Reaction of your boss when told your ER ing in you 50's

[MRG]

I retired when my manager was on vacation, he had put me in charge of the team so technically I could have resigned to myself. I didn't want to play that way, made an appointment with our VP. Couple of years younger than my 56, he was supportive, asked how we did it. He shared his financial status, he'll be working a long time. Gave me the weekend to change my mind(corporate no no). Wanted to know if I'd consider consulting, thanks but no. When he called Monday I thanked him, but my mind hadn't changed.

My direct manager said he was envious, then remembered his preacher said envy was bad. I'm sure he was over 65, 2 years later he's still working. I was surprised that given the amount of access I had to critical infrastructure (think root) none was removed. I worked right up to my exit interview.

Many former colleagues were genuinely happy for me. A few sharing their plans for retirement. The only negatively I got was one guy I'd worked with for a year, but that was his nature.

 

[scrabbler1]

There was very little reaction to my retiring back in 2008. I had been working part-time for the previous 7 years, and my announcement was made just 17 months after I had requested and was granted a second reduction of weekly hours worked (from 20 to 12), so my bosses surely had to be thinking I would jump ship soon. When I first switched to part-time work back in 2001, my bosses (not all the same people as in 2008) feared I was going to bolt when the company was about to relocate from lower Manhattan to Jersey City, New Jersey (before the 9/11 attacks). And in late 2003, when my 2-year, part-time and mostly telecommuting gig suddenly ended, my boss thought I might bolt then.


I was mostly a "floater" within the two halves of my division, so I reported to two bosses although only 1 did my evaluation (the same one from 2003 and 2008). I told him and the other boss at the same time although I also wanted to tell their boss, my divisionhead, at the same time but he was at a meeting for a while. However, there was very little fanfare, as nobody seemed to be very surprised. The divisionhead did approach me after he returned from his meeting and learned the news. He was mainly concerned if my reason for leaving was due to a medical condition (it wasn't, as long as you don't count "sick of the dang commute" as a medical condition LOL!).


I gave them a month's notice but it was really just 9 or 10 days because I worked 2 days a week (12 hours) at the time. Not even in our biweekly management meetings was there any big fuss. I was told who would be taking over my ongoing projects but I had nearly no conversations with any bosses for the next month. There was no big outcry which was fine with me.


Word spread pretty fast through my division and I did tell some coworkers I knew a little better than others, mostly the longer-term ones. The newer coworkers rarely saw me anyway because I had worked part-time for 7 years. A few of them asked me how I could manage to retire so early (45) and my short answer was, "No kids, no debts!"

 

[Sea Kayaker]

My overseers went a shade of red I didn't think was humanly possible. At first they thought I was heading to a competing company. When I explained that I was "retiring" the confusion and incomprehension was palpable. It was an awkward, yet awesome moment for me.

 

[athena53]

I decided to ER after it became clear that there were poisonous politics I couldn't navigate. When I told my boss I was resigning, his face flooded with relief. The weasel. He had no guts and I pretty much fired myself and all he had to do was push the papers.

Coworkers, with whom I am still on very good terms, were stunned. They're mostly in their 30s and I told them how important it was to LBYM and keep saving and investing. I trade e-mails occasionally with one; I also see her and her husband at charity bike rides, so we catch up with each other and she knows (and can tell the others) that I'm having a heck of a good time.

Oh, yeah- the woman behind the poisonous politics got canned 6 months later after being with the company for less than a year. One of my favorite quotes, from the writer Dorothy Parker.."I am not a vengeful woman, for the perfectly working reason that if you just sit back and do nothing, the bastards will get theirs- and it will be fancier than anything you could have dreamed up".

ETA: I was 61 but had made it clear that I'd planned to work till 65.

 

[Al in Ohio]

Oddly today I mentioned my small group was getting busier and we might want to turn down another offices work. It was hinted that perhaps my four day 80% time deal might need to go back to full time! Then more talk about expanding my group as the company expands out west. My office manager said something to the effect " might as well get used to it, what little we have in our 401k's isn't going to do us much good down the road anyway!"

I just nodded in affirmation and did a 180 back to my office. I think the shock is going to be more than I thought when they find out that my RE plans are at least ten years sooner than their expectations are for me.



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[Ally]

My boss is our board chair. When I told him, he blurted out " How old ARE you?" I told him and said I knew I was a younger than expected, but that's why we have no debt and why we drive older cars, so we could retire early. Then he was very gracious about it and has been great since. I think he was just startled.


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[Kabekew]

I was only 40 and my boss was in his 50's and already didn't like me (his megacorp had bought my little company and stuck us in his division that he didn't ask for or want), so I didn't mention retiring which would p*ss him off even more, just that I was "moving on to new opportunities." I think he was happy I'd be out of his way. The last week he kind of scrambled around trying to figure out the new workload he'd have, and informed me "we'll need you to stay a couple more months until we can get someone else" but I said no thanks. He just shrugged.

That was about it. I assumed everything would collapse without me and they'd beg me to come back, but as usual with a Megacorp, they continued to plow onward and didn't really care.

 

[Idnar7]

I didn't tell my boss I was going to ER, he told me.

 

[ArkTinkerer]

That was about it. I assumed everything would collapse without me and they'd beg me to come back, but as usual with a Megacorp, they continued to plow onward and didn't really care.

I have worked for small startups and a couple larger corporations. It is amazing to me the amount of inertia the larger corporations have and the waste they can tolerate. Lose one person at a small company and it may cause major problems up to and including failure of the business. Big companies can continue year after year--even if they are hemorrhaging money!

 

[Cassius King]

Great thread. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I think it should be "pinned" to the top of the forum.
I'm currently 40 years old and am not sure how much longer I can take my career. Hopefully I can have a story to share here in the not too distant future.

 

[tmm99]

It isn't exactly ER (Will definitely take several months off...) but..

Before my announcement, he was like an evil stepmother/diva breathing down my neck, using intimidation and bullying (as if that would entice me to work harder and longer somehow). After my announcement, his tone has changed completely - His tone now is nice and pleasant with a lot of smiles like a good house guest might act. It makes no sense to me. It is creepy. And sad. How can someone's behavior change so drastically?? He could have been nice to start with and I would have stayed longer.

 

[LBYM]

I just told my boss last week. I'm 40, he's 37. When he first started with the company, I was his mentor. They grow up so fast.....

He knew I was working on ER but it was still a bit of a surprise for him. He was nothing but happy for me. Even said he'd like to sit down to learn some more pointers from me. The department-wide email announcement goes out tomorrow here at Megacorp so then I'll see what the general response is.

 

[luckydude]

I FIRE’d earlier this year. My boss (a long-time friend) and his boss as well as my colleagues were all supportive, and partly out of a sense of friendship, I signed on to do some part-time consulting for a couple of more months to assist on a high-profile project in trouble---just a few hours a week at my convenience.

The funny moment for me occurred a couple of weeks ago, when I was asked to attend an all-day meeting on the project in trouble. Corporate sent a high-ranking executive in his mid-40's from out of town to attend the meeting in person. I had never met the exec before and so introduced myself and said I am retired but were there as a part-time consultant. I tried to engage him to discuss the project in trouble---my recommendations on how things can be improved, etc.---but he showed very little interest in that. Instead, he asked me questions about my retirement. I’m in my mid-40s but look at least a decade younger, and with no context on my background and personal life, he just couldn’t figure out how I did it. Finally he asked, “So you’re really done with work?”“Yes.”“You’ll never work again?”“Never.”The look of incredulity mixed with envy on his face was priceless.

 

[brewer12345]

The boss I quit on was a good guy: a survivor/last man on the island from a brutal corporate culture that ended up in the molasses in winter ossified bureaucracy we were both trapped in. He did what he could to attenuate the most ridiculous aspects of the assclown bureaucratic culture while still doing what was required of him (we both knew when he didn't believe what was coming out of his mouth either). He was very classy about it, although I simply resigned with no immediate destination. The rest of the hierarchy was in "do not compute" mode. They were very used to/comfortable with abusing people who were stuck in the pension trap and had no realistic way out.

 

[Al in Ohio]

I just told my boss last week. I'm 40, he's 37. When he first started with the company, I was his mentor. They grow up so fast.....

He knew I was working on ER but it was still a bit of a surprise for him. He was nothing but happy for me. Even said he'd like to sit down to learn some more pointers from me. The department-wide email announcement goes out tomorrow here at Megacorp so then I'll see what the general response is.

Please let us know the overall company wide reactions you get. I'd be real interested in the variety of reactions you experience.


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[BTravlin]

I was not surprised in the least.

 

[bingybear]

I
Before my announcement, he was like an evil stepmother/diva breathing down my neck, using intimidation and bullying (as if that would entice me to work harder and longer somehow). After my announcement, his tone has changed completely - His tone now is nice and pleasant with a lot of smiles like a good house guest might act. It makes no sense to me. It is creepy. And sad. How can someone's behavior change so drastically?? He could have been nice to start with and I would have stayed longer.

I've worked in places with really good environment... and really bad ones. Some managers managed by intimidation (evil stepmother)... they push and force thinking this gets the most out of you. Well in my opinion there are better ways to get more from employees. But after your announcement the major club they had to mange you with (your job prospects going forward) is gone. At least that is my guess as to what happened.

Some of the places I worked put extreme pressure on the first level of management. I think this causes much of the bad management behavior. Yes they need to get a lot of work out of the employees. But there are different ways to motivate people... and the same method likely does not work on everyone.

 

[WhoDaresWins]

I gave about 3 months written notice to retire (left in the month I turned 60). I had been talking about doing this for a year or more and everyone knew it (I worked for a government agency with civil service and union protection). My boss wished me well and then proceeded to heap lots of work and special projects on me in order to get the most out of me before I left. This was duly noted by co-workers who have confided that they plan to give 2 weeks notice when their time comes and not one day more.

 

[prudent_one]

I've always been curious how people know if someone is going early. None of my coworkers know how old I am. They might wonder if I'm 65 but they wouldn't know for sure. Unless someone looks very much younger, I never assumed they were going early.

 

[LBYM]

Please let us know the overall company wide reactions you get. I'd be real interested in the variety of reactions you experience.


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No problem Al, here's an update:

For some background, I have always preached early retirement and saving to the new folks and anyone who would listen. Many people knew I was retiring "sometime in the next 5 years or so" so it wasn't a huge shock. Just a surprise that the day had finally come.

The email announcement went out this morning at 10. In the 4 hours since I've gotten about 20 handshakes and 78 emails or hallway congratulations. 77 of them were clearly happy for me, wishing me luck, jealous in a nice way, etc. Many were interested in my next enterprise which I listed as "hobby farm". In retrospect I should have just said gardening and growing healthy food. About 1/3 of the folks ask if I have any plans for more work on the side.

One guy I don't really care for said "must be nice, we can't all be so lucky". Of course he's the guy building a $500K house on a lake

My boss's boss was very happy for me and wanted to know my secret. I described things like LBYM, avoid debt, live off one paycheck of a dual income, budget, plan, invest decently. I'd say that about 5% of the folks were truly interested in how to retire extra early and another 15% had a passing interest in how I did it.

Once the euphoria dies down we'll see how the remaining 10 days in the office go...

 

[harley]

I've always been curious how people know if someone is going early. None of my coworkers know how old I am. They might wonder if I'm 65 but they wouldn't know for sure. Unless someone looks very much younger, I never assumed they were going early.

I assume it depends on what early means. I retired at 50, and despite my hard partying life there's no way I looked anywhere near 65. So it was pretty obvious I was retiring early. If I retired now (59) it might be a little harder to tell, although I would like to think I would still look too young. I do know I'm not getting as many "you're too young to be retired" comments these days.

 

[dm]

My boss was also a friend and I made it no secret that ER was in my plans. He had mentioned in the past that he would like a heads up when I had a time planed. I had mentioned that 55 was my goal. In 2007 I was turning 50 and figured that I was ready. He was a little supprized but was happy for me being able to do it. He did talk me into staying for 6 months, but I agreed to only work part time, I told him I expected to make a 12:00 tee time.

I still stop by for lunch a couple of times a year to catch up and visit.

 

[dm]

I assume it depends on what early means. I retired at 50, and despite my hard partying life there's no way I looked anywhere near 65. So it was pretty obvious I was retiring early. If I retired now (59) it might be a little harder to tell, although I would like to think I would still look too young. I do know I'm not getting as many "you're too young to be retired" comments these days.

I too retired at 50 and I'm now close to 58. I've noticed the same thing about the "your to young to be retired" comments. I use to also just tell people that I was unemployed.

 

[Bryan Barnfellow]

The reaction of the chairman of our board: "But 'Bryan' I don't understand...you're too young for Social Security." !!!

 

[HFWR]

When I told my boss I was retiring in my fifties, he said "But you're sixty..."


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