Today is the day. Plans have accelerated. At the end of the workday, I expect to be sitting down with my boss and pouring out a simple toast of thanks prior to announcing my impending early retirement. It will be the first time I’ve told my boss that I am leaving MegaCorp and will constitute my formal resignation notice.
To celebrate the milestone (and quell the nerves), I will make the announcement with a old-fashioned crystal tumbler filled with The Macallan 18 – a special scotch whisky aged a full eighteen years in sherry oak casks. It is the kind of rare whisky that Don Draper & Roger Sterling would wholly endorse for this positively Mad Men moment.
Distilled in Scotland in a 300+ year old Highland manor house The Macallan is one of the most respected names in scotch whisky. The exclusive elixir is distilled using fourteen copper-clad “curiously small stills” that are so well known they have appeared on the back of a Bank of Scotland £10 note.
While I am not an aficionado of fine scotch, the boss and I shared a golden glass of this expensive whiskey ($225/bottle) while enjoying a conversation around this massive stone fireplace at MegaCorp’s executive retreat in northern Minnesota on a snowy day two Novembers ago …
Together, we were hosting an award trip at the private resort and discussing our individual future plans a bit in the abstract. As we talked, he treated me to a glass of The Macallan 18 as he imparted his wisdom on money, rare scotch, and how to best set up one’s retirement lifestyle. The fact is, my own plans were already well beyond abstract at that point. My dear wife and I had decided a few months earlier to start counting down to April Fool’s Day 2016 as my last day before early retirement.
My boss is a respected 35+ year senior executive at our blue chip MegaCorp. He is about 10 years older than I am (almost 60?). We’ve worked together for the last 18 months and he has been talking a lot about his retirement plans since the day I met him. I’ve stayed relatively quiet on the topic, so I expect he will be quite surprised that I am leaving SOONER than he is. Few people leave our MegaCorp as early as 55, so I think the fact that I am still 49 will perhaps leave him shocked.
I’ve written before about the Dom Perignon champagne (vintage 2000) that I will pop on my 50th birthday (two months from now) and celebrate my Golden Jubilee and Jubilado status (look it up). This special bottle of scotch will get things going for what should be a very exciting final two months!
Image Credit: GearPatrol.com and MrFireStation.com
MrFireStation 
I’m excited for you…and I barely even know you! Enjoy the moment, especially the scotch.
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Thanks, Ernie – exciting day! The finality of announcing is a big step in a long journey.
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The entire time I read this post, I was thinking that very thing Ernie. While we are all essential strangers to one another, it is amazing to share common goals and to celebrate in each others successes. Congrats Mr. Fire Station!!!
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Too true – It’s fun to have a group that you can share thoughts & plans with – especially a financial topic most folks are not comfortable talking about in person.
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Also so true Mr. FS. I don’t understand why there is such a stigma attached to talking about money. It is my belief that having more open and honest conversations would make for a much better financial environment for our country as a whole.
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Hope all goes as planned E and that you savor the moment.
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Congrats! Can’t wait to hear how it goes.
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Thanks! Looked like the boss might have been out today unexpectedly, but I guess he’s here.
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Congratulations! And a fine choice, indeed.
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Thanks! Are you a Scotch aficionado?
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If I have a choice, I choose Macallan 🙂
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I got a tweet from them congratulating me 🙂
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Congratulations, and I admire your taste in liquor. But speaking as a Scot from Edinburgh, Scotch should always be spelt as “whisky” without an ‘e’. Whiskey with an e should technically only refer to bourbon or to Irish whiskey. Best wishes for early retirement – I am 2 years into mine and enjoying every minute.
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Thanks! I spelled it without and easy originally, but it didn’t look quite right to me. Now I’ve learned something new! I will edit the post… 😃
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What a cliffhanger. Looking forward to your story tomorrow.
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Yes – I will definitely post a recap!
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I’m not even retiring yet and yet this still has me excited! Congratulations to you – hope it goes well!!
— Jim
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Thanks – it’s a big step and I appreciate the well wishes!
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Congratulations! And good luck with the announcement. Maybe you’ll inspire your boss to speed things up on his own announcement. Waiting for the follow-up post with bated breath!
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Thanks – I’m sure the boss WILL reflect on his own timeline. Would be hard not to. 😃
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Good luck today! I can’t wait to hear how it goes. I think I’ve even been holding my breath a little bit on your behalf! 🙂
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Reblogged this on Mrs. MoneysWorth and commented:
Over the moon for MrFireStation in giving notice today of his early retirement!
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There is nothing that compares to the feeling of telling your boss that you are retiring early. Congrats and enjoy both the announcement and the Scotch Whisky.
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Well put, Tommy! It is a conversation we all look forward to and rehearse in our minds over and over, isn’t it?
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Cheers! That certainly sounds like some fine whiskey, and what a conversation to accompany it. I wish you the best of luck & cannot wait to hear your report back!
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Thanks, Alyssa! Full report is coming on Monday, but it was very positive.
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Congrats man!
An interesting aside: If the country of origin doesn’t have an ‘E’ in it it is spelled whisky (Japan, Canada, Scotland), if there is an ‘E’ spell it whiskey (United States, Ireland)
🙂
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That’s cool – I wonder if that’s a coincidence or if people have been playful.
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Scotch & butterflies? I had butterflies in my stomach when I hit the “I accept” button on the early retirement package. Hope the conversation goes (went, as I’m reading this late) well!
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