‘Why wait until the middle of the month?’: I kept moving up my retirement date. Now I’m thinking of leaving sooner. Am I making the right decision?

Last year, I finally decided I’d throw in the towel and retire in early 2025. Initially, I planned to stick around for a couple of months so I could max out my Roth Individual Retirement Account (IRA).

Then I thought, “Hey, I’ll get my final paycheck for my vacation time in January, so why not throw that into my Roth?” That got me thinking about retiring in early January.

After some more thinking, I was like, “Do I really need to add that extra bit to my Roth? It’s not a game-changer, and I’d rather be retired over the Christmas season.” So, I moved it up to mid-December.

Then, I thought, “Why not include Thanksgiving in the holiday fun?” So, I shifted it again to November 15th.

Now I’m like, “Why wait until the middle of the month?” So, I think I’ll make my grand exit on Friday, November 1.

I could retire right now, but I thought I’d give my workplace some time to replace me. Truth be told, they know I’m heading out soon. If they don’t find someone else, that’s on them. If they were in a real financial bind, they’d probably cut me loose without any notice! So, ya know, giving them a heads-up feels fair. It’s more about helping out my coworkers than the organization itself. I know I’m not irreplaceable.

So, November 1st it is, and I’m probably sticking with that.

Most people I’ve seen chatting about retirement always say something like, “Just one more year” or “I’ll stay until I get my annual bonus,” yadda yadda yadda.