O/T I Told My Boss(es) That I'm Retiring First Week of January

And boy they put their head in their hands and said "this is gonna leave a HUGE hole!" Of course the CIO is also moving on to greener pastures 1/1/21 by becoming part of the county's administration team. I manage the county's non-intuitive, un-user friendly 911 system (servers and software) as well as the entire sheriff dept's hardware, servers and software. I have left much more documentation than my predecessor, who wrote in sketchy, abstract and often reverse order.

It will be scary money wise but I know i can't hold out till I'm 62 without having a heart attack from the stress. I also manage Chef's biz on the side, doing all the record keeping, taxes, invoicing, etc etc. Plus there are the three rental properties, two of which need rehabbing. Not to mention keeping the house with the one acre of land to boot.

When I was out due to an MVA this year, my boss told me "don't ever go out on leave again ha ha" and that he nor anyone else wanted to deal with the systems I manage. It will be quite the relief as far as stress goes (having to be on call, 40+hours here) but again the money is always scary!

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I'm jealous.

It Will Work Out

I took this step about 10 years ago. Scared beyond words. But I'm good with money (as I suspect you are also) and adjusted our budget with a few cut backs. And here we are today. Doing fine. And you will, too! Congratulations!!

Thanks!

Been working almost 45 years straight now, mostly two jobs during that time. What scares me is Chef is the spender! He is often childish when it comes to budgeting.

Congratulations, maybe its

Congratulations, maybe its time to lock down your finances and allow Chef his own.

He's just going to have to work harder!!

He'll have to be the "breadwinner" now although I do get a modest pension and also qualify for survivor's benefits due to the death of my 2nd husband.

Me too! Me too!

My timing *was* going to be end of year but is now mid-January.

I told my boss prior to Labor Day that I was early-retiring at year end to give her time to backfill my role. We did find a good replacement but the offer just went out yesterday. Assuming they accept they would need to give their current employer 2 weeks notice, then slide into the mandatory HR orientation class. By the time all that happens we'll be up to the holidays so my boss asked me if I would mind staying until mid-January to allow a couple of weeks of overlap. I said no problem since its just a couple of weeks.

My boss has been incredibly appreciative of my contributions and very grateful of the ample notice I gave. I'm leaving on good terms and there is the possibility of returning on a contract basis from time to time - but I'm pretty sure I'm done with a full time staff role. Like you I just don't think I can last until my 60's. Fortunately I've always worked for employers that had terrific 401k matches - and I definitely lived below my means for a long time. So - I should be ready financially and am super excited for the downtime! This is the first time in my whole adult life that I won't be working full time!

Congrats thinkthrice!

I didn't feel like giving them a lot of time

Since they saddled me with the work of two people and refused to give me a title change or raise to go with it. Tee Hee. The CIO literally put his head into his hands.

Good for you!

Ha ha I'm sure he did - he may very well have to replace you with 2 people!

YAY for you!

Congratulations!!!!

And dont skimp on any vacations...Chef will be incentivised by photos...:D

You will love it and all will be ok

I retired almost 8 years ago and it feels like 5 minutes ago. It has been the most fun time of my life. Like you, I had some frustrating years toward the end of my career and had that "enough" feeling.

I'm a planner and a budgeter. I lived in extreme poverty with my ex years ago but the upside is I know I can make it on almost any income. But I found that, for me, it is cheaper to live in retirement. I think it's because I'm taking care of things I used to hire out (cleaners, eating out) and no work expense ( career clothing, lunches out, gas).

I'm so happy for you!