What (Mentally) Triggered your ER?

[hocus]

I tell ya, I'm so impressed by the articulation, intelligence and introspection of the people posting on this site.

I agree, and add that it seems to be getting better over time too.

[bow-tie]

I'm not FI or RE yet, but I'm in process.

It only took, maybe, 2.5-3 years of working for me to truly realize/ask "so this is it?". Changing jobs is always an option, but the things that kill me are part and parcel with every job. I want to do what I want, when I want. They only surefire way to do that is become FI. Sometimes the road seems neverending, though

[Shredder]

My retirement wasn't mentally triggered it was forced by my old co. they told me after my third back surgery I was no longer welcome back in my old job. The mental part was dealing with that. After a time, thinking about "what now" and reading this board helped, I now consider myself lucky. I'm 50yr old, still active, have enough to live on with workmans comp and maybe ssd in the future, full insurance, a nest egg of IRA and 401K that I will not raid till about 60yr old or there abouts. Kids are all gone, house 3/4ths paid for, live in a area I like, wife still works till whenever she decides to pack it in. I feel most fortunate. I used to work for a electric utillty in N. MI. I don't miss the cold winter days, the work in electric storms, my alcoholic boss, ect. ect.. BUT there was an adjustment, like I was letting someone down, like something was missing or stole from me. Now it would be an harder adjustment to return to that old world. Funny when I speak to old co-workers they feel sorry for me, and I in turn feel sorry for them.......Shredder

Hi Shredder! Sounds like you are in good shape
ER-wise. Interesting you found some old co-workers
feeling "sorry" for you. I was on the receiving end of
a lot of emotions re. my ER, but as far as I know
nobody felt sorry for me. My ex. was unhappy.
The people that worked at my little company
were out of work, so they were worried mostly.
Outside friends and acquaintances were incredulous
or envious, or both, but no pity that I could detect.

An aside, I found out about an hour ago that my brother
just lost his job (sales executive). He had only been there
a few months. I was not surprised as it looked like a
total mismatch to me. Anyway, he is out there in the
market (again). Never mentions retirement. I wish him
well and am glad it's not me out pounding the pavement.

JG

[jmm]

i have been in the work force for 33 years and have recently realized that the last 12 years of stressful jobs and relocations have not been much fun.
a few month ago, after sitting in a long meeting, listening to long discertations from self-absorbed,
egotistical, management types.....i decided that i didnt believe in them or the task that they were asking me to develop and execute.
i decided to take action and have the numbers crunched by a financial planner and cpa. i was surprised to find that i could retire early.
bottom line in the next 30 days i will be free from corporate jail to embark on to a new journey.

[MJ]

i decided to take action and have the numbers crunched by a financial planner and cpa. i was surprised to find that i could retire early.
bottom line in the next 30 days i will be free from corporate jail to embark on to a new journey.

Congrats on your future escape from the corporate asylum and welcome to our ER club

MJ

[ESRBob]

Jmm,
Welcome -- doesn't it feel great to take a deep breath and say, 'I'm outta here!". I think of it as 'graduation'. Most people can't get their heads around the concept that they don;'t have to do keeping doing the old grind (once you've done the hard work of saving $ of course!), and keep slogging away until the ulcer or heart attack or age 65 catches 'em. Congrats on waking up out of the dream and getting yourself free.

[azanon]

Wow, this is really good stuff from everyone.

I think i've just always simply hated work of any kind. *I'm an inherently lazy person that has tricked everyone else into thinking i'm not by pushing, pushing, and pushing even to get a MA degree and great job now. *I recall in grad school, for example, people loving going on the lake on rainy, cold days to do sampling, talking about how much they loved it. * It was hard for me to hold back from gagging from such remarks. *Always, i mean always, for me it was a means to an end. *That i chose Biology was just a choice of a subject I hated doing the least. *

I caught onto the virtues of saving very early, and i'm not really sure why. *I recall, for instance, my two siblings and I coming up to our parents after we spent a day doing our own thing at a water park. *At the end of the day, my parents would ask what my siblings spent all their money on, where i would brag to my parents "see how much money i still have?". * They had the most perplexed look on their face (thinking what's wrong with this boy; *why didnt he spend it all). *I assume it just has something to do with my personality; *I test very strongly INTJ on myers briggs (on all 4 variables). *

To this day, my siblings still enjoy the finer things of life, including new cars, etc while my car is 10 years old and counting. * Heck, i'm just breakin her in. * If i smell real hard, i can still smell the "new smell" *:-).

I'm convinced without any doubt that had i been born in the 1800s or less, i probably would have just laid down and died right there cause life was so harsh back then and there was no such thing as ER for most people.

One thing JG and I have in common is I dont like taking orders from anyone. I just dont deal with that very well. Oh sure, i can do it consistently enough to keep my job, but i dont like it. I long for the day where I'm only required to answer to #1, and for everyone else, it is truly optional.

Starting saving the moment i entered the workforce, which was at ~ age 25. *Currently 33.

[kz]

It was actually pretty simple for us. Approx. 10 years ago I started tracking our expenses and our net worth. I realized that we would reach FI within 4 years (we're low-maintenance people) and retiring could come at anytime.
The only reason one of us stayed longer was for health insurance and to shore up the saving/investment accounts.
We still decided for the one left working to leave a yr or two earlier than projected. There are just so many things we want to do and experience....we didn't want to wait any longer.
The boys have graduated from college and have jobs of their own. The time has come for US!