Bold leap into retirement

PattiTelongo

I’ve decided this will be my last full year of working and I will trigger my 3 months notice in January to go next Easter. Financially we’re well set up with decent DB & DC pensions to fund a good life. My health isn’t the best but we’re going to spend as much as we can over the next few years enjoying life although my OH will probably continue to work Part Time. What I wasn’t prepared for is a)keeping this a secret from everyone and b) I’ve completely checked out of my job and company. If they were offering VR I’d go now but they aren’t. 

Smudgeismydog

Pat38493 said:

cloud_dog said:

@Wobble101, I (finally) stopped at the end of March this year.  We had always intended to stop early but as our plans firmed into concrete we were going to stop just before Xmas 24.

At that planning point I was in a very disgruntled place with my employer and had worked out that with my terms of employment only requiring one months notice, and with me still holding 20 days leave, I could hand my notice in and be gone within days.

However whilst I was was disgruntled with my employer my team were amazing and I didn't want to leave them in the proverbial so to speak, so I gave my employer 5 months notice (to Xmas), which I subsequently agreed to extend to end of March 25 (to allow sufficient time for my replacement to bed in).

I am in a similar place right now - I just figured out this morning that if I handed my notice in tomorrow, I could be gone by 22nd May, taking into account accrued holidays.  That's only a few working days as I'm already working 3 day week.  That will at least get their attention as the management of my company tend to operate on a firefighting basis a lot of the time!

Did you threaten to go straight away at all?

I have pretty much balanced all my retirement assets and prepared everything such that I can go tomorrow.  I can withstand pretty much anything except 1973 or 1915 scenario and I can mitigate that by reducing spending if really needed.

I am wondering how to handle this - similar to later posters, I am considering handing my notice in and saying - "I'm outta here in 2 weeks".   

Question is - should I be nice and offer an extra few months, or should I actually treat it as a negotiation - if you want me to stay longer what's in it for me?  I have little to lose as I don't really much care if they say ok just leave now then.

Most of the services I'm managing are outsourced and most of my internal colleagues are in another country - the colleagues I was friendly with have mostly moved on long ago.

I am pretty sure the place wouldn't fall apart without me but it would give a few short term headaches to a few people.

I'm also thinking the fact that I'm even considering this is telling as I would have been too "loyal" to contemplate such a thing a few years ago.

The annoying thing is that I'm pretty sure they will expect me to spec the job for, and recruit, my own replacement, and to be frank I'm not sure I can be bothered - I might just leave it as their problem.  Maybe that's my terms - I'll agree to come back and train someone up but I am not going to go through a bunch of recruiting procedures again.

I feel for you Pat38493, however, after reading your post, I think you’ve probably answered your own question.

You sound like such a conscientious person, but you need to put yourself first. I am sure if they asked you to stay on for a few months for a very specific reason, and it is something you feel you want to do, then stay. But my advice would be to keep that in your back pocket, and don’t immediately offer it.

The sun is shining and your next chapter awaits!

cloud_dog

Pat38493 said:

cloud_dog said:

@Wobble101, I (finally) stopped at the end of March this year.  We had always intended to stop early but as our plans firmed into concrete we were going to stop just before Xmas 24.

At that planning point I was in a very disgruntled place with my employer and had worked out that with my terms of employment only requiring one months notice, and with me still holding 20 days leave, I could hand my notice in and be gone within days.

However whilst I was was disgruntled with my employer my team were amazing and I didn't want to leave them in the proverbial so to speak, so I gave my employer 5 months notice (to Xmas), which I subsequently agreed to extend to end of March 25 (to allow sufficient time for my replacement to bed in).

I am in a similar place right now - I just figured out this morning that if I handed my notice in tomorrow, I could be gone by 22nd May, taking into account accrued holidays.  That's only a few working days as I'm already working 3 day week.  That will at least get their attention as the management of my company tend to operate on a firefighting basis a lot of the time!

Did you threaten to go straight away at all?

I have pretty much balanced all my retirement assets and prepared everything such that I can go tomorrow.  I can withstand pretty much anything except 1973 or 1915 scenario and I can mitigate that by reducing spending if really needed.

I am wondering how to handle this - similar to later posters, I am considering handing my notice in and saying - "I'm outta here in 2 weeks".   

Question is - should I be nice and offer an extra few months, or should I actually treat it as a negotiation - if you want me to stay longer what's in it for me?  I have little to lose as I don't really much care if they say ok just leave now then.

Most of the services I'm managing are outsourced and most of my internal colleagues are in another country - the colleagues I was friendly with have mostly moved on long ago.

I am pretty sure the place wouldn't fall apart without me but it would give a few short term headaches to a few people.

I'm also thinking the fact that I'm even considering this is telling as I would have been too "loyal" to contemplate such a thing a few years ago.

The annoying thing is that I'm pretty sure they will expect me to spec the job for, and recruit, my own replacement, and to be frank I'm not sure I can be bothered - I might just leave it as their problem.  Maybe that's my terms - I'll agree to come back and train someone up but I am not going to go through a bunch of recruiting procedures again.

Hi...whilst disgruntled with my employer I eventually came to the conclusion that I really wasn't interested indulging in negative energy.  The knowledge that I had handed my notice in and could, in theory just walk at any point gave me such a more zen feeling about work, so in the end those last 8 months were some of the kost enjoyable in a long long time.

newroadahead

I retired very early after being made redundant after 22 years. DH decided in 2022 that he was going to take early retirement and I followed 3 months later.
We both lost the last of our parents in the following 12 months which helped our decision.
We moved to a different part of the country and bought our forever bungalow making some forward planning changes. Still ongoing.
DH now gets his state pension so we have reduced the amount from his drawdown and we have reasonable savings and I am taking some my drawdown.
Just before Christmas a close family member who was visiting was taken ill and spent some time in hospital and then stayed with us until February. As a family we have now decided to have a big holiday next year with us , DD, DGC and said family member.
I have a health condition which whilst not life threatening is life limiting and since I left work have realised I gave far too much of me to employers and not enough for me, my family and my friendships.
I did have some good friends at my workplace most younger than me and it has been interesting to see how few have stayed in contact but cest la vie
Now life is for enjoying, laying in instead of getting up at 4am if we feel like it, having family bbqs days out etc
Always remember it is in each of us to decide what is good for us and we can live on far less than we may think

NRA 

Yorkie1

SarahB16 said:

pterri said:

I gave two months (only needed a month) as I wanted my excellent boss and team a chance to get various ducks in a row. I’m was in a (semi) public sector role with a DB pension so redundancy can give a massive benefit, taking the DB early without reduction. That wasn’t on the cards but may be with your role? I would try and find out if that’s likely in the next year, it would be a bummer to miss out on that. 

That's an excellent point and something I hadn't considered (not that I'm thinking of retiring anytime soon) but I agree you wouldn't wish to miss out on the opportunity of redundancy so that would be a very good reason for keeping your intentions to yourself.  

Noted this for myself as I'm in a DB pension scheme.  

If in central government / civil service, it's definitely worth waiting a few months until the Spending Review has been agreed with departments. Most aren't ringfenced, so their funding is likely to reduce in the SR, with decisions then having to be made by each department as to its priorities and headcount.

IamWood

SouthCoastBoy said:

When it comes to me leaving I will treat it the same as if I was leaving for another job, and therefore work out my contractual notice period, which for me is 3 months (too long in my opinion)

Yes, at the firm I'm currently working for, you're placed on 3-month garden leave the same afternoon your resignation letter or email is received by HR. All system access is typically locked within a couple of hours.

No one is truly irreplaceable — we all know that.
Of course, if you're working for a friend, that might be a different matter.

SouthCoastBoy

IamWood said:

SouthCoastBoy said:

When it comes to me leaving I will treat it the same as if I was leaving for another job, and therefore work out my contractual notice period, which for me is 3 months (too long in my opinion)

Yes, at the firm I'm currently working for, you're placed on 3-month garden leave the same afternoon your resignation letter or email is received by HR. All system access is typically locked within a couple of hours.

No one is truly irreplaceable — we all know that.
Of course, if you're working for a friend, that might be a different matter.

I've never understood why firms that ask you to leave straight away have such long notice periods. What is the benefit to them?

cfw1994

MallyGirl said:

MallyGirl said:

nicknameless said:

cloud_dog said:

pterri said:

I’ve done it, I’ve handed in my resignation. April tax year end….

I wanted to thank @pterri for posting their own thread on the Pensions Board, to help themselves to confirm their own position and the viability of their options recently.  Well technically thanks is probably due to the the other posters

The post and responses caused me to reconsider the method for how we will be funding our own early / retirement (ISA, SIPPs, DBs).  I had previously decided that I was going to take the main DB at NRA, as I wanted to try to ensure as large a guaranteed source of income as reasonably possible for our later stages of life, but having re-modelled the numbers it has given me cause to re-assess.

I am 53, waiting with baited breath for vol redundancy decision, and have one DB with NRA of 60.

I plan to retire this year, take the DB at 55 (approx. 20% reduction).  All my modelling shows that this increases probability of success calculated via monte carlo, by smoothing sequence of return risk.  Survivor benefits are not actuarially reduced.

@nicknameless did you get VR?
2 of us do our rather niche role and they have just made the other guy redundant. Absolutely gutting as he didn't want to go and I would have done happily - our company doesn't 'do' VR  

After a very unexpected phone call from my line manager's boss yesterday it is all change. The other guy still doesn't want to go so they have decided to take into account the fact that I wouldn't mind. VR it is!
It won't immediately be 'retirement' as OH is not ready to go, and I want to be off travelling with him, but I will certainly take the summer off before looking for a gentler job.
I will finish at the end of June and my 21 years service will ensure a decent payoff.

Congrats! That sounds like the dream 😎🎉
I think you should live some solo fun adventure to encourage your OH to join you in Team Unemployable - he may never be ready without that spark to ignite him 🤷‍♂️

SouthCoastBoy said:

IamWood said:

SouthCoastBoy said:

When it comes to me leaving I will treat it the same as if I was leaving for another job, and therefore work out my contractual notice period, which for me is 3 months (too long in my opinion)

Yes, at the firm I'm currently working for, you're placed on 3-month garden leave the same afternoon your resignation letter or email is received by HR. All system access is typically locked within a couple of hours.

No one is truly irreplaceable — we all know that.
Of course, if you're working for a friend, that might be a different matter.

I've never understood why firms that ask you to leave straight away have such long notice periods. What is the benefit to them?

Very normal in a sales-led company.  They don’t want people stealing customer lists, IP, etc: “gardening leave” was the norm at the IT companies I worked at.

finbaar

cfw1994 said:

MallyGirl said:

MallyGirl said:

nicknameless said:

cloud_dog said:

pterri said:

I’ve done it, I’ve handed in my resignation. April tax year end….

I wanted to thank @pterri for posting their own thread on the Pensions Board, to help themselves to confirm their own position and the viability of their options recently.  Well technically thanks is probably due to the the other posters

The post and responses caused me to reconsider the method for how we will be funding our own early / retirement (ISA, SIPPs, DBs).  I had previously decided that I was going to take the main DB at NRA, as I wanted to try to ensure as large a guaranteed source of income as reasonably possible for our later stages of life, but having re-modelled the numbers it has given me cause to re-assess.

I am 53, waiting with baited breath for vol redundancy decision, and have one DB with NRA of 60.

I plan to retire this year, take the DB at 55 (approx. 20% reduction).  All my modelling shows that this increases probability of success calculated via monte carlo, by smoothing sequence of return risk.  Survivor benefits are not actuarially reduced.

@nicknameless did you get VR?
2 of us do our rather niche role and they have just made the other guy redundant. Absolutely gutting as he didn't want to go and I would have done happily - our company doesn't 'do' VR  

After a very unexpected phone call from my line manager's boss yesterday it is all change. The other guy still doesn't want to go so they have decided to take into account the fact that I wouldn't mind. VR it is!
It won't immediately be 'retirement' as OH is not ready to go, and I want to be off travelling with him, but I will certainly take the summer off before looking for a gentler job.
I will finish at the end of June and my 21 years service will ensure a decent payoff.

Congrats! That sounds like the dream 😎🎉
I think you should live some solo fun adventure to encourage your OH to join you in Team Unemployable - he may never be ready without that spark to ignite him 🤷‍♂️

SouthCoastBoy said:

IamWood said:

SouthCoastBoy said:

When it comes to me leaving I will treat it the same as if I was leaving for another job, and therefore work out my contractual notice period, which for me is 3 months (too long in my opinion)

Yes, at the firm I'm currently working for, you're placed on 3-month garden leave the same afternoon your resignation letter or email is received by HR. All system access is typically locked within a couple of hours.

No one is truly irreplaceable — we all know that.
Of course, if you're working for a friend, that might be a different matter.

I've never understood why firms that ask you to leave straight away have such long notice periods. What is the benefit to them?

Very normal in a sales-led company.  They don’t want people stealing customer lists, IP, etc: “gardening leave” was the norm at the IT companies I worked at.

I've never understood "asking people to leave" at all. It's not hard to obtain any information you need before handing your notice in. Do they think people wouldn't do this? I suppose it gets you way from sensitive meetings and conversations.

MallyGirl

Gardening leave only really makes sense for sales roles - the idea being that any knowledge on deals, RFPs, bids etc would be out of date by the time you joined a competitor. I am glad of my 3 months notice now as I get it as PILON.