best time of year to ER?

[Brett_Cameron]

I retired on the last day of July 2011. That date was chosen is a result of Megacorp letting me know that they no longer valued my contributions back in March. During the ensuing months I performed various financial transactions, estimates and projections to ensure that I could have a net positive cash flow indefinitely. Since Megacorp prorated the annual bonus for retirees, it made little difference when I left for that standpoint. In 2012 I received the prorated annual bonus for work performed in 2011. The nice thing about that was that the amount of the bonus was based on target bonus without the influence of my former local management chain. Used to the local management chain had to approve the bonus for recent retirees and would frequently allocate nothing to the recently retired. A lawsuit changed that sometime on the past.

 

[HFWR]

March 8

March 9 would also work.

 

[TuborgP]

I retired effective Jan 1 from a public sector job. I was able to cash out my vacation days and was able to dump most of it in my retirement account for the next year. It covered my annual contribution along with make up. It helped keep my taxable income down for the previous year which was also maxed out in contributions. Getting that last check in January gave me a lot of flexibility.

 

[Theseus]

March 9 would also work.

+1