My situation is a little different than yours, because I worked only part-time for a nonprofit agency while also running a consulting business for the past 25 years. But even working part time I received substantial benefits because of the number of years I'd put in, and I was surprised to find out how well retirement from the agency would work for me after I visited the human resource person.

I was motivated to retire because the agency had slowly transformed both in people and in mission to something I really wasn't enjoying any more, and because I had less autonomy and more bureaucratic b.s. in my way to doing my job. I still enjoyed the work if it could be stripped of the administrative hassles and just generally s*cky people who seemed to think they were in charge, and people who were really in charge who had no vision or leadership skills making dumb decisions for the rest of us. Working there had gone from the pleasure of doing the work with the clients of the agency to a major pain in the ***.

In only an hour, the human resources person laid out the practicalities of retirement. Health insurance would cost this much. Monthly benefits would be this much. It was a clear decision that in my overall financial pie, continuing to work there would actually not financially benefit me much at all. Again my situation is different, because I'm continuing to do my own consulting work and I do need that income, at least for the next 5 years or so.

There was a lot of paperwork, but a specific person helped me when it was confusing. I did it all and a few months later, I can't even begin to tell you how much I love being retired from that place. Not having to deal with the hassles and the kind of toxic environment and people I didn't like working with is a.m.a.z.i.n.g. The reduction in my stress and having time and space for the things I want to do is also.

Personally, I'd make it a priority to get the information about retirement. 34 years in the same place (I had much less than that, at part time for most years except for a few) is a long time for $$ to accrue. Then you'll probably know whether continuing to work there versus retirement is right for you.