A Journey of Mindfulness--the Remaking of Life in Midstream.

Where are you and where are you going?
RockyMtnLiving
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Re: A Journey of Mindfulness--the Remaking of Life in Midstream.

Post by RockyMtnLiving »

Good luck, IlliniDave. I'm very happy for you, and also jealous. You are in terrific shape, financially and otherwise. What you are doing today will certainly be stressful and emotional, so I am not making light of it. Still, if you aren't ready for retirement, I'm not certain anybody is. So again, good luck today.

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Bankai
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Re: A Journey of Mindfulness--the Remaking of Life in Midstream.

Post by Bankai »

As a side note, I'm surprised you only have 2 weeks' notice, especially considering your senior role and that you've been at the company for decades. In the UK even entry level jobs often have a month's notice while as a lowly analyst I'm chained with 3 months' notice. Might be just a sign of a much more flexible and dynamic job market in the US.

IlliniDave
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Re: A Journey of Mindfulness--the Remaking of Life in Midstream.

Post by IlliniDave »

RockyMtnLiving wrote:
Thu Jun 03, 2021 6:50 am
Good luck, IlliniDave. I'm very happy for you, and also jealous. You are in terrific shape, financially and otherwise. What you are doing today will certainly be stressful and emotional, so I am not making light of it. Still, if you aren't ready for retirement, I'm not certain anybody is. So again, good luck today.
Thanks, RML. There's ready, and there's ready. I'll know today whether I am both. :lol:

Married2aSwabian
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Re: A Journey of Mindfulness--the Remaking of Life in Midstream.

Post by Married2aSwabian »

Big day! We’re all with you in spirit.

In my 30+ years of work at quite a few different companies now, one thing that’s a constant is the self-interest of the organization. When it comes to the point of giving that notice, the corporate machinery of every organization keeps chugging along and none of us are irreplaceable. I’ve often been surprised by which colleagues do and do not comment on my moving on to greener pastures.

One thing's for sure, no corporation has any of our best interests in mind other than a common pursuit of the almighty Dollar.

Good luck!

IlliniDave
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Re: A Journey of Mindfulness--the Remaking of Life in Midstream.

Post by IlliniDave »

Bankai wrote:
Thu Jun 03, 2021 6:58 am
As a side note, I'm surprised you only have 2 weeks' notice, especially considering your senior role and that you've been at the company for decades. In the UK even entry level jobs often have a month's notice while as a lowly analyst I'm chained with 3 months' notice. Might be just a sign of a much more flexible and dynamic job market in the US.
Bankai, that is interesting. To the best of my knowledge, there is no requirement for that here. It's generally considered professional courtesy to provide at least 2 weeks notice.

In my case I've provided those I consider my primary "stakeholders" a few months notice. Hence I'm already "training" my replacement. The engineering wing of the company is organized into pools of people sorted by basic technical niche into groups from an HR/care-and-feeding perspective. The individuals are from there farmed out to the various projects and programs to meet the needs. So there's not a pressing need for the HR/care-and-feeding side of things to have more notice than what it takes to process the paperwork. The ones who would potentially experience a disruption are the people managing the projects/programs. But on that side we already have a succession plan being worked.

"Succession plan" is a little misleading, although that's the term they've been using. It's a far less grandiose situation than the vocabulary would imply. ;)

IlliniDave
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Re: A Journey of Mindfulness--the Remaking of Life in Midstream.

Post by IlliniDave »

Married2aSwabian wrote:
Thu Jun 03, 2021 7:24 am
Big day! We’re all with you in spirit ... the corporate machinery of every organization keeps chugging along and none of us are irreplaceable. I’ve often been surprised by which colleagues do and do not comment on my moving on to greener pastures.
Thanks,

There's an expression that the best I can do is paraphrase: the cemeteries are full of vitally important people.

I don't kid myself that I'll be missed in any other way than perhaps on a personal level. Probably by fewer people than I would hope. :lol:

I think I mentioned a few installments back that I've detected a few people distancing themselves personally as my circle has gradually become aware of my plans. I think some are judging me no longer useful to cultivate as a friend/associate. Other's I think are creating sort of an emotional buffer. Sometimes people really do become friends through work, even when the friendship is confined to the workplace, and in general it's not easy to maintain the friendships when one leaves the workplace and moves a few states away. So other than exchanging a few emails on the holidays, this will be the big goodbye to people I've interacted with daily for decades in some cases.

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Mister Imperceptible
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Re: A Journey of Mindfulness--the Remaking of Life in Midstream.

Post by Mister Imperceptible »

The last time I was a W2, my boss gave 6 months notice of retirement. The company let her go with 3 months left to cut costs. Within a couple of months I became a 1099 and have not looked back.

My uncle worked 17 years for a company and gave 2 weeks notice a few days before Christmas. They terminated him before the New Year so they would not have to be on the hook for health insurance.

My mother worked 15 years for a company as a salaried manager working a lot of unpaid overtime over the years. She had accumulated 15 weeks of unpaid vacation and when new investors acquired the company she was laid off and did not collect a dime for those 15 weeks.

I have been fired a couple of times now for reasons that were really unfair and I would be salty about it if I did not shortly thereafter land gigs that paid 15-20% more.

Corporate America is owed nothing. 2 weeks is generous. 2 minutes should be more like it.

RockyMtnLiving
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Re: A Journey of Mindfulness--the Remaking of Life in Midstream.

Post by RockyMtnLiving »

Hey IlliniDave, how did it go today?

IlliniDave
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Re: A Journey of Mindfulness--the Remaking of Life in Midstream.

Post by IlliniDave »

It went okay with my boss. She probed a little regarding whether I was really ready to retire versus feeling "forced" into it due to the family circumstances, having gone through something similar with her mother a few years back. She was all onboard with helping make the remote part-time thing happen, which she strongly encouraged me to do.

Semi-coincidentally I learned that the part-time thing is likely a no-go--seems that the interest is now reduced to the time prior to my relocation, which will hopefully be too short to make it worth the effort. My goal is to have the house sold and all my stuff in storage no later than the second week of August.

Somewhere along the way someone must have decided the remote thing was too much of a stretch (covid didn't expunge all of the old school from the company I guess). I had to say, "Guys, think about it. If I wanted to stay here and work, I would just stay here and work and wouldn't be planning on retiring and relocating." One of those 'duh" moments even really intelligent and competent people have, I guess. It was left as the relo is the priority, and if there's some capacity I can help out remotely on a part-time basis I'd love to talk about it. I'm supposed to meet a friend who's on the project side of this over the weekend for a burger/beer which will give me a chance to get a little more insight, and to clarify my position if needed. But I think it's dead. Doesn't mean my boss won't dig up an alternative, I think she'll try, but I suspect she doesn't have the bandwidth.

TL;DR: I'm clear for departure. Looks like it will be a clean break. I guess I probably prefer the step-down approach as I like to preserve options, something I've come to realize was near the top of the list for motivators to gain an amount of FI. Many aspects of the subsequent plan are just a first cut at exploiting those options.

Gilberto de Piento
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Re: A Journey of Mindfulness--the Remaking of Life in Midstream.

Post by Gilberto de Piento »

I'm glad you are one step closer even if it isn't totally sorted out yet. Very happy for you!

IlliniDave
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Re: A Journey of Mindfulness--the Remaking of Life in Midstream.

Post by IlliniDave »

Gilberto de Piento wrote:
Fri Jun 04, 2021 9:51 am
I'm glad you are one step closer even if it isn't totally sorted out yet. Very happy for you!
Thanks. I think the part about my transition from employment is pretty close to being settled. Apparently there is a second set of paperwork I need to file with HR, a "termination package". Submitting an old-fashioned resignation letter is an unnecessary anachronism it seems. I'll probably do it anyway, but the real actions are filing the retirement paperwork with the appropriate benefit administrator, which I'll drop in the mail towards the end of this month, then the termination package which I'll do probably in mid-July. Even submitted, both of those can be undone all the way up to the 11th hour, so waffly iDave can still wring his hands and plot and scheme in the background.

Moving further afield topic-wise, getting disentangled from work is just the beginning.

My active focus can turn towards the next chronological event which is getting the house ready to sell. I have some landscape spruce up yet to do (stuff I normally would have done back in April), but otherwise projects that I have to perform/coordinate/directly oversee are complete. By next week I should have a plan for the remaining updates/repairs/spruce ups worked out with the decorating consultant.

From there as far as the house goes, I just write checks. About as low down on the ereWS as it gets. The consultant, real estate agent, and anecdotal evidence I have as the youngsters around me scramble to find a house to buy, all indicate pretty strongly that the peak demand is for "turnkey" homes. So I think I'm going to wind up putting a little more $ into prepping the house than I thought based on the projection that sinking $X into the property will put it in a per-sq-ft tier that adds almost 2x$X to the commensurate listing price. I'd always heard that such bets are risky, but then again I wouldn't be looking to sell if I hadn't risked a lot more money for a lot longer in the financial markets. When I frame it as similar to putting ~2% of the stash into a high risk equity investment I see it as a tolerable gamble. To be fair the sum is dominated by kitchen updates, flooring, and painting, which I believe are among the less risky upgrades.

I also have to fully confront the task I realize I have been semi-dreading: dealing with stuff. Nibbling around the edges like I've been has yielded some progress, but I need to make it my personal job one now until it's done. In another low ereWS maneuver, I'm intending to put everything I won't be discarding one way or another into storage on the destination end. By the time I vacate the premises here I'm expecting to be fully drained mentally and emotionally, so am planning on spending the bulk of the next 4-6 weeks up at the hideout decompressing and getting my bearings. When cabin season ends I'll head back to Illinois and start dealing seriously with the need to find a place to hang my hat for a chunk of years. Presuming that quest settles out during the first quarter of 2022 I'll then splurge on a 6-pack of Bell's Two-Hearted Ale, get half-drunk, turn my little 15W guitar amp all the way up, and call it a win.

IlliniDave
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Re: A Journey of Mindfulness--the Remaking of Life in Midstream.

Post by IlliniDave »

Well, I made it out to meet my friend last night. First time out at a public eatery/drinkery since September 2019. Way too many of the women looked good. I think I've been cooped up for too long. :lol: I did make it out of there unscathed, mostly because my alcohol consumption was only token.

I didn't learn a whole lot about the machinations concerning the remote support step down approach to retirement. I guess I never really noticed or thought about it, but my position has a lot of visibility, and the concern is that my replacement while continuing to learn the job after I'm gone might not project the degree of competence the higher-ups want to project in day-to-day interaction with the customer. So they're concerned about reputation. That's one facet. The other is the project is getting ready to launch a new phase that will entail some different challenges. Not that I'm particularly qualified for the specifics, but they have more confidence in a known quantity like me navigating that than my much more junior replacement. So that's sort of the why of it regarding the existence of the discussion to begin with.

The why of the machinations is not so clear. Apparently they are now talking about remote support for 3 months (originally it was 6). To me that length of time is not very advantageous, and it winds down when the weather starts getting cold which would be the time working a few hrs a week would have the least impact. If that idea gains enough legs to get run past me officially I think I'll take that opportunity close the door on that line of possibilities.

What's been bugging me this morning is that I have a 17-yr-old dog who I'd assumed would have trotted across the rainbow bridge prior to this juncture. She's deaf, her eyesight seems to be waning, and her mobility if falling off as you'd expect for a dog that old. The hideout is not the ideal setting for her. Aside from at least four species of predator she's not capable of evading or defending against, were she to wander off I can't call her back and outside of my little cluster of neighbors the odds of her encountering a good Samaritan are tiny. Things aren't much better in Illinois where I'll be a house guest for a number of months (no fenced areas in yards, and I've had to train her to use "puppy pads" because her bladder control has waned). She began life as my daughter's dog and got left behind, so I'm hoping maybe she'll take her when It's time for me to go. Very selfish of me, because the amount of time and attention she'd consume after relocation would be a pita.

Married2aSwabian
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Re: A Journey of Mindfulness--the Remaking of Life in Midstream.

Post by Married2aSwabian »

You’re going about this notice thing all wrong….you should’ve figured out a plan to get fired, but with a big fat severance check!

Clean break, with extra cash! :lol:

IlliniDave
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Re: A Journey of Mindfulness--the Remaking of Life in Midstream.

Post by IlliniDave »

Married2aSwabian wrote:
Tue Jun 08, 2021 8:53 pm
...you should’ve figured out a plan to get fired, but with a big fat severance check!
Being terminated for cause comes with no severance and curtails retirement benes. Getting laid off on the cusp of retirement is the holy grail for people with one foot out the corporate door. Unfortunately looks like I won't get a shot at one of the voluntary layoff opportunities that pop up at irregular intervals. I've been telling my management for the last few years if they get forced to reduce their headcount, put me at the top of the list, or at least before any younger employee who is providing for a family. How noble of me, eh?

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mountainFrugal
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Re: A Journey of Mindfulness--the Remaking of Life in Midstream.

Post by mountainFrugal »

@IlliniDave I may have missed this and cannot see the whole picture, but it seems like if you just head out the door and they DO decide that a transition is necessary you would be in a much better negotiating position rather than just extending to part time remote. Extending is the most convenient for the company. I would personally push for being rehired as a consultant where you will have better terms if they need your services. Just a thought...

7Wannabe5
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Re: A Journey of Mindfulness--the Remaking of Life in Midstream.

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

If this journal was the script for even a very long play porn movie, somebody would have slapped you on the ass while urging “Give it to me, baby!” about a bajillion posts before now.

IOW, you need to focus on release to pleasure and let yourself become a bit excited about possibilities. For example, picture yourself out fishing on the lake, imagine this with all of your senses, the biggest fish ever comes along, and “Yay, hooray! You got it!!”

IlliniDave
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Re: A Journey of Mindfulness--the Remaking of Life in Midstream.

Post by IlliniDave »

mountainFrugal wrote:
Wed Jun 09, 2021 11:19 am
@IlliniDave I may have missed this and cannot see the whole picture, but it seems like if you just head out the door and they DO decide that a transition is necessary you would be in a much better negotiating position rather than just extending to part time remote. Extending is the most convenient for the company. I would personally push for being rehired as a consultant where you will have better terms if they need your services. Just a thought...
IIRC, I would have to wait 6 months, and would not be allowed to come back as contract in my current capacity or anything too close to it. Per company policy. They apparently are very wiggy about people finding ways to collect their retirement benes while essentially keeping their jobs, if that makes sense.

I see it as a ramp-down out of my current assignment, not as just a way to keep money from them flowing to me. Taking on a sufficiently different role on some other project doesn't appeal to me.

IlliniDave
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Re: A Journey of Mindfulness--the Remaking of Life in Midstream.

Post by IlliniDave »

7Wannabe5 wrote:
Wed Jun 09, 2021 11:35 am
If this journal was the script for even a very long play porn movie, somebody would have slapped you on the ass while urging “Give it to me, baby!” about a bajillion posts before now...
Okay, I'll post less. :D

7Wannabe5
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Re: A Journey of Mindfulness--the Remaking of Life in Midstream.

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

:lol: !

IlliniDave
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Re: A Journey of Mindfulness--the Remaking of Life in Midstream.

Post by IlliniDave »

It's been more than a week. I hope that's an acceptably slow growth rate of the bajillion posts.

I've decided I'm not going to retire. I'm still going to do all the things I've been talking about, including cessation of "monetized work" (I hate that term but it is efficient). To my surprise the word retirement is starting to come with a cost. So I need a new word or short phrase for it. Too bad I gave away one of my Zelinsky books and sent the other off to recycle. I probably could have found inspiration for a new word from him.

Things feel like they are accelerating. I've taken any continuation beyond 30 July off the table. It happened I worked from home a long half day earlier this week. It was actually pretty miserable. No way do I want 24 hr/wk of that. The money's not worth it.

Probably no reason to update until after that date.

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