I woke up Wednesday morning

SumDay said:
Congrats to you! I gave 5 months notice, which was NOT a good idea. You're doing it right.


My last day of employment is Thursday, provided I don't murder someone before I leave. Not having to make license plates is all that's keeping me from doing that. ;)


You've come to the right place - looking forward to seeing more posts from you.
Click to expand...

Only two more days! Congratulations!
 
Wow! 30 years! Congrats on finally pulling the plug. There are a lot of calculators and formulas to go by and check yourself on how well off you are. Enjoyed reading your post but I felt a little sad when you said you felt like a lifetime was spent there. So true for so many...slave away until the designated retirement age. At least you're earlier than that number! :)
 
Hi - same happened to me. Hit the 30 year mark and was done. My ah ha moment was when I looked at my family month budget and realized I had enough saved to implement the 4% withdrawal rule. My wife is still working so I have a lot of wiggle room on the budget numbers for now.


Good luck and enjoy. I feel so busy now I don't know how I had time for work!
 
Welcome!

What a freeing feeling you must have! I made myself wait until I turned 62, but I was signing retirement papers on the first business day after my 62nd birthday. I worked full time continuously since March 1974- my dues were paid big time.


Nothing beats waking up and realizing the only place you need to be is where you want to be!


I was surprised in spite of my zeal to retire that it did take a few months to really mentally separate from a habit of goinf to a job every day, and I had to learn to pace myself on the level of physical labor I could withstand day after day. Otherwise, it's da bomb! Enjoy!
 
Best decision I ever made, retiring at 58. First thing I did was throw away the alarm clock. Next thing I did was give away 90% of my professional clothing and reorganize my closet so that my t-shirts, shorts, and sweats had the appropriate amount of space. Then I started working with a physical therapist/trainer to whip my body back into shape -- much more work than I expected. Sitting for 50-60 hrs/week at a computer is so toxic.


I sleep infinitely better, eat much better (no more early afternoon cravings for Coke and chips), and am a MUCH better person to be around (turns out most of my crankiness was work-related).


Retire already :)
 
Congrats to you!! I too spent the last 28 years in Nursing and this year at 62 found I lost my passion. Not for my patients but the day to day grind of an average work week working under people who had no clue and yet were constantly "improving" the work flow. Made my decision in January and last day was Feb 9th! It was quite scary for me being that I was taking quite a loss in income but was the best decision I made. Wishing you the best of luck!!
 
Thanks everyone for the replies and your kind words. A brief update, I have most of the loose ends wrapped up by now. About two weeks to go before my official last day. The news is out now at work and everybody knows, the reactions have generally been positive. So far no regrets at all.
 
I also wish you well and your milestone in life.
 
Congrats to you!



I get it. I am 62 years old. I kept saying I will never make it working to age 65 (for Medicare). The schedule of work and all the driving I have to do was doing me in.

My husband is 64 and also works and has an hour commute. He will hopefully get a small pension (which was cut off at the knees years ago) when he retires at age 66 or 67 (which we will probably just take in a lump sum) if he lasts there that long because there have been lay-offs at his employer as well and they are famous for pushing people out when they turn 65.


I will get zippo when I leave- just my own 401k money.

New management took over this year and to make a very long story short I was targeted by a sociopath director because of my age and salary- which is only $54,000 (which I was making back in 1998 in another job!) per year-been there 13 years. Because I went to HR with legitimate proof and talk of an atty., they did not fire me, which I was actually hoping they would so at least maybe I would get severance pay and unemployment. So instead I have been stuck tolerating the nutcase and his passive aggressive humiliating tactics all these months.

I finally had enough and put in my resignation a few weeks ago. I gave them a month's notice and took my pre-scheduled vacation last week. This upcoming week will be my last week. I intend to submit a very truthful Exit Interview form and attempt to file for unemployment anyway just for the heck of it.


I have mixed feelings about stopping work because of the way this all went down. I would have preferred to leave on my own terms when I was ready financially. My goal was to have 2 million dollars total in everything and be covered by Medicare.No way could we ever do better than that at this stage of life.

My husband was going to retire at age 66, but then I will not have health insurance. I don't have the heart to ask him to work beyond that.

We wanted to forgo collecting SS- at least his- until 70. Maybe have me take mine at 66 and 4 months. Now I have no clue what the heck we are doing. The best laid plans...

I do know we will have to stop all our Roth IRA contributions and reduce my husband's 401K contribution back to just 5% so he can get the company match. He will continue to max out his HSA- but once he turns 65 (in April) and is on Medicare he won't be able to do that either. Life and disability insurance premiums/policies end when he turns 65, so there will be a savings there.

We live in NY- the country- and have high school and property taxes- and we live in an isolated area on 10.5 acres of land. We updated our home over the past 6 years, but it has not appreciated due to market conditions here. Of course, there is always ongoing maintenance with a house which gets very expensive if you can't put money away on going for repairs, which always seem to run in the thousands with a place like ours. We plan to move to NH after my husband retires where our son lives IF we can sell our home and IF we can find somewhere there decent to live, which is not easy as we have already started to look to get an idea.


So- this is my story. I am going to need a lot of space to regroup and work on our new budget with the one income.

Don't get me wrong, I am happy not to go into that hell hole any longer after this week, just a bit anxious and worried.


Did not mean to take over this thread. Just your story resonated with me at this time in my life.


I wish you the best of luck in your new life!
 
Last edited:
Love this post- very well said and very helpful as I have been feeling much the same as of late. Everyone here can relate.
 
Beautiful! I wish you well Sir.
 
maingram said:
Congrats to you!! I too spent the last 28 years in Nursing and this year at 62 found I lost my passion. Not for my patients but the day to day grind of an average work week working under people who had no clue and yet were constantly "improving" the work flow. Made my decision in January and last day was Feb 9th! It was quite scary for me being that I was taking quite a loss in income but was the best decision I made. Wishing you the best of luck!!
Click to expand...




I am hoping it will be the same for me after working full time for 42 years (not counting from age 16-20) in the health care industry in management and marketing. This is my last week.
 
Last edited:
Hi meleana,
I have lived in NH since 1983. Contact me if you would like any info or opinions on where to look for homes.
 
albireo13 said:
Hi meleana,
I have lived in NH since 1983. Contact me if you would like any info or opinions on where to look for homes.
Click to expand...


Hello again. I see there are some nice affordable homes being built in Weirs Beach Village on Memory Lane. We are familiar with Weirs Beach area as we have driven by there in summer and taken the MS Mt Washington out.


But am not sure what it would be like to live there. Our son works in Laconia and lives in Plymouth. Do you know anything about Weirs Beach Village?



I have not heard good things about Laconia in terms of crime, but I am still open to living there as there are some nice areas.


We are also looking at Concord. We are going to check out a CCRC for independent living.



We really want a new- but small- house in a community or at least one that is very updated and all one level and so forth. Would love it to be for 55+.
 
I was blessed not to have a short sighted management team and pathetic raises most of my career but I do remember watching the " the new enthusiastic managers come and go" and after 3 rotations of them, that cynical feeling that overcame me! Once we were bought out I quickly got my pink slip and fired turned into FIRE'd :) Been happy as ever since.
 
Another Wednesday, time for an update…..

I finished work as expected in late September, had a very happy (at least from my end) exit interview with HR that I attended via conference call while enjoying a quiet drink on the beach. The questions were exactly as expected, why am I leaving, are there any issues I would like to address, etc.? I just let it all go by, after all, since nobody asked about me while I was working there, why on earth would they care why I was leaving?
Since then, I have been helping a friend with a renovation project on a volunteer basis, but I have worked on it almost full-time. It has been great to do something completely different for the past few months with no pressure, no reports, no updates and no micromanagement. Our dog is back to her fighting weight as a result of several walks every day and I am feeling great too.
I do hear from my former coworkers occasionally and I understand I have missed yet another new sheriff that has ridden into town. Financially, things are good, I am able to live on a lot less than I was making while working and I certainly do not miss the job. My wife is still working and has health benefits so that is also covered.
The renovation project is coming to an end so I will do some bits and pieces around the house for a few weeks and see if my kids need any odd jobs done, life is good. :)
I hope it is for you too…
 
Everything sounds great. I am glad retirement is going well. There is nothing better as long as the health is good and the finances are in decent shape.
 
I woke up one morning and knew I was going to retire ASAP. That was the summer when I was 63. It took me awhile to get everything in place because I had a partner and a business. This forum helped me see that I could do it!
 
I had to come back and reread this post this morning. I have been planning to retire in January, 2020. Less then a year away. But the past few months have been the worst work experience of my career. About a year ago I finished up an 18 month detail where O reported directly to the COO. I loved the work. I would routinely put in extra hours because I really enjoyed what I was doing and I was working with a great team. I even received a sizable, unexpected bonus at the end of the project.

When I returned to my old position, I also returned to a new boss. He is young and not confident in hos work. He does not know how to manage people or delegate work. He treats all of his staff this way, but that does not make it right. I was hoping to avoid any major conflicts and make it ten more months. I am not sure I will make it 10 more days. I think sometimes you just know its time to go.
 
lakerunner said:
I had to come back and reread this post this morning. I have been planning to retire in January, 2020. Less then a year away. But the past few months have been the worst work experience of my career. About a year ago I finished up an 18 month detail where O reported directly to the COO. I loved the work. I would routinely put in extra hours because I really enjoyed what I was doing and I was working with a great team. I even received a sizable, unexpected bonus at the end of the project.

When I returned to my old position, I also returned to a new boss. He is young and not confident in hos work. He does not know how to manage people or delegate work. He treats all of his staff this way, but that does not make it right. I was hoping to avoid any major conflicts and make it ten more months. I am not sure I will make it 10 more days. I think sometimes you just know its time to go.
Click to expand...


Well- that is pretty much exactly what happened to me and I had 3 years to go for SS. (I am 62). After 7 months dealing with the idiot, I had enough and I gave a months notice and that was it. Gone by the end of Sept. I just couldn't do it anymore.


So- yes- I have less income- just my husband's, who is desperately wanting to retire and probably will next year. It is all very scary but if I were you and you only have less than a year anyway, I would go now. Why torture yourself?
 
brucethebroker said:
Welcome to the world of "Mondays are the new Saturdays"!

Rule 1. throw away the alarm clock.
Rule 2. cargo shorts and T-shirts are the official uniform.
Rule 3. naps are mandatory.
Click to expand...
Not ashamed to be in pajamas all day at home
No more of that crap cafeteria food at work and processed junk food that I used to eat at work that everyone brings to work to share
I have trained my body to wake up at 0515 in any time zone then go to the gym and work out with my fellow early retirees buddies.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

I
REtiring early at 57 and scared
2 3 4
Replies
82
Views
6K
orbops
O
R
46 newly Divorced Single Dad.
Replies
15
Views
726
perez99
perez99
S
using up the PT benefit
Replies
15
Views
588
old medic
O
FiveDriver
Curious thing about April's Social Security Direct Deposit
2
Replies
30
Views
2K
Turbo29
Turbo29
U
Couple from Switzerland
Replies
18
Views
799
undecyphered
U

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom