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SIX YEARS AGO, I MADE a big life decision: I opted to scale back my work week with an eye to easing into early retirement.
I stayed in the same role, but reduced my hours and responsibilities, took a proportional pay cut, and bid farewell to potential future promotions. Essentially, my human capital shifted from a growth investment to an immediate-fixed annuity for the remainder of my part-time employment.
The change turned out to be far more fulfilling than I’d anticipated. With a four-day weekend every week of the year, I found ample time to unwind from work and indulge in my passions. Even with fewer hours, I consistently met the reduced job expectations and felt valued for my contributions.
The ongoing paycheck, though smaller, spared me from dipping into my nest egg, enabling it to grow and add to my financial cushion. Most important, I remained connected with my teammates and enjoyed the social interaction.
Still, my new setup had one major drawback. While I managed to take occasional short vacations, my family circumstances demanded longer spells away from work. My aging mother lives alone in India and is reluctant to travel abroad. To spend more time with her, I needed to visit her often and stay for prolonged periods.
To be clear, my mother doesn’t require me to live with her and look after her. Throughout her life, she’s been self-sufficient, and my brother and his family live just a few miles away, offering their support as needed. Instead, it’s my desire to spend time with her and do things together, while she’s in good health.
My aspirations required the flexibility to take longer, unplanned leaves a few times a year. Sadly, this isn’t feasible in my current role as an engineering manager overseeing a growing software product. I had to choose between my job and my travels—I couldn’t do both. After exploring multiple alternatives, I made a big career decision in August: to retire completely.
To my surprise, the decision to part ways with a company that brought me to this country, and which fostered my professional journey for 24 years, wasn’t easy. Slowing down is one thing, but actively deciding to close the final chapter of my career is quite another.
In many ways, it brought back the feelings I faced years ago, when I left the emotional security and comfort of living with my parents to forge my path abroad. I anticipated many positives from my new overseas adventure and knew I’d thrive, but I also knew I’d dearly miss being part of my parents’ household.
My manager was initially surprised when I broached the subject, but he quickly empathized with my circumstances. As a first-generation immigrant himself, he understood the emotional struggle of balancing life in the U.S. with ties back home. He was fully supportive, and we worked out a transition plan.
Because I wasn’t planning an immediate trip back to India, we opted to use the months that followed to minimize the potential disruptions to the team and its ongoing projects. The plan entailed hiring two junior fulltime engineering managers as my successors.
I’d then gradually hand over my responsibilities to both and support them until they were fully acclimated to their new roles. We aimed to complete the transition by year-end, with an additional month in the new year as a buffer, giving me ample time to wrap up work and plan my upcoming extended stay in India.
With the transition plan set, the ball started rolling. I had conversations with each of my teammates to disclose my decision. I preferred that my colleagues hear the news from me rather than through the grapevine or in a team-wide email. The plan was then announced to the broader group. Now, it was official.
Despite being a small fry in a large corporate pond—one that employs more than 100,000 engineers—I felt like a celebrity as numerous congratulatory messages from present and former colleagues poured in. To celebrate my retirement, my manager secretly gathered personal messages from my coworkers and presented them on a slide at the next all-hands meeting. It was a heartfelt gesture, one I found incredibly touching.
I framed the slide and placed it on my desk. It highlighted how much I’d miss the camaraderie once I retired. I was also surprised by certain recurring themes in the reactions of coworkers and acquaintances.
First, many viewed part-time work or early retirement as an extreme decision, as if career advancement should be the sole objective for anyone capable of continuing to work. Personal independence is clearly underrated by them.
Second, there was a perception that retiring required amassing a high net worth. My response—that “you can do it, too”—wasn’t convincing to those I spoke to.
Third, there was a misunderstanding regarding my need for extended timeoff. Colleagues and acquaintances thought I was doing it because of family obligation, rather than because it was my personal choice.
As I write about the last chapter of my career, the transition is going well. The new managers are gradually assuming the responsibilities I once handled. Although I occasionally struggle to cede control, I’ve also never felt this relaxed and composed at work. I’ll miss my team dearly, but I’m grateful to end my career on a high note.
Sanjib Saha is a software engineer by profession, but he’s now transitioning to early retirement. Self-taught in investments, he passed the Series 65 licensing exam as a non-industry candidate. Sanjib is passionate about raising financial literacy and enjoys helping others with their finances. Check out his earlier articles.
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Sanjib, congratulations on your retirement.
I retired about a year and a half ago as a telecommunications specialist with one of the big telecom’s. Basically, I roved around to over 30 central offices in the southeastern area of Wisconsin, on second shift, doing mostly trouble shooting plus order and equipment installs. Just as you, one of the nicest things about being retired, is the total lack of any job stress and the sense of comfort and relaxation that that brings.
Unfortunately, unless you developed off the job friendships with your fellow workers before you retired, you’ll probably will never hear from them ever again. That was my biggest shock, that the on-the-job friendships that I had while working, no matter how deep, didn’t translate into off-the-job friendships once retired.
Thank you, Tim. Yes, I too worry about losing contact with some of my coworkers. I didn’t do a good job of staying connected with my former coworkers from other past employers, but with social media, I’ve gotten in touch with a few of them in recent years. But I need to be more proactive in keeping these connections alive.
Congratulations on your retirement! What really strikes me about your story is how much you’re clearly valued in your workplace and by your colleagues and how responsible you were about first cutting back and then making plans to leave. Those of us still working should all aspire to such a gracious farewell.
Thank you so much for your kind words, DrLefty.
Sanjib, congratulations on retiring on your own terms. That’s quite an accomplishment because often the curveballs of life don’t allow for that. At the end of the day, when you treat people right, well…what goes around comes around.
Thank you, Patrick. You wrote my wife’s favorite phrase:) (what goes around comes around)
I had a similar experience. I planned to retire with 25+ times our yearly expenses. My wife and I started late but contributed a nice % monthly. I was able to achieve the above goal in 23 years and retired at age 61 in 2018. I was also an IT developer.
The minute I got the number, I approached our VP and told him I would retire in 30 days. The VP was surprised as well as my coworkers.
I knew it was final and I never regretted it.
BTW, during our lives, we spent frugally below our means and enjoyed weeks of travels around the world and all the other stuff.
Our portfolio has grown by a lot since 2018. I rather have too much and never worry than retire with just enough. Money doesn’t make you happy, it’s just more comfortable. We can help our kids and the community without hesitation.
Thanks for sharing your experience, Fund Daddy. Good to know your fund has grown a lot in the last five years since your retirement. I suppose you have a healthy allocation to stocks.
It was achieved with 90% bond OEFs since 2018. I have a special system I developed in 2000. I don’t promote it. I have a site where investors can learn it but I hesitate posting it. The idea has been to control the losses to a minimum and join the uptrend.
BTW, in contrast to many in IT, I usually worked only 40-42 hours per week. I had to fight very hard for a balanced work/home life and many times it hurt my raises and promotions but I thought I made the right choice participating in my kids’ upbringing.
Sanjib, hearty congratulations on your retirement. I began mine almost 7 years ago and it was a happy day indeed. I bet you will enjoy yours immensely, as there’s never a shortage of things to do when you have an active mind.
I imagine the personal messages you received from your colleagues are very gratifying. I’m sure they recognize your professional skills but I’m also sure they appreciate your good heart, which shines through clearly in your writings.
Best wishes for a long and happy new chapter.
Many thanks, Andrew. I can only hope that my former coworkers remember me first as a good person than a skilled person.
I was age 53 when I opened my tax prep business, which was essentially a part time job outside of the “busy” season. That enabled us to enjoy life in ways that most people have to wait until retirement to accomplish. Living below our means was a major factor for us, as I’d bet it is for you as well.
As for missing friends from my prior work life; I blast a group text out to 30 or so former co-workers and we meet the first Wednesday each month for lunch.
Best wishes for your future Sanjib.
Thank you, Dan. I plan to be in touch with at least a few coworkers 1:1, who over the years we worked together, became more of friends than colleagues.
Hi Sanjib, this is Chris. Thank you for this article. First of all, congratulations on your retirement. Secondly, my spouse retired at the end of the year and, as the senior engineer in their company, is easing into things like you did. We hope as the company moves forward, they might hire an experienced engineer for the role, but there is a shortage in my spouse’s specialty. My spouse raised their rate, and signed a contract to do limited work for them. We are hoping the rate will keep them from calling too much. Like you, it will help us delay taking from our investments. I could relate to a lot of what you wrote today, we live away from our extended families also.
Thank you, Chris. Happy to learn that your wife is also easing into retirement instead of a complete stop. It has worked very well for me, and I wonder why more people don’t do it. I rarely know anyone else in my company who reduced their work schedule in exchange for personal time.
Congratulations! A long time coming. Best wishes for many happy, healthy years.
Thank you so much, David. Best wishes to you too.
Congratulations, Sanjib. I understand the draw of home and time with family. I think your team mates will also miss you—two full-timers to replace your part-time work? Your manager will definitely miss you.
🙂 Thank you, Edmund. Instead of finding an experienced manager with equal or higher skin thickness, we decided to grow relatively inexperienced employees who are new to the manager role. It’d be rather difficult for a first-time manager to handle the size of our team, hence we opted for two persons.
As a working mom, I have spent almost my entire career seeking balance between work and family time. Even with a few part-time schemes along the way, I have yet to find it. I think this is in part because the family needs shift in different seasons of life. I hope you enjoy your time with family!
Thank you, Jamie. I know what you mean.