Freedom!

[Queen]

I'm having one of those small yet momentous days today. I've had my civil service earliest-possible-retirement date circled on my calendar for the last year. As of last Saturday (I did have to work today to lock in the time) I have my time in to retire. I can walk out the door of this place any time I want to now and they have to pay me my retirement pittance (and it is a pittance, but it's MY pittance) for the rest of my life!!! I feel very free all of a sudden.

Our plan is to work until May and then move to our little place in FL while my honey telecommutes for a while... but as of today we can go whenever the hell we want!!!!!

 

[Theadyn]

Awesomeness, congrats!!!!

 

[kyonu]

Congrats!!!! I'm sorry you had to wait until retirement to live a life of freedom, but you will enjoy it! I'm not free yet myself, but I'm feeling the best of vibes!

 

[Queen]

Thanks, it's pretty exciting! Now I'm just hoping no one pisses me off today, it's a whole new ballgame.

---

Congrats!!!! I'm sorry you had to wait until retirement to live a life of freedom, but you will enjoy it! I'm not free yet myself, but I'm feeling the best of vibes!

Oh no, that's why it's just a pittance, I've wandered, moved, traveled, the vast majority of my life... I just managed to stay put the last ten years so I could have something coming in.

 

[LeeRevell]

Big congrats! When I finally retired, it was like a huge rock lifted from me. Stress levels went away, or at least really reduced! Hard to believe it's been over four months now.
Still gotta lose some weight, but the overall health has improved too.

 

[Queen]

Congrats on your retirement, Lee!! Can't wait until May when I will actually walk away, but sure is nice knowing I can walk if the urge hits.

 

[Bela's Mom]

Congratulations! It surely is a wonderful feeling to know that you can leave work anytime you want to and still receive your pension. I was hanging on in 2011 waiting for November to roll around for the same feeling. Got laid off in July of that year due to the facility closing. But fortunately I was able to retire in March 2012 with my lifetime pension intact and health insurance. It is a great feeling to know that pittance will be deposited every month!

Enjoy!

 

[LeeRevell]

If you intend to stay with any health insurance plan you are on via your company, make sure to get the info from your Personnel folks. I do that, as even though it's expensive it's a great plan and I like my various doctors. Meds are cheaper too.
This is the only monthly bill I have to send a check via snailmail, as I have to send in a 'coupon' with the payment.
I still deal with the private company that handles the Personnel/Payroll stuff for Florida's state employees.

 

[Queen]

Luckily I'll be on my wife's insurance, still get to have my cadillac plan from the university for a while longer.

 

[Almost There]

Congratulations on reaching the magic date!!

This last birthday was the first in a long time that I actually wanted to celebrate - the taste of the possibility of freedom was heady stuff.

I'm still working but only as hard as I choose to. I'll keep on doing this until my eldercare responsibilities end or until a boss irritates me one time too many....lol.

 

[akrvbob]

What a wonderful feeling!!! Savor it! It's amazing how just knowing you are in charge allows you to much better tolerate a job!!

I could take early retirement at 51, but of course the longer I stayed the better off I would be. I managed to stay another 16 months and then I couldn't take it any more.

I've never regretted it!
Bob

 

[Queen]

Congratulations on reaching the magic date!!

This last birthday was the first in a long time that I actually wanted to celebrate - the taste of the possibility of freedom was heady stuff.

I'm still working but only as hard as I choose to. I'll keep on doing this until my eldercare responsibilities end or until a boss irritates me one time too many....lol.

I hear you about eldercare, I took care of my mom for the past seven years and she passed last March. I miss her very much but have to say I'm enjoying having my life back. After she was gone it was "my time" and I just had to wait until that magical 11/15 date!

What a wonderful feeling!!! Savor it! It's amazing how just knowing you are in charge allows you to much better tolerate a job!!

I could take early retirement at 51, but of course the longer I stayed the better off I would be. I managed to stay another 16 months and then I couldn't take it any more.

I've never regretted it!
Bob

It really does feel easier, Bob! On top of that, my beloved came home from work yesterday and asked "how would you feel abut us bailing in January instead of May?", my reply "oh HELL YES!!!". So, we're going to play with finances a bit and see if we can make it work... then move on down the road!

 

[mockturtle]

Congrats!!!! I'm sorry you had to wait until retirement to live a life of freedom, but you will enjoy it! I'm not free yet myself, but I'm feeling the best of vibes!

Sometimes the reward is sweeter for having had to wait for it.

 

[LeeRevell]

I can relate to the 'elder care' situation. I'm there with my elderly mother. She lives alone in her own home, and can drive short distances. But I come over about three days a week, sometimes more depending on what needs doing. She has a neighbor doing grass mowing and such. I take care of house repairs. We go shopping together, and I generally drive her to her doctor visits. She's 78 and gets around okay. Was wheelchair bound a couple years back, but walks well now. I'm trying to keep her around awhile longer......
Once she passes, and I go onto Social Security myself, then I will travel and enjoy the campervan.

 

[SweetMarie1965]

Knowing that you have money coming in no matter what is a big relief even if the money is small; mine is small too. But we adjust. A simple life is much, much better anyway. Congrats!

 

[Queen]

Knowing that you have money coming in no matter what is a big relief even if the money is small; mine is small too. But we adjust. A simple life is much, much better anyway. Congrats!

Thanks!

You are 100% correct about the money, ten years ago my wife took a faculty position that was "visiting" we knew it would end in 3-4 years if she decided against following tenure track (which we knew she would) so we spent those first three years setting ourselves up to live on my salary alone. Then she got another excellent job... but we kept living on my paycheck. That allowed us to pay cash for our condo and our car in the last year, we have been completely debt free for several years now. Making the transition to NOT working and only having a small income is something we welcome.

You will all understand this, it feels so good to know that things turned out well for us even after 25 years of being told we needed to settle down and save for retirement. We traveled and explored and quit jobs to go someplace else as we saw fit, and we're not destitute and homeless... we're just following a different life than others in our families.

 

[Queen]

Thought I'd give an update.

As of last week we now live in our tiny condo in Florida! My wife is telecommuting from her good job, I quit mine and had a knee replacement before we left Illinois, once I'm healed up I think I'll go get a job at Home Depot.

We're living on a lot less but are happy as can be, considering van dwelling half the year once her gig is done.