Bold leap into retirement

Yankee24

Metaphysical and Mallygirl.   I am the same.  55.  Hoping to be packaged off.  Can’t bear it.  Kinda depressing as I have had a great corporate career for 35 years- not the way I wanted t9 end it, but hey ho.   Thanks for sharing.  Makes me feel less crazy and alone 

MetaPhysical

Smudgeismydog said:

I’m so sorry to hear that, do you think you can keep your head down for another 16 months?

Yes, I will hang in there but I feel am wasting my life. Another week of this nonsense and I may not be able to constrain myself telling them where to get off... However, I can get another £60k into my fund in this remaining 16 months.

ex-pat_scot

I had thought that there might be a round of redundancies, but that prospect is fast-receding.
It would be nice, but very much an unbudgeted bonus if it comes.
I'd rather take positive next steps, than wait for the possibility of a payout (whilst resenting still being there...)

cloud_dog

MetaPhysical said:

Smudgeismydog said:

I’m so sorry to hear that, do you think you can keep your head down for another 16 months?

Yes, I will hang in there but I feel am wasting my life. Another week of this nonsense and I may not be able to constrain myself telling them where to get off... However, I can get another £60k into my fund in this remaining 16 months.

Have to be honest, since we set our R-Date (181 days to go), my frustration threshold and ability to put up with business bull carp is getting lower and lower, which actually saddens me a little as I enjoy the business area I work in and delivering for my clients; employer, not so much  

BestnamesRgone

I’ve been following this thread with interest. I have an eye on the exit door as am bored with my job, manager is ummm challenging to say the least, but realistically need another 14 months to see my daughter through uni etc ….However there is a big restructuring being planned at work with the talk of a lot of roles going so maybe I won’t have to wish the next 14 months away….

huw01

Yankee24 said:

Metaphysical and Mallygirl.   I am the same.  55.  Hoping to be packaged off.  Can’t bear it.  Kinda depressing as I have had a great corporate career for 35 years- not the way I wanted t9 end it, but hey ho.   Thanks for sharing.  Makes me feel less crazy and alone 

I am in the same boat at 51. Can't stand the thought of working any longer. Time and health is what I now have control over, having worked hard and squirreled money away over the years I can pretty confident;y say that I am Ok now to be financially independent and it will be me now calling the shots.

I will not be renewing my contract in August, I may even give them notice in June and quit in July and enjoy the summer. What has cemented my decision is this week I was told that I am integral to this project they are delivering and then a couple of days later we get a company wide notification that a £25 employee perk we have from the company and receive twice a year in the form of high street vouchers is being discontinued as the company is reinvesting it in development. How they expect staff to interpret that other than a two fingers up as us I don't know

MallyGirl

BestnamesRgone said:

I’ve been following this thread with interest. I have an eye on the exit door as am bored with my job, manager is ummm challenging to say the least, but realistically need another 14 months to see my daughter through uni etc ….However there is a big restructuring being planned at work with the talk of a lot of roles going so maybe I won’t have to wish the next 14 months away….

My exit plan is around seeing my daughter through uni too - 2 years to go for her means 2 years in work for me.

michaels

My uni plans have always centred around managing my income down during the relevant periods to ensure the kids get the max value loans.  If and when we give them help it will relate to the housing ladder, not to the 'graduate tax' that they may well never pay back in full.

pensionpawn

My earliest "bold leap" date was last June after my youngest daughter finished university. As I had already reduced my hours (average ~ 66.6%) since April 2022, and I still enjoy the job (not the bureaucracy / inept management / under funding etc...) I've kept going. This is mainly to fund one last big long haul family holiday, a wedding, one final capital house improvement cost and paying the balloon payment of our main car. However the chance of redundancy this coming autumn / winter started to raise its head six months ago so along with the big bills this year I've now pencilled in next June. As I'm semi retired already that's only around another 8 months, with plan B and plan C options to bail lightly pencilled in for November and January depending on if they really pi$$ me off at work. Another main consideration is that my wife is already retired and if the last of our offspring flees the nest before the autumn I don't want her to have more than one autumn / winter by herself whilst I'm in work. We'll both be 59, with plenty of joint and individual hobbies and interests, it will be time.

Vespaboy

Interesting to hear of everyone’s take on the last few months / countdown at work. So many true words spoken here and it is refreshing to see that you are not alone in how you feel about work, I think as you get older anyway and near retirement these thoughts are probably natural anyway.  I have never dreaded going to work, I do now so definitely right to go, time is just too short to waste on things that make you unhappy.

I have given my notice in, ( leave August) as I also really just had enough of all the BS and having to tow the party line. The half truths ,the spin it is all nonsense.

Work has become harder and harder as I have neared the end of my career and I  don’t have the energy or desire to rise to the challenge as I once did. It is both a relief to leave but also a bit sad giving up on a 30 year plus career that like many on here I worked really hard at. I am just going to play it a bit by ear but suspect I will return to some part time job/ role that interests me as I am a bit concerned once the honeymoon phase fizzles out I might be a bit bored and restless. I am not rushing into anything and have no desire to have a full time stressful role in an organisation again. I do have a very small part time role I am working on ( not directly related to my career) that does excite me and energizes me. I think for me I need a bit of a transition and a reinvention as well as a voyage of discovery of what my final good years look like.

Good luck to those on the countdown hang on in there and start to learn to say no ( what is the worst they can do?) 

On the uni front  mine are done with that and now working, 😊 we have done the house deposits ,one wedding contribution done and one to go so hopefully the bank of m&d can shut up shop soon !