How many years have you been retired?

[Martha]

I don't recall if we have polled this before. So, what is your experience with ER?

 

[packrat44]

One year, going on fifty years.

 

[Moemg]

Just celebrated my first year and it has been great . They'd have to drag me kicking and screaming back to work !

 

[Khan]

Approaching three years (31 Dec '04).

 

[haha]

I seem to be the only 18+ years retiree so far. Without digging out tax returns I can't really pin down the exact year. I just had less and less eagerness to grub for new business, and one day I just quit doing so. About 20 years.

More like something out of a novel of modern fecklessness than what a responsible young husband and father would do.

All I can say is thank God for bull markets and cheap whiskey.

Ha

 

[Martha]

I think Jarhead, if we could entice him back, would have you beat Ha. But you, Mick and Jarhead are the long term ERs, as best as I can recall.

 

[Tiger]

Four years this month and I've never been happier.

 

[Donzo]

I am a relative newbee w/ about 17 months - there is no going back - the thought of dealing w/ people and issues that mean nothing to me makes me feel ill......

Being free is incredible. So much time for the family and whatever interests me at the moment - sometimes I feel like I am doing something illegal - while working, I had to check voicemail and E mail CONSTANTLY just to keep up. Now I often go out and forget the cell....no biggy.
I have my allocation where I want it and sleep well at night -
I have a real sense of excitement for the future - because I get to make it!

 

[Zipper]

I retired from teaching in June 1997 after 33 years.

 

[Goonie]

Well, I'm the shortest ER'd to check in so far. 8 months next week.

I stopped in at the old joint today to borrow a locator to find a buried bird feeder pipe in the ground here at home. After chatting it up with the guys, it was made extremely clear that the magnitude of the sh*t going down hill there has only increased and intensified since my departure. I'm SOOOOOO glad that I am not them!!! Had i stayed employed there any longer than I did, I would probably be in custody awaiting a jury trial for the execution and decapitation of a couple of morons....the main one being the boss.

I will NEVER have another j*b! NEVER, NEVER, NEVER!!!

I LOVE MY RETIREMENT!!!

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

i've lost track. i left my calendar on the job. i think i'm on two years. i live in florida so i don't know the seasons. i only know two of the days of the week because of garbage days. by the time i wake up after noon the bank is only open for a few more hours. i don't know how anyone can accomplish anything under these circumstances. it's a good thing i don't have anything i have to do today.

 

[Dawg52]

Well, I'm the shortest ER'd to check in so far. 8 months next week.

I'm right there with ya. Eight months tomorrow. If I was still employed with my old company, I would be facing annual inventory starting today and dealing with auditors through the weekend. Instead I'm going on a hike today with my dog and playing golf the rest of the week.

ER is the only way to go.

 

[TexasGal]

Goodbye tension, hello pension!

Dec 3rd will be a big and wonderful 4 months for me. It does not matter what I do today because ANYTHING is better than w*rk. I would rather eat guinea pig pellets than go back to w*rk.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Six and a half years!

 

[TickTock]

I think Jarhead, if we could entice him back, would have you beat Ha. But you, Mick and Jarhead are the long term ERs, as best as I can recall.

And Billy and Akaisha.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Lets not forget Charlie...

 

[kcowan]

5 years, 4 months and 3 weeks

But who's counting!?

 

[toofrugalformycat]

About seven and a half. Life is good.

 

[two4theroad]

One year exactly on Dec 10th!! Hooray, best anniversary I ever had.
2fer

 

[tightasadrum]

Soon. Very, very soon. But...

An observation:

I love looking at statistics and letting numbers talk to me if they will. Folks on this board pour out alot of heartfelt ideas concerning how to safely retire as early as possible. The sample is still small, but look how the numbers skew toward the low numbers.

86.8% retired 4 years of less, or not retired yet

It sort of makes me wonder how reliable all this advice and information really is with 86.8% of it coming from a group who have only been retired 4 years or less! I sure hope the mathematical models are accurate.

I would be even MORE curious about how much in assets the long-retired group started with. Did anyone out there have to quit retirement and go back to w**k? Is this just pre-retirement jitters I'm suffering from? (Not that I plan to change MY plans.)

 

[haha]

Soon. Very, very soon. But...

An observation:

I love looking at statistics and letting numbers talk to me if they will. Folks on this board pour out alot of heartfelt ideas concerning how to safely retire as early as possible. The sample is still small, but look how the numbers skew toward the low numbers.

86.8% retired 4 years of less, or not retired yet

It sort of makes me wonder how reliable all this advice and information really is with 86.8% of it coming from a group who have only been retired 4 years or less! I sure hope the mathematical models are accurate.

I would be even MORE curious about how much in assets the long-retired group started with.

I believe that Uncle Mick, Jarhead and I were not very well capitalized; Jarhead probably best of the three. Mick early on was an award winning LBYM guy; I have been colossally lucky; and I am not sure what Jarhead's secret is. I think he is in very good shape, as he spends his time playing golf and doing what he wants to. Billy and Akaisha have a secret formula; I think it may involve pixie dust.

Remember too that we had essentially 20 years of bull market to enjoy. About 5 years into my retirement I showed a broker friend my investments. He said you will be broke in 5 years. But he was wrong. I am not sure that I have ever had a down year even after withdrawals. (Except of course the year of my divorce. ) Mainly I didn't know enough to be nervous.

Did anyone out there have to quit retirement and go back to w**k? Is this just pre-retirement jitters I'm suffering from? (Not that I plan to change MY plans.)

These people would likely not be here. But I believe if you check back in 10 years, you might find that the still-retired might be heavily skewed toward people who were older at retirement, and/or had military or government pensions and benefits, or at least who had no children to support or had a lot of money conservatively invested and were willing to live cheaply.

An unpopular thought that I sometimes post here is that somehow workers have to survive. Not true of retirees. So if push ever comes to shove, expect a lot of shoving.

Ha

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Whats even funnier is that a fair portion of the <14% that have been "retired" for more than 4 years arent living totally off their portfolios. My wife still works a couple of days a week and her job covers most of our health care. I *was* fully and truly independently retired for more than 3 years before we got married, but its definitely not a "pure" ER. We could get by fine without her income and paying our own HC, but she likes her job and it sure solves a couple of problems that many ER's run into.

Off the top of my head, with only a handful of exceptions, most of the ER's I'm familiar with have a part time job, spouse works, they have income from book writing or some financially advantageous "hobby".

I also know several who did go back to work, some that subsequently re-retired, some of those went back to work again, and some of those re-re-retired. Whether the moves were financial, boredom-induced or just a great opportunity is hard to say. You dont get the straight story from most folks most of the time. We might all be dogs or 17 year old girls from Missoula (happy birthday uncle mick!).

It also makes it hard to form and state opinions. I've long held to the idea of doing so on the basis that the output was to someone who was or planned to be fully and independently retired with no job related income, probably before the age of 55. Turns out that theres about 1% of the board that are actually doing that and maybe another percent or two who actually will do so.

You can also tell the "really" retired, long term folks as they're almost always the most conservative investors...in the traditional sense. The really brave, balls to the wall folks often have some sort of income thing going, have gone back to work periodically (or will), have a working spouse and/or have only been retired during the current bull market. Be interesting to see how things go around here during the next big bear. And we'll sure have one.

The whole intertubenet wasnt fully functional and no reasonable substitutes existed prior to the big run since 1994. I suspect that "lower end (1-4M) FIRE's rarely met or discussed their situations or kibitzed on lifestyles or investments. So we have no idea really how it went "way back when"...

 

[Nords]

Soon. Very, very soon. But...
It sort of makes me wonder how reliable all this advice and information really is with 86.8% of it coming from a group who have only been retired 4 years or less! I sure hope the mathematical models are accurate.

Statistical bias is coming from people who can figure out how to operate a computer long enough to post to a discussion board, and who allocate enough time in their lives to actually do so. JG is in the first category, and perhaps Kitty would be an example of the second.

I suspect that many of the long-term ERs found something else they wanted to do-- especially guys like Jarhead, Ol' Rancher, & GDER. Sitting around yakking about something that you figured out how to accomplish a couple decades ago can get pretty boring, especially when the crowd is way too young to address your other concerns.

And I'm sure that a sigificant number of potential respondents saw the heaving disruptions this board's gone through in the last few months and decided not to waste further time here.

I would be even MORE curious about how much in assets the long-retired group started with. Did anyone out there have to quit retirement and go back to w**k? Is this just pre-retirement jitters I'm suffering from? (Not that I plan to change MY plans.)

People [-]lie about money and sex[/-] feel bored or unfulfilled or want to tackle new challenges or can't pass up an incredibly good deal...

But you don't have to trust a bunch of anonymous [-]17-year-olds from Missoula[/-] Internet posters. The safest thing would be to keep working until the survey data indicates that you're OK!

Have you read Rich's "Just One More Year" thread?

 

[Martha]

Well this has been interesting and as others have said, a bit disconcerting. But I suppose we really can't draw much of any conclusions given our self selected sample. Nevertheless, our experience level is pretty low.

But here is to a healthy economy!

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

Nevertheless, our experience level is pretty low.

uh oh, and to think i've been accepting advice. that does it. i'm going back to work.