2025 Fire Cohort

[mistymoney]

Hello Cohort!!

I've really been muddling around in it all, and thinking I won't possiblity be ready to retire in 2025......but then!

The stock market has been making it all seem more real and doable! The job is 2-3 times the stress it was just last year....and then I find myself thinking - how on earth will I make it to 2025? lol ;P.

So I am back and more firmly on board. Time to start putting everything in order. Worst case scenario - I may need to barista fire a bit the first few to 5 years. I can't continue to take the stress hit to my health anymore.

As an example - I started a project to provide our leadership group with some basic information on a potential use for using new tech in our work. The work is highly detailed and confidential so many safeguards need to be in place and my charge was just to explore how useful and accurate the prodcuts might be so leaderhip could determine next steps in investigating and/or purchase something. Relatively straightforward, and it involved putting samples together and getting input from a group of stakeholders and then writing up a report and presentation for leadership. Then after I had the project detailed out with several stakeholder groups and preparing materials for those meetings, I got told to angle the work so that the process we took for evalaution would be up to presenting at a national conference, perhaps published in industry journal. Ok. With just a few weeks before the stakehold meeting, we reworked what we could to put more of an experimental slant and collecting survery data during and after the stakeholder sessions. Then, after the stakeholder sessions, I got called to the carpet for missing the mark completely. How did I miss so badly? Apparently I was suppose not to gather information for leadership's impartial decision making process, nor was I to collect data in a pseudo-research project on the process for publication. The goals was to make the tech look so good that the stakeholders would lobby leadership to purchase the tech.

ok - fine - maybe? - but either way, how about you share that goal with me beforehand? Once I put together how I had been led down the wrong path and then ended up with negative feedback on my performance, I started tracking my account balances even more closely, and thankfull *so far!* the market has been whispering to me "yessssssssssssss. time to get ooooooooooooooout!"

Hi Mistymoney -

Days like that are great aren’t they?

A reminder of why we’re preparing ourselves to FIRE and firm encouragement to stay the course!

In just the past few weeks I’ve had a couple of fun cases of “shoot the messenger” by senior leadership where a visiting consultant (retired ex-GE) told me “Wow!  You have broad shoulders…I don’t see any blood, but as far as beatings go I’d put that at a 7/10!”.

But then I also received a nice visit from the President to thank me for my efforts and tell me what a good leader I was pushing everyone to close a major revenue gap.

On any given day I don’t know exactly what the day will bring, but I know it will usually be very stressful.

AND continue to bring in far more money than we spend as we target 2025 FIRE.

Being in a position to even consider FIRE now means the rough day’s aren’t scary at least, even though still stressful.

Use them as a reason to stay on your FIRE path as you target 2025.

Yep! and even when a job is great fulfilling and fun.....new coworkers, new boss, new CEO....can all change it up really fast.

Even though we quantify what FU money amounts are for ourselves, being able to leave if things go too far from your comfort zone is priceless.

[Fomerly known as something]

Today is one more year with my target of Friday 7-18-25.  I have a pension cliff on 7-17-25.  I travel a lot for work and was with several older coworkers, ones who aren’t retiring yet.  I’m now totally getting the well, you are too young to retire (I’ll be 47).  It’s bad for you to retire early because what will you do you need to work.

Looking at my finances, every year I keep working, it’ll just mean my end of life is going to be at an even fancier nursing home.  Using a 7% return, my investments are currently growing at 65% of my salary yearly and my pension yearly will be 40% of my current salary next year.  If say I work another 10 years, and retire at 57, yeah I’d double my stash, and at the end of the day I’d have even more money to spend in retirement but to what end.  I think the real winner would be Uncle Sam and the state of CA as a scenario I just ran showed I’d be paying them close to 100% more in taxes for those years.

Also since most of these “wise old” coworker are men, I need to ask next time what their wives do for work.  I know the answer is generally teacher, nurse or SAHS.
 

[mistymoney]

Looking at my finances, every year I keep working, it’ll just mean my end of life is going to be at an even fancier nursing home. 

Well - I wouldn't completely discount the value of a fancier nursing home!

Using a 7% return, my investments are currently growing at 65% of my salary yearly and my pension yearly will be 40% of my current salary next year.

That sounds like a great spot to be in! Will you also get soc sec down the line?

[tj]

Today is one more year with my target of Friday 7-18-25.  I have a pension cliff on 7-17-25.  I travel a lot for work and was with several older coworkers, ones who aren’t retiring yet.  I’m now totally getting the well, you are too young to retire (I’ll be 47).  It’s bad for you to retire early because what will you do you need to work.

Looking at my finances, every year I keep working, it’ll just mean my end of life is going to be at an even fancier nursing home.  Using a 7% return, my investments are currently growing at 65% of my salary yearly and my pension yearly will be 40% of my current salary next year.  If say I work another 10 years, and retire at 57, yeah I’d double my stash, and at the end of the day I’d have even more money to spend in retirement but to what end.  I think the real winner would be Uncle Sam and the state of CA as a scenario I just ran showed I’d be paying them close to 100% more in taxes for those years.

Also since most of these “wise old” coworker are men, I need to ask next time what their wives do for work.  I know the answer is generally teacher, nurse or SAHS.

If I assume 7% growth, it would be similar. If I stick around until 57, the combo of pension and then social security will basically cover my expenses. No need to save the millions that I would have then. I'd rather save up and exit the rat race sooner. The original goal was 40, which would be 2025, but it might be a few more years. I can't decide what I want my target lifestyle to be. 😅

[TempusFugit]

I’m in process of having my retirement plans reviewed by an advisor to double check my work.  I think I’ve got a pretty solid plan but I need to take the extra step of having a second set of eyes on it.  I think it will probably be a ‘waste’ of a couple grand to get that second opinion, but it will make me feel better. 

For purposes of my plan, I am targeting a September retirement date (2025).  With my projected spending and accounting for the “Retirement Smile” spending model where I spend more for the first (18) years then less for a period and then back up for the latter years, I’m getting around 80% on the ol’ monte Carlo.  That is kind of low for my liking, but I think my inputs are pretty conservative (3%+ inflation,  social security cuts, 3.25% real returns in the market) and my projected spending is pretty fluffy.  50% of my projected spending is completely discretionary. 

I bet that a year from now I’ll be doing the math pretty furiously and rationalizing that every additional month I work, I can pay for a nice vacation, and if I stick it out 3 months that pays for my next new car, and why retire just before the holidays anyway…

However, there are things afoot in my company that may lead to an early exit.  Rumors of buyouts later this fall.  I would find that hard to resist if the rumors are true and if they match previous buyouts.

But what is really going to be the hurdle is not the finances, I don’t think, but the concern about what the heck I’m going to do with my life if I’m not working.  That has me worried. 

[Fomerly known as something]

Looking at my finances, every year I keep working, it’ll just mean my end of life is going to be at an even fancier nursing home. 

Well - I wouldn't completely discount the value of a fancier nursing home!

Using a 7% return, my investments are currently growing at 65% of my salary yearly and my pension yearly will be 40% of my current salary next year.

That sounds like a great spot to be in! Will you also get soc sec down the line?

Yes and even with a shortened life, I’m past the 2nd bend point.

ETA:  I use a financial advisor.  I pay him to be the second set of eyes, and I will be outsourcing the math to him in retirement.  He also makes me critically think outside of the all VTSAX eco camber even if I don’t actual change anything.

[aetheldrea]

Okay, I’ve been a member of this cohort for quite a while, but today submitted a voluntary separation form for retirement date of 10/3/24. Hope everyone here has a great final year (or less).

[oneday]

Congrats! It's inspiring that you are able to quit sooner than planned.

[frugalecon]

Congrats, @aetheldrea ! I am weighing an early departure in 2024 myself. It is tempting…but padding the stache a tiny bit more is also tempting.

[mistymoney]

Okay, I’ve been a member of this cohort for quite a while, but today submitted a voluntary separation form for retirement date of 10/3/24. Hope everyone here has a great final year (or less).

fantastic, and bon voyage!

[Fomerly known as something]

11 more months for me.  As previously mentioned, I’m a Special Category FED, and I’m retiring early when eligible (at 47 for me).  I’ve settled n my response for what might ping to do.  “I’m taking a gap year, then we’ll see I’ve got ideas and they aren’t coming back as an annuitant”

[OurTown]

Still a moving target for us, but as of now it looks like wife can retire 3/31/25 and I am aiming for 6/30/25.  There are some outstanding factors (health insurance!) that could stretch me to 1/31/26.  I will also keep a side gig post FIRE, and the guy I will be "replacing" as it were needs to figure out his timeline too.

[skiddieleet]

On track to pay off my truck and house next year.  I should be FI with any luck, but not planning to retire next year.  We had our first kid in 2020 and haven’t been on a real vacation yet.  So I feel like our current expenses aren’t a good representation of our real expenses.  So maybe FI in 2025 and RE in 2030?  Or see if I can go to 3 or 4 days a week sometime in between.

[Freedomin5]

Word is starting to spread at work that I am not renewing my contract. People have been asking why I’m leaving. I started off telling people that I’m retiring, but that just confuses people, so now I’ve fine tuned it to, “I’m retiring from full-time 9-5 work, but I’ll still be doing stuff, like helping my parents run the family business.” They don’t need to know that the family business subscribes to Tim Ferris’s “4-hour work week” model. I also mention that our investments have done well — always trying to put a plug in for the FIRE lifestyle. People seem to accept it better when I tell them I’ll still be doing some kind of “work”.

[Sandi_k]

Yeah, retiring next June means I will be literally retiring way earlier than most at my employer's. I found myself thinking - assuming I am questioned! - just saying that OF COURSE I am retiring! We're millionaires, and I have better things to do with my remaining years on this earth.

Then I think of folks asking us for loans, or other financial assistance, and I moderate my planned response to: our mothers are both widowed, and late 80's - they need more assistance that we can manage with me still working FT.

;)

[SaucyAussie]

I signed a construction contract on a new home yesterday that will downsize me to mortgage free. 

While this is a big step toward FI, it does kind of lock me in to employment until April next year.  That syncs up with my stock vesting so looking more and more like April-June next year will be the time!

[Freedomin5]

If work offers me a part-time WFH contract that's project-based (maybe 2 weeks per year of work), and if I'm still managing our one rental property, and helping my parents with their 4-hour per week business, would I still be considered part of the 2025 FIRE cohort? Or would the internet retirement police come get me?

[OurTown]

It looks like I am OMY into January of 2026.  Good luck to everyone in 2025!

[asauer]

We're entering the time of year that always makes me sad that I'm not yet retired. Fall has so many activities and volunteer opportunities that make me get serious FOMO b/c I can't do most of them.  I'm hoping that I can retire a few months early in 2025 so that I can finally do all the things!

[Freedomin5]

My company announced my imminent retirement to all employees. The email actually said I’m retiring (I’m in my early 40s). I’ve already gotten a few emails, and I’m sure I’ll get more over the next few days.

[tj]

My company announced my imminent retirement to all employees. The email actually said I’m retiring (I’m in my early 40s). I’ve already gotten a few emails, and I’m sure I’ll get more over the next few days.

Any of them confess to their own FIRE pursuits? :D

[Freedomin5]

My company announced my imminent retirement to all employees. The email actually said I’m retiring (I’m in my early 40s). I’ve already gotten a few emails, and I’m sure I’ll get more over the next few days.

Any of them confess to their own FIRE pursuits? :D

I have one who asked if we could retire together. And a few others who are not surprised since I run the employee FIRE club at work.

[tj]

My company announced my imminent retirement to all employees. The email actually said I’m retiring (I’m in my early 40s). I’ve already gotten a few emails, and I’m sure I’ll get more over the next few days.

Any of them confess to their own FIRE pursuits? :D

I have one who asked if we could retire together. And a few others who are not surprised since I run the employee FIRE club at work.

An employee FIRE club?!?! That's badass. Most people are too chicken to talk about it at work.

[Freedomin5]

My company announced my imminent retirement to all employees. The email actually said I’m retiring (I’m in my early 40s). I’ve already gotten a few emails, and I’m sure I’ll get more over the next few days.

Any of them confess to their own FIRE pursuits? :D

I have one who asked if we could retire together. And a few others who are not surprised since I run the employee FIRE club at work.

An employee FIRE club?!?! That's badass. Most people are too chicken to talk about it at work.

Quite a few of us at work have read “Millionaire Expat”. It’s a lot of fun talking about investment strategies, especially because many of the normal retirement strategies (401k, IRA, etc) aren’t available to expats.

[SaucyAussie]

I don't know if this makes it feel closer or further away, but we are this close to 2025 -
491 days
11798 hours
707890 minutes
42473421 seconds

Going fast!

299 days
7189 hours
431340 minutes
25880429 seconds

Officially under 100 days until our retirement year!  I think we are going to make it...

99 days
2392 hours
143527 minutes
8611623 seconds

[mistymoney]

I don't know if this makes it feel closer or further away, but we are this close to 2025 -
491 days
11798 hours
707890 minutes
42473421 seconds

Going fast!

299 days
7189 hours
431340 minutes
25880429 seconds

Officially under 100 days until our retirement year!  I think we are going to make it...

99 days
2392 hours
143527 minutes
8611623 seconds

The final countdown indeed!

[weebs]

I don't know if this makes it feel closer or further away, but we are this close to 2025 -
491 days
11798 hours
707890 minutes
42473421 seconds

Going fast!

299 days
7189 hours
431340 minutes
25880429 seconds

Officially under 100 days until our retirement year!  I think we are going to make it...

99 days
2392 hours
143527 minutes
8611623 seconds

The final countdown indeed!

...and I just got that damn song out of my head.  ;-)

[Sandi_k]

So, I am now 3 years from the planned retirement date! (Actual plan is October 31, 2025 - but I am eligible in Sept. 2025, as that's when I turn 60). So we're now down to 36 months!

Things continue to roll along. DH pulled the trigger on the next set of SEP-IRA conversion dollars - another $20k to the Roth account this year. As of 9-1-22, he has about 50% of his stache in Roth, and 50% still in the SEP-IRA.  In 2023, we'll convert another 50%, and 2024, whatever remains, so he'll have no more IRA.

My mom is starting to experience cognitive decline - so that makes 2/3 of our parents. Totally sucky. My sister and I are triaging credit cards being misplaced (about every 3 months or so) and the latest one is mom's phone. Ugh.

We still have ~ 6 years of cash & TIPS in the accounts, so we can still plan on the 2025 cohort. We're down to only $8k in cash, since we did buy some stock on the dip in May. I might re-deploy that cash, given the current sale prices.

Now that I have a full "high three" in my salary (from a pay bump in 2019), I re-ran retirement scenarios. The high three numbers mean I can actually retire at age 59 if I wanted, and still have the same silly income. But waiting until age 60 gives me an additional $1300 per MONTH in the pension, and that's more than I was planning for BIG TRIP expenses annually in retirement.

So yeah - it confirmed that age 60 is optimal. If I can last that long, more power to me. But I don't need to lose any sleep if I need to step back at age 59, due to parental needs or perhaps my own health issues.

Planning on our 25th wedding anniversary trip; trip paid for, hotels and rental car paid for as well. It should be lovely.

Work is decent. The new-ish boss still seems happy enough, so I'm going to stop fretting, and start taking some of my accrued VL, as I am back up at the max again. So I plan to have 3 days off this month, and need at least one off next month.

Pets are fine, house is fine, car is fine. We've got SO MUCH to be thankful for, it really is crazy.

OK, I am now 9 months out - I advanced the retirement date to June 2025, because the COLA applies on July 1, 2025 if I do so. The delay to Sept. 2025 was almost the exact same amount of money - so I can retire sooner for the same payout? Done!

This past week, DH converted all of the rest of his SEP-IRA, a year early. Given that 2024 and 2025 are the last years at current tax brackets, we decided to move ahead a little quicker for his. That gives me more room to convert MY traditional pre-tax accounts next year, when I get to age 59.5 - while still staying in the 24% tax bracket.

If brackets do revert, it looks like we'd be in the 28% bracket, so saving 4% on taxes while I am able to pre-pay the tax hit via aggressive withholding seems like a no brainer.

I did a brief mockup last night, and it looks like we'll have nearly 35% of our 'stache in Roth by the end of 2025. Much better than the 8% we had in 2019, when we started this route.

Now I need to find a way to bring DH into these discussions more...we're starting to talk about various home improvement projects, and he now wants to talk about how much money we'll have to play with.

It's getting REAL, y'all!

[Fomerly known as something]

Checks App, 290 days to go. But only 109 days until I could try some advanced stuff that would need work to agree to. 

[bayareafire]

Putting my name down! Planning to give notice in March 2025.

I'm older 30s. My family knows I've been pursuing this for a long time (wanted to acclimate them to the idea), but prob doubted I'd actually go through with it anytime soon. Don't live near family, so planning to surprise show up and share the news :) That'll be fun to see everyone's range of reactions in person.

T-minus ~21 weeks to go
(not counting PTO weeks off so as to focus on as small of a number as possible!)

Trying my darndest to not give into senioritis... too much.

[frugalecon]

Putting my name down! Planning to give notice in March 2025.

I'm older 30s. My family knows I've been pursuing this for a long time (wanted to acclimate them to the idea), but prob doubted I'd actually go through with it anytime soon. Don't live near family, so planning to surprise show up and share the news :) That'll be fun to see everyone's range of reactions in person.

T-minus ~21 weeks to go
(not counting PTO weeks off so as to focus on as small of a number as possible!)

Trying my darndest to not give into senioritis... too much.

I can totally appreciate the senioritis. I almost almost almost FIRED a few weeks ago, but I wavered and decided to stay until the first part of 2025, to complete some things. At this stage I have 68 actual days I need to work. 544 hours, for those counting at home.

It will be interesting to have my final performance evaluation later this month. My boss knows I am a short-timer, so I expect it won’t set a lot of goals for me to achieve over the next year.

Incidentally, I have determined I will have about 10 days of sick leave that will be “stranded,” in the sense that I won’t be compensated for them due to our rules. I might find myself succumbing to frequent colds and flus in December and January.

[Freedomin5]

~31 work weeks to go, not counting PTO.


I want to bring on the senior-itis. Otherwise, I care too much and get frustrated with too many little things going on at work.

[tj]

Putting my name down! Planning to give notice in March 2025.

I'm older 30s. My family knows I've been pursuing this for a long time (wanted to acclimate them to the idea), but prob doubted I'd actually go through with it anytime soon. Don't live near family, so planning to surprise show up and share the news :) That'll be fun to see everyone's range of reactions in person.

T-minus ~21 weeks to go
(not counting PTO weeks off so as to focus on as small of a number as possible!)

Trying my darndest to not give into senioritis... too much.

I can totally appreciate the senioritis. I almost almost almost FIRED a few weeks ago, but I wavered and decided to stay until the first part of 2025, to complete some things. At this stage I have 68 actual days I need to work. 544 hours, for those counting at home.

It will be interesting to have my final performance evaluation later this month. My boss knows I am a short-timer, so I expect it won’t set a lot of goals for me to achieve over the next year.

Incidentally, I have determined I will have about 10 days of sick leave that will be “stranded,” in the sense that I won’t be compensated for them due to our rules. I might find myself succumbing to frequent colds and flus in December and January.

I have 489 hours of sick leave accrued. I don't think that I'll be able to use them.

[Fomerly known as something]

Putting my name down! Planning to give notice in March 2025.

I'm older 30s. My family knows I've been pursuing this for a long time (wanted to acclimate them to the idea), but prob doubted I'd actually go through with it anytime soon. Don't live near family, so planning to surprise show up and share the news :) That'll be fun to see everyone's range of reactions in person.

T-minus ~21 weeks to go
(not counting PTO weeks off so as to focus on as small of a number as possible!)

Trying my darndest to not give into senioritis... too much.

I can totally appreciate the senioritis. I almost almost almost FIRED a few weeks ago, but I wavered and decided to stay until the first part of 2025, to complete some things. At this stage I have 68 actual days I need to work. 544 hours, for those counting at home.

It will be interesting to have my final performance evaluation later this month. My boss knows I am a short-timer, so I expect it won’t set a lot of goals for me to achieve over the next year.

Incidentally, I have determined I will have about 10 days of sick leave that will be “stranded,” in the sense that I won’t be compensated for them due to our rules. I might find myself succumbing to frequent colds and flus in December and January.

I admit I didn’t even read my goals for next year.  I just signed the thing.

[Turtle]

Putting my name down! Planning to give notice in March 2025.

I'm older 30s. My family knows I've been pursuing this for a long time (wanted to acclimate them to the idea), but prob doubted I'd actually go through with it anytime soon. Don't live near family, so planning to surprise show up and share the news :) That'll be fun to see everyone's range of reactions in person.

T-minus ~21 weeks to go
(not counting PTO weeks off so as to focus on as small of a number as possible!)

Trying my darndest to not give into senioritis... too much.

I can totally appreciate the senioritis. I almost almost almost FIRED a few weeks ago, but I wavered and decided to stay until the first part of 2025, to complete some things. At this stage I have 68 actual days I need to work. 544 hours, for those counting at home.

It will be interesting to have my final performance evaluation later this month. My boss knows I am a short-timer, so I expect it won’t set a lot of goals for me to achieve over the next year.

Incidentally, I have determined I will have about 10 days of sick leave that will be “stranded,” in the sense that I won’t be compensated for them due to our rules. I might find myself succumbing to frequent colds and flus in December and January.

My company front loads benefits and ties bonus to being employed on Dec 31st which is why I’m sticking it out until early 2026.  How far into 2026 may very well depend on that final evaluation…

[Cyanne]

Posting to add my hat into this cohort. June 4th, 2025 is my last day as a teacher.

[wageslave23]

Putting my name down! Planning to give notice in March 2025.

I'm older 30s. My family knows I've been pursuing this for a long time (wanted to acclimate them to the idea), but prob doubted I'd actually go through with it anytime soon. Don't live near family, so planning to surprise show up and share the news :) That'll be fun to see everyone's range of reactions in person.

T-minus ~21 weeks to go
(not counting PTO weeks off so as to focus on as small of a number as possible!)

Trying my darndest to not give into senioritis... too much.

I can totally appreciate the senioritis. I almost almost almost FIRED a few weeks ago, but I wavered and decided to stay until the first part of 2025, to complete some things. At this stage I have 68 actual days I need to work. 544 hours, for those counting at home.

It will be interesting to have my final performance evaluation later this month. My boss knows I am a short-timer, so I expect it won’t set a lot of goals for me to achieve over the next year.

Incidentally, I have determined I will have about 10 days of sick leave that will be “stranded,” in the sense that I won’t be compensated for them due to our rules. I might find myself succumbing to frequent colds and flus in December and January.

I admit I didn’t even read my goals for next year.  I just signed the thing.

When my boss asked me what my goals are, I said to keep doing what I've been doing. What i was thinking was, just stop trying to improve things and let me do what I do and we can both sit back and collect our money until I decide to retire.

[Sandi_k]

Posting to add my hat into this cohort. June 4th, 2025 is my last day as a teacher.

Whoo-hoo! Congrats!

[Freedomin5]

Putting my name down! Planning to give notice in March 2025.

I'm older 30s. My family knows I've been pursuing this for a long time (wanted to acclimate them to the idea), but prob doubted I'd actually go through with it anytime soon. Don't live near family, so planning to surprise show up and share the news :) That'll be fun to see everyone's range of reactions in person.

T-minus ~21 weeks to go
(not counting PTO weeks off so as to focus on as small of a number as possible!)

Trying my darndest to not give into senioritis... too much.

I can totally appreciate the senioritis. I almost almost almost FIRED a few weeks ago, but I wavered and decided to stay until the first part of 2025, to complete some things. At this stage I have 68 actual days I need to work. 544 hours, for those counting at home.

It will be interesting to have my final performance evaluation later this month. My boss knows I am a short-timer, so I expect it won’t set a lot of goals for me to achieve over the next year.

Incidentally, I have determined I will have about 10 days of sick leave that will be “stranded,” in the sense that I won’t be compensated for them due to our rules. I might find myself succumbing to frequent colds and flus in December and January.

I admit I didn’t even read my goals for next year.  I just signed the thing.

When my boss asked me what my goals are, I said to keep doing what I've been doing. What i was thinking was, just stop trying to improve things and let me do what I do and we can both sit back and collect our money until I decide to retire.

My boss didn't even bring up goals. I had to ask if I needed to set goals for the year. Initially, he was like, "No." Then he changed his mind and was like, "You can if you want, but it's optional."


@wageslave23 I like your goal though to stop trying to improve things. I'm going to make that my personal goal for the rest of my work days.

[Turtle]

Putting my name down! Planning to give notice in March 2025.

I'm older 30s. My family knows I've been pursuing this for a long time (wanted to acclimate them to the idea), but prob doubted I'd actually go through with it anytime soon. Don't live near family, so planning to surprise show up and share the news :) That'll be fun to see everyone's range of reactions in person.

T-minus ~21 weeks to go
(not counting PTO weeks off so as to focus on as small of a number as possible!)

Trying my darndest to not give into senioritis... too much.

I can totally appreciate the senioritis. I almost almost almost FIRED a few weeks ago, but I wavered and decided to stay until the first part of 2025, to complete some things. At this stage I have 68 actual days I need to work. 544 hours, for those counting at home.

It will be interesting to have my final performance evaluation later this month. My boss knows I am a short-timer, so I expect it won’t set a lot of goals for me to achieve over the next year.

Incidentally, I have determined I will have about 10 days of sick leave that will be “stranded,” in the sense that I won’t be compensated for them due to our rules. I might find myself succumbing to frequent colds and flus in December and January.

I admit I didn’t even read my goals for next year.  I just signed the thing.

When my boss asked me what my goals are, I said to keep doing what I've been doing. What i was thinking was, just stop trying to improve things and let me do what I do and we can both sit back and collect our money until I decide to retire.

Sounds identical to my job goals, basically.

[SotI]

I handed in my 2025 vacation request today. Seems that Oct, 24 next year will be my last official day in the office (I am planning vacation right before leaving) - at least if it is not formally vetoed within the next 3 weeks.

I am in my mid-50s, so strictly speaking it is not (that) "early" retirement ...
 
Funnily enough, I will have my performance review & next year's goal planning meeting later this week. I already asked my boss if she's serious about wasting time on this, but seems we need to follow formal HR procedures ...

[frugalecon]

Putting my name down! Planning to give notice in March 2025.

I'm older 30s. My family knows I've been pursuing this for a long time (wanted to acclimate them to the idea), but prob doubted I'd actually go through with it anytime soon. Don't live near family, so planning to surprise show up and share the news :) That'll be fun to see everyone's range of reactions in person.

T-minus ~21 weeks to go
(not counting PTO weeks off so as to focus on as small of a number as possible!)

Trying my darndest to not give into senioritis... too much.

I can totally appreciate the senioritis. I almost almost almost FIRED a few weeks ago, but I wavered and decided to stay until the first part of 2025, to complete some things. At this stage I have 68 actual days I need to work. 544 hours, for those counting at home.

It will be interesting to have my final performance evaluation later this month. My boss knows I am a short-timer, so I expect it won’t set a lot of goals for me to achieve over the next year.

Incidentally, I have determined I will have about 10 days of sick leave that will be “stranded,” in the sense that I won’t be compensated for them due to our rules. I might find myself succumbing to frequent colds and flus in December and January.

I admit I didn’t even read my goals for next year.  I just signed the thing.

When my boss asked me what my goals are, I said to keep doing what I've been doing. What i was thinking was, just stop trying to improve things and let me do what I do and we can both sit back and collect our money until I decide to retire.

Sounds identical to my job goals, basically.

I am scheduled to have my performance evaluation tomorrow. Hoping I don’t get a performance improvement plan. (Lol)

[Fomerly known as something]

After a discussion with another coworker today about “slacker” coworker I wonder what his evaluation was.  I better have gotten rated higher than him.

[Turtle]

After a discussion with another coworker today about “slacker” coworker I wonder what his evaluation was.  I better have gotten rated higher than him.

Our evaluations come out early in the year.  How mine goes might play into how long I stay and how much notice I give.

[SaucyAussie]

I've been very honest with my boss, letting him know that I am "1 to 2 years" away from retirement (and also open to a layoff if the opportunity arises).

He promptly made me lead on a 2 year project. lol

I'm ok with this, my mind has been a scramble lately, and this will give me something to focus on between now and retirement.  Also will give me some leverage to seek opportunities for part-time or contract work (or dare I say it, OMY).

[weebs]

He promptly made me lead on a 2 year project. lol

That's hilarious.  I like the way he thinks.  ;-)  My boss and I have similar timelines.  He and another guy on my team (I'm the lead) talk openly with each other about our respective plans, but we don't say much about it to other coworkers. 

Speaking of OMY, I'm contemplating working ~2.5 years after my original FIRE date to take advantage of the rule of 55.  Other than the obvious reason, doing so would enable me to take my pension ~2.5 years earlier than originally planned.  I was granted two more weeks of PTO per year this summer, which softens the blow.  2028 would be a hard stop, so burning through my accumulated time on top of the large amount of PTO I'm now granted would give me ~2.5 months off per year (not including holidays) until I bounce.

Decisions, decisions...

[obstinate]

Our evaluations come out early in the year.  How mine goes might play into how long I stay and how much notice I give.

I will be interested to hear how it comes out. We're in a similar situation with middle school admissions. NYC schools are insane, in that you don't necessarily get to go to the school that is close by or convenient. And where you do get assigned is just down to luck -- it's a lottery system. I am like 40-60% going to retire next summer no matter what, but if the kid doesn't get into a decent school that probability is going to go way up.

[Freedomin5]

Our evaluations come out early in the year.  How mine goes might play into how long I stay and how much notice I give.

I will be interested to hear how it comes out. We're in a similar situation with middle school admissions. NYC schools are insane, in that you don't necessarily get to go to the school that is close by or convenient. And where you do get assigned is just down to luck -- it's a lottery system. I am like 40-60% going to retire next summer no matter what, but if the kid doesn't get into a decent school that probability is going to go way up.

Public schools are better in Ontario. DD can go to the school in our neighborhood. However, after seeing the test scores trend downward over the past few years, plus learning that there is no gifted program to speak of, we are now 100% going to retire next summer, and we are homeschooling DD.

Only 25 more work weeks (not counting holidays).

[BlueSkyyes]

Hi everyone! Moving here from the 2024 Cohort. I had initially hoped be retiring this year, but thanks to the election, believe there is far too much risk to do so. ACA is at risk which is a huge concern, And i'm also concerned that the bad economic policies will result in high inflation and a recession. I'm going to see how things go this year and just decide later what to do.

[mistymoney]

Hi everyone! Moving here from the 2024 Cohort. I had initially hoped be retiring this year, but thanks to the election, believe there is far too much risk to do so. ACA is at risk which is a huge concern, And i'm also concerned that the bad economic policies will result in high inflation and a recession. I'm going to see how things go this year and just decide later what to do.

Welcome!

What mitigation do you envision untertaking during your OMY?

I'm trying to shore up my plans, but have similar concerns to what you've mentioned.