My Megacorp has a long history of declaring anyone retiring an "underperformer" and cutting their March bonus to zero. I plan on giving notice the day I see my bonus show up in my direct deposit.
I hear you!
If all the living presidents, and the best of the ones who've already died self-resurrected themselves to personally thank me and my employer for my service to the nation on national TV, my odds of getting a bonus > $500 are less than winning the lottery.
At this point, I'm staying until May out of solidarity with my wife. She's a professor and it would be very unprofessional to quit mid-school year. Plus, they need time to recruit someone.
So, if they pushed me out early I would actually not mind. ;)
But it's not to their benefit to do so, especially if they can double-bill for awhile as I train the replacement.
Plus, I've offered to pop in and cover things for a short while if the DBA or my replacement leave, get run over by a bus, etc. That's a real plus for them. It's hard to get good IT talent to move here and good IT talent that's already in town already has a job.
$9k+ per month for 1 to 3 months is a lot of fun money for the rest of the year, without having to draw down the stash in the early years, either.