Did you have a ''defining moment'' where you just knew you were done? (pension, 2015)
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A few years before I retired a general email went out to everyone about retiring with pension at age 60. I knew then what I wanted to do. Luckily DH was on board, and he planned our retirement. The last year went by pretty fast. I notified HR well in advance, and I was gone shortly after my 60th birthday.
I knew for two or three years what I wanted to do. And, yes I was done.
That would be when I started to have to take nexium every spring during the federal testing program because the consequences for losing a test due to forces beyond by control were draconian. For the first two years after I retired I suddenly got bad acid reflux in February and couldn't figure out why. But that's gone now after 6 years.
But there was a point where I could not do it until I had SS to go along with my other retirement income, and that time came when I was 62.
No defining moment here, at least not in the sense the OP is talking about. My defining moment was when I understood the pension system and how our pensions are calculated. That must have been when I was about 54 or 55 years old, and that understanding allowed me to conclude that no way was I taking the severe hit to the pension that retiring at age 55 would bring with it. I realized that age 61.5 was a good age to aim at, so each year I took another look to make sure nothing had changed. Yes, I did retire at age 61.5, just as I had planned to for a number of years.
jrkliny-I'm not ''done'' with life, adventures, new goals, new achievements,etc. Far from it.
I am done with working for others for wages. That is what is meant by ''done'' for me in this discussion. Retirement frees me up to pursue my many interests.
And my forum name has nothing to do with how I feel now. It was from 2012. I would love to change it if I could.
Why don't you respond with an answer regarding your own experience instead of attacking me for whatever shallow reason?
Not any one thing but just an accumulation. The tipping point was the last day I was there, although I didn't know it at the time, when a VP came in for a drive by observation and dinged me for not having enough Kleenex stations.
I didn't go back. Went on sick leave and burned up the rest of the school year, 3 quarters, and retired in June. Still had a year of sick leave on the books.
And my forum name has nothing to do with how I feel now. It was from 2012. I would love to change it if I could. ......................................
You CAN get it changed. You have to send a direct message to one of the two senior moderators. Marka is one of them. It is suggested to give two or three choices in case your first choice is already taken.
I could have left the job at age 57 when I hit 30 years, but I always planned to stay until I hit 60. However, the last three years on the job were really brutal because they would not hire enough help. Someone would leave and not be replaced, so one person was doing the work of three. There was forced overtime, work your day off, shortened lunch, no lunch. When they came out with a cash incentive to leave, THAT was my defining moment. Last day at work was day before 58th birthday, what a present.
I has set my retirement date for August of 2017 and then I was assigned to a project with a contractor that was impossible to work with. He was a buddy of the boss, talked over me in meetings, "mansplained" things I had just explained and thought he was in charge. After several conversations with my boss on the subject - where he said he didn't notice the contractor doing these things, I had it. The final straw was when the contractor changed the work assignment of one of my staff without my knowledge. I gave 6 months notice, got my replacement up to speed and walked out the door with no regrets.
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