They said no!

The last two posts have been filled with all the thoughts and concerns about Don being offered an early retirement package from work...they had a fancier title....Voluntary Separation Agreement. The first step after you get this offer is to sign a letter of interest. That is handed into HR...then you wait a couple of weeks to see if you are approved or not.....now to me...that's a lot of work for nothing.....in Don's case, he found out on Friday that they're not prepared to let him go yet....simply because over the years Don has perfected his job, established certain ways of attaining the information they desire for pricing analysis and projections...he's also the guy they want in their pocket at negotiations because he can plug numbers into his formulations and quickly tell them the numbers they need....the trouble is, they've kind of turned a blind eye to this all, haven't really noticed that he's getting up there in age, just three years from 'official' retirement age.....and they've done nothing in regards to training someone to do his job!
So, they said no.......if I had been them I wouldn't have offered it at all until I had a plan....but...big business doesn't operate that way...the computer puts you on a list of people over a certain age and so all those people receive notification.
Personally, this also gives us time ..... Time to get some debt paid down..before the next VSA comes out, time to perhaps save for another trip because we realized that with our finances the way they are now that if he retired , there wouldn't be any more big trips...there still might not be but at least now there's a possibility....
......and hopefully big business gets their act together and starts training someone else, because Don asked that if another VSA comes out that the next time they won't turn him down....I think he was really getting the idea that retirement would be really nice....he also wants to get another part time income generating position going....he loves his continuing Ed teaching he does in the evenings but it's not dependable, semester to semester...

So, right now.....it gives us a little breathing room, so to speak.....we'll still keep our appointment with the financial advisor this Friday and get some advice on the next steps....sometimes it's helpful to get objective advice...

So, ya......changes not so huge coming along, but this is a wonderful opportunity to prepare for when they do....this is OUR wake up call.

It's a good thing. :-)


~ Marie