How abrupt was your final decision?

[Markola]

I had to be in touch with my former supervisor yesterday to fully wrap up my last day on the payroll after FIREing from any actual work on July 8 (it’s how they managed part of my departure compensation). She’s a very kind person but, boy, she mentioned a few difficulties there and I was amazed at how much I did not care. LOL. I haven’t had any doubts about leaving and my reaction yesterday to hearing the same old, same old clinched it.

 

[mckittri2000]

After qualifying for the ACA, I gave my 2 weeks notice and have never looked back.

 

[FreeBear]

After qualifying for the ACA, I gave my 2 weeks notice and have never looked back.

A guy at my old w*rkplace retired in his later 50's in good part because of ACA. Interestingly, he was suffering from some chronic health issues and thought that retiring would help.


This got me thinking since I've never seen someone I knew personally retire before 60, event hough I'd been planning ER since the beginning of my career. Anyway, I FIRE'd less than a year later, inspired by his example.

 

[atmsmshr]

In my mid 20's, I planned to have financial ability to retire at 55 (when retiree medical became first available.) Having kids and DW disability pushed it back to 60. Then DW had a car accident and I was having health problems.

Ran the numbers, and with a bit of stock market luck - age 58 was doable with 35 years paid into SS. With the announcement of no early retirement offers from mega in 2019 - I gave retirement notice within a week. Loved my boss's reaction - "Are you sure you have enough money?"

Best decision for me to make at that time (and for retirement planning starting in my mid 20's).

 

[sengsational]

Perfect Storm

Things came together for me, so no OMY stuff for me!

I never "ran the numbers" until not too long before I pulled the plug.

I was an a j*b I liked when I came to realize I had enough to leave, so stayed. But then the megacorp was sold, I got a random boss, and they wanted me to go to India to train replacements for my team (and eventually myself). I came up with plausable fictions for why I couldn't go to India over many, many months, and then the ACA became law AND I was 54 (turning 55 that year). So I had access to cheap HI and also access to my 401k funds without penalty. They had already cut my team and "replaced" them with untrained kids in India. So their jaws dropped when I walked.

 

[Rustic23]

Fairly abrupt. We built our retirement home, and were planning on being "weekenders" for four or five years. DW was a school teacher in a private school, and I had a job as an IT manager. Neither of us were unhappy in our work.

However, after about the third or fourth weekend at the lake, we both said "Why are we doing this" I gave my two week notice that weekend, she finished the school year, approximately three months. Never looked back, and have had no money problems. In fact we seem to have more disposable income i.e. money to play with, now than when we were working.

 

[Time2]

Slow, then abrupt. My wife and I had a small retail one item store. I had decided I was done and cut back to 1 day a week. This put a lot of pressure as far as time on my wife. She was working 70 hours a week, luckily it was not a physically demanding job. After a little more than a year of one day a week, a hurricane totalled our business and she decided that was it. If not for the hurricane, I'm sure she would still be working. She has found plenty to keep her busy.

 

[Markola]

Fairly abrupt. We built our retirement home, and were planning on being "weekenders" for four or five years. DW was a school teacher in a private school, and I had a job as an IT manager. Neither of us were unhappy in our work.



However, after about the third or fourth weekend at the lake, we both said "Why are we doing this" I gave my two week notice that weekend, she finished the school year, approximately three months. Never looked back, and have had no money problems. In fact we seem to have more disposable income i.e. money to play with, now than when we were working.

Great story. I admire your decisiveness!

 

[TimeMeasure]

The path to ER progressed in such extreme slow motion that it didn’t even really qualify as a “final decision” - more a very slow evolution. And the motivation for it changed over time. In retrospect, the thought process and decisions were at least as much on the subconscious level, as they were at the conscious analytical level.

DW and I had sometimes talked about retiring early in order to have more “golden retirement years” together (she is significantly older). But, events in life kept us too busy in other ways to really concentrate on it and make serious plans.

Then DW developed a progressive neurological condition. Early onset, and a variant which progressed very slowly, so slowly that it took a few years for us to fully realize what the issue was. Again, dealing with that change kept us too busy to fully concentrate on the notion of ER.

But, in the back of my mind, even if not at a completely conscious level, it was becoming clear that DW would need more and more help and attention as the years went on, and that it would be less feasible (and safe) for me to work full time (or maybe even at all). She had retired by that point.

So, over a period of years, I began to partially work from home (but full time)... then to work more from home... then to switch to part time... and finally, to give notice (6+ months out, out of courtesy to an employer that had been very accommodating). A lot of this was happening as much out of subconscious thought, as out of detailed plans... and there was also a psychological component. Even if you consider yourself very independent-minded, the hooks of internalized societal expectations (e.g., working as long as you can is the only dignified thing to do) can be a lot harder to disengage than you expected.

In parallel with that years-long transition, was running multiple spreadsheets... FireCalc... etc. ... nine ways to Sunday, and finding it difficult to envision a scenario in which our backs would be to the wall. In reality, we probably could both have been retired years earlier... but working longer gave us more flexibility, including in moving to a house that would make it easier to take care of DW. So, hard to say whether we worked too long, or not. Sometimes one looks back and what looks ill-considered from one angle, looks fortuitous from another; or what one thought one did for one reason, was indeed the right choice, but maybe for another reason that one was aware of on a different level.

ER is still an adjustment for us... but it seems the right path, taking everything into consideration.

 

[dbrown1957]

Email message

Retired at 59+1/2 yrs with an email stating I have retired immediately and to put in whatever paperwork needed to be done. Never have been back and never will. Many years of bullying took its toll. Got my 401K and pension invested and I may be poor but I am happy.

 

[meleana]

When new ownership and management came in and harassed me for 9 months I decided to quit. I gave a months notice for my own convenience and even went on vacation on my third week. Then came back for the final week and that was it. I had enough. No way could I stay 3 more years waiting to collect Medicare.

 

[Dtail]

Retired at 59+1/2 yrs with an email stating I have retired immediately and to put in whatever paperwork needed to be done. Never have been back and never will. Many years of bullying took its toll. Got my 401K and pension invested and I may be poor but I am happy.

Good first post. Congrats.

 

[azxracer]

The saying around my old plant was "3 bad days in a row". In fact I planned on 65, but left at 66. I got some "incentives" to stay a year and make sure some high profile product liability litigation I was supporting was resolved. Should have left even before my original date.

 

[brett]

This question always reminds me of my father. He was quite ill and off work because of health issues for four months. Lots of stress.

He went back to work for a week. One day he told his boss that he was ready to go. Great boss who replied....go on sick leave for six months, return for one day, then we will arrange a medical pension.

During that six months they decided to move to the west coast, sold the house, and moved into a short term rental. Retired at 59 as planned but with a slightly reduced medical pension. It was a health and lifestyle over money decision.

Moved to the west coast. Started playing 18, sometimes 27 holes of golf three times a week. No stress, lots of exercise....he was a different person with a year of the move.

Collected that DB pension for 27 years, my mother collected it for several years after.

This played on my decision to retire when I got the package at 58/59.

 

[LakeRat1]

For those of you holding off on retirement because of health Insurance, I can not stress there are options...... CHM - Christian HealthCare Ministries ...... I retired at 52, by 54 I was dead set on finding alternative affordable options, as I was paying over $800 for a SO SO Plan...... I came across and researched CHM, the monthly fee went up to $172 per month this past April, before that I was paying $150..... This is there first increase in 12 years ...... I have 2 friends that also joined and after I did, then had to utilize the program...... Both people were reimbursed 100% for their hospital charges

 

[indiajust]

Sixth Christmas layoff did it for me. The world just did not want me to go to work!

That was 2008. Unplanned, but successful anyway. By the time I had discovered FIRE community... I was already a member.

 

[cat4ever]

!

I don't have OMY syndrome but a little bit of OMW syndrome. In summary it's been a short but much winding road with still no definite date but soon. Gory details below.

PART 1 - Coronavirus Hesitation
Was going to go early this year driven partly by the high stress project I was on, but the coronavirus plunge made me reconsider.

PART 2 - Layoff Package?!?!
By late May everything was well again financially, but mega corp announced three waves of layoffs were coming, so I waited them all out and missed. After that I told the boss I was done and named a date of October 9 (August 25 would be last work day due to vacation)

PART 3 - Project Cancelled, hang on for the Holiday pay?
Then, it was announced my project was being cancelled and everyone reassigned. So... I'm thinking work another 6 weeks on a different project would push me through the 10 days of holidays we get at the end of the year, i.e. work 6 weeks for 8 weeks of pay and insurance. So... I moved my date to January 4.

Part 4 - Layoff Package?!?! Part 2
just yesterday another wave of layoff packages were announced and it's looking more likely that I'll get one this time. 6 months pay and insurance. Notices due to go out August 28, so we'll see.

 

[thefist]

It was somewhat quick decision for me. In Jan 2016, age 50, I was laid off in a corporate buyout. Had actually planned to start looking for a new job anyhow, as job satisfaction was pretty low. I got my finances organized and realized I was within reach. Took a new job a year later in Feb 2017 with a 5yr plan to go at 56.
Well... in Oct or Nov of 2017 I had an I’M DONE moment. Wish I remembered what it was, but I had enough. Worked through the winter and gave notice in May 2018, retiring at end of June 2018 at 52. I was about 10% shy of my $ goal At the time but the market has more than made up for it. No regrets!

 

[trumpeting_angel]

I was on the slow path, working 3 days a week after moving to Vermont. After about 6 months, I bought a house and moved farther from work. The commute was now an hour. Come a February blizzard, and it took me 1 hour, 20 minutes to get to work, and 1 hour, 40 minutes to get home. I realized that at 65, I was not the slightest bit interested in spending 3 harrowing hours on the road!

In the next month, I put in my notice. I would continue for two months, then cut my hours further, then finish at the end of June. (As a psychologist seeing clients, leaving with short notice would be unethical. Many arrangements had to be made.) Like a fool, I continued my consulting work for the rest of the year, but the extraordinary level of procrastination helped me to realize I hated it. I stopped when the pandemic hit, as I could no longer complete the in-person work.

Now I'm a full-time gardener and in the winter, skier. Life is good! Hoping for a real ski season despite the pandemic.

 

[NoiseBoy]

I'm in One More Month (OMM) mode right now. My planned FIRE date was this past April, but when Covid-19 hit and we all started working from home, I put off the decision in part because I expected a RIF to come along. Also, Covid-19 has greatly impacted two of my planned ER activities; international travel and live music. So, I keep working.

My Megacorp has reported 3 straight quarters of declining revenue and profit so a RIF is still a possibility. The fact that they haven't announced any company wide restructuring changes so far is unique in my 22 years with them. Just my luck My new target date is April 1, 2021. There is a small benefit to me by working enough to log another year of "substantial social security earnings." But I can relate to all of the other comments about how the BS can actually get harder to put up with once you're FI.

If I can hang on until Thanksgiving then the rest of the time will be all down hill. We have to use up our vacation time by year end, so December is usually a cake walk with so many people taking time off. Since we get our new vacation time in January, I will only have to work about 40 days to get three months of pay next year. I am really hoping that the world will be a much better place to live by next spring.

 

[freedomatlast]

I was in OMY mode for several years. Then talk of a RIF was brewing. I was able to engineer my RIF with a great severance package and took the plunge. It’s been a great year and two months since retiring despite Covid.

 

[Koolau]

Retired at 59+1/2 yrs with an email stating I have retired immediately and to put in whatever paperwork needed to be done. Never have been back and never will. Many years of bullying took its toll. Got my 401K and pension invested and I may be poor but I am happy.

I pass my crown to you!

 

[KarlH]

I may be one step closer to a hasty departure. I have been waiting on my company profit sharing statement to determine whether its worth waiting for a partial vesting date in January. I learned after 18 months, that I have only been employed for two partial plan years, so no company contribution to retirement until my 32nd month. After 18 months without a COLA, and now this, I am tempted to drop my badge on the way out today. I'll mull it over through Friday, and naturally discuss with DW, but this feels like a last straw.

Now the only thing keeping me hanging on is the possibility of getting laid off, as we are very light on work at this point. I have spent the bulk of the last 6 weeks without anything meaningful to do, except wait out the profit sharing statement...

 

[dirt_dobber]

subscribed for later input...

 

[Markola]

I may be one step closer to a hasty departure. I have been waiting on my company profit sharing statement to determine whether its worth waiting for a partial vesting date in January. I learned after 18 months, that I have only been employed for two partial plan years, so no company contribution to retirement until my 32nd month. After 18 months without a COLA, and now this, I am tempted to drop my badge on the way out today. I'll mull it over through Friday, and naturally discuss with DW, but this feels like a last straw.

Now the only thing keeping me hanging on is the possibility of getting laid off, as we are very light on work at this point. I have spent the bulk of the last 6 weeks without anything meaningful to do, except wait out the profit sharing statement...

Dang, that stinks. FWIW, I was trying to optimize a few comp issues on the way out recently, as I complained about in a thread here. I even talked with an attorney after I was refused the severance that a lot of people got but decided to bite my lip. All I can say, five weeks after leaving, is it’s wonderful being away from that compensation stress mindset and I barely remember what it was all about. Unless the bucks involved are meaningful in comparison to your net worth vs. symbolic, as it mostly was for me, I can verify that it’s worth a LOT to be done with the BS.