When I walked into the office this morning, our office manager told me that she put in her notice to retire. Her last day of work will be the 27th. She and I are close in age--she was born the month before I was, and we've periodically had conversations about retirement. Back when our company was privately owned, she planned to work until 70. About a year before we were sold, there was a transition because Schwab bought out TD Ameritrade, which was where we had custodied most of our assets. The extra work caused by that transition, most of which fell on her shoulders, led to the first inkling that she would move up her timeframe. Then the two sales of the company, first in August 2024 and then again in August 2025, added more stress. The last time we had the retirement conversation, maybe six months ago, she was still thinking that she'd retire in mid-2027. So it was quite startling to learn that she'd be retiring in less than a month.
She returned a week ago from a two & a half week cruise, and I guess she had some time to think on that trip. She and her husband take these long cruises two or three times a year, and she's said that every time, it gets harder to come back to work.
Because of the two mergers, we are still very much in transition. Some of our technology is the same as others in the company, but much of it is not. That means that the "Relationship Managers" in other offices, who normally handle the client paperwork, will not be able to handle our client paperwork. Fortunately there is one young CFP in our Richmond office who knows our systems and has capacity to do that work, so much of the work will fall on her shoulders. I am known for being particularly bad at paperwork, which is kind of a good thing because no one will put that on my plate. But it's going to mean a lot more phone time and other grunt work like scanning and filing mail. And the head of my local office will have to take over the tasks like coordinating with the shredding and water cooler services and making sure that the copier gets serviced. It's basically going to just add a lot of additional stress onto everyone else's plate.
My immediate supervisor, who's a year older than me, is still planning on working until the year she turns 70, but she's moved her time frame up from August of that year (2029) to February (we get bonuses in the last paycheck of January).
And this leaves our office down from six staff to four. I'm not sure when our current lease is up, but with just four of us, we'll be knocking around the office, so we might have to move before then. One of the great benefits of my job has been that it's only a mile from home. I think the current lease is good for at least another year, but I'll be pretty upset if we have to move a distance next year.
The phrase "things fall apart; the center cannot hold" is echoing in my head. Sigh.
March 3rd, 2026 at 05:29 am 1772515772
March 3rd, 2026 at 06:46 am 1772520368
March 3rd, 2026 at 03:44 pm 1772552662