What prompted you to pull the trigger...

[Sand Pounder]

A few factors converged that made the decision easy.

1. Once achieving FI, it was just a matter of time.
2. Work had become more and more like work over the previous 10 years. The pace of high tech was too much for this aging engineer.
3. My product line was being phased out, so I would have had to start a new project.
4. My dad's cancer was taking a turn for the worse. We spent a lot more time together the last 6 months of his life than we would have if I had kept working.
5. I had been cutting back my hours over the previous few years. Days off were much more enjoyable than my days at work.
6. The last straw was an unpleasant encounter with a co-worker who blew a minor issue WAY out of proportion. Why put up with that?

That was May of last year. The decision was obvious. Absolutely no regrets!

 

[Backdraft57]

Almost 39 years was enough, stress getting to me (heart palpatations), tired of reading about FF'S my age dying everyday, dad died at 69 and I qualified to retire. First three months I was lost. I missed the brotherhood and "guys", cried a lot. I wasn't prepared for the emotions of leaving a life long career. That's in the past now and I am stress free and loving being retired.
p.s. I talked to an old boss before I pulled the trigger and asked "when did you know it was time to leave". He said when I didn't really feel like giving a full measure of effort and didn't look forward to coming in to work. Well, that was fitting me as well.

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[Rustic23]

We built a lake house. We were going to be "weekenders" for 3 to 5 years. We would go up for a weekend and just hate to go back to the city on Sunday. On the way home after about 6 months of weekending, I said to DW. "Why are we doing this? We have more money than we need, and we both hate going home on Sunday" I quit one month later and she three. (School teacher end of year) Moved to the lake full time and never looked back!