Free Retirement Speeches
Outlines and samples you can use.
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Over, done, complete! You've worked for most of your life, and now it's done. You'll find free retirement speeches below - both a customizable outline and complete sample speech. If you still don't know what to say, check out Occasional Words. Scroll down and click on Retirement Speeches.
If you know that a party is being prepared in your honor, you'll want to prepare a speech in advance. Most likely, you will be delivering this speech as a response to a tribute speech given by a colleague. This retirement speech will be the perfect opportunity for you to thank co-workers, friends and your family who have supported you throughout your career. Often, a retirement speech can also be inspirational, especially to those who are just starting out on their own careers. That's why we're providing these free retirement speeches for you to use.
When writing a retirement speech, remember to keep it short (about five minutes), interesting and sincere without sounding too solemn. The free retirement speeches on the rest of this page fit those guidelines. Preparing an outline like the one below can also help you organize your speech:
- Thank everyone present for making the farewell party such a special occasion.
- Acknowledge colleagues for your hours shared together at work, during good times and bad.
- Share something relevant about your work: how you started out, something important you have learned while working or what you’ll miss about it.
- Mention what you intend to do upon retirement.
- Thank whoever is hosting the event and everyone else for their support.
Below is a sample retirement speech following the given outline:
Thank you and good evening, friends, family and colleagues. While I'm not entirely surprised that you would throw me a farewell party, I am still very touched to realize how special you have made this gathering for me. It's certainly more than a pesky boss like me deserves.
I believe this gathering will stay with me forever—even while enjoying my new life in complete leisure, I might occasionally remember this evening, while you still slave away in the office more than eight hours a day, five to six days a week. What can I say—I had a good head-start.
But before you go thinking that I'm the oldest elf in this factory, let me remind you that I have been here only 25 years, unlike Carl who's been here for as long as the company can remember.
But, yes, I've been here even before my eldest son was born, and in a big way I feel that the magazines we publish are like my own children too. I'm sure a lot of you who've been here long enough to love those glossy pages feel the same way. We conceive them as ideas, watch them develop, give them constructive criticism and a lot of TLC before we are ready to let go of them and release them out into the world. Many times during my career have I wondered whether my own children don't envy those magazines for all the time and attention I give them.
But that's often the case with us professionals—we make personal sacrifices for the love of the job, even if it sometimes seems like an insane thing to do. Luckily, my family is still here to support me despite my late nights and several weekends spent working, over the years. Truth be told, I should have spent more time with them.
I thank them, most especially my wife Susan, not just for understanding, but for being proud of what I do as well. Thank you, Susan, my assistant, for putting this thing together, and Carl for those kind words you delivered earlier.
Thank you, all. I truly appreciate this.
More free retirement speeches forthcoming.
If you still don't know exactly what to say, check out Occasional Words. Scroll down and click on Retirement Speeches.
Happy speaking!
Speeches & Toasts Delivered in Minutes
