Retirement Planning - Wishful Thinking

I love what I do.  I like helping people.  Lately, it is getting harder and harder to get up and go there.  The  politics is more than I can handle.  It's also getting harder to feel like I am even contributing.  The new group of "golden boys" are constantly going past me and making decisions without informing me and I feel so ineffectual as well as miserable.

Add to that the recent fiascoes in the Louisiana legislature.  The governor did his best to really screw up our retirement system and take away all of our benefits.  He's wanting to privatize everything.  And he has no respect at all for the state workers.

A month or so ago, I sent in a request for an estimate for purchasing qualifying time, which would allow me to retire early.  I had absolutely no expectation of getting back a number that was anything other than outrageous.  Well, this past Thursday, I received my estimate.  I was in shock!  The really good kind of shock.  The number I received is actually doable. I have the money in my deferred compensation account.  If I went through with the purchase, I could retire as soon as January 1, 2013.  I could also put in for use of my annual leave and could leave anytime between September 19 and January 1.  I have been trying soooo hard not to get overly excited.  I made an appointment with my financial person.  We are to talk tomorrow.  I don't want to make any decisions until I've really looked at all the angles to make sure there's not something waiting to bite me in the butt.  If I make it past Debby, then my next stop will be to visit with the people at the Louisiana State Employees Retirement System to see what they have to say.  Then I'll be able to make an educated decision.

I really really really hope I get the answer that I want. I'm ready to start planning the party!!!!!