[Goonie]

I had been planning on a FIRE date of April 2012. This past spring, my employer (municipal gov't) offered an early retirement incentive from June 30, 2006 to June 30, 2007. You must be at least 50yo, and have at least 20 yrs of service. DING! DING! DING!

I hit 50 in April '07, with ~32 years service......I'M OUTTA HERE!!!

Yeah, I could've stayed longer, collected more pay checks, put up with more b*llsh*t.....but, nah....that didn't sound like much fun. I had been counting down to the 2012 date since January of this year.....the early out incentive INSTANTLY knocked 1827 days off my countdown calendar!!!

My pension will be about $20/mo less by leaving in '07, rather than waiting 'til '12. WHOOPY!!! I'll go out and sell pop cans for scrap if I really miss that $20!

I was in the mayor's office the morning I first heard the rumor.....they said I HAD to wait for the formal announcement a couple weeks later. I got formal notice, and IMMEDIATELY handed them my letter of intent.....I sent my intent letter to the pension fund the day I heard the rumor!!! I was still strapping my parachute on after I jumped out!!! (I packed my own chute so I know I'm good to go!) 8)