[rockfan4]

I'm not 67 yet, but I'm thinking of hanging it up.
Everything is paid off, no issues there.
I've got plenty in the 401(k).
My wife is 5 years younger than me, and I'm on her insurance, so no issues there as long as she stays working. When she does retire, she's on the state retirement system, so she is set as well. Assuming we can both stay out of a nursing home, I don't see any financial problems.

My boss found out my intentions today, and called me up at the end of the day. He gave me the "what can I do to get you to stay?" speech. He didn't come out and offer more money, but he did mention going part time with no more on call. I'm thinking of doing this around mid June, when it gets nice out. That gives me plenty of time to plan it out.

The company I work though went through a merger about a year ago, and while there haven't been any layoffs yet, there are rumors. One of my coworkers said he heard a rumor of early retirement being offered, that's part of why I didn't want to say anything definite yet.

How did you know it was time to retire? What was the deciding factor? How long did you plan? In the time between deciding to retire and actually walking out the door, what sort of worker were you?

If I had one thing that might keep me from retiring, I'd like to get back into racing. That's not cheap, even at the amateur level.