They want me to stay.... What Would You Do?

[Bee4]

I think what they are really asking is for you to do the job so they don't have to look for your replacement. Offer to take on finding your replacement as your last project before retirement.

 

[Bee4]

great thoughts. I continue to be amazed at the hurdle from growing my 401k to spending it. It is a psychology barrier I never anticipated.

 

[bada bing]

Perspective is important. Keeping you on for 2 years would likely seem different than returning to work after experiencing some retirement lifestyle.

I left mega-corp after completing a negotiated severance work requirement (1 year retention). 3 months after retiring, I was offered a 1 year contract to return to my old position at pretty good terms (day rate contractor as opposed to benefit employee). It had absolutely no appeal to me after only 3 months away from the grind. But if I had been offered the same deal as an extension when I was leaving work ? I very well might have taken it.

I'm finding retirement better than I had imagined, even with the Covid lock downs. Knowing what I know now, I wish I'd had the where-with-all to pull the plug even earlier. Certainly not looking for a way to extend or return to the old grind.

 

[old medic]

After a certain age, time is your most important commodity, not money. After age fifty or so, you realize that there is more of the landing strip behind you, than in front of you. And the plane does not go backwards under any circumstances. .

I LOVE your analogy

 

[old medic]

Many thanks again....
Andre1969, When I posted the question I was 99.9% sure that I would still be retiring, but It doesnt hurt to consider the option, and get others opinions. And there is no doubt that it would be financially beneficial to us for me to stay 2 more years.
My grand father always said consider your Wants VS Needs....
Do I WANT to stay... Not really...
Do We NEED the extra money.... All though it would be nice... Not really.
And no one on here seems to think I NEED to either....

 

[RetireeRobert]

You can add more years to your working, but you can't add more years to your retirement.

Bingo!! +1

 

[skyking1]

Glad we could be of assistance, medic.

 

[RetMD21]

Well, I went back after a few months of retirement. I got the 2 day a week part time schedule I had always wanted and limited the duration. They were were fully staffed when I left but lost someone. The pandemic limited travel and we were staying home anyway. I don't think anyone who is FI should sign up something miserable.

 

[cyber888]

If you are really comfortable with your savings now .... I'd say "RUN ..and retire". If you feel miserable everyday .. 2 years is a long long time.

 

[Brat]

If you are an experienced medic you could associate with a community college medic training program and do some teaching.

 

[jollystomper]

You will have to offset the value of two years of healthy retirement against the opportunity cost of acceding to your director's request.

Just one thing....you cannot buy time. Especially healthy retirement time. Once it has passed it has gone forever.

+1

To the OP, I had a similar decision. After rescuing a project, my management let me know they would be fine with me changing my mind about retiring to continue to manage the project. I could easily sustain this for 2 years. The work for me would be simple and fun, the main downside was a relative increase in my traveling (somewhat offset by the ability to take DW with me on some of the trips).

Another 2 years would mean:
- another $200K to save and invest (our savings rate was already over 50%)
- Megacorp health insurance at less than half of the retiree rate, about another $15 in savings
- Pension would have increased by $2,000/year.
- No change in SS, I had already hit the maximum benefit.

But, at age 60 and in good health, time was much more important to me than money. We had enough for a more than comfortable retirement at a target SWR a little over 2%. And with good health, I could wake up every morning and choose what I wanted to do - but with zero guarantee of how long that would last.

So I retired, and have been more than happy with my decision. My first 2 years of retirement were worth far more than if I have kept working another 2 years. And it keeps getting better .

 

[Librarian]

Let me share my situation.
A year ago I had a boss that was intolerable to work under. I just turned 55 & if she was still there, I would be bellying up $60K so that I can retire now. Truly. THAT BAD.
BUT luckily I got a new boss this last fall & he is awesome. So I'm saving the $60K & working 1.5 more years to get full retirement, nothing to buy in.
I am NOT working a job that I hate when I don't have to....
Your numbers support your retirement decision--why do a job for 2 more years that you hate?

 

[meleana]

Go with your heart and not your head.

 

[hpnutty]

I got a similar offer from Megacorp in March 2019. At first I thought there was no way I would be want to stay around long enough to collect the associated RSUs. But in reality I had been in the OMY mode since 2017. The agreement essentially finalized my retirement date. This was a great relief for me as I stopped asking myself the question over and over, "When should I retire?".

Life is too short to work a miserable j*b. Ask for $100K for your truck. If they say "No", then say "See ya!".

 

[Retired Expat]

There are jobs we do for love and jobs we do for money. If you aren’t loving it then they have to pay you to stay. I was leaving a job once when my boss begged me to stay. I was really fed up with his abusive ways and the company in general but I was young and needed the money. Told him to write me a check for 50k and I would give him 6 months more but with also a 10% raise. They said yeah and I thought myself a great negotiator! The longest worst 6 months of my life!

Now I know there is no amount of money to make a bad job better....

 

[old medic]

If you are an experienced medic you could associate with a community college medic training program and do some teaching.

You just made me spit beer out my nose.....The senior medics I'm leaving behind are my former students... with several currently filling that very roll.
I have been asked to do some guest teaching, and probably will do some.
Its a different teaching world now... Power point now rules, and computers were rare back then.

 

[PointBreeze]

I would leave as planned. There is no reason for you to spend 2 more years on something you know will be miserable, when it barely makes a difference on your retirement.

Absolutely! Many people here say they wished they had retired earlier.

 

[kgtest]

Run, don't walk. In 20 years, sittin in that rockin chair...yeah nobody gonna care about how you left.

 

[2177V]

My director pulled me aside the other day and informed me that they are not wanting me to retire, and are asking me to stay at least 2 more years and restart a substation we tried a few years ago. Back then I worked it and it was miserable, and our call volume is now higher.
I recalculated my retirement with the possibility of working it, and it will only add about $300 a month to my monthly retirement check. I can almost make that working PT one shift a month.. (If I decide to go back)
Other benefits ....
Saving about $550 a month for insurance for 2 years.
Adding $20-30K to my 401K.
SS wont really change any.

Currently FireCalc says I have a 98% success rate on retiring this year,
WITHOUT the wife's money included, Dropping $25K in a few years for a truck and waiting till full SS at 67.
So it will pad a little but not really needed....

what would you do?

Retire. Life is short.

I read that people who lived past 100 years all had a specific purpose in life. People who passes away shortly after retirement....did so because their job was their primary purpose in their life.

The decision to retire is a personal one. When my boss asked me to stay instead of retiring...I consider that as a compliment. However I told my boss that I love my current job but I do not have an infinite life and I already made retirement plans to do some volunteer work to help my community.

 

[old medic]

Retire. Life is short.

I read that people who lived past 100 years all had a specific purpose in life. People who passes away shortly after retirement....did so because their job was their primary purpose in their life.

The decision to retire is a personal one. When my boss asked me to stay instead of retiring...I consider that as a compliment. However I told my boss that I love my current job but I do not have an infinite life and I already made retirement plans to do some volunteer work to help my community.

Thats similar to the boat I am currently in... I truly do love what I do, the helping people... Do hate some of what I see, but have learned to accept it. Its the political BS the has slowly taken over, and a change in the mindset of new folks coming in. I already have 1000s of volunteer hours invested, but that too has changed.

 

[old medic]

Well SHTF.... after years of trying to get just an extra person full time each year, something must have happened... A sudden meeting was called and approved increasing our FT employees by 33% and buying a new truck... and again asked to consider staying.
Just the thought of staying now causes nightmares...

 

[kcowan]

When my employer asked me to stay, I said that I would need $nn,nnnn per month to stay. Suddenly it became "their" problem. I stayed for two months to allow them to make arrangements and left 6 months before my 50th birthday.

 

[target2019]

Well SHTF.... after years of trying to get just an extra person full time each year, something must have happened... A sudden meeting was called and approved increasing our FT employees by 33% and buying a new truck... and again asked to consider staying.
Just the thought of staying now causes nightmares...

You've effected change of some kind. Maybe it's simply supplying your replacement or two. You'll be ok.

 

[old medic]

You've effected change of some kind.

No it wasn't me... It was a chance combination of situations that effected the right people. It funny how that works.... And glad to see it happening... I pushed for something similar with a slower build starting several years ago. My opinion is that its more an over reaction at this point and the rushing in is going to be a logistical nightmare... Time will tell.