It was a difficult decision to retire but I new it was the decision I needed to make for my health. BNY was attributing to my stress and unhappiness. Longer hours, more responsibility and less pay had become the norm and i no longer "enjoyed" my job as a didbin the past. It has been 6 months since I retired and I am a new person. I am relaxed, easy to be around and learned how to laugh and smile again. I cannot explain it, it is just freeing. People told me I am a changed person in a good way, too.
If you can retire and afraid to pull the trigger, don't be. You will not regret saving yourself. The firm will not blink an eye when you are gone. Some inexperienced person will take over and life goes on.
15 replies (most recent on top)
Sounds amazing! I can’t wait, will be going the same early next year but won’t be framing it as retirement. I need to get out of corporate and not looking to have and employer will go a self employed route after I decompress for about 6 months. I’m lucky to have financial ability to do so right now. At some point though you have to weigh how much your health and your general well being is worth.
@hk If you're 60 and up when you leave (for any reason) you get your 401(k) match, no matter what time of the year it is.
In addition to stock options, you must do it after end of Jan, otherwise the 401k matching is forfeited too.
@ds the number of days notice is depended on your title and letter grade. You want to make sure you follow it so you do not lose any stock options. You have to be at least 60 to retire with your stock options too. Do your fact finding first before retiring.
@ds I had to give 60 days notice that I would be retiring. Otherwise I would have lost my stock options. It wasn't much but I was not going to forfiet it either.
@ar I am under my spouses insurance. I do agree, one needs to consider that. I am very fortunate that I did not have to worry about it.
When you retire, are you planning to tell them so, or just quit saying you go for another opportunity ? I am asking as I think the notice period may be longer than 30 days if you announce your retirement. I may be wrong, I’ll have to check the policy. I wouldn’t want to stay too long training my replacement and who knows what else I might be put through.
@ar Re Healthcare. If you can keep your MAGI below $86,400, you qualify for ACA subsidies. It helps if you have a Roth IRA in addition to your 401(k), as Roth withdrawals don't count towards the MAGI number.
I've been looking at that option, but it won't work for me if I do Roth conversions. Checking prices for ACA, it looks like I'll be paying around $1900/month for coverage. I haven't checked to see how much Cobra would cost.
Sad and ironically, no one under 55 stands a chance of ‘retiring’ proper from BNY anymore.
If you are 59+ you are lucky beyond lucky.
No one left will make it that far.
@OP congrats OP. A few questions please.
What are you doing for health insurance? If you are not 65, what are you using? Is it the Bank’s COBRA or some other plan? Obviously health care dot gov is inadequate and as expensive as COBRA. If you are using another
Provider, which is it?
I'm outta here soon myself. I'm sticking around a while to hit a financial goal before I quit, but I'm at the point where I don't care if they get rid of me. In fact, I hope they do lay me off, and then I'll hire a lawyer and see what I can get out of them.
6 months for me and not an ounce of regret.
I am hoping to retire shortly. BNY is not a good place to work. Employees are treated like dirt too often. Many other companies treat employees like assets. There are better, healthier places to work if you can’t retire yet. Places that will treat you with respect. Whatever you do, protect your health before it’s too late.
@OP Yes BUT whether one decides to retire should not be made based on the desire to separate form a toxic workplace environment that BNY has intentionally setup to make people fail, want to quit or leave for retirement voluntarily… in most cases this would be done ahead of schedule.
If you are over 55, you should be forewarned that your chances of finding other professional employment options are drastically more limited.
Again, BNY senior leadership should be crucified. RV and the entire EC should be fired for negligence/ irresponsible governance and improper stewardship. This fish rots from the head down.
@OP very happy for you that you can afford to retire. Most of us are only still here because we cant afford to. If I could I absolutely would.