[jcommin]

My story: I'm 73 and just retired on November 1st of last year. I have been in manufacturing since I graduated college in 1973. 50 yrs is a long run. I enjoyed what I did. Saw allot, did allot, traveled around the world, moved plants, closed plants. I was very good at what I did.

I didn't want to work as long as I did: life takes left hand turns and I had to work longer. I was fortunate to have good health, passion and an employer who thought highly of my performance. My last 35 years, I worked for a tier 1 automotive company with a large aftermarket presence. I know allot about the automotive business cycle and have seen buyouts, layoffs and restructuring. Toward the end of my career, I was hoping for a package, never to get one. I came to the conclusion I was never going to get one.

You see enough of work collogues get laid-off or receive packages: all good people which retired or continued working - there is no shame in this: nothing personal, just business.

The average life expectancy for a male in the USA is about 77 yrs old. I'm 3 1/2 years away from that milestone. I ask myself how long do I want to do this? I wrestled with this all of 2023. Sure, the money is great, I will just ride it to the end.

What changed? several things:

I'm divorced and my children live in different states. I'm a grandparent. Spending more time with them and getting to know my grandchildren is important to me. I didn't grow up with grandparents, neither did my kids.

The company culture was changing: McKinsey was/is there, and they decided to make wholesale changes. I became tired of providing reports, charts and graphs and attended more meetings than I wanted to. There was no debate or discussion even if the goals or direction were flawed. It is dollars and cents with no understanding of manufacturing or related business.

There was/is this mentality of just reducing heads and not respecting the tribal knowledge of staff. People became a number and there are too many indirect heads affecting the bottom line.

There is never just one thing, it's a combination of factors. I have no regrets making a decision. In early December, the company eliminated over 90 positions, including managers, engineers, salaried supervisors and team leaders and well as shrinking indirect staffs. If I would have stayed, I thought, I coulda got a package. Nah, it wouldn't have happened. Many, who are there, are not happy.

No regrets leaving, retirement is a work in progress. I don't miss work, any of it. I stay in touch with collogues. I have hobbies and things that keep me busy. I would not return to work part time for them - I look to do something else.

Retirement consists of 2 phases: the first phase is having great health and being able to enjoy life. The second phase is when everything is in decline and I'm in a diaper with a feeding tube. I hope I have a longer 1st phase and a short second phase.