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G G · 09-19-2021, 05:21 PM

I had something similar so I will try to keep it as short as possible, but I hope my experience will bring some comfort to you.

I started full-time with my County's 911 Ambulance in 2003. I kinda got into the game later than most. I was 37. I vested in the Florida Retirement system after 7 years. In Florida First Responders have high risk retirement so we accrue 3% of our top 5 years pay per year. My dad was diagnosed with dementia about two years before I retired and I knew my years there would probably be cut shorter than I anticipated due to the illness advancing. Our county hired a new chief in 2019 and it seemed like it would be great at first but he turned out to be a jackass of the highest order. Due to his lunacy I entered the DROP in May 2020. I had intended to work until December of this year and retire. That would have given me about 35k in my drop payout, plus 10k of leave time they would have paid me out for. But the new chief didn't like my style of questioning his illegal shenanigans so he thought he was going to set me up to fire me, I just retired and said screw it. I collected my 12k from the drop and 9k of leave money. So I retired in November of last year and really thought I would miss it after almost 19 years but I really don't. I had been doing lawncare as a side job for 3 years previous to retiring so I was making pretty good money with both jobs. I think COVID screwed up the lawncare business somewhat so I stumbled into a job with a local family owned pest control company. Already making more than I was at the lawncare and with my state retirement and the income from the pest control I am way less stressed and the income on the pest control will probably be over 1k a week within another year. So I aint looking back and I suspect once the shock of it all passes and you settle into the new routine you will feel the same way brother.

09-19-2021, 05:21 PM	#8
G G BR549 Join Date: Oct 2008 First Name: Greg Location: Taylor, FL. Posts: 12,701 Trading: (10)	Re: Forced to Retire Early I had something similar so I will try to keep it as short as possible, but I hope my experience will bring some comfort to you. I started full-time with my County's 911 Ambulance in 2003. I kinda got into the game later than most. I was 37. I vested in the Florida Retirement system after 7 years. In Florida First Responders have high risk retirement so we accrue 3% of our top 5 years pay per year. My dad was diagnosed with dementia about two years before I retired and I knew my years there would probably be cut shorter than I anticipated due to the illness advancing. Our county hired a new chief in 2019 and it seemed like it would be great at first but he turned out to be a jackass of the highest order. Due to his lunacy I entered the DROP in May 2020. I had intended to work until December of this year and retire. That would have given me about 35k in my drop payout, plus 10k of leave time they would have paid me out for. But the new chief didn't like my style of questioning his illegal shenanigans so he thought he was going to set me up to fire me, I just retired and said screw it. I collected my 12k from the drop and 9k of leave money. So I retired in November of last year and really thought I would miss it after almost 19 years but I really don't. I had been doing lawncare as a side job for 3 years previous to retiring so I was making pretty good money with both jobs. I think COVID screwed up the lawncare business somewhat so I stumbled into a job with a local family owned pest control company. Already making more than I was at the lawncare and with my state retirement and the income from the pest control I am way less stressed and the income on the pest control will probably be over 1k a week within another year. So I aint looking back and I suspect once the shock of it all passes and you settle into the new routine you will feel the same way brother.