How Far From Retirement? - One Bad Day

[foghorn]

A few months ago I was talking with a friend about the whole retirement topic and when to leave a job and retire. 

He told me of a colleague of his - that when once asked when he planned to retire/his timeline he stated "One Bad Day". 

This got me thinking about how many people here are working and will do so until they have "One Bad Day"?  I often feel like this as I am pretty sure I could FIRE now, but am dealing with a serious case of OMY syndrome. 

So, who is willing to keep doing their job - but will walk when they have "One Bad Day"? 

This topic kind of falls into the "Epic FU Money Stories" thread - but felt different enough to warrant a new topic.

[helloyou]

I can retire today on £1500/month expense.

Or wait longer to increase my spending power. My contract msy end in couple of month and I might just stop then

[NotJen]

So, who is willing to keep doing their job - but will walk when they have "One Bad Day"? 

That was my original plan, but I got tired of waiting around for a bad day (there were lots of mediocre/boring days), so instead I decided to quit before I turned 40 because it sounded cool.

[BikeFanatic]

I feel I am that close. I am just under my number by 25 to 50 K, my job is stressful and they are piling on. I feel if they give me a crummy review or ride me too much I might just walk. Still my wife wants OMY or more and it is not really fair to retire first. We both acknowledge that I am a flight risk. I keep thinking maybe they will lay me off !

Probably smart to hang in there, and save to my number and beyond. I am certain that no matter what I will not work another summer full time!

[nirodha]

I'd rather establish my boundaries and make them fire me, than walk because I have a bad day. I've been surprised how negotiable work place rules are. Phrases like -  "I'm not doing that", "I disagree", "I made a judgement call", "there was not enough time", "you'll need to find someone else" etc. - they work great.

I suppose one day I'll find those bounds, making it a bad day. But it feels different to me, than walking around with an ultimatum on my shoulder 24/7.

[Razzle]

I feel I am that close. I am just under my number by 25 to 50 K, my job is stressful and they are piling on. I feel if they give me a crummy review or ride me too much I might just walk. Still my wife wants OMY or more and it is not really fair to retire first. We both acknowledge that I am a flight risk. I keep thinking maybe they will lay me off !

Probably smart to hang in there, and save to my number and beyond. I am certain that no matter what I will not work another summer full time!

+1

I also like nirodha's approach and will start using "you'll need to find someone else."

[BlueHouse]

My "number" keeps getting lower as I grow more and more dissatisfied with having to report to someone else on a daily basis.

I've already decided that this will be my last job/contract and as soon as they figure out they can do the job without me, then I'll be done and I'll adjust my living costs to fit my savings.  I'm just going to keep on riding this wagon until the wheels fall of or until I hit my original number which I think will allow me to live at my current level of wastefulness.  :) 

[thd7t]

This idea feels too reactive.  Most of the time spent on this board is about planning and strategy.  "One Bad Day" is mostly out of your hands.  Everyone has to react, but reactions should open options, not close them.  nirodha has given some really good alternate reactions that open options well.

[Metalcat]

FIRE or not, I've left every single job in a snap decision after "one bad day". Like pp above, I set extremely strict boundaries with the people who hire me, and if they violate those boundaries, I'm out. Now, my boundaries are eminently reasonable, so it's a tall order to cross them, but some employers lose their minds sometimes and do stupid shit that can't be undone, and if they do, I'm out. No exception.

How bold this is really depends on how easy it is to find comparable level work. In my case, even if I were out of work for years, it's laughably easy to find a new job. As in, with a single phone call, I could have at least a half dozen jobs lined up within 24-72hrs. I also don't have to worry about ageism.

So for me, leaving a job is virtually inconsequential to my future career options, so yeah, one bad day is enough to trigger bailing.

[Cassie]

When I was young I quit jobs much quicker. When I finished graduate school at 39 and got a job with the state with a pension I decided nothing was going to get me to leave.  I went through various cycles of good and bad management. In the end I was glad I stayed and received my pension. It also helped that I loved my chosen career.

[utaca]

How bold this is really depends on how easy it is to find comparable level work. In my case, even if I were out of work for years, it's laughably easy to find a new job. As in, with a single phone call, I could have at least a half dozen jobs lined up within 24-72hrs. I also don't have to worry about ageism.

So for me, leaving a job is virtually inconsequential to my future career options, so yeah, one bad day is enough to trigger bailing.

Curious as to whether you're willing to provide any indication of what type of work you're in - it sounds ideal!

[deborah]

It also depends on how you frame leaving. One bad day doesn’t mean that you get all shirty! You can politely explain that you’re incompatible, and perhaps they need a different person. When I retired, after one bad day, I was offered a redundancy.

[Metalcat]

How bold this is really depends on how easy it is to find comparable level work. In my case, even if I were out of work for years, it's laughably easy to find a new job. As in, with a single phone call, I could have at least a half dozen jobs lined up within 24-72hrs. I also don't have to worry about ageism.

So for me, leaving a job is virtually inconsequential to my future career options, so yeah, one bad day is enough to trigger bailing.

Curious as to whether you're willing to provide any indication of what type of work you're in - it sounds ideal!

Everything requires a trade off, I'm a medical professional, I made enormous trade off for this type of career benefit.

[Valley of Plenty]

So, who is willing to keep doing their job - but will walk when they have "One Bad Day"? 

I decided to quit before I turned 40 because it sounded cool.

You know, I keep saying I plan to retire before 40, and I guess my reasoning is subconsciously the same. It's a rather arbitrary number, but something about getting off the treadmill before 40 seems oh so enticing.

[Money Badger]

I had the bad day...   Laid off as COVID hit and the suits crapped their pants.    Sad for a lot of great, long-term loyal teammates as the RIF took out about 12% of the US employees (leaving our customers to feel the pain now).     If it weren't for taking a FIRE lifestyle approach roughly 5 years back and downsizing home, killing ALL debt, making good passive income FI moves, we would be screwed.   Instead, we're fine as it turned out to be awesome financially since, but that's not the point of this thread...

More importantly, I hope it helps the OP and anyone who reads this to know that, like many challenges in work life, you have to play the game beyond any sort of finish line you set in your mind.   Because the chances are, as soon as you get close, you let up in some way you don't realize and give some jack-wagon "so called executive" a reason to get rid of your relatively expensive, inflexible or perhaps outright opinionated self only so they can keep their seat in the game.   So instead, play the game as if you have not 1 more, but 2 more years...    Then enjoy the day you happily surprise yourself when you've hit your number.   Then make it a bad day for the suits instead.   Because FIRE is best served cold, not hot.  ;)

[MasterStache]

When you dread going in, every day is a bad day. Waiting was only going to prolong stress, anxiety and ultimately reflect poorly on my mental and physical health. The sooner I quit the better (I quit in 2017).

[Goldendog777]

When you dread going in, every day is a bad day. Waiting was only going to prolong stress, anxiety and ultimately reflect poorly on my mental and physical health. The sooner I quit the better (I quit in 2017).

I absolutely dreaded my job.  Hated it.  My husband and I always walked the dog in the am before work and I’d wish that I’d get hit by a car so I wouldn’t have to log into work.  I worked a year too long and I was miserable.  I had headaches or a migraine almost every day.  I wasn’t 100% sure we had enough saved (still not) but quitting was the best thing I ever did.  No regrets.  Everything will work out. 

[MasterStache]

When you dread going in, every day is a bad day. Waiting was only going to prolong stress, anxiety and ultimately reflect poorly on my mental and physical health. The sooner I quit the better (I quit in 2017).

I absolutely dreaded my job.  Hated it.  My husband and I always walked the dog in the am before work and I’d wish that I’d get hit by a car so I wouldn’t have to log into work.  I worked a year too long and I was miserable.  I had headaches or a migraine almost every day.  I wasn’t 100% sure we had enough saved (still not) but quitting was the best thing I ever did.  No regrets.  Everything will work out.

Yeah you had some definitive signs I would say. My lunch periods were spent eating quickly and then going for a walk. During those walks I would constantly think about how I could escape sooner and how much better life would be without a soul sucking job. I was and still am glad I have a spouse who enjoys her job and allowed me to quit.

[Linea_Norway]

Don't wait years to FIRE just because you can't leave an okay job. Quite while you still have your health. Life can throw you an oddball any time amd leave you sick, disabled or dead. You might need to take care of parents. Climate chance may cause the world to change radically. Enjoyable years might be limited. Use them while you can.

[BikeFanatic]

I can not wait to say take this job and shove it ( but I wont really say that). I added up my numbers and now just 8 days later I am over my number, must have added wrong. Anyway I wont make OMY but maybe 7 more months. Tough to know how much my home will sell for.

[markbike528CBX]

This idea feels too reactive.  Most of the time spent on this board is about planning and strategy.  "One Bad Day" is mostly out of your hands.  Everyone has to react, but reactions should open options, not close them.  nirodha has given some really good alternate reactions that open options well.

I chose to interpret the "one bad day" as someone near or at their FIRE number.  My problem was that my boss was nice, I really liked my colleagues, and my job was mostly pretty great.
 My way to bail is "I'm not working summers", which given the situation was, "I'm going to FIRE".  Few people were surprised, especially if they had looked over my  shoulder at my FIRE spreadsheet on my 40" monitor.  I spent about an hour a day at work wondering "WTF, why am I here, given this amount of stache, future pension (small, but there), and Social Insecurity"?  Eventually I got bored of wasting my time, and SemiBigCorp time, in a cubicle.

No drama, got tired of waiting for ONE BAD DAY.

[Chris Pascale]

I have the opposite of this in that I'll stay in the event of a good day, like if one of my kids gets into medical school, or the right opportunity at work comes up.

Short of those very good days, I am very much looking forward to the good day of leaving at 48, when I reach the minimum time for a pension, which I can receive at 60.

[IslandFiGirl]

I quit on my "one bad day" but to be fair there had been many prior to that.  I had been doing the math for the prior 6 months and knew I COULD leave but wasn't sure I wanted to, as I truly did love the actual work I did...it was the BS, politics and all the other CRAP from the administration that I hated.  The day I decided to quit, I had just finished working on my day off and was on my way to lunch with a friend when I got a call that I had to cover yet another sick call, which meant a 12 hour night shift after working all day that day and I was like you know what, I am DONE giving all my time to work.  I'm DONE not seeing my kids and I am DONE doing great work and only hearing something from the bosses when something goes WRONG (which was always petty CRAP)  Anyway, yeah, there's this thing called a BREAKING POINT and sometimes, even the lure of a sweet pension can't stop you from reaching it.  I'm actually glad I quit on my one bad day because I don't think i would have had the balls to do it otherwise. 

[Adventine]

I am getting close to that One Bad Day, myself.

I wonder when it will actually happen and what kind of behavior I will manifest :D

[Dicey]

I quit on my "one bad day" but to be fair there had been many prior to that.  I had been doing the math for the prior 6 months and knew I COULD leave but wasn't sure I wanted to, as I truly did love the actual work I did...it was the BS, politics and all the other CRAP from the administration that I hated.  The day I decided to quit, I had just finished working on my day off and was on my way to lunch with a friend when I got a call that I had to cover yet another sick call, which meant a 12 hour night shift after working all day that day and I was like you know what, I am DONE giving all my time to work.  I'm DONE not seeing my kids and I am DONE doing great work and only hearing something from the bosses when something goes WRONG (which was always petty CRAP)  Anyway, yeah, there's this thing called a BREAKING POINT and sometimes, even the lure of a sweet pension can't stop you from reaching it.  I'm actually glad I quit on my one bad day because I don't think i would have had the balls to do it otherwise.

Congratulations! Did you cover the sick call or bail on the spot?

[bluebelle]

I'd rather establish my boundaries and make them fire me, than walk because I have a bad day. I've been surprised how negotiable work place rules are. Phrases like -  "I'm not doing that", "I disagree", "I made a judgement call", "there was not enough time", "you'll need to find someone else" etc. - they work great.

I suppose one day I'll find those bounds, making it a bad day. But it feels different to me, than walking around with an ultimatum on my shoulder 24/7.

I struggle with setting boundaries, and I know much of it is internal - my sense of 'doing the right thing'.   I am getting better at 'no'....but too much stuff lands at my feet before hitting the customer base....WAY too many other engineering areas throw shit over the fence....they have to know it's shit.....because it's either willful ignorance or complete incompetence.   Senior management is making it easier to walk away.....past CEO got rid of most of the VPs that knew anything about our product and have hired significantly more VPs that know nothing about our product....but hey 'cloud first' bullshit.   We're a large data warehouse company.....petabyte sized systems with tight SLAs won't work well in the cloud....and who wants their banking information in a public cloud....but screw the customers that pay the bills.........../end rant

[Sandi_k]

One Bad Day is too unrealistic in the time of COVID, IMO. Even pre-Covid, letting short-term irritations implode a long term plan was not a metric to which I subscribe.

Years ago, I heard an online forum buddy describe her breaking point - and it was three bad days IN A ROW. *That* resonated for me. It was her signal that OMY was no longer sufficiently attractive.

I have a plan to retire in 2025; the changes in income by holding on until that year are just too attractive - the multiplier flips to 2.5% x years of service = percentage of paycheck in retirement. That multiplier is SWEET. (In rough numbers, my pension income DOUBLES over the next 5 years, so hanging on really *is* worth it monetarily).

However - not everything comes down to money. I get a new boss next July. If we end up being a horrible match, I can plan for an exit in 2022, and still make it work reasonably well. Not so cushy, but my freedom is definitely worth SOMETHING if 3 bad days and a new boss conspire to crush me.

[Metalcat]

I'd rather establish my boundaries and make them fire me, than walk because I have a bad day. I've been surprised how negotiable work place rules are. Phrases like -  "I'm not doing that", "I disagree", "I made a judgement call", "there was not enough time", "you'll need to find someone else" etc. - they work great.

I suppose one day I'll find those bounds, making it a bad day. But it feels different to me, than walking around with an ultimatum on my shoulder 24/7.

I struggle with setting boundaries, and I know much of it is internal - my sense of 'doing the right thing'.   I am getting better at 'no'....but too much stuff lands at my feet before hitting the customer base....WAY too many other engineering areas throw shit over the fence....they have to know it's shit.....because it's either willful ignorance or complete incompetence.   Senior management is making it easier to walk away.....past CEO got rid of most of the VPs that knew anything about our product and have hired significantly more VPs that know nothing about our product....but hey 'cloud first' bullshit.   We're a large data warehouse company.....petabyte sized systems with tight SLAs won't work well in the cloud....and who wants their banking information in a public cloud....but screw the customers that pay the bills.........../end rant

A lot of people in corporate organizations tend to have poor boundaries because they've been groomed from their early work days to not have them, and then it pervades the entire structure.

It can be really insidious and sometimes almost impossible to remediate.

[verntc]

We had been saving for years for the unknown date of our retirement. Not sure it was just one bad day exactly but things were building up at work for about 6 months and then one day was kind of the straw that broke the camel's back during a particularly dark meeting with my boss. I made the decision during that conversation (to myself). But it took my husband and I about 2 more months to make sure all our ducks were in a row before we officially took the freedom leap.

[bluebelle]

I'd rather establish my boundaries and make them fire me, than walk because I have a bad day. I've been surprised how negotiable work place rules are. Phrases like -  "I'm not doing that", "I disagree", "I made a judgement call", "there was not enough time", "you'll need to find someone else" etc. - they work great.

I suppose one day I'll find those bounds, making it a bad day. But it feels different to me, than walking around with an ultimatum on my shoulder 24/7.

I struggle with setting boundaries, and I know much of it is internal - my sense of 'doing the right thing'.   I am getting better at 'no'....but too much stuff lands at my feet before hitting the customer base....WAY too many other engineering areas throw shit over the fence....they have to know it's shit.....because it's either willful ignorance or complete incompetence.   Senior management is making it easier to walk away.....past CEO got rid of most of the VPs that knew anything about our product and have hired significantly more VPs that know nothing about our product....but hey 'cloud first' bullshit.   We're a large data warehouse company.....petabyte sized systems with tight SLAs won't work well in the cloud....and who wants their banking information in a public cloud....but screw the customers that pay the bills.........../end rant

A lot of people in corporate organizations tend to have poor boundaries because they've been groomed from their early work days to not have them, and then it pervades the entire structure.

It can be really insidious and sometimes almost impossible to remediate.

my body may be making the decision for me....years hunched over a computer....working too many hours and weekends has left me in considerable pain.....I am (stupidly) trying to finish a project before taking sick leave to see if my back/neck issues can be resolved.....I am delaying only because I care deeply about a few co-workers and the position my leave will put them in.....not mega-corp or my boss.

[Car Jack]

Financially Independent?  Check
Paid off everything?  Check
Kids done with college?  Check

At this point, sure.  Anyone wants to try to make my day bad is going to be like.....well like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8afqoDL3Qsk&ab_channel=KevinRindenow

[Metalcat]

I'd rather establish my boundaries and make them fire me, than walk because I have a bad day. I've been surprised how negotiable work place rules are. Phrases like -  "I'm not doing that", "I disagree", "I made a judgement call", "there was not enough time", "you'll need to find someone else" etc. - they work great.

I suppose one day I'll find those bounds, making it a bad day. But it feels different to me, than walking around with an ultimatum on my shoulder 24/7.

I struggle with setting boundaries, and I know much of it is internal - my sense of 'doing the right thing'.   I am getting better at 'no'....but too much stuff lands at my feet before hitting the customer base....WAY too many other engineering areas throw shit over the fence....they have to know it's shit.....because it's either willful ignorance or complete incompetence.   Senior management is making it easier to walk away.....past CEO got rid of most of the VPs that knew anything about our product and have hired significantly more VPs that know nothing about our product....but hey 'cloud first' bullshit.   We're a large data warehouse company.....petabyte sized systems with tight SLAs won't work well in the cloud....and who wants their banking information in a public cloud....but screw the customers that pay the bills.........../end rant

A lot of people in corporate organizations tend to have poor boundaries because they've been groomed from their early work days to not have them, and then it pervades the entire structure.

It can be really insidious and sometimes almost impossible to remediate.

my body may be making the decision for me....years hunched over a computer....working too many hours and weekends has left me in considerable pain.....I am (stupidly) trying to finish a project before taking sick leave to see if my back/neck issues can be resolved.....I am delaying only because I care deeply about a few co-workers and the position my leave will put them in.....not mega-corp or my boss.

I take a break in the middle of my work day every single day to go do physio. This is regardless of how pressing things are, my physio is sacrosanct because being able to walk upright at 70 is not negotiable. However, I am known for having extremely robust boundaries, but I wasn't raised in MegaCorp, I'm an interloper in the corporate world.

[scottish]

Financially Independent?  Check
Paid off everything?  Check
Kids done with college?  Check

At this point, sure.  Anyone wants to try to make my day bad is going to be like.....well like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8afqoDL3Qsk&ab_channel=KevinRindenow

Yeah, I prefer to think of it as "Make my day" instead of "one bad day".

[bmjohnson35]

One bad day caused my "earlier" retirement, but I didn't leave immediately.  A combination of another misplaced corporate  program and musical chairs by very poor senior leadership driving the company into the ground, were the main drivers.  When my boss reached out to "counsel" me over how my crew had reacted to the latest corporate quality program, we had a heated discussion and I told him that I would rectify the issue by leaving the company.  I told that I would develop an exit strategy and follow up accordingly. My manager and his boss proceeded to lobby me for the following month or so to stay onboard. 

It didn't take long for me to realize that I wasn't ready to leave and I told my manager that I would be staying onboard for a few more years. Although we had always invested and planned to retire early, I had not been fully focused on FIRE up to that point.  My outlook from that point forward was never the same and it took me 3 years to get our ducks in a row.  I started reading books, online forums and blogs and fully immersed myself into FIRE strategies. We sold our house, which allowed us to go debt free and bought a house cash in a lower cost area 30 miles away.  I realigned our investments, saved even more than previously and researched health insurance options. 

I remained fully transparent with my boss of my intentions throughout my last 3 yrs with the organization. I spent the last year and a half training my eventual backfill and provided my boss 2 months notice at the end.  Most of the time my boss and I disagreed, it involved policy and/or politics out of his control.  I didn't see any reason to leave on a sour note.


   

[IslandFiGirl]

I quit on my "one bad day" but to be fair there had been many prior to that.  I had been doing the math for the prior 6 months and knew I COULD leave but wasn't sure I wanted to, as I truly did love the actual work I did...it was the BS, politics and all the other CRAP from the administration that I hated.  The day I decided to quit, I had just finished working on my day off and was on my way to lunch with a friend when I got a call that I had to cover yet another sick call, which meant a 12 hour night shift after working all day that day and I was like you know what, I am DONE giving all my time to work.  I'm DONE not seeing my kids and I am DONE doing great work and only hearing something from the bosses when something goes WRONG (which was always petty CRAP)  Anyway, yeah, there's this thing called a BREAKING POINT and sometimes, even the lure of a sweet pension can't stop you from reaching it.  I'm actually glad I quit on my one bad day because I don't think i would have had the balls to do it otherwise.

Congratulations! Did you cover the sick call or bail on the spot?

I did cover that shift, but gave my 2 week notice the next day.  It was my last straw.  :)

[BlueHouse]

It didn't take long for me to realize that I wasn't ready to leave and I told my manager that I would be staying onboard for a few more years. Although we had always invested and planned to retire early, I had not been fully focused on FIRE up to that point.  My outlook from that point forward was never the same and it took me 3 years to get our ducks in a row.  I started reading books, online forums and blogs and fully immersed myself into FIRE strategies. We sold our house, which allowed us to go debt free and bought a house cash in a lower cost area 30 miles away.  I realigned our investments, saved even more than previously and researched health insurance options. 

This reminded me of my mom's situation.  At the age of 61, she, along with many others in her organization, was notified she would be downsized and given a small severance package along with her smallish pension.  She was in debt of a few 10s of Ks.  We scrambled that weekend trying to figure out how she would make it and what to do.  Terrible angst.
When she got back to work on Monday, the big boss came to her and apologized it was all a mistake and she wasn't meant to be on the list.  They told her she could still get the severance package whenever she decided to retire on her own.  Her negotiation to this was "I'm just so honored that you want me to stay". Ha!    Still, it put the fear of poverty into mom and she worked with me over the next year to pay off all of her debt and to get things ready for a retirement the following year.  She would probably never have stopped going in if they hadn't shocked her with forced retirement. 

[bmjohnson35]

It didn't take long for me to realize that I wasn't ready to leave and I told my manager that I would be staying onboard for a few more years. Although we had always invested and planned to retire early, I had not been fully focused on FIRE up to that point.  My outlook from that point forward was never the same and it took me 3 years to get our ducks in a row.  I started reading books, online forums and blogs and fully immersed myself into FIRE strategies. We sold our house, which allowed us to go debt free and bought a house cash in a lower cost area 30 miles away.  I realigned our investments, saved even more than previously and researched health insurance options. 

This reminded me of my mom's situation.  At the age of 61, she, along with many others in her organization, was notified she would be downsized and given a small severance package along with her smallish pension.  She was in debt of a few 10s of Ks.  We scrambled that weekend trying to figure out how she would make it and what to do.  Terrible angst.
When she got back to work on Monday, the big boss came to her and apologized it was all a mistake and she wasn't meant to be on the list.  They told her she could still get the severance package whenever she decided to retire on her own.  Her negotiation to this was "I'm just so honored that you want me to stay". Ha!    Still, it put the fear of poverty into mom and she worked with me over the next year to pay off all of her debt and to get things ready for a retirement the following year.  She would probably never have stopped going in if they hadn't shocked her with forced retirement.

It's funny how a bad situation can push you over the edge and shake you out of your complacency.