Life Style Question

[NoloPress]

For those of you who have already found your way into early retirement, can you tell me a little bit about what your life is like now, and how it has changed since leaving work?

How did you know early retirement was right for you?

Do you ever miss working?

How do you spend your days?

Has your relationship with your spouse (or other family members) changed?

Do you travel?* Where?

Have you embarked on any new endeavors, or learned any new skills and hobbies?

Do you ever find your financial circumstances too restrictive?

Do you know others who have chosen early retirement?

What do you enjoy most about early retirement?

--------------------------------------------------------------

I am Nolo Press’ publicity coordinator. When my supervisor and I asked Bob for more information on early retirement as a larger trend and the kind of community that exists, he directed us to this site. I read a number of your Frequently Asked Questions (including the drier sheet thing – they do seem very useful) and other posts before posting my query and they did proved helpful, but I’m really looking for current, non-financial information posted by users who are still active on the forum.

In answer to some of your questions, the information you provide will only be used to help me better understand early retirement and the level of its popularity so that I can represent Bob and his book in a compelling and accurate manner. Basically, I want to know what early retirement is really like, so that I can recommend it to people interested in reading the book.

I also hoped that some of you might be willing to provide testimonials to journalists in the future, however, any information you give here is not for the press.

Some of you asked how to order Bob’s book. Try www.nolo.com. We sometimes offer discounts over bookstores and other websites like Amazon.

[haha]

Mr Nolo, why don't you do your own research? All the questions you ask have been answered here many times over; so stay a while and read the posts.

[REWahoo]

Nolo,

Welcome to the ER Forum. You can find the answer to many of your questions by taking some time and reading some of the threads on this board.

I expect before you get many responses to your questions, others on the forum are going to want you to tell us a little about yourself.

Are you seeking to retire "early"?

If so, where are you along that journey?

What type of work do you do?

Are you doing research on early retirement for your own benefit or for a publication of some sort?

Do you know the many uses for used dryer sheets?

Do you own a kayak, and if so, what color is it?

I look forward to your response.

REW

[wabmester]

Can you tell us how you plan to use this information, NoloPress?

Something to do with ESRBob's book, I presume.* *I'll do my part....

I quit my job at age 40. * Ready for a mid-life change of course, I figured I'd start or buy another business. * *My original plan was to semi-retire. * I wanted to find a way to replace 100% of my income as an employee through a combination of investments and active business income.

I kicked around several business ideas in the fist 6 months, and even looked at two businesses for possible purchase. * *But I was having so much fun not working during that period that I decided to make not-working my full time occupation.

We had grand plans to travel the world, but instead we had a kid about 9 months after my retirement.

I've shifted into a wonderful low-stress lifestyle consisting of raising the kid, biking, walking, running, sailing, kayaking, and a myriad of home improvement projects.

I don't miss a thing about work. * I used to think that I actually liked my job, but it wasn't until I left that I realized how toxic that work environment was. * *A frog slowly boiled.

(ESRBob, I want a free book!)

[73ss454]

I ordered his book 2 weeks ago.
It should be released in the early part of October.

[justin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wabmester We had grand plans to travel the world, but instead we had a kid about 9 months after my retirement.

Sounds like you were reckless in your retirement day celebrations

[LovesLife]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 73ss454 I ordered his book 2 weeks ago. It should be released in the early part of October.

May I ask where you ordered from? I would like to order it as well. Thanks.

LL

[Nords]

This thread's going to stay locked pending discussion with the moderator.

Lindsay, please check your personal messages (see the upper-right corner of this page) or send me an e-mail at Nords_Nords@Hotmail.com.

[Nords]

Here's Nolo's response, coordinated with ESRBob:

Quote:

Perhaps I should clarify. I am Nolo Press’ publicity coordinator. When my supervisor and I asked Bob for more information on early retirement as a larger trend and the kind of community that exists, he directed us to this site. I have read some of your Frequently Asked Questions (including the drier sheet thing – they do seem very useful) and other posts and they have proved helpful, but I’m really looking for current, non-financial information posted by users who are still active on the forum. In answer to some of your questions, the information you provide will only be used to help me better understand early retirement and the level of its popularity so that I can represent Bob and his book in a compelling and accurate manner. Basically, I want to know what early retirement is really like, so that I can recommend it to people interested in reading the book. I do not plan on quoting you or otherwise using you remarks without your permission. I did hope that some of you might be willing to provide testimonials to journalists in the future. Often, the media like to augment trend stories with comments from ordinary people. For example, a writer working on a story about the job market might want to talk to recent college grads working in their chosen fields. Journalists like to conduct interviews themselves of course, but they appreciate it when we can help them out by asking a few appropriate subjects (usually local residents) to give them a call. If you think you might be interested in speaking with reporters from time to time, please feel free to send me an email about it. Some of you asked how to order Bob’s book. Try http://www.nolo.com. We sometimes offer discounts over bookstores and other websites like Amazon. Lindsay Morton Publicity Coordinator, Nolo 510.704.2242 www.nolo.com

The thread's unlocked; I'll respond after I get caught up on my "Waddya DO all day?!?" chores...

[REWahoo]

Lindsay Morton wrote:

Quote:

Often, the media like to augment trend stories with comments from ordinary people.

And you're asking members of this forum for our comments? Lindsay, we're anything but 'ordinary people'...

REW

[brewer12345]

Anybody know the books title?

[NoloPress]

Work Less, Live More

[wabmester]

Quote:

Originally Posted by justin Sounds like you were reckless in your retirement day celebrations

It was actually planned. Sort of. OK, it was my wife's idea. I think she got caught up in the momentum of my mid-life change, and she decided she wanted some changes of her own.

Now, I think there's a lesson in my experience. If you youngsters get married, and both of you are sure you don't want kids, beware! The biological instinct is powerful! And when a female approaches 35 and hasn't had kids, I think some sort of hormonal panic button gets pushed, and voila -- kids!

[dory36]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NoloPress For those of you who have already found your way into early retirement, can you tell me a little bit about what your life is like now, and how it has changed since leaving work? How did you know early retirement was right for you?

I was debt free, offspring out of college and self sufficient, and I was doing meaningless no-brains-required drudge work for a high salary, with no chance of promotion or transfer in the overseas company I worked for (in Saudi). I calculated what I would need to live the lifestyle I wanted to live, and the nest egg needed to support that amount of withdrawal, and gave my notice the moment I got to the target nest egg.

Quote:

Do you ever miss working?

No. If I didn't have anything else to do with my life, I probably would, but I have enough on my list of "things to do before I die" to last until I am about 120.

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How do you spend your days?

A couple of years before I retired, I bought an old boat, in good structural and mechanical shape, but in need of cosmetic and electronic upgrades. This was to be our home for the next several years, and we moved aboard when we came back from Saudi, which was also our 30th anniversary. ("Happy anniversary dear. Now we're homeless!") For the first 5 months after I retired, it was full time boat fixup, with a (paid) full time helper/teacher. For the next ~3 years, we would travel south in the fall and north in the spring on the boat. The north-south voyage was about 6 weeks long. We usually traveled from shortly after sunup to mid-afternoon each day, and then dropped the anchor in some protected cove by 3pm. As often as not, there would be other boaters in the same anchorage, and get-togethers were frequent. Fridays through Sundays while traveling, we usually tried to be someplace where we could reach useful places ashore, as this kept us off the waterway when all the high-speed weekend boaters were out trying to show how fast they could go. Once we'd gotten to the south end or north end of the trip for the season, we'd usually stay for a couple of months. While there, we usually took our time with errands that are quickly completed for landlubbers, but took the better part of a day while cruising. (Take the dinghy to shore, go to the bus stop, bus to the grocery store, shop, wait for the bus to go back to the waterfront, dinghy back to the boat, and you'd spent 4-5 hours. Repeat the next day for laundry. The day after for a trip to the public library to use the Internet. etc.)

Things have changed since moving shore about a year ago. Since I don't see a question about it, I'll use this space to say that a big change in my outlook since retirement is that I set goals a lot farther out. Before I retired I looked at projects with an idea to finish them by the end of the weekend, or the end of vacation. Now, I think of things I'll do that might take many months, or longer, and it seems comfortable.

Quote:

Has your relationship with your spouse (or other family members) changed?

Much closer to spouse now, and (since moving ashore) closer to our son and his new family as well.

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Do you travel?* Where?

We traveled constantly on the boat (albeit at 6-8mph). I think we stopped and visited every town with a waterfront from Washington DC to Tarpon Springs FL.

After we moved off the boat, we have only traveled when family obligations called for it. That has taken us on road trips halfways across the US a couple of times, and once to Ireland for a wonderful "vacation" from retirement. But after many years of working overseas and traveling constantly, we're kind of glad to stay put for a while.

Quote:

Have you embarked on any new endeavors, or learned any new skills and hobbies?

Most of the boat related skills were new. Otherwise, I've mostly resurrected existing hobbies that I couldn't pursue in Saudi.

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Do you ever find your financial circumstances too restrictive?

Not really. Pre-retirement there were times when I looked at a new car and didn't buy it because I didn't want to spend the money. Now I look at a new car and don't buy it because it would disrupt my retirement spending plan. But my behavior is about the same.

Quote:

Do you know others who have chosen early retirement?

Most of the hundreds of boaters we met were ERs. Otherwise, outside of the people on this board, only a half dozen or so coworkers from Saudi who left when they were 50-53 or so.

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What do you enjoy most about early retirement?

As I mentioned above, I now think of things to be accomplished separate from a weekly schedule in most cases. I am certainly much more active and engaged, first with the boating and now with some volunteer stuff and hobby stuff and so forth than before, but now I can set my own priorities, and adjust them as I see fit.

I've also turned into a goofy grandparent, just like the old farts I used to ridicule.

[sgeeeee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NoloPress For those of you who have already found your way into early retirement, can you tell me a little bit about what your life is like now, and how it has changed since leaving work? How did you know early retirement was right for you?

How do you know about any life decision?* getting married?* having a child? changing jobs or careers? . . .* You consider the options and make your decision.

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Do you ever miss working?

I enjoyed engineering.* I did not like corporate politics.* After retiring fully for about 6 months, I rediscovered what I liked abour engineering and found a way to work about 1/4 time at it.* I've never missed corporate politics.

Quote:

How do you spend your days?

I do quite a bit of volunteer work.* I am liaison to the city for my neighborhood.* That job requires that I work with my neighbors as an interface to city officials.* We talk about our irrigation system, road repairs, traffic issues, etc. and I interface with city officials to solve our problesms.* I also volunteer occasionally to work at special events sponsored by the city or organizations I belong to.* My wife and I are very actively involved in a number of archaeology activities.* We help professional archaeologists and Federal and State land managers manage and explore their archaeology resources.* We also travel quite a bit.* We are on the road about 1 out of every 3 or 4 weeks.* We visit relatives and just play tourist.* I serve as an inspector at the polls for most elections (depending on my travel schedule).* I continue to volunteer for professional activities in electrical engineering organizations.* I review manuscripts for journals and serve as editor of one magazine.* I also review manuscripts for a couple of technical book publishers.* My wife and I hike about 40 miles per week together and we go dancing once a week.*

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Has your relationship with your spouse (or other family members) changed?

* We get to spend much more time together and that has made our relationship stronger.

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Do you travel?* Where?

Yes.* We travel quite a bit.* In the past year we've spent about a week in Washington, DC, Alaska, Chihuahua, Mexico, Black Hills of South Dakota, Colorado, New Mexico (twice), Arkansas, Southern Illinois (twice), Los Angeles, Monterey, and probably* a few other places. . . Some of these trips were related to National Forest Service Passport in Time volunteer archaeology projects, some were visits with relatives and some were simply tourist trips.

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Have you embarked on any new endeavors, or learned any new skills and hobbies?

* Before I retired I thought I would probably spend time getting better at speaking Spanish once I retired, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.* I have committed myself to eating better and an exercise regimen.* I lost 30 pounds once I retired and have kept it off for over a year.

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Do you ever find your financial circumstances too restrictive?

Well I can't travel to Europe of the Far East once a month or own a house in every State, but I couldn't do that before I retired and I didn't expect to do that when I chose retirement.* My wife and I spend more since retirment than we did prior to retirement but well within our plan.*

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Do you know others who have chosen early retirement?

Only through the internet.

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What do you enjoy most about early retirement?

the freedom.

[yakers]

Well, if its the real NOLO Press then maybe the title of the book should be "Get A Life--Earlier"

Get A Life is already my favorite retirement book, I use it in retirement discussions at my church. My wife is retiring at 58 in June 06. I could retire about any time now except for the kid still in high school issue and I currently like my job enough that I wonder why anyone would pay me to do this (work at NASA).

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NoloPress For those of you who have already found your way into early retirement, can you tell me a little bit about what your life is like now, and how it has changed since leaving work?

ER'd for just over three years.* Other than parenting life is free-form, unstructured, and much more long-term than when I was working.* In fact at work I used to regard those as bad things.* The best thing about ER is that (again outside of parenting) we have the time to explore the things we want to explore as deeply and for just about as much time as we want to.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NoloPress How did you know early retirement was right for you?

When my father asked me why I felt I needed another job after retiring from the military.* ("Didn't you save any money?")* At that point I started looking around and realizing that there were many roads to ER but few road signs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NoloPress Do you ever miss working?

**Snort.*** I miss the awesome feeling of surfacing a submarine at 3 AM off the coast of Oahu and having hot coffee sent to the bridge while I watch the Milky Way and the meteor showers, but I don't miss that enough to re-enlist.* I feel the same way about work.* I think that any/all of the good things you find at work are also available when you're ER'd, except perhaps for the "free" office equipment & supplies.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NoloPress How do you spend your days?

There are numerous threads on this forum that answer the question "But waddya DO all day?!?"* Most of the answer is "I'm a parent."* The rest of it is "whatever/whenever I want to."* I especially appreciate the saying "I wake up in the morning with nothing to do and haven't accomplished half of it by nightfall."

Quote:

Originally Posted by NoloPress Has your relationship with your spouse (or other family members) changed?

Much, much for the better.* We're not chronically fatigued or ill and we have more time to appreciate each other.* We're also able to spend time on helping each other out and on anticipating the ugly situations that used to surprise us.

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Originally Posted by NoloPress Do you travel?* Where?

Not that much.* We enjoy Hawaii's inter-island cruises and we've spent considerable time in Thailand.* We'd rather watch the video but we do enjoy an occasional break from the home routine.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NoloPress Have you embarked on any new endeavors, or learned any new skills and hobbies?

Martial arts & surfing are new in ER.* We've revived our home-improvement skills.* I'm spending the time I want to on reading, writing, and investing.* I've learned more about Hawaiian & Japanese languages.* I'm improving my drawing skills.* There's a whole wonderful world out there and my "To Do" list is filling up faster than I feel compelled to work on it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NoloPress Do you ever find your financial circumstances too restrictive?

Heck, no, or I never would have ER'd in the first place.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NoloPress Do you know others who have chosen early retirement?

Plenty on this board.* One or two wannabes in my area.* Otherwise it's just my father and my father-in-law.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NoloPress What do you enjoy most about early retirement?

One word?* Freedom.* (Priceless.)* More words?* Self-directed exploration.*

[NoloPress]

Thank you to Wabmester, Dory36, SG, Nords. Your comments are very helpful.

Get a Life is one of my favorites too. It's always nice to hear that the books are doing their job.

[BUM]

Hi Lindsay,

I can see from your Friday 6pm post you must be working late. Probably won't check in until Monday.

Have a great weekend. Heh, heh.

BUM

ps Beware. This ER stuff is infectious. The next book could be yours!

[MDW]

Dory,

This is a little off-thread - after reading your post I wondered if you have ever thought about writing a book about your experience of living on a boat for several years. The best book I've read is "Honey, Let's Get a Boat", however that book focuses on a much shorter time frame while the authors made the Great Loop.

Either the boating aspect or retirement planning that enabled you to make the move to living on a boat would be interesting.

MDW