Preparing for the approaching retirement date?

[albireo13]

I am 4 months from pulling the plug. I haven't given notice yet. I plan on 2 months notice. Now I need to really buckle down and wrap up loose ends. I've read a few simple checklists for preparing for retirement but, nothing great.
I wonder if there are any good podcasts, articles, etc on the final few months.

Any good suggestions?

BTW, I am 64 and my wife will keep working a few more years.

Thx

 

[aja8888]

Why 2 months notice? Usually, 2 weeks is all that is necessary.

 

[albireo13]

Well, I am in the middle of a project. No problems with
the folks I work with or the project. Just time to go.
They need to train a replacement so I dont mind.
It doesnt change my exit date. It only changes my notice date.

 

[RobbieB]

Yeah, at 64 it's not that much of a surprise. How long will your project be? Want to see it through to the end?

It's different when you don't hate your job and your Co is not full of pointy heads.

 

[Sunset]

It might change your exit date, it has happened to others, where they give X months notice to be nice, and are shown out the door within days.
After all, once you give notice, you are stating you are no longer committed to the project/company.

Have you tracked your budget so you know your current expenses to the penny, or are you just hoping retirement means you have enough ? Did you do firecalc ?

 

[pb4uski]

Make sure that you are up-to-date on physicals, dentist exams and cleanings, eye exams and glasses/contacts, etc.

Same with vacation time.

 

[REWahoo]

I am 4 months from pulling the plug. I haven't given notice yet. I plan on 2 months notice. Now I need to really buckle down and wrap up loose ends. I've read a few simple checklists for preparing for retirement but, nothing great.
I wonder if there are any good podcasts, articles, etc on the final few months.

Any good suggestions?

Good info here: http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f29/how-do-did-you-prepare-for-er-20952.html#post387098

 

[albireo13]

Thanks for the info.
I have run Firecalc and others and we are good to go right now. I want to wait until our annual bonus (profit sharing) clears in April before giving notice. I don't think I would get walked to the door but, if so ... c'est la vie!

My health insurance is under my wife's plan and she plans to work another 3 yrs so, dental and vision need to be considered.

The project will run into Q1 2021, longer than I want to wait. The only possibility for me to stay would be hired part-time, 3 days a week. That wouldn't be too bad ... 4-day weekend every week! Plus, fun-money dribbling in. The key is get off the rat race and shed the project/work stress.

My MegaCorp is full of pointy heads. Luckily, I have a layer of good people between me and the pointy heads. Still, more and more of the company is being run by the "unenlightened".

 

[Jerry1]

I worked for good people and gave significant notice. However, make sure you won’t lose anything if you’re walked out after giving notice. It would suck to be let go a week before you vest in a benefit.

As for the part time thing, be prepared for a significant change. I worked part time for a couple years and while better than full time, it has its issues. For one, those 4 day weekends make it even clearer to you how much you really don’t want to be at work. It was also a transition for me because they took away my direct reports. That was a perfectly reasonable thing to do, but it was an adjustment for me and it would have been tough had it not been for the respect I was given by the people who used to report to me.

 

[pb4uski]

.....The project will run into Q1 2021, longer than I want to wait. The only possibility for me to stay would be hired part-time, 3 days a week. That wouldn't be too bad ... 4-day weekend every week! Plus, fun-money dribbling in. The key is get off the rat race and shed the project/work stress. ....

That may be a nice way to ease into the issue. Initiate a discussion with them about going to 60% part-time. Where I worked you would get 60% of pay, 60% of bonus, 60% of vacation, etc... the only thing that was different was health insurance... 50%-100% were the same and 49% and less did not get employer sponsored health insurance (as a result there were no 49% and less that I am aware of).

If they are not agreeable then it won't be a huge surprise when you tell them that you are leaving.

 

[TheWizard]

Main suggestion is to have a good handle on what your new cash flow pattern will look like, both income and outgo.
I had a bunch of insurance premiums paid by payroll deduction that had to be transitioned over.

And certain withdrawals from my 403(b) had to wait until the custodian officially received a Separation From Service notice from my then-former employer, which happens after the fact, no matter how many weeks notice you give.
So that's just a matter of having sufficient liquid funds to span the gap until initial retirement income stream(s) start...

 

[TheWizard]

And as time permits, I would gradually put together a spreadsheet projecting your monthly/annual income streams year by year.
Use separate row for each stream, such as spouse's employment income through year X, SS income starting age 70(?), RMD income starting age 72.

Goal is to project your AGI for each future year.
Update those projections once per year.
If you see a jump in AGI at age 72, that's not so uncommon.
This is telling you to do Roth conversions in the years prior to age 72 to Levelize your AGI...

 

[jollystomper]

I do not see any problem with giving a 2 month notice - as long as you are prepared to go at that time, if you company decides to do that.

I gave about that amount of time to my Megacorp for the notice, also because I was helping someone on a project. I was all set to go if they decided I needed to right then. Then upper Megacorp management deemed that person was in over their head and asked me to take it over. I ended up extending my retirement date by 2 months to ensure the project was completed and properly turned over - but also got some additional benefits from Megacorp for doing that.

 

[38Chevy454]

That may be a nice way to ease into the issue. Initiate a discussion with them about going to 60% part-time. Where I worked you would get 60% of pay, 60% of bonus, 60% of vacation, etc... the only thing that was different was health insurance... 50%-100% were the same and 49% and less did not get employer sponsored health insurance (as a result there were no 49% and less that I am aware of).

If they are not agreeable then it won't be a huge surprise when you tell them that you are leaving.

I had the same deal. Working 3 days per week, received 60% of pay and benefits, but had the same health insurance premiums and costs as full time.
As they say, if you never ask then you know the answer. So wait until the April bonus is paid, then propose the part time schedule. Or be prepared to just retire and leave company.

 

[retiringby50]

Our company requires a 3 month notice to process retirements, but it's handled by a 3rd party vendor, and they don't tell management. I'm wondering if they can still lay me off where I'd lose my retirement benefits though if i give them more than 2 weeks notice and it's before my retirement date. Too bad we can't trust them.