My Declaration of Independence Day

Today, I gave my notice at work. My retirement at age 45 begins after I finish work on Friday, October 31st.

As I said in another thread, I attribute my being able to do this at age 45 to my being CF. Good investments in the 1990s, despite the recent uneven stock market, and my company's valuable stock are other reasons.

But it is being CF that overwhelms everything else. Without that, this would never be possible.

I congratulate you, and also envy you! You are living my dream!!

Congratulations*, deegee! Good for you!

*(See, THIS is worthy of congrats - NOT getting knocked up.)

Congrats! Happy retirement!:sw:beer

I'm completely jealous. Congratulations! :beer

Very impressive! Congratulations! And NOW....you have the ULTIMATE CF SMACKDOWN COMMENT to spring on the next bunch of parents you encounter at the neighborhood barbecue! Especially if they're obnoxious!

Make sure to set it up as though you are announcing a pregnancy. "I've got something I've been wanting to tell you...something very special has happened...I've been waiting to tell you...."

"yes?....Yes?...are you--do you mean you're---"

"YES!!! I'm RETIRED!! I retired early last week! WOOHOO!" (Smack party hat on head, kick children out of your way, do the can-can all the way home).

Wooo Hooo! Good for you!! Congrats on keeping the uterus empty so the retirement account could be full! Enjoy!

Hooray and congratulations! So, tell us, soon-to-be retired one, what kinds of interesting things do you have planned for the next phase of your life? Inquiring minds want to know...

And Clematis is right about you now having the ultimate CF comment. Game, set, and match. You go!

Clematis, you are a riot! LMAO!

I have no uterus (last time I checked). I am male.

Some more background and recent history along with the answer to "what will I be doing now? question.

I worked full-time from 1985 (when I graduated from college) to 2001. In 201, I switched to part-time and had a good telecommuting gig for 3/2 of my reduced hours, having to trek from my place on Long Island to Jersey City, New Jersey only 1 days a week. In 2003, my company ended open-ended telecommuting because some other people abused the system. I still worked part-time but had to trek to the office 3 days a week to fulfill my hours. This brought back the horrors of commuting.

My commute consisted of a 40-minute trip on the Long Island Rail Road. For those of you not from the New York City area, it is a big commuter railroad (the USA's busiest) carrying folks from Long Island to New York City. From Manhattan, I would then take a PATH train to Jersey City, New Jersey, a 25-minute trip. PATH is a small subway system connecting Manhattan to nearby parts of New Jersey. [PATH's World Trade Center station was destroyed in the 9/11 attacks but a temporary station was rebuilt in 2003.] It is a long and tiring ride.

After 3 1/2 years of doing that, I was able to switch from 3 days a week to 2 days (12 hours) a week starting in June 2007. This got me home at 6 PM instead of 7 PM and freed up one more day away from the awful New Jersey. I also had to give up my company-sponsored health benefits (which I desribed in another thread) along with nearly all of my other benefits. I fought with my HR to keep the HB but they said no.

This year, things began falling into place so I could be sure I could retire. That included finding a decent health plan I could fit into a retirement budget. I also carefully ran my numbers (I work in the actuarial field so running numbers is my life LOL!) and with the help of an investment advisor I realized I could retire. My company may be going public, something I saw as a big threat to my huge company stock value, so I decided to take my winnings off the table before they go public (in this market, they are nuts if you ask me).

I don't have to liquidate my 401(k) (I will roll it into an IRA), just my company stock, so I will still have nearly 1 million dollars in my to-be IRA and my non-retirement savings. I have no debts and live in a co-op apartment all paid off. I just bought a new car last year.

So, what have I been doing with all my free time? In 2001, when I began the part-time/telecommuting gig, I did 2 things to improve my life. One was becoming involved with the local school-Scrabble program. I ahd become disenchanted with the local adult Scrabble tourneys so I changed my involvement to one in which I could work with eager kyds who liked playing the game but wanted to play better. I am about to start my 8th year in the program. I have been running school tourneys since 2005. My involvement in that program took a hit in 2003 when I had to haul myself to New Jersey 3 days a week after the telecommuting ended. It rebounded a bit in 2007 when I cut back my work to 2 days a week. Now, I can resume it at the level I was at in 2001. Back in 2001, I was involved with only 2 schools. In the last few years, I have been working with 5 of them.

I also resurrected a hobby I had to table in 1988 becasue working was too tiring to do this at night. It is square dancing. I danced at a fairly advanced level and was able to get back to that level in 2001 after the 13-year layoff. I have been trying to advance one level up from the level I am currently at but have not been able to because that club meets on Tuesday night, and I always worked on Tuesdays. Starting in November, I can dance at that level every week. I lok forward to that.

Starting in 2003, just before the telecommuting ended, I helped out one of my square dance callers teach a square dance class at a local college. I was an unpaid volunteer which was fine. I was able to attend only half the time because of my work. In 2007 I was able to use my extra freed-up day to go there nearly all the time. It met at the same time as one of my school Scrabble gigs so I often faced conflicts if I could not rearrange my schedule. Now, I will not face that unfortunate conflict. [The class got suspended this semester but will return in January.]

I myself have been getting involved with some square dance calling. It is mainly a hobby, not something I plan to do for a living. But I may be able to make a few bucks down the line, as I have a connection with another caller from another club. This is NOT as easy as it looks, I have learned.

But the big thing about retiring is just not getting up early in the morning, even as late as 8 AM. Having to get out early often made me ill in the morning, so just NOT having to do that any more is a big plus.

My ladyfriend lives nearby so I will be able to spend more time with her, always a good thing. She benefitted a lot from the 3-to-2-days switch in 2007.

I may run for my co-op board at some point although my semi-involvement with the board may be enough to keep me happy there. Do I want the headaches associated with being on the board? Don't know.

Okay, that about sums it up.

Congratulations!
Enjoy!

Clematis, you are a riot! LMAO!
I have no uterus (last time I checked). I am male.

Oopsie, now, see, I was wondering...I even looked at some of your old posts to try and figure that out...bah, my luck. ANYWAYS, you are an inspiration! Anyone who's financially secure, for all time, just halfway through their life deserves much respect!

Today, I was talking to several coworkers about my earlier announcement about retiring at such a young age. [Many of them were out Tuesday for the jewish holidays or for other unrelated reasons.]

When some of them asked me how I was able to pull this off at age 45, I made SURE to tell them that the main reason was that I never wanted children. And of course, I made sure to tell this to those coworkers whom I am friends with and have never hassled me about being CF or who made a big deal to me about their own kyds.

I figured, if they were envying me for being wealthy enough to never have to WORK again then I was going to milk it for all it was worth LMAO! They gave me some puzzled looks and smiles but I knew I was getting the last laugh as they toil at work until they are at least 60 or 65. And most of the coworkers I spoke to actually have a higher household income (in terms of average hourly pay - remember I work only 12 hours a week now) than I do.

I will be sure not to release my home email address or my home phone # to those in my division because I don't want them calling me with questions about any work stuff they are having problems with. It may seem mean-spirited but remember that it was my company which ended my telecommuting 5 years ago so if they were not going to pay me to work from home when I WAS working there, I ain't gonna do it for free when I am NOT working there. I may release my home email address to coworkers who do not work in my division, however, as the risk of getting bugged by them on work issues is very small.

clematis, don't worry about thinking I was female LOL! I thought I said I was male in one of those "who are you? threads. Maybe not.

Wonderful! Deegee they ought to post a gold-framed photo of you on Bratfree because you are a fine example of living the life.

And here's an added bonus. Not being on salary, you are not going to have to pay so much endless tax.. which is invariably used to pay for other people's children! Hey kids, wave goodbye to Uncle Deegee and his paycheck!

- - - - - - - -
"The death of creativity is a pram in the hallway"
- Cyril Connolly

Amethyst Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Wonderful! Deegee they ought to post a
> gold-framed photo of you on Bratfree because you
> are a fine example of living the life.
>
> And here's an added bonus. Not being on salary,
> you are not going to have to pay so much endless
> tax.. which is invariably used to pay for other
> people's children! Hey kids, wave goodbye to
> Uncle Deegee and his paycheck!


Thanks, Amethyst.

Yes, while I was running the numbers, I noticed how little I will pay in taxes (about $12k less) starting in 2009. However, I am going to get killed in taxes in 2008 because I am cashing in about $300k of company stock and I will owe about $100k in taxes. It will take me about 8 years to make up for that LOL! And, sadly, my local property taxes (mostly school taxes to educate OTHER PEOPLE'S KYDS) will not be lowered by my retirement until I can qualify for over-age-65 property tax breaks in 20 years from now.

Congratulations Deegee, you are an inspiration to us all and possibly an inspiration to the more intelligent co-workers with whom you have come into contact over the years, we can always hope!

I dodged another bullet in New Jersey today.

The water infrastructure in Jersey City, New Jersey, really sucks. About once or twice a year there is some significant problem with the water supply in the area. Today, there was yet another water main break about a half mile from the office. This caused very low water pressure on the upper floors (my floor is the 19th). Because the local officials did not know when it would be fixed, the bigwigs are allowing anyone to leave the office if they like (and will get paid, as it is an Emergency Closing).

While I am usually in the office on Tuesdays, this week I am not. I can access my office's email so I found about this from the comfy (and watery LOL) confines of my Long Island (New York) apartment. Unless someone at the office called me while I was getting ready to leave for work, I would have made the lousy $20 trip to New Jersey only to discover that most people were already gone. The official can-go-home notice was not sent out until about 8:45 AM, while I would be en route there.

Luckily for me, I have avoided nearly all of these water problems as they have occurred on days I was not in the office (remember I work part-time). While the Jersey City Water Gods have not been smiling on my coworkers in the 7 years since my company moved there from lower Manhattan (pre-9/11), they have been smiling on me.

I can't wait to get the heck out of there at the end of this month!

Congrats!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks, Rose Red.

Only one more week to go.......getting all the paperwork in place.

My local bank is giving me a hard time to get one signature from them for a special direct deposit authorization. I have already made 3 trips to 3 different branches without success. Now I have to bring them more papers, something I did not find out until my THIRD overall trip earlier today.

At the office in New Jersey, they are still trying to convince me not to go. LOL I love it! And next Wednesday (the next time I am going to be there), I have my exit interview. This will be fun, too. I told the guy to expand the conference room time from 30 minutes to an hour LOL! It looks like I will complete my work on a large project, albeit barely, before I skip out of there. I will soooooo NOT miss working there!

The dopey conductor on the train never asked me for my ticket yesterday, he just took the seat check and kept walking. So that's $8.50 saved, after I get a refund (like that will go hassle-free?) for it in November.

Meanwhile, I am setting up my school Scrabble visits for November. It is quite a bit easier to set them up when I don't have to plan them around my lousy visits to friggin' NEW JERSEY!

I didn't say it earlier...but, CONGRATS DEEGEE. Must be a GREAT, yet indescribable feeling !

Congrads!!! October 31 is rapidly approaching!!!!

Thank you, S&aP and KFLL, for your kind words.

Yes, we are getting very close to the magical date. I will be sure to post on this thread that night or the over the following weekend. And again once the big moolah arrives a few weeks later.

BTW, the local bank thing has been resolved just fine after I went back there with the forms the manager needed to see. No more snags grrrrr.

Forty five and one week from retirement. You are truly living the dream. Good health and a long life to you, my friend.

Only one more day to go.....Friday is my last day (I am off today).

I had my exit interview yesterday so I had a chance to let them know what I thought of their anti-CF policy regarding health insurance. I doubt they will change anything being that I won't be around to be a thorn in their side on this after this week. And I was speaking to a low-level HR staff member who lacks any authority to change company policy anyway. But I was able to unload a bit which was helpful.

The paperwork to collect the moolah in a few weeks is done and I fax it out tomorrow. The dopes on the trains forgot to punch my ticket AGAIN so now my refunds on unused train tickets is up to $17.

Only one more day to go.......

Wooooo Hoooooo! I'm happy for you! I'll bet you're walking on clouds!

Yes! Congrats congrats and congrats again, deegee! You are my hero! :yr