Your right about the cash helping to boost confidence. When the threat of losing your job is gone it’s amazing what you can do.

@ Syd,

Actually that’s a good point that I didn’t think about. I would worry people is I don’t somewhat prepare them for the fact. I can almost hear the “you throwing your life away” speech from my father.

Tim

What I found is that when I retired at 44, some people were kind of worried that I’d lost it, that I didn’t know what I was doing. Most knew of my plans for years, so didn’t feel like they had to worry about me. But especially with family, who has a tendency toward worrying, I would start getting them used to the idea long before retirement.

That way, when the day comes, they say, “Oh yeah, he’s been planning that for a long time, he’s worked it all out,” instead of “I know, I just don’t know what he’s thinking!”

They all knew I was unhappy working there, as I had reduced my weekly hours from 20 to 12 in the 17 months preceding my retirement. So my retirement announcement did not really surprise anyone.

I did work hard in my last few months because I wanted to get a big project done before I left. But I wasn’t going to go the extra mile like I used to in years past.

Several people I knew retired in the last year or so of my working just before I retired. I desperately wanted to tell them about my plans but did not want to leak them. Some of them I stayed in touch with I would later tell once I made my announcement public at the office.

As for people outside my work, I told them about my plans. They were all happy for me. Some were jealous but I did not mind or care. Many of those outside of my work benefitted from my full retirement because I would be able to see them more often (i.e. hobbies, volunteer work).