The Class of 2014

[FIREd]

Still too early to add DW's name to the list, but over the holidays she expressed the desire to retire in 2014. While she loves her job, she can't take the corporate world anymore.

 

[jollystomper]

2014 is looking very tempting for my retirement. Our youngest chlid, last one left in the house, is planning to stay within our state for college, and we will easily be able to manage that expense. Early last year our financial planner and FIRE indicated 2015 as a good year. But we had good gains in our investment portfolio this year so it has got me thinking of retiring sometime in 2014 (assuming I don't get laid off in 2013 ).

 

[HeatherB]

I am jumping ship from the Class of '14; retirement is now May 24, 2013. The second school is out!

 

[Redbugdave]

Awww, Heather! You are supposed to put it off another year...not go forward!

What changed to make you move ahead a year?

 

[HeatherB]

Redbugdave, I just can't take it anymore. The kids, the administrivia, the no raise in god knows how many years, the increasing responsibilities without compensation.....yeah, I'm done.

Financially we are fine, although DH stresses unnecessarily. I'm ready to move to Cozumel full time, which will happen this summer!

 

[Meadbh]

Redbugdave, I just can't take it anymore. The kids, the administrivia, the no raise in god knows how many years, the increasing responsibilities without compensation.....yeah, I'm done.

Financially we are fine, although DH stresses unnecessarily. I'm ready to move to Cozumel full time, which will happen this summer!

Class dismissed!

 

[Redbugdave]

Cozumel! Great! It's time to get on with life! Summer will be here before you know it. Life is good.

 

[Huston55]

My retirement deadline is 2016, which is what my profile says. But, I'd retire (or semi-retire) earlier if possible. Fidelity Retirement Income Planner says I can retire in 2014 so, I suppose I'm a member of The ER Class of 2014.

Nice to meet you all - Classmates!

Well, I'm going to convert my somewhat fuzzy commitment ("Fidelity Retirement Income Planner says I can retire in 2014 so, I suppose I'm a member of The ER Class of 2014.") into a real commitment.

I just lost my mother and have watched/am watching several work colleagues go through debilitating (and sometimes fatal) diseases. I'm seeing the clock, and it seems much closer to midnight than I've ever perceived it. I know 'they say' (whoever 'they' are) that one should not make life decisions in times of grief but, this just feels like the right decision.

So, there we go...2014 it is.

 

[photoguy]

Signing up for the class of 2014. Obamacare/PPaca was the last piece of the puzzle and I think we should be good to go with a 3% withdrawal rate.

I suspect I will start having second thoughts as the year draws closer. Mathematically, I know the 3% is fairly conservative but when I think about the actual dollar amount it seems crazy to spend that much without a steady income.

The other kink is that we will need to sell our home and figure out where we want to move. We're currently in silicon valley and the mortgage, while affordable, would blow the budget in ER. Looking at various locales but having a hard time deciding even on a short list. Some places we are considering are albuquerque/santa fe, denver/boulder/fort collins/etc, portland, seattle and other less costly areas in CA.

 

[jollystomper]

2014 is looking very tempting for my retirement. Our youngest chlid, last one left in the house, is planning to stay within our state for college, and we will easily be able to manage that expense. Early last year our financial planner and FIRE indicated 2015 as a good year. But we had good gains in our investment portfolio this year so it has got me thinking of retiring sometime in 2014 (assuming I don't get laid off in 2013 ).

Well, I think I will now "officially" declare myself a member of the class of 2014. I am going to target June 30, 2014 for my retirement date. By that time I will be 56 with 35 years at my Megacorp. We will have paid about half of our youngest child's college tuition out of my salary, so there will be little impact of that on our retirement savings. The big unknown is health insurance, but with Obamacare now coming out it is making it easier to plan for that.

Life is full of unknowns so one can never be certain, but for me it is best to put a stake in the ground and plan for it. Joining this forum certainly helped, it has given us more confidence that we are well prepared for FIRE.

 

[Ozstache]

Late Jan 14 @ just shy of 46 for me, however with unused vacation leave I will probably finish up late Nov or early Dec 12.

 

[Retire2013]

As you can tell by my Name, I TRULY want to retire in 2014. I really really really want to. So let's hope and, yes, plan, as well, for us all to be able to retire in 2014. Here's to our Class!!! Let's stay in touch and post from time to time to see if all of us are still on track. And encourage one another toward our goal.

Having reached 3% SWR and also getting laid off by my employer, I will join the Class of 2013 instead.

I will keep reading this thread since I have always identified with the Class of 2014 as you can tell by my Forum name.

Retire2014

 

[hakuna matata]

Have the date now. Dec 16, 2014 for my wife (I still plan on Oct 2, 2014), but with judicious use of her vacation she is planning on Nov 1,2014.

The end is in sight!

 

[FLD3C]

October 31,2014 or before

 

[Grainiac]

My boss some time ago sent out an email stating that any direct reports of his who are past 50 are expected to give him a two year notice for the planned retirement date. My planned date is exactly my 50th birthday in August 2014, so I guess all I need to do is to give a 5 minute notice then?

 

[MichaelB]

My boss some time ago sent out an email stating that any direct reports of his who are past 50 are expected to give him a two year notice for the planned retirement date. My planned date is exactly my 50th birthday in August 2014, so I guess all I need to do is to give a 5 minute notice then?

Hope you get to do that.

October 31,2014 or before

FLD3C, I think you just set a new record for the shortest / longest first post. That is, short in words but long in getting around to post. Welcome aboard.

 

[Accidental Retiree]

My boss some time ago sent out an email stating that any direct reports of his who are past 50 are expected to give him a two year notice for the planned retirement date.

That doesn't seem right. Geez.

 

[photoguy]

What are they going to do if you don't give enough notice? fire you?

 

[Meadbh]

My boss some time ago sent out an email stating that any direct reports of his who are past 50 are expected to give him a two year notice for the planned retirement date. My planned date is exactly my 50th birthday in August 2014, so I guess all I need to do is to give a 5 minute notice then?

I'm sure that is not legally enforceable.

 

[JoeWras]

My boss some time ago sent out an email stating that any direct reports of his who are past 50 are expected to give him a two year notice for the planned retirement date. My planned date is exactly my 50th birthday in August 2014, so I guess all I need to do is to give a 5 minute notice then?

Not sure it is legal. Hearing this makes me crazy.

Does your company give a 2 year notice before they lay you off?

If your contract is non-existent, i.e. "at will", then forget about it. They can drop you at a moment. Why should you give them the courtesy?

Companies have burned up their privilege cards with their behavior in downsizings.

Of course, if you have a great relationship with your boss, out of personal courtesy it would be nice to give a warning of more than 2 weeks. But 2 years? Really? In two years, my Megacorp will have gone through at least 2 boom-bust hiring/firing cycles. To ask me for more than a few months (which seems to be their myopic schedule) would be hypocritical beyond belief.

 

[Grainiac]

Not sure it is legal. Hearing this makes me crazy.

Does your company give a 2 year notice before they lay you off?

If your contract is non-existent, i.e. "at will", then forget about it. They can drop you at a moment. Why should you give them the courtesy?

Companies have burned up their privilege cards with their behavior in downsizings.

Of course, if you have a great relationship with your boss, out of personal courtesy it would be nice to give a warning of more than 2 weeks. But 2 years? Really? In two years, my Megacorp will have gone through at least 2 boom-bust hiring/firing cycles. To ask me for more than a few months (which seems to be their myopic schedule) would be hypocritical beyond belief.

Of course it is not "legal" to require it formally, but he can ask and people can respond or not. His rationale for this time is to make sure that the succession planning is well in place for the senior management team. Why this amuses me is that it just did not dawn to my boss that any one of us would be planning on retirement below 55 years of age.

I also had asked my most senior report to give me a 3 year warning so we can train his successor really well (a technical position requiring lots of skill and experience). He retired last year and gave me two months. That's how well it worked for me, but I survived.

 

[photoguy]

With the recent run-up in equities, we hit our number. Seems pretty scary the thought of pulling the plug -- I guess now I can really experience the angst of OMY syndrome.

 

[akck]

My boss some time ago sent out an email stating that any direct reports of his who are past 50 are expected to give him a two year notice for the planned retirement date. My planned date is exactly my 50th birthday in August 2014, so I guess all I need to do is to give a 5 minute notice then?

Our employee handbook says they'd like at least a month's notice for any salary personnel. At this point, they've only earned two weeks. The two places where I did give advance notice, made it seem like they wanted me out quicker (afraid of short-timers attitude?), so I accommodated them. So it's not without precedence for only giving them the two no matter what they request.

 

[Milton]

It depends upon the relationship you have with your employer. If they have treated you well in the past, providing reasonable notice is probably the decent thing to do. If they have given you (or co-workers) a hard time, well, what goes around comes around ...

When I FIRE'd last year, I gave two months' notice of my departure. It was received with surprise, but I was treated with courtesy throughout (it was a bit strange to be a 'lame duck', but not unpleasant!).

 

[ER Eddie]

Sign me up for the class of 2014. I appreciate the discussion about length of notice, too, since that was something I have been contemplating (far in advance). I'll probably give a month or two.

My retirement target date is Sept. 1, 2014. 17 months and 2 weeks.