I’m 61 and my wife is 57. I’ve been thinking about retiring for a couple of months, and then my wife and I talked about it for a few weeks. She’s still working and she wants to continue working for awhile, so I’ll get my coverage from her.
A week ago we decided together that I should retire. Ever since that decision I’ve been feeling great about it. We both have. Today I met with my boss and my plan was to tell him that I’m retiring effective immediately. But I don’t know how such things are done. Do I give two weeks notice? Or what?
So this morning I told my boss that I wanted to retire. We had a good discussion and he tried different ways to get me to stay, but I stuck to my guns. I was ready, I was done. We talked about when, and after a little while it became clear to him that I wanted it to be immediate, and it became clear to me that this was okay. I had one minor thing to finish. I want into any long projects. The timing was good. It was a good conversation.
This afternoon I went into the office (nearly empty; covid) and I dropped off my laptop and test instruments that I had at home. And my badge. I left them in my desk drawers and snapped some pictures of them and texted them to him.
As soon as I left I realized, I’M FREE!!
I have volunteer church work to dive into. I’m president of our congregation and we’re between pastors. We are starting the call process. There’s lots to do at church right now but it should ramp down in 4-6 months. After that I’m not going to be as involved in the church as I have been recently. I’ll explore other things.
How did your life change after retirement? How do you expect your life to change when you retire?
You don’t have a notice period at your work? Wow. I’m on 3 months! I always thought retirement was something I’d be planning with my employers about a year in advance.
I’ve been retired for about 2.5 years. I turn 59 next month. It’s been incredible. Since the Covid restrictions eased last year I’ve been to almost 230 concerts, have gotten a lot of remodeling done on my house and have had a very active dating life. I don’t miss anything about work other than not getting to see some of the friends that I made. I wake up every day thankful for the life that I have.
I don’t know how it works where you live, but here (UK), the company could sue you for breach of contract. Besides, when you’ve worked somewhere a long time, and built up friendships with colleagues, don’t you want to leave on good terms? Get invited back to parties as an Alumni? Get a gold watch or something?
I’ve done it twice. First time, I was overly bored, and within a year, I went back to work - over the next 7 years, I had several temp jobs and a couple that could have stayed permanent. I finally decided I’d had enough and ended it all in Dec 2019, right before I turned 66. Now I’m a part-time babysitter for my grandkids and mostly, I’m just enjoying it all. I have 3 days a week with them, and 4 days for whatever. The main annoyance is that after waking at 5 for decades, I still wake stupid early every day. Then again, it gives me some quiet time before things get started.
People who retire from the company I work for tend to give a few months notice, though there’s not a formal policy and the company can’t do anything to you if you quit with no notice. I used to think that I would also give several months notice but I’ve decided that I’m going to give two weeks. If I left for another job I would give two weeks. If I died I would give no notice. It’s not my responsibility to make sure that the company can deal with my absence - it’s theirs. I’m not worried about burning bridges. If I ever return to work it won’t be in the same industry.
Congrats to @Bullitt and you other happy retirees, or retirees to be!
I work in a tech field, and while I still feel relevant and needed by my company, at 58 I feel ancient in this line of work at times. I would love to retire early but my retirement accounts have been taking a beating lately, and I have a 17 yo we will need to put through college and a 20 yo who for all intents and purposes is a full dependent. So it ain’t happening for me anytime soon
I retired at the end of July this year. In my case, since I worked for a State Higher Education Institution I had to submit my application for retirement to our pension fund at least 90 days ahead of time to set up my pension payments. I am also over the age of 62 and was eligible for Social Security which takes some time to get set up as well. I did have a little over two months worth of accumulated Annual Leave which I could have burned to tide me over had I wanted, but I chose to keep working and add the lump sum pay-out for my Annual Leave to my Travel Fund I’d been building up for the last several years to pay for all the traveling the wife and I intend to do now that we are both officially free.
My last working day was July 29th, and the next day we were on a plane to California to explore the Pacific Coast Highway for two weeks. We also took a two-week camping/fishing/leaf-peeping trip up to New England last month, and have many other trips planned for the next several years. Our goals are to spend at least one night camping in each of the 48 continental U.S. states (and possibly Alaska) and catch at least one fish on my fly rod in each of those states while we’re there. That should keep us fairly busy for the next few years or so. And yes, I am fully enjoying being retired!
I retired in 2009 at age 61 and have never regretted it. I had a brief flirtation with working again during the 2010 census, but quit after a couple of months. The relief from work pressure was the biggest change. My wife said I peeled off about ten years within a week of quitting, going from looking like death to being alive again. We did a lot of RV trips without the pressure of having to be back to work, e.g., a month or so in the Southwest seeing national parks and monuments. Actually, we did that twice. Did a lot of woodworking, but now I no longer have a shop to play in. Took guitar lessons for about four years.
My biggest plan for retirement, either just before or just after, is to move to a more walkable neighborhood.
The pandemic lockdowns showed me that, without some place close by to walk to, I’ll spend most of my time sitting at home.
Now, my truck has been in the shop for a week and a half (they had to order parts!), and the lack of a vehicle has just reinforced that idea. If I ever get to a point where I shouldn’t (or just don’t want to) drive any more, this is the wrong neighborhood for that.
So I’m keeping my eyes on the real estate market. I’m eligible to retire in 4.5 years, likely to retire in 6.5, so I’ve got time. Right now is the wrong time to be buying or selling real estate around here.
California and there is no such contract that I ever signed. As for the rest of your comment which is completely irrelevant to my question, I gave six months notice as a courtesy because I was in a key position and didn’t want to screw over my colleagues. Also, I wanted to get my bonus and last round of stock grants.
I’ve been retired for nearly 5 months now, it’s great. I love it. We’re just waiting for the pets to die so we can start doing some prolonged travels. I don’t miss work one damn bit.
I gave four months notice because I liked my employers and wanted to give them time to plan the transition and hire a replacement. This was a far cry from my previous employment where the owners would have told me to hit the road the instant I had announced my intentions.
My retirement has been a little hampered by eldercare responsibilities and a spouse with travel anxiety issues. But I have worked as an election judge this year, modestly increased my political activism, planned some trips for the spring and am considering going to work part time in my happy place.
Not allocating 50 hours a week to go to work is yuge and I have no trouble filling the time.
I couldn’t be punished for not giving enough notice of retirement because it was impossible - “retirement” meant I would be collecting my pension which required an application 15 days prior to the effective date and the retirement system would have given notice to my actual employer even if I did not. If I wasn’t going to be collecting that pension immediately it would have been a “resignation” which required two weeks notice - and the punishment for not giving that notice would have been that I forfeited any payment for unused vacation. Payment for unused vacation in my state isn’t required if the employer has a written policy that it is forfeited under certain conditions. Of course, that means no “punishment” if I don’t have any unused vacation.
As far as how my life changed after retirement - the biggest change is that I have no real schedule. I might have a doctor appointment here or may plans involving another person there, but for the most part, I do what I want to, when I want to. I don’t have to worry about getting someone to cover for me if I want to go on vacation. I have time to do things I never did before - for example, I’ve always baked but it’s always been relatively simple things, with simple decorations such as frosting/icing and sprinkles . I just ordered supplies to learn how to do more elaborate decorating.
The thing I expected to happen that didn’t happen is that I thought I would sleep later - it’s been almost a year and I’m still up at 6:30 every day.
This comes up a lot here in threads where employment is discussed. Almost nobody in the US is working under any kind of employment contract. Giving advance notice before leaving is an only a courtesy.
You’re not the first to say this and it’s very common and I’m in the same boat. This doesn’t mesh well with me driving for 1.5 hours after a concert in Hollywood and getting home at 1 am. I am definitely taking way more midday naps.
The other thing is that I never have any idea what day of the week it is. It’s always the weekend.
