By retiring at 52 instead of 55, I gave up a huge sum, between pension value, stock options, RSUs, salary, and bonus. It was worth every dime. And the upshot is I haven't sacrificed anything. I "thought" I needed to work to 55 just because that was some arbitrary age when megacorp bumped the pension, vested your options, etc. Once I did the math, and it was clear I could retire with no impact on lifestyle, I was gone.
As others have said, we've had more time to pay attention to expenses. So it's been easy to cut many things without sacrificing at all. Not only do we spend less on food, but I get the creative outlet of cooking something from scratch everyday. I spend less on repairs and get the satisfaction of learning new skills. That has left even more money for travel, hobbies, home improvements, entertainment, and other things that bring us happiness. So it "feels" like our lifestyle has improved significantly more than just looking at spending figures.
Someone said there are degrees of sacrifice, and I agree with that. I probably would not have pulled the trigger if the answer was 50% lower. At 75%... I don't know; maybe. 85%... no problem; I could make that work. I do think it's extremely important to compare before/after spending figures and not income. Many people make the mistake of thinking they need to replace their income, or some high percentage of it. So many things just go away automatically like payroll taxes, federal taxes, savings, commuting, clothing, dry cleaning, car expenses, expensive lunches, etc. We also paid off the mortgage and watched our youngest graduate from college. Our expenses in retirement are only about 40% of our final household income, and we could easily cut that to 30% if needed.
I'm just glad I didn't "sacrifice" three years of my life for a pile of money I didn't need. Life is short and highly uncertain. Don't waste it building a buffer you don't need, especially if you dislike your job and/or have family history of health problems.
As others have said, we've had more time to pay attention to expenses. So it's been easy to cut many things without sacrificing at all. Not only do we spend less on food, but I get the creative outlet of cooking something from scratch everyday. I spend less on repairs and get the satisfaction of learning new skills. That has left even more money for travel, hobbies, home improvements, entertainment, and other things that bring us happiness. So it "feels" like our lifestyle has improved significantly more than just looking at spending figures.
Someone said there are degrees of sacrifice, and I agree with that. I probably would not have pulled the trigger if the answer was 50% lower. At 75%... I don't know; maybe. 85%... no problem; I could make that work. I do think it's extremely important to compare before/after spending figures and not income. Many people make the mistake of thinking they need to replace their income, or some high percentage of it. So many things just go away automatically like payroll taxes, federal taxes, savings, commuting, clothing, dry cleaning, car expenses, expensive lunches, etc. We also paid off the mortgage and watched our youngest graduate from college. Our expenses in retirement are only about 40% of our final household income, and we could easily cut that to 30% if needed.
I'm just glad I didn't "sacrifice" three years of my life for a pile of money I didn't need. Life is short and highly uncertain. Don't waste it building a buffer you don't need, especially if you dislike your job and/or have family history of health problems.
