What MegaCorp Perks will you miss when you stop working and which ones will you seek to replace on your own dime? The forum early-retirement.org had a thread recently where people were listing some of the corporate perks and benefits they used to enjoy.

They were fun to read through, running that gamut from typical perks like airline miles, sports tickets, fitness club memberships, and company cars to amazing things like unlimited expense accounts, a free apartment in Paris, and a private jet at their disposal. (Several military retirees humorously commented they got free weapons, unlimited ammunition, and adventurous helicopter rides to global hot spots!)

Check out the list of perks people shared HERE.

I was very blessed with a generous MegaCorp employer when it came to benefits. As a corporate officer, I enjoyed a new luxury SUV every 3 years (my latest was a BMW X5 that was fueled & washed for me twice a week and parked in a heated, underground garage we called ‘The Bat Cave’). I also received first class air travel anywhere in the world I needed to fly, stayed in luxe suites at five-star resorts, had great seats at all of the professional sports games I could ever want to go to, tapped into allowances for any financial planning & legal needs we had, and enjoyed dozens of trips on one of MegaCorp’s several private jets to make business travel easier. One of the best benefits I had was an in-house company physician and executive health care benefits at Mayo and another clinic in Minnesota.

I thought I would miss many of these perks, but now that I am a couple years out of working the MegaCorp lifestyle, I’ve come to see that while they were all terrific, you can largely replace almost any of them that you want with a few $$$. I still have a nice SUV (just replaced my MegaCorp company vehicle with a similar, newer SUV), I still take awesome trips and stay in amazing hotels, and go to sporting events whenever I want (we went to the Super Bowl this year). The only thing I can’t afford ably replace on my FIRE budget is private jet travel!

What I like best is now I can do these things when I want and do them with friends and family rather than colleagues and corporate customers. While I had many good friends at work, it is still different going to the game with my ‘real’ buddies. And I can actually watch the game since there’s no need to stand around making business chit-chat with clients or the boss. And, through StubHub, friends, and even our financial advisor, we still get great tickets in corporate suites and on the Club level for games & concerts.

Or, when we travel someplace really cool, it’s great that my wife now comes too and the visit isn’t focused first on meetings or interrupted by bad news back at the office. We can enjoy every day as pure early retiree vagabonds – with no professional commitments back home. I haven’t added up the value of what I used to have versus what I have now, but I certainly have no complaints.

What perks do you / did you get from your job that you’ve wanted to replace when you stop working? Anything you can’t buy if you really wanted to?

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