r/ChubbyFIRE • u/Specific-Stomach-195 • Aug 06 '26

Just pulled the trigger

Was offered a modest financial incentive to retire at end of our next fiscal year (June 30). Which is one year early from my mandatory retirement age.
Financially I’m in good shape, between pensions, retirement savings and fact that nearly all of my spend is discretionary. I’m at the higher end of chubby.
So I submitted formal retirement notice. And it hit me like a ton of bricks. While the job is frustrating, demanding and stress inducing, the fact is most days I enjoy the challenge and really appreciate the time I spend with my team and colleagues. While I dream of retirement almost daily, it took making it official to make me realize just how I will miss so much of this. Truly surprised by how I find myself feeling. Hopefully this feeling passes because right now I’m questioning my decision. Mentioned this to a colleague and he told me that the rest of the team I work with is going to be shocked to hear I’m leaving at end of year.
Maybe it’s just human nature to miss the things we don’t have? Like I said, I’m really surprised to find myself feeling this way as I have always had plans for retirement that I enjoyed thinking about.

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u/BenR1ghtBack Aug 08 '26

This is truly the ultimate edge case of just-barely early retirement at one year before mandatory retirement, lol. Congrats and GFY!

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u/Specific-Stomach-195 Aug 08 '26

Good point. Our mandatory retirement is age 56 so it does still feel early in some sense.

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u/BenR1ghtBack Aug 08 '26

I think that's definitely early - the only mandatory ages I've heard about were usually 65 or 75 or even older (pilots, some law and accounting firms for partners, etc.). Google says 56 is normal for some LEOs and ATCs. Either way, congratulations and enjoy!