How did you know it was time to RE?

[MRG]

The last straw was when Megacorp made my life hell for taking care of my disabled wife. I probably should have been talking to an attorney but it was better to leave with my dignity intact.

 

[Major Tom]

The decision was fairly easy for me. My employer of 16 years went out of business and laid me off. I thought about finding more paid employment and made some very half-hearted attempts in that direction, but eventually realized that I didn't feel like working any more. That particular mojo had evaporated.

I do still work, but it's all unpaid. I work on exactly the things I want, when I want. If don't feel like it some days, then I don't

 

[mexicoblue14]

I had no balance in my life

I was working 80 hour weeks (my own consulting company) and on the plane far too often. I knew it would affect my health. So, at age 51 I came to a retire in Mexico Seminar in Guadalajara, got all the info I needed, pasted spreadsheets all over my office and decided in 1996 that I could afford to retire if I sold my home in Silicon Valley and could live on $1,000/month until my social security clicked in. Of course back then I was figuring 10% on my investments and we all know how that turned out. I've been retired here for 21 years now and haven't had a moment of regret.

My California friend said, "Blue, why don't you downsize and retire here?" I replied, "And do what? all my friends are working. Maybe I could play bingo at the senior center?" Nope, so many activities here in Ajijic and a fantastic community, there's never any lack of interesting things to do and people to know.

I never looked back!

 

[FI_RElater]

We had more planned approach; but spouse was having migraines in MegaCorp exec position and I was waiting until we had health insurance in retirement (earlier early-out didn't give us the info that it gave us that, would have shaved off about a year and a half) -- my next project was going to be a real bear, taking about 3 years, and wasn't getting the full support to complete the right way-- speaking to those still there, it's messy alright , but they didn't want to listen... so it's now their problem, not mine.

We'd found where to retire (we'd been to all 50 and a few countries) and were able to find the right house after a few years looking, as those meeting our requirements don't come up that often, and we went for it. We've got great views, low stress, lost weight, and can spend time as we want-- with few deadlines.
It's been just over a year now -- highly recommend retirement.

 

[bssc]

I turned 55, got access to retirement including healthcare, and turn in my notice the next work day.

It worked out well, the PHB eliminated everyone in my job category shortly thereafter.

 

[Koolau]

For me it was simple. I'd been FI for several years, but still enjoyed the w*rk assignment I had. When they told me that was to change, I put in my notice and never looked back. All happened over a long week-end. YMMV

 

[travelover]

MegaMotors has a culture that at 55 (or earlier) you are washed up, partly due to UAW bargaining concessions that allow union members to go that early with a pension and paid health care insurance. Salaried workers get the same benefits generally, so as you get closer to that milestone, the pressure on you to leave gets ramped up. It is worse in a downturn. Fortunately for me, the economy was on the cusp of a recession (Spring 2007), so there were packages for my class, as opposed to just firings for the subsequent round of RIFs. Worked out perfectly for me, as I was ready to go.

 

[Out of Steam]

The day my Bullsh@t bucket was full and my give a "F" bucket was empty was the day I decided to go. Strange thing is it was the same day I locked in my pension and medical. What a coincidence.

I'm thinking about whether to do just that, or stay on somewhere between 3 and 10 extra months. That would allow me to finish paying for my car and DW and I to get settled in a new place, with my commuting back for work once a week, 4 days.

If my current boss doesn't retire first, I'm likely to stay on the extra time.

 

[pjigar]

I have a job that I love and highly paid. For me: I have to spend hours on my job complete my responsibilities which takes aways hours from my day. I do have endless array of hobbies which I would like to spend more time on. So at some point, I have to stop trading time for money and start trading it for great sense of pleasure and accomplishment I get from my hobbies. Simple. As to my stay home DW, she would like me to spend more time with her which also points me in the same direction (stop trading time for money).

 

[Ally]

I decided to retire when the years of stress finally got to me and I couldn't stand the thought of one more year. My husband was already retired and I was able to get on his fabulous health insurance. We had enough $$ and my husband's pension, so the time was right.

 

[LakeRat1]

I had planned to retire at 55, DW had planned to retire at 62...... Well, when she turned 59.5 she retired and we moved to our condo on Lake of the Ozarks. I was able to work from home, so it did not matter...... 3 months into the her retirement, the company I worked for offered an early out to our entire organization...... I ran the #'s over and over, then contacted two different financial advisers to get their input...... Long story, I too retired....At 52..... We both have been retired for 3 years now and we love it..... We have a condo at the lake, as well as a small mobile home Ft. Myers ....... Life is Gooder when retired

 

[Which Roger]

I knew for a quite a few years that I wanted to retire early. As the time when that would be feasible drew nearer and nearer, it was killing me more and more to hear about what my retired friends were doing during the day; things I wanted to do but couldn't because I was sitting at a desk. That made it more clear than ever that not working was the clear choice over continuing to work.

 

[Out of Steam]

As the time when that would be feasible drew nearer and nearer, it was killing me more and more to hear about what my retired friends were doing during the day; things I wanted to do but couldn't because I was sitting at a desk.

My friends are starting to retire, and I'm finding this part difficult.

 

[Scuba]

It was definitely an influence on me when more and more friends retired. Even though many of them are 5-10 years older than we are, it encouraged us to go sooner vs OMY. So glad we did!

 

[Red Badger]

My saga is similar, but with a twist. Like others here, some mega-corp burn out from travel, BS deadlines, etc. That was somewhat mitigated when I was approved to work from home when not on the road.

As I was approaching FI, I considered that I had a paying job since I was ten years old (starting with a paper route in the morning before school) with only a few few short periods of unemployment. My thoughts were, "Isn't fifty years of work enough?" Back story; my dad was a WWll vet and a product of the Great Depression. He provided an allowance from age six to ten, After that - earn your own or do without.

Then, last year, my DW had a health scare. Turned out okay, but convinced us both that time had come to remove the yoke and spend some quality years together.

Last day is 6-30-2017!

 

[Scuba]

Congratulations, Red Badger! [emoji323]

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

I was stuck in NYC on a bridge for 2 hours, having left work 1 hour early to be home with the bride for her birthday, got home at 1am, my cell phone was ringing the whole time i was in the car, i said what am i nuts? why am i still doing this, decided i was packing it in, took a few weeks to muster the courage to step off the elevator at the pension office, should have done it years earlier

 

[TallTim]

... But specifically for those of you who maybe didn't despise your job, were making good $, didn't necessarily have a huge passion to to do something else, were not overcome with health issues, come to the conclusion it was time? In other words, life was good, your friends were all working, yet you reached a goal you set out for yourself and now you feel compelled to make a decision? ...

I think we meet your criteria .. was a senior exec at a mid- to large public company. Company was acquired which led to a nice windfall and put us well over the FI goal line; FWIW we were close anyway, and had been planning for sometime on RE @ 55-ish. But the accelerated windfall pulled that timeline in by about 5 yrs and I RE'd at 48.

Post deal, I had a 6 month contract to stay on and help with the transition, which gave me time to assess what was important to me and DW, now that we were FI and could actually take a long look at things. Got paid a very nice chunk of $ to stay that 6 months (something like 2 yrs gross pay) and was offered a job at the end of it which would have been OK if we had needed the $$. I was also very fortunate to have received several direct inquiries from prospective new employers who had read our deal docs and knew I could be in the wind at the 6 month mark ... but on reflection, at that time, it just didn't make sense to (a) stay with newco and take a large paycheck in a diminished role; (b) uproot our HS aged kids and move to a new place for new job; or (c) do a job that allowed weekly commute in/out -- even w access to private aircraft the toll on me, DW and DD/DS would have been too much in my mind. So I went in about a month before my 6 month date and let my new CEO/GM know that I was out on my contract date.

Aside from asking DW to marry me, it's in the top 3 best decisions I have ever made. Getting to spend real, quality time with DD and DS before they headed out for college was invaluable, and it's been very very good for my overall health and outlook. Friends who know us well but haven't seen us in the past few years remarked this past month that they haven't seen me or DW this relaxed in YEARS.

So, even if you don't have a passion to do something in particular, if you do not need the $$ and would rather not trade your time for $$ any longer, I'd join the chorus here and encourage you to proceed. You don't know what may happen or what you may choose to do, but we all know our time on this Earth is finite -- so don't waste a minute!

 

[Walt34]

But specifically for those of you who maybe didn't despise your job, were making good $, didn't necessarily have a huge passion to to do something else, were not overcome with health issues, come to the conclusion it was time? In other words, life was good, your friends were all working, yet you reached a goal you set out for yourself and now you feel compelled to make a decision?

There were two major issues for me. I generally enjoyed my job, I worked in law enforcement and was then doing computer forensics and computer crime work. I started that in the mid-1990's this was a brand new field and to me it was a terrific job straight out of a science fiction story. Often I thought "I can't believe they're actually paying me to do this!"

But all good things come to an end. One issue at work is that a Computer Crime Unit is not cheap to run. The Bad Guys steal their stuff but we had to buy it and it had to be pretty bleeding edge hardware/software, and that has a price tag. So the upgrades and training (you really need to be in classes ~eight weeks a year or more) were getting harder and harder to get.

The other issue was the traffic in the Washington, D.C. area. By 2001 we realized that we were having to plan our daily lives around traffic because even on weekends it was bad. One day when it took DW an hour to go seven miles she wanted to quit. I looked at the numbers and realized that with the pension, not paying into retirement, SS, and the 457 account (much like a 401k) I could make more money selling t-shirts out of a van. (Two guys I knew actually did that, only selling fish.) DW wanted to be within an hour of family but was open to moving. After some looking around we found a development in WV that we liked and put down a deposit on a new house to be built in a year. Two days later was 9/11 and we're looking at each other and thinking "Maybe we waited too long". I retired effective June 1, 2002 and by September we had moved to WV.

Like many, for a while afterward we wondered if we had done the best thing, having left a lot of money on the table. Six months later that was firmly resolved when my sister said "You two haven't looked so relaxed in years!"