Financially planning your exit

[ArkTinkerer]

Depending on your position there is some advantage to the company for you to take vacations and come back for a day or two here and there. It gives the company a chance to learn to live without you, have you come back and clean up those little issues and answer questions a time or two before you bow out permanently. Of course, management doesn't always see it that way. My management would probably have issue because technically you would still be on the rolls and that might cause issues with them looking for a replacement. Yeah, really! The rules that they make get in the way of them doing the right thing for the company, let alone for the employee...

 

[pb4uski]

Hmm, I never thought this angle before. At my company, when you resign, you simply get the vacation time paid out to you. They never let us use up our vacation days to finish out our term of employment, which would let us keep adding to vacation, 401k, etc....

I tried to do finish out my term on vacation when I retired and they allowed me to take about 5 weeks (I had 7 weeks of vacation due to me). Close enough.

 

[PatrickA5]

I retired exactly two weeks after my last performance review and small bonus payout. For the 4th time in 5 years, I was told I was the top performer in the department, but the company was having "hard times" and my raise would be zero and my bonus was half of the calculated amount. The "hard times" at the company consisted of record profits and a nice cash balance of $21 BILLION. Somehow the CEO managed to pull in $18 million (an increase of $3 million) during these hard times. During my review, I asked my boss "how does the company expect to keeping valuable employees?" Her response - "they don't". Seemed like a good time to give notice and start my ER. My only regret was I didn't do it earlier.

 

[pb4uski]

Did you tell them that 0% raises and bonus haircuts was why you were leaving?

 

[2B]

I'm reading this thread with a lot of interest. In Oct we will have a discussion with a planning professional to understand how to fund our retirement (something I don't feel comfortable just going ahead and doing without some expert input on how to "pay" myself).

If you haven't already done so, start a new thread with your financial particulars. There's no shortage of people here that will give you some feedback.

If you have $500k+ at Vanguard you can get a free financial plan. If you have over $1MM you get continuing contacts if desired. That's a nice benefit especially if you like Vanguard funds like many here do.

I am in the Vanguard plan development process now and the CFP validated a spending level that I doubt I'll ever spend. Of course, there were some other moves that he recommended but you aren't obligated to do any of them.

 

[PatrickA5]

Did you tell them that 0% raises and bonus haircuts was why you were leaving?

Yes, they knew that. My prior company (which I loved) outsourced most of Accounting and IT to this well-known company about 5 years earlier. Of the 35 in my department at the time of outsourcing only me and 2 others remained 5 years later. All the rest quit and were replaced mainly by contract employees. Since I was close to ER anyway, I didn't feel the desire to quit and go elsewhere (like everyone else) - although I probably should have.

 

[Cobra9777]

I tried to do finish out my term on vacation when I retired and they allowed me to take about 5 weeks (I had 7 weeks of vacation due to me). Close enough.

I was allowed to use my entire vacation balance (almost 3 months) before finally terminating. I also accrued additional vacation during that time, plus all other normal benefits (health insurance, RSU dividend equivalents, 401K match, etc). At my company, this was at the discretion of management. In my case, they needed me to help finish a project that would take several months, but only required my involvement 1-2 days per week. Worked out well for me and the company. In most cases, the vacation balance was paid in your final paycheck.

 

[nun]

I retired as soon as I hit 10 years of service and vested in both the pension plan and retiree health benefits. That happened last March so I've been able to enjoy the summer. Accrued vacation time gave me a nice $10k check and I've been living off rental income an my bank account so far. Ideally I could have stayed on for another two years until I reached 55 when my state subsidized health insurance and pension would start, but I hated my job and actually enjoying those two years is worth the $200k it has probably cost me.

 

[brett]

We had years of downsizing, layoffs if you will. As a senior manager I knew that my time would come. I decided on three courses of action. The first was to exercise my stock options in a prudent fashion so as not to jeapardize my FI. The second was to ensure that we were financially 'ready'. The third was to wait them out and not go without a golden handshake.

The downsizing came. I had done the research as to which lawyer to engage to negotiate on my behalf. It all worked out like a dream. I would have been happy to stay for another year but once I was told that my position was being eliminated I did the crocodile tears routine and make the pretence of looking for a similar position in the company.

After the termination settlement expired I went on unemployment insurance for 38 weeks-good advice from the lawyer. First time ever to claim this. To top it off, the lawyer negotiated for the company to include his fee in my settlement package. It took five months to finalize the details. I found this time challenging since I wanted a swift resolution but it was well worth the wait.

Waited another year still in order to reach a years of service plus age to commence my DB pension entitlement.

 

[nuke_diver]

It would be a dream come true to get laid off. There would be no golden handshake for me but there might be some sort of severance which is better than none that you get if you quit. And you could go on UEI as well...

But my corporate VP says...it's more punishment to keep me here. And he's right. But I also will not be given them much advanced warning. I don't feel any reason to do so.

 

[Maenad]

Since we're still 5-6 years out, our plans are tentative, but I'm planning on giving my 2 weeks notice the day after my bonus check clears in March of that year. DH will try for the annual RIF his company has every May, since the severance would be a nice bit of extra cash. If he doesn't get that opportunity, he'll give his notice after his bonus is deposited in July.