End of an Era

[tuftears]

I have completed a life changing decision today-- I'm retiring early.

This isn't an irrevocable decision. If the economy tanks and I need to go back to work, I'll do that. But for the time being, I have enough in savings that I felt safe in closing out my current chapter at work. My manager was very understanding and we worked out a last day-- today-- that gave me plenty of time to wrap things up.

I've been working remotely for a handful of years, ever since the pandemic started in early 2020. So how does putting together a good-bye party and card work?

My manager organized a send-off yesterday-- he let a bunch of people I've worked with over the 19+ years at Google know, and they hopped into what was normally the standup meeting for our team to reminisce about the good old days.



Here's a picture of me they dug up-- on the right-- with a bunch of co-workers at offsite we had at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco some years ago! (November 2013)

He also organized a card-- a document shared among everyone but me, with pages so that people could add their own messages, and AI-generated pictures of cats and computers.



It was quite touching, and I'm glad my manager did this, I was expecting to quietly sneak out into the great blue yonder.

I did a writeup about my time at Google, for my co-workers, but it occurs to mew that folks might be interested here, and there shouldn't be anything confidential in it-- if you have a Gmail account, meow me and I'll share it.

Anyway! What comes next? Well, my plan is to get into writing full time. I need to take charge of my own health care and financial management, ensuring that I'll have enough money to get by indefinitely, with the challenges that life inevitably brings. Maybe I'll get tested for allergies, and if I'm not actually allergic to cats (that's a big question) maybe I'll actually get one or two... But taking care of pets is a big responsibility. So I'll start with the biggest and most important tasks first.

You know, all the stuff that I put off because work was more important/time consuming...

Comments

[rix_scaedu]

Good luck, congratulations, and I hope that everything pans out!

[tuftears]

Thanks! It will take time to figure out if it's working or not.

[rowyn]

Congrats on joining me in retirement & writing! Even if I'm still working a l'il bit.

[tuftears]

Yeah, I would consider doing that (working just a little bit) because it'd ease the health care thing but I don't think that'd work out great for my particular work case. ^.^;;

[rowyn]

I kept working a li'l bit out of a combination of pity for my employer and a desire to get more money into retirement accounts (I have shoved basically all my own savings into retirement accounts over the years, but the money Terrycloth left me is mostly in taxable accounts and even the money that was in a 401(k) has to be cashed out in the next 10 years because of weird inheritance rules).

[tuftears]

Weird inheritance rules! O_O;;

[jayblanc]

Enjoy your retirement! If you travel to the UK, I'll show you where to get the good ice cream in Oxford.

[tuftears]

Haha, thanks! I hear Oxford is a smart town.

[okojosan]

Congrats on retirement! Time to slax and write!

[tuftears]

*purrs slaxily*

[jordangreywolf]

Wow. Best wishes on your retirement plans! O_O How time flies.

[tuftears]

Yeah, it's been... a learning experience! I never knew this but if you're not employed i.e. you're selling stocks or self-employed, you have to estimate and pay your taxes on a quarterly basis.

[jordangreywolf]

Wow - I never heard of that before, either. :/

[tuftears]

Normeowly, your employer withholds taxes from the checks you get on a regular basis, and that covers it. If you're on your own though, or self-employed, then you need to start planning around the estimated tax deadlines-- which aren't exactly 3 months apart, as you might expect, but at specific times around the year.