Megacorp Exit Strategy

[SumDay]

I'm looking for a creative way to get a little extra $ out of megacorp before I retire this year. Details of the situation are below:
I'm a few months away from pulling the plug, and haven't told my boss yet. We happen to be in the midst of a huge project, and as a megacorp long-term employee (30+ years) I have a large part to play in the process - both doing real work and managing a team who will be doing some of the more rote tasks.This is a two year project, at least.

DH turns 65 this summer, and that has been my planned retirement date, as he'll obviously enroll in Medicare and I'll have a very low-cost retiree HDHCP available to me. Lucky me, I know.

I've hoped, prayed and hinted for an early retirement window, but I never got that lucky. Everyr etirement calculator I’ve used gives us 100%, so we’re ready.It still makes me nervous to have nothing coming in until 2019, which is when I’ll take SS & DH will take ½ mine until he turns 70 (yes, we qualify for this).My small pension can commence immediately, but the rest will come from our investments which makes me truly queasy.

So, here's my question. I know part-time wouldn't work - I'd be working full time for less pay.Nope. Not gonna happen.When I tell my boss I plan to retire (after bonuses are deposited in a few weeks) I'd like to make the suggestion that I'd be willing to hang on until later in 2018 in exchange for ?$?$?$?$I feel kind of greedy even thinking about it, so I thought I'd ask and see if anyone has done anything creative to transition out of their role and also get a little extra bang for their buck?This would get me a little closer to 2019 without touching our 401(k)s and IRAs and make me far less queasy.

Thanks in advance.

 

[joeea]

When I tell my boss I plan to retire (after bonuses are deposited in a few weeks) I'd like to make the suggestion that I'd be willing to hang on until later in 2018 in exchange for ?$?$?$?$ I feel kind of greedy even thinking about it, so I thought I'd ask and see if anyone has done anything creative to transition out of their role and also get a little extra bang for their buck?

How much do your feel your presence is worth for a few months?
And how much leverage do you think you have?

I haven't tried this ploy myself. When I retired, I did so only after our critical multi-year project was complete. I felt that I owed that to my team.

I then gave two weeks notice and left.

I did offer to help them out however I could. And I ended up getting a call a few months later from my replacement asking for my help. I agree to work 2 days per week. And I held them to that agreement - no late days and no "extra" days thrown in.

It worked out well for everyone.

 

[HarveyS]

You are not being greedy, you are being realistic. You have a limited # of days on the big blue marble left, to spend them at Mega needs to be worth it.

From my days at Mega, we allowed retired folks to be re-hired as flexible workers. Hourly pay rate, with strict limits on hours per day, and days per week. It's up to you to negotiate a rate you feel is fair. In special cases, retention bonuses were agreed to, but required retention was for up to 3 years, not a few months.

 

[Red Badger]

Hey OP. First congrats on getting to the gold (100%).
As a retired project manager, if in your situation, I'd swing for the fences. Ask for a high "retainer" and demand a firm exit plan (either date or milestone driven).
And don't sweat spending from investments, if you're golden, you're golden.

I retired at 60 last year, knowing portfolio burn rate would be 10% for 2 years. After SS kicks in for DW and I in 2019, burn rate drops to lees than 3% (and could be way less if needed).

 

[sunsnow]

If you are at 100% with the retirement calculators, then why not retire? You are only talking about months of living solely off investments. If your asset allocation is where it should be for your situation, I don't see why that should make you queasy. Maybe you'd like to see the project through to the end for other reasons. Just before I retired, I asked for and received a substantial raise. If they had refused, I would have given my two weeks notice and left. Instead, I gave a year notice and finished the big project I was working on.

 

[Senator]

Check out when/if your pension accumulates another year. It may be 6/30 or 1000 hours.

Pick up a holiday if it means working another week.

Become an hourly consultant without benefits, at double your hourly pay with benefits now.

 

[athena53]

From what you've said about your numbers, you'll survive. I retired in May, 2014 at age 61 and we lived off DH's SS and withdrawals from investments. Before that last "correction", my net worth was up 15% since retirement and that's after a downsizing that was more expensive than expected, some pretty spectacular travel, generous charitable donations and health insurance premiums worse than I would have ever projected. (Medicare kicked in 1/1/18.) DH died in late 2016 (another reason I'm glad I ER'd) and I'm planning to collect SS on my own record at age 70- getting Survivor benefits now.

Just do it.

 

[Happyras]

As a SR project manager for Mega Corp, I felt they just would expect me to negotiate the best deal on leaving. My boss was extremely supportive, and in the first round I remained another year, enjoying "permissive time off" in lieu of vacation and sick leave. They just could not offer me a package I could accept, and the thought of accepting part time or a contract back was not for me. When the following year rolled around, I was still enjoying my PTO while still working full time, but knew they would be laying off others much younger, so I volunteered to be laid off. I still got another 1/2 year pay and benefits, then took the pension early.

All I can say further is to negotiate, its your last chance with nothing to loose. You have the edge, as in my case I had to sign a layoff contract that I would not sue them for age discrimination, since I was a well respected employee.

 

[pb4uski]

Part time can work... I worked part-time for years. Was on 50% salary and they got 1040 hours per year and since I was expected to be ~70% chargeable that meant 730 chargeable hours a year. I was in a business where we kept track of all out time. If I was reasonably within range then we were fine, if I worked a lot more than they made up the difference, generally by increasing my pay % for a while until I was made whole.

It worked great. I recall one time there was a bit of a silly thing that they wanted me to do so I said to my boss.... you only get x hours of pb4uski time a year... do you really want to waste some having me doing this silly assed crap? It worked twice and one other time I ended up doing the silly assed crap.

 

[Jerry1]

You just have to start the conversation with your boss. In my case, it worked out very well. I can see how in many cases it may not. I started with notice of retirement and worked out a part time arrangement for 2 years. As the two years was coming to a close, there were budget cuts looming. I made it clear that I'd be happy to go knowing that anyone let go would be getting a severance. They took me up on the offer and I'm enjoying my first few weeks of retirement.

 

[Bamaman]

Our Megacorp overreacted to economic times in 2008 and retired the highest paid--those over 55 years old. I received a phone call when I was 350 miles from home saying tomorrow was my last day. Had I been in home office, I assume 2 security guards would have escorted me from H/R to my desk and I would have been escorted to the front door. They paid out the nose to make this change, however.

And It was the happiest day of my life. No thank you, no retirement meal, no gold watch. I got plenty enough money out of them to buy myself a Rolex Presidential. I knew it was nothing personal.

Even the biggest Megacorps change over the decades. Unfortunately personal relationships can be a thing of the past. Now they are trying run a $15 billion company with subcontracted job tasks and zero experience. For those that have companies still wanting your services, good for you.

 

[SumDay]

I recall one time there was a bit of a silly thing that they wanted me to do so I said to my boss.... you only get x hours of pb4uski time a year... do you really want to waste some having me doing this silly assed crap? It worked twice and one other time I ended up doing the silly assed crap.

I've used that "silly assed crap" line many times already, hoping they'll decide I'm too hard to get along with me and offer me an early out. Unfortunately, they just keep saying "wow, you're right - that is a waste of time."

Thanks everyone for the insights. I'm still noodling on this and have a little time until the 2017 bonus gets deposited.

I do think a huge part of my hesitance is the fear of cutting the cord on the paycheck. I've never not had a paycheck, so it's going to be a real psychological adjustment. Crazy part is, our retirement income can easily be more than my paycheck, but it still scares the bejeebers out of me. This too shall pass with time, right? It will be a leap of faith I guess - faith in my own saving and planning.

 

[harley]

I do think a huge part of my hesitance is the fear of cutting the cord on the paycheck. I've never not had a paycheck, so it's going to be a real psychological adjustment. Crazy part is, our retirement income can easily be more than my paycheck, but it still scares the bejeebers out of me. This too shall pass with time, right? It will be a leap of faith I guess - faith in my own saving and planning.

It's much more painful to slowly slip into a pool of cold water than to just jump right in. Yes, it can be a shock, but you'll adjust very quickly.

As far as the job goes, when you tell your boss you're retiring, if he makes a big deal about how important you are to the project let him know you'd be interested in coming back as a contractor for a (defined) little while. Or if you could enforce the part-timeness of a job like pb4uski did, maybe that could work. But if the boss says something like "we'll really miss you, good luck", then just retire. In less time than you'd expect you'll realize you were better off just going and enjoying life.

 

[akidagain2018]

There are a lot of good insights in these comments. Thanks, even though I didn't ask the questions in the first place. I struggle with the actual leaving part too. Plan another 6 months and have my daily countdown spreadsheet ongoing since Oct. And I'm not really too riled by the stock market drops in the last week. I keep checking my analyses and think, yeah, I'm going. Life is short.

 

[Mdlerth]

Keeping your head when all around are losing theirs

...I'm not really too riled by the stock market drops in the last week. I keep checking my analyses and think, yeah, I'm going. Life is short.

+1

Anyone who had a good plan three months ago should relax. It's still a good plan.

Anyone who didn't have a plan (or had a bad one) three months ago probably wasn't ready to go anyway.