Will be Retiring at end of 2021!

[Global Wizzo]

Depends on where the company listed as your place of employment. My company was in GA, but my place of employment and office location was Florida. Worked well for me.

I negotiated a four months departure package and they opted not to accept my offer to train my replacement. I left, collected checks for four months then took my vacation of two months as paid time.

Lived on available cash for two years to reduce earned and investment income tax hits.

Welcome aboard and have fun. Before COVID we managed to travel about three months a year with two-three week trips almost all international. Still managed about 45 days in hotels so far this year.

All the best.

 

[stan101]

From my tennis instructor days that sounds like about $50,000-$70,000 in revenue if you annualize your July numbers. However July may be a peak month. Either way that is a nice stream of income for travel, etc.

Would you be willing to share some of your numbers such as projected annual expenses with and without healthcare, asset allocation, pension or no pension, net worth? I know some of this gets into sensitive data, but for those in similar boats with similar timing it is always good to bounce these critical factors around to compare. (The true test is to compare these metrics to those who have already retired for a few years to see if the plan and projections are on target.)


Congrats on your retirement and your work to get to this point!

 

[Travelfreek]

Congrats on your plan and on the development that the company will allow you to train a new person! My husband gave 6 month notice in his job as principal engineer for the same reason. The company (Level 1 Trauma hospital) took a long time to find a replacement. They found someone who looked real good, offered the job to him and he ended up going w/a different employer and the place had to start the process all over again. So, my husband left at the 6 month mark (there were benefits to leaving before July 1st). Then another 6 months went by before they found a suitable applicant. We were amazed as he was SO BUSY and stressed while doing the job. They did parse out pieces of his job to other "lucky employees". You never know sometimes.

 

[Bamaman]

Sounds as if you've executed your long term savings plans very well.

And it sounds as if you have enough side line interests to keep you plenty busy. Many ER's have never taken time to prepare for their retirements

And you have two of the finest sports cars ever made. Modern day version of the MGB, but without the major electrical problems.

 

[RVplusDog]

Welcome to FIRE! We are also in NC (much of the year), in the western mountains in our case. If you get bored with all your other hobbies, you can always take on one of the waterfall challenges (100, 250, or 500 NC waterfalls visited), hike up all the 6000’ mountains in the state, visit every state park, etc. So much to love about NC!

 

[flash9]

From my tennis instructor days that sounds like about $50,000-$70,000 in revenue if you annualize your July numbers. However July may be a peak month. Either way that is a nice stream of income for travel, etc.

Would you be willing to share some of your numbers such as projected annual expenses with and without healthcare, asset allocation, pension or no pension, net worth? I know some of this gets into sensitive data, but for those in similar boats with similar timing it is always good to bounce these critical factors around to compare. (The true test is to compare these metrics to those who have already retired for a few years to see if the plan and projections are on target.)

Congrats on your retirement and your work to get to this point!

Yes July was the highest month since we started the business over 10 years ago. Last year we did 1,500, so not exactly the kind of income you are thinking.
I would rather not revel all of the numbers, but both Personal Capital and FIRECalc estimate we can spend $85k a year without running out of funds.

As we have quite a bit of money in Roth IRA's, our only income will be the Racquet Stringing, so we plan to get our Health Insurance via the ACA.

Sounds as if you've executed your long term savings plans very well.

And it sounds as if you have enough side line interests to keep you plenty busy. Many ER's have never taken time to prepare for their retirements

And you have two of the finest sports cars ever made. Modern day version of the MGB, but without the major electrical problems.

I agree - first generation Miata's are very much fun. The 1991 SE (British Racing Green) has 55,000 miles. The 1995 (Red with Tan Leather) has only 29,000 miles.

Welcome to FIRE! We are also in NC (much of the year), in the western mountains in our case. If you get bored with all your other hobbies, you can always take on one of the waterfall challenges (100, 250, or 500 NC waterfalls visited), hike up all the 6000’ mountains in the state, visit every state park, etc. So much to love about NC!

We were just in the Western part of NC two weeks ago. (The week before giving my notice.) We stayed in Burnsville, and spent three days hiking to see multiple (~10) waterfalls. The first day we went North into TN. The second day south, and also drove to the top of Mt. Mitchel. Then the third day we went east. The last day we spent enjoying the Mt. Mitchel Arts and Crafts Festival before driving back home.

 

[Argus]

Congratulations! I've been FIRE'd 4 years now and also gave my company 6 months notice. I was a Director with a small staff (larger company than yours with 75+-) and they also asked me to write my job description and assist in interviews.

They came out of the gate quick and we interviewed two candidates. My bosses kept referring to how I work with them (25 yrs) and couldn't wrap their heads around working with someone else to build a relationship. Well, a week before I left they still hadn't found a replacement and simply promoted one of my staff who was way under qualified. But it's their company not mine.

Be a good soldier and perform your best during the next few months. I hope their replacement search is successful, but if they ask if you could stick around a little longer, respectfully decline...

 

[Cassius King]

Congrats.
Stringing racquets helped pay my way thru college. No idea how many I strung through those years, lol. Still hate Gamma Rough!
Cheers! and enjoy your retirement!

 

[Koolau]

Congratulations on your decision. Please keep us up to date on your progress. We're also here to share our experiences as questions arise.

 

[flash9]

Asked me to stay on a couple more months.

As I was about to begin my last two months of employment for my current employer, they have asked if I would be willing to work until the end of February.
My initial thought was no, as much of the income would be eventually lost to higher Health Insurance Premiums.
The company I am working for has a Simple IRA rather than a 401K. One of the unique features of working for a company that offers a Simple IRA, is that as an employee, I am able contribute 100% of my income to the Simple IRA. I will have to start the year with their Health Insurance, so I will have that fee, but otherwise the rest of my income can go directly into the Simple IRA. It is my understand my wife can start our new Health Insurance plan at the beginning of the year, and I can then join her starting on March 1st, once I quick working for my current employer.

This will allow me to contribute close to the annual maximum of $17,000, to my Simple IRA in those first couple of months of 2022. Yet basically have no Income that would be taxed or impact our Health Insurance fees.

Other than extending my retirement a couple of months does anyone see any potential flaws in this PLAN?

 

[BruinBones]

I gave notice to my company to retire at end of December 2019, and they asked me to stay for another 6 months to bridge for a replacement. I did stay and max'd out my 403b, 457b, and backdoor Roth. I also use my Dental insurance for a crown (planned) and a root canal (unplanned) during this time. During the last few months, I had to consciously try very hard not to "short time" it with my effort at work and once had to pull an "F-U" moment when they tried to make me do something I thought was unnecessary. By the end of the 6 months, I was definitely ready to leave.
Good luck.

 

[ImThinkin2019]

Welcome to FIRE! We are also in NC (much of the year), in the western mountains in our case. If you get bored with all your other hobbies, you can always take on one of the waterfall challenges (100, 250, or 500 NC waterfalls visited), hike up all the 6000’ mountains in the state, visit every state park, etc. So much to love about NC!

We came very close to retiring in the Asheville area. We love many things about it - the broad spectrum of political views, the restaurants serving excellent seasonal food, the outdoor activities, the moderate weather, etc, etc. I could go on.

 

[Jim59]

As I was about to begin my last two months of employment for my current employer, they have asked if I would be willing to work until the end of February.
My initial thought was no, as much of the income would be eventually lost to higher Health Insurance Premiums.
The company I am working for has a Simple IRA rather than a 401K. One of the unique features of working for a company that offers a Simple IRA, is that as an employee, I am able contribute 100% of my income to the Simple IRA. I will have to start the year with their Health Insurance, so I will have that fee, but otherwise the rest of my income can go directly into the Simple IRA. It is my understand my wife can start our new Health Insurance plan at the beginning of the year, and I can then join her starting on March 1st, once I quick working for my current employer.

This will allow me to contribute close to the annual maximum of $17,000, to my Simple IRA in those first couple of months of 2022. Yet basically have no Income that would be taxed or impact our Health Insurance fees.

Other than extending my retirement a couple of months does anyone see any potential flaws in this PLAN?

Why don’t you ask for a 4 day week, say a Friday off, but get paid for 5 days. Otherwise say no. Tell them you had plans for Fridays and you are not for changing them.

 

[flash9]

Retirement is Working out GREAT

So, I did end up working January and February and was able to contribute all but about $2,000 to my Simple IRA. Retired on March 1, 2022.

On the positive side our spending has been much lower than expected.

I do not need to tell any of you, the negative has been the market in 2022 has not been kind. Our investments are down 13% for the year.

We already had the funds I thought we would need for 2022 when the year started.

We will need to pull out some funds in early 2023, but not nearly what I had expected as we have money left from 2022 that we did not need.
We were able to spend two weeks visiting our daughter in Hawaii this year, and have a three week trip planed for May 2023 to Portugal, so it is not like we are not having a good time in our Retirement.

 

[Vincenzo Corleone]

So, I did end up working January and February and was able to contribute all but about $2,000 to my Simple IRA. Retired on March 1, 2022.

On the positive side our spending has been much lower than expected.

I do not need to tell any of you, the negative has been the market in 2022 has not been kind. Our investments are down 13% for the year.

We already had the funds I thought we would need for 2022 when the year started.

We will need to pull out some funds in early 2023, but not nearly what I had expected as we have money left from 2022 that we did not need.
We were able to spend two weeks visiting our daughter in Hawaii this year, and have a three week trip planed for May 2023 to Portugal, so it is not like we are not having a good time in our Retirement.

My wife and I spent a month in Sept/Oct in Portugal and loved it. This was our travel route within the country. We were impressed by how well we were able to dine for under $100 USD. Enjoy!

 

[flash9]

My wife and I spent a month in Sept/Oct in Portugal and loved it. This was our travel route within the country. We were impressed by how well we were able to dine for under $100 USD. Enjoy!

Our route is very close. Where you went counter clockwise we are going to go clockwise. We start in Lisbon then proceed to, Talasnal, Aveiro, Porto, Lamego, Caastelo Rodrigo, Monsanto, Marvao and then after staying in Evora, before we will head back to Lisbon for a night before flying home.

This does not have our "Route", but it shows you all of the places we want to see along the way.