Well, the deed is done... well almost.
My official last day of work was Friday so I could get paid for the Good Friday holiday but my last actual day of work was Thursday. I was planning to use Thursday head into the office and drop my gear off but that's not happening now until Monday.
Last Thursday was my last day and I’d say so far so great. Was just sitting here watching the basketball game thinking how nice it is to not have to worry about what I’m supposed to do tomorrow.
Congrats!
I've got to say, it hasn't really hit me yet. I think I need to slowly come to the realization that I don't have to stress about meeting a deadline.
I enjoyed a week of no alarm clocks, no video calls, and no back-to-back meetings. I had more family time by enjoying an afternoon with my dad, another with my mother in law, and babysitting my nephew’s kids one morning. I spent hours playing my piano and walking outside. It has been a very good week!
That sounds pretty wonderful!
We decided recently that we were as ready as we were going to get so yesterday I gave notice to drop from PT to per diem. That will take effect no later than August 10 (our contracts require 120 days notice). So as of then, I won't be 100% retired, but I will not have any scheduled hours. I'll be free to pick up shifts whenever I'd like (based on availability).
It's fantastic that you're able to trend down like that. It sounds like a smoother transition than going from 100mph to 0 overnight. People have suggested to me transitioning to PT but there really wasn't a realistic path at my company to do that and I didn't want to find another job this late in my FI journey just to go to part time.
3 weeks ago we learned that my company required that we Return to Office 5 days/ week. Most of us were shocked and just about all were disappointed (to put it mildly), angry or disgusted.
...looks like October 16th will be my date (just about 6 months from now).
A couple of reasons why that date:
- our Pension plan considers Normal Retirement for collecting 100% of calculated pension benefits- age 65. Anything before that age is considered “early” and carries significant discounts i.e. 93% at age 64.
- I will reach my 33 year anniversary with the company on that date (nothing too significant economically about that but just a nice milestone date)
- We leqve on a 2 week trip to Italy on Oct 17 which has been planned for almost a year. Instead of using vacation time (and taking my work phone along) I will get paid out for my “unused “ vacation time and celebrate my retirement!
Now I just have to make it official (any recommendations about doing that?) and start the “wind down work” and start positioning myself for retirement!
Personally, I've been spoiled because my megacorp has been pretty progressive about working remotely/from home and we've been doing it for over a decade now. The missus is needing to gradually head back into the office and she's not loving it either.
Looks like you have a nice roadmap to your retirement in October. Similarly,I chose a date that would like up with as much stuff I can grab before I headed out the door: annual bonus, annual benefits renewal, work anniversary perks, etc. I was always planning to head on a cruise in the Baltics with a stop in St Petersburg after retirement but that went out the window with everything happening in the world!
I gave 3 months notice which is kind of excessive but I have a great relationship with my boss.
Exercised my last 250 stock options on Tuesday.
It looks like our spend is about 1.6% SWR, so I really dont know why I am waiting.
I had to leave 300 stock options on table which was turning out to be a nice chunk of change because they weren't going to vest for another 2 years and I wasn't going delay my retirement for it. I suspect I'll have a little bit of regret because the share price has been on a mini-tear recently among the greater market turmoil and the guidance for the next few years is pretty positive.
We all seem to focus overly on the math of personal finance (and retirement) and not enough on psychological stuff. The numbers are kind of the easy part because it's formulatic in a way whereas I find the psychological stuff needs a lot more thought.
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