What led you to retire??

[Montecfo]

I retired due to math. The inescapable math that each day spent working is one less day spent doing what I wish to do.

[Midpack]

Reached FI at age 51, but still enjoying the job many days, decent EVP boss. At age 57, I was just bored, and retired. And my then EVP boss was an privileged asshat so that made it easier.

I should have continued to work a few more years at least. We have more than enough, except there's no too much...

[Beststash]

A) Tired of being forced to put politics over colleagues interests.
B) Tired of traveling so much and talking BS.
C) I had been promoted to a level that was basically unnecessary and meaningless (middle manager) and was more about show and tell than anything else.
D) I had just completed my Masters using tuition refund which was a "life goal".

[mystang52]

I was about 40 years old, on vacation with family, and while sitting in a hot tub drinking my Strawberry Daiquiri I said to my wife "I could do this all the time if money wasn't necessary." So, the concept of retirement never scared me. It took 2 decades more, but finally not only did I still want to, but financially I could. So, I did!

[mistermike40]

My wife's illness progressed to the point that - as her caregiver - there weren't enough hours in the day for me to continue working (even part-time, from home). 2 1/2 long years later, I'm glad I made that decision (or more accurately, it was made for me). Now there are fewer good days than bad days, but the good days are a million times better than anything that ever happened to me at Megacorp.

[DAYDREAMER]

Mega Corp opened the escape door by offering voluntary layoff, 16 weeks severence, and my early retirement pension was still enabled at age 55. Since Mega released the shackles of having to work till 55 to get ER pension, I leaped out their door!!!! I was 52 when I leaped, and now retired 3 years 3 months. DW also leaped out. -------Can't believe how may beautiful days there are throughout the year.

[martyp]

For me it was a change in the workplace and poor management as we were downsizing. I had a mostly satisfying career for 30 years at a National Scientific Laboratory. New technology precipitated management reorganization and downsizing. That final year was pure misery. With my (stellar) work record and seniority it was unlikely that I would be let go but the downsizing process and the prospect of a less enjoyable job in the end led me to start looking elsewhere.

I spent less than a week considering moving to a new project and then looking for an entirely new job. Then it occurred to me to look at the status of my pension plan. The number looked good and after a month of making a retirement spreadsheet I decide that retirement was very doable. However, I decided to wait a few months to see if there would be any good changes at the start of the fiscal year . . . but no. One day I had enough and submitted my resignation.

No regrets.

[summerblues]

Life's finish line became more palpable and my time became more valuable than the money.

[mystang52]

Quote:

Originally Posted by summerblues Life's finish line became more palpable and my time became more valuable than the money.

This is a great summary.

[Arizona1]

Still very clear. January 2000 I had just left my CPA after finding out I would have to pay an additional $40,000 fed income tax for 99. I was stopped at a traffic light when a new border patrol suburban 4x4 pulled up next to me. I thought to myself that I just bought the federal government another suburban.
I was 34 yo and decided not to participate anymore.

[EllisWyatt]

It was a simple case of "I have enough and I've had enough".

Similar to Arizona1, when I realized I was paying more in taxes than I needed to live on, I went "on strike" and retired.

Haven't regretted it one minute.

[kevdude]

My father died when he was 54 and my wife's father died when he was 51. That was enough incentive to make sure I got out early (wife had was a SAHM since our youngest was 1). We decided we had enough $$ when I was 49, so I decided I had had enough and left the working world. We own and manage rental property, which takes up about 10-15 hours per month on average. We also have kids in high school (senior and freshman), so our schedule is pretty much tied to them. When our daughter (freshman) is out of high school, we'll either sell all and totally retire, or hire a property manager and be 95% retired. We did sell one property this year, so it may just be a slow unwind.

[Klubbie]

I am not retird yet and am many, many years away, but I have decided to pursue early retirement based on a few factors. Some combination of these will ultimately drive me to retire when we have enough money.

* being reorged under a terrible manager who had me managing people that made more money than me.

* That same manager berating me and others and HR burying their head in the sand despite multiple complaints about her.

* Being promoted and the company refusing to give me any type of raise with it

* Leaving that company and going to a second company where there was dysfunction from day 1. No one was accountable to get anything done and senior management just brushed it under the rug. Borderline unethical behavior was allowed to stand and even encouraged.

* Again watching people that worked for me and others be berated, bullied, and harassed by an out of control manager, and then HR and senior leadership covering it up or ignoring it.

* Seeing multiple rounds of heartless layoffs. Including the most recent case where the messaging was "this is it, we don't have any plans to lay anyone else off". Then six weeks later another 100 jobs were cut (after 300 initially). While I survived there were a lot of good people who got impacted. The fact that all senior leaders across the company stood up before everyone after the first round and said "this is it, if you didn't get laid off, then you won't" made the second round feel particularly ugly. While I took that messaging with a grain of salt, it felt especially dirty doing the second round six weeks later, two weeks before Christmas.


Seeing these things early in my career has really changed my perception of work. And some combination of these things will ultimately be what leads me to walk out the door for the last time one day.

[StephieJean]

Quote:

Originally Posted by albireo13 I am getting close to retiring and always wondered about what people have as reasons for finally pulling the plug. … toxic job? …. bored with career? … on to other things? … health reasons? For me it will be a combination of health/wellness as well as I can no longer stand having almost every day of my life scheduled up for me. I feel like I have no control over how I can spend my time. Thoughts?

Once I turned 50 and DW and I felt it was economically feasible, I pulled the plug. I didn't hate my coworkers but almost always disagreed with management. NO more Stress and I am lovin'it.

[albireo13]

I don't have a problem with immediate management but, 1 or 2 layers up are so clueless and disconnected.
They live in their spreadsheets.

[Ginny]

I woke up one morning and I knew. My hands hurt too much to keep working, my hearing was going, I hated one of the two judges in control of my cases, and he hated me, I was loosing patience with my clients. I had been saving and planning and I knew I was 97% FI.

Life is grand!! I'm now 100% FI!

[Dash man]

Sitting at a desk all day looking at a computer and never ending conference calls resulted in severe neck and back pain. Changed jobs with a promotion, but the drudgery was the same, but clueless management. I had set a goal to retire at 55, and missed it by a year. That was nearly seven years ago and haven’t looked back. We have more money than we did then even though we’ve spent more than planned, mainly to help the kids and to enjoy life before health gets worse. But we also try to be generous with our church and charities. Life is good.

[street]

When I figured out my time was worth more to me, then a paycheck.

[Tiny Kingdom]

Add me to the group who worked to live. I liked my job OK, but always planned to retire pretty young and saved accordingly. I was let go as part of a reorg ten years ago. I was one of the few affected who found another position in the same Megacorp within a few months, but it was a terrible fit. I limped along with a so-so boss and a fabulous co-worker for about six years until the so-so boss left. The new boss isn't a bad person, but type A and at a different place in his life. His duties and mine overlapped a good bit and I felt like I was being run off.

I have depression and anxiety already, so having my every move scrutinized and and critiqued, really piled on. Those three years were rough and the last year, I was barely functioning. I was going days without sleep, my hair was falling out and I had constant joint pain. I retired one month after qualifying for my pension. I was terrified that I'd miscalculated and would need that extra month. Ha! After lifelong sleep issues, if I stay up all night and sleep all day, no one cares. My hair is (mostly) growing back, I'm on half the meds and in 98% less pain. I've had lunch 3-4 times with my fabulous co-worker, but have heard nothing from anyone else I worked with for almost a decade. Which is fine because they haven't heard from me either.

[Big_Hitter]

why did I retire? I worked my entire life to become free from servitude.