Yes. Both leading up to the conversation about retirement, and then leading up to the actual retirement day. The Monday after retirement was kind of odd - more like a vacation day without an ending date than retirement. Don't worry - you'll get over it!
My version of this was 3 month notice that then got extended by 2 weeks and then 1 more week. And then no more. I've worked with somebody that dropped down to 3 day/week work schedule for a couple of years, and then finally retired. That seemed to work well for him.
I'm flexible. Giving notice now is as much about getting a feel for how much I'll be missed as anything. My suspicion is I could easily find myself persuaded to stick around until they can conjure a Plan B.
Very interesting thread. As someone strongly considering "retiring" this year as well this has been a thoughtful read.
Being in the midst of the Big Chill of 2021 combined with TSLA's Q1 Post-S&P Correction, I'm holding off on making the retirement announcement until after the bosses again have power to their homes, can drive to work, and IT services are no longer in crisis mode. Maybe by then the SP will have made a turn back to a more norminal trajectory.
When the perfect storm brings a perfect storm ... Had to go into work today to bring things back online after the effects on the network of rolling blackouts, and, as chance would have it both bosses showed up as well. I took the opportunity to pull them aside and broke the news about my retirement. Counting down the days ...
For any who haven't found it, take a look at the FireCalc.com site. I found it invaluable as a second opinion to compare results from the spreadsheet I cooked up. I ran both the spreadsheet and FireCalc using different sets of variables to generate a variety of scenarios, all of them based upon very conservative portfolio gains. (be sure to notice the several tabs in FireCalc where changes can be made) The final analysis on the spreadsheet calculated account balances into the future based upon: taking up to no more than $30K in margin this year and each of the 2 following years the portfolio earns a flat 10% annual gain for each of the following 3 years (living off margin loan and Social Security) TSLA gains can then accumulate without selling shares to live on for up to three additional years if desired from year 4 to year 19, the balance uses a random annual gain of between 4% and 6% for the next 15 years (age 80) from year 4 to year 11, $30K each distributions are taken from the IRA and Invest accounts to supplement Social Security from year 12 to year 19, what's left of the IRA is only tapped for play money, distributions are taken from Invest (30K) and Roth(15K), plus Social Security Obviously, these are what most TMC TSLA HODLers would consider "lowball" estimates for TSLA growth. At this stage of calculation I wanted to downplay gains to assure me I could retire today based upon these gain and distribution levels. It was meant to show a poor growth scenario. Once I ran the same figures in FireCalc the resulting graphs showed all lines calculated against historical data each remaining comfortably above the Red line. The addition of 30K from a margin loan up front for 3 years was crucial for demonstrating a safe retirement this year. Because total margin borrowed in year 1 will be less than 15% (of 25% offered) from the IBKR account it seems to indicate quite a bit of wiggle room left to prevent any margin call situation arising. I'm hoping the SP gains will be better than 10% going forward. If the SP performs well this year and next I may be able to begin distributions earlier, or, have more margin bucks to access from IBKR's 25% limit on an account made up of 99% TSLA and then I could continue to dip from this well in order to preserve the shares for further growth.
Thanks to a combined effort between myself and Mr. Murphy I get to test my spreadsheet today putting in the numbers as the SP dives for 700. The formulas still show the plan as good for the next 18 years or so, only based upon today's numbers and the conservative gain percentages. Gotta love that Murphy, such a kidder. Trying to get my goat. Clearly, he doesn't know I'm a HODLer and this just looks like a reset back a few weeks to the beginning of the year. Tesla Fundamentals are rockin' and demand for their wares is outstripping supply.
Fortunately, I have a sense of humor when it comes to life. Doubly so regarding the market. Otherwise, I might be fretting inconsolably after HODLing TSLA the past few weeks. Still, I know the foundation and prospects for TSLA are sound and this presents an opportunity to see what else I might get into to expand what I have so I can buy more chairs. Things are always more interesting, and life so much more rewarding, when I have complex problems to solve for. I wouldn't want to get all comfy and complacent now, would I?