last year went by quickly, because, like W2R, I took lots of vacations. I also burned off all but one day of my sick leave to keep the stress levels down. I also did the long lunch thing. Since MegaCorp considers everyone replaceable, I didn't have to worry about a replacement. The two weeks after I gave notice, I had several turnover meetings but very few people showed up. Then this month they laid off everyone with my job title so it didn't really matter.