5 Reasons I'm Not Retiring Early

[audreyh1]

Hey Audrey!

Regarding 3, 4 & 5, I ask myself if the writers are reflecting their own view of life and work and have not successfully separated the two. I fully agree with your closing line, that might explain why some of us enjoy and appreciate early retirement so much.

Yes, that is what I tend to conclude - about the writers really sharing their own perspective, and especially the part of not being able to separate life and work. We all know how strongly one's identity can get wrapped up in ones work role and/or money earning ability.

And just like those who ask amazedly "Whaddya do all day?!?", I also felt these perpectives revealed a severe lack of imagination. Probably induced by working too much LOL! 'Cause it just really doesn't take that much to get going on imagining life beyond work.

Audrey

 

[Badger]

From what I recall 3,4,& 5 were never a problem before I had to earn a living so in a few more months I plan on going back to those "good 'ol days".

Cheers!

 

[kombat]

5 Reasons I'm not Retiring Early -
1. "because I am such a moron I can only write substandard articles for Yahoo"

That's a pretty cheap shot.

How many articles have YOU published on mainstream outlets?

 

[Jay_Gatsby]

I definitely share your sentiment. Having more time is more important than acquiring more money or wealth.

As an old partner of mine once told me about working long hours for the firm:

"You can bill your time, but you can never buy it back."

 

[Chuckanut]

I believe Howard Hughes said "anybody who thinks time has little value needs to talk to a rich old man."

 

[Nuiloa]

3.
But basically, as we've said so many times on this forum, to use your brain, develop and maintain friendships, and be physically active outside of work actually requires individual initiative without someone looking over your shoulder and telling you what to do, or telling you what your goals are.

So what I hear, when I (so often) read something like this, is that the writer/speaker basically has no confidence in their own individual initiative.


Independence can be intimidating.

Audrey

Very well said. You have put my fears down in a nutshell. While I know I don't want to keep working, I'm deathly afraid that I will wind up as a clone of "Gilbert Grape's" mother. I base this on the fact that I seem to spend every weekend on the couch, watching endless (and mindless) TV shows and letting the housework pile up. "Individual initiative" seems to be lacking.

To counteract it, my plan is to leave home for 6 months the day after I retire.

Contemplating independence is very intimidating.

 

[REWahoo]

Contemplating independence is very [-]intimidating[/-] exhilarating.

Corrected your typo...

 

[dlovitt]

There are a lot of people who end up going back to work because they get bored staying at home. Usually these are people with no hobbies or interests. OR, sometimes they go back as temporary helpers making more than they did when they worked.

But I'm glad some people think this way because that is more money that I can rely on that will go towards FICA. It's getting scary out there because the gov. is thinking of cutting taxes more, which will contribute less into the SS fund.

Social Security is (going?) broke so the politicians' answer is to cut employee tax by two percentage points What's up with that? Vote buying at it's best!

 

[Nuiloa]

Corrected your typo...

Thanks.... must have been a slip of the finger

 

[old woman]

I don't have intititive so need a schedule of some kind or my days just are doing nothing.

My grand plan is to take a job at a health club working opening for a couple of hours. This gets me up dressed and out of the house. I wind up in a health club around 7AM with the entire day ahead of me. I will probably work out then take a morning aqua aerobics class and enjoy the sauna, shower and change then on the road around 10AM fully awake with most of the day left. They don't pay much so if I wasn't happy it would be easy to quit.

If that doesn't work I might take a class a couple of days a week maybe aerobics if I find one I like.

Today was a bad day at work, coworker irked me, I complained to everyone. They are going to talk to her tomorrow again. I told the boss I would hate to see good people leave over her. I am really tempted to be the one to leave to prove she needs fired. I have suggested firing her a few times before but she doesn't have witness to write up her faults. Tomorrow they are going to talk to the other people who don't want her her and I hope start writing up the issues so they can fire her. I believe we don't need a reason but they say we can't fire without three write ups first.

Maybe 63 isn't too old to early retire but I would like to last longer than her so I can see her fired.

 

[audreyh1]

Very well said. You have put my fears down in a nutshell. While I know I don't want to keep working, I'm deathly afraid that I will wind up as a clone of "Gilbert Grape's" mother. I base this on the fact that I seem to spend every weekend on the couch, watching endless (and mindless) TV shows and letting the housework pile up. "Individual initiative" seems to be lacking.

To counteract it, my plan is to leave home for 6 months the day after I retire.

Well it's great you have a plan!

I think when you are working, it can be hard to distinguish between burn-out and exhaustion during the weekends due to work or just not being inspired in general. It can be very difficult to get motivated to create and active life outside of work if you are spending all your creativity and survival skills on the job.

And once you retire, it can still take 6 months to "decompress" - unwind from the job related stresses and exhaustion.

Having plans of things to do for the first six months might be a good idea. Just don't pile too much on your plate. Understand that you will be going through some kind of recovery. And keep an open mind when you first retire so that you can discover what you might like to do for the longer term. Until you get free of the working life, you really don't have enough quality time to really think about the future. In other words - sometimes you have to retire before you can really figure out how to be retired.

Audrey

 

[Beryl]

5 reasons I did retire.......

1. I'm not poor
2. SS is just gravy if I get it
3. I was bored at work
4. Having time to play golf gives me a social outlet
5. Now I have time to exercise and stay in shape

Idiots.

Except for #3 (I hated my MegaCorp job laying off US citizens to manage the poor work being done in Brazil and India), THIS.

 

[Free To Canoe]

1. I was layed off.

2. Then I got pissed.

3. I discovered financial independence allows one to be pissed off.

4. Pissed off is better than pissed on.

5. Taking time time to become a curmudgeon on your own terms is a lot of fun.

heh heh heh - it is sometimes amazing what media produces to fill time and space.

+1. This deserves more than a +1 but hey, I'm retired and it is the best I can do at the moment.

 

[obgyn65]

Well I AM retiring early at the age of 47 next year so I guess none of these reasons apply to me !

1. I don't do poor
2. I don't count on Social Security
3. I would be bored
4. Work provides a social outlet
5. It will keep me in shape

 

[Nords]

I just put up the post. I wonder if the author is tracking her links...

Five reasons to NOT retire early | Military Retirement & Financial Independence

 

[Chuckanut]

Great arrticle Nords. I am not military, and a lot of what you wrote hit home with me. SS is not doomed, there are other sources of income one could and should develop, friends should not be limited to fellow workers, and, in my case, I will get much more exercise when I have the time to do it!

Thanks for your insights.

 

[Midpack]

Very nice site, what I read was well written, I'd never looked before as I am not ex-military!

 

[whittonm]

5 Reasons I delayed by early retirement by one year:

1. Our only child (son) is taking a temporary job out of town
2. We have no grandkids yet
3. Another year of work means a better chance of buying that sports car I wanted during my past mid life crisis
4. Work keeps my weight down
5. My wife is going nuts waiting for grandkids and she wants to live in same town as our son and I don't want to be at home with her if there are no grandkids because she will take it all her frustrations out on me and the dog in that order...

 

[Nords]

Great arrticle Nords. I am not military, and a lot of what you wrote hit home with me. SS is not doomed, there are other sources of income one could and should develop, friends should not be limited to fellow workers, and, in my case, I will get much more exercise when I have the time to do it!
Thanks for your insights.

Very nice site, what I read was well written, I'd never looked before as I am not ex-military!

Thanks!

Some of my best material comes from this discussion board.

 

[martyp]

It seems to me that the author is laboring under a lot of preconceived notions of what retirement is or is supposed to be. She is characterizing retirees as poor, bored, socially isolated, and in-firmed. Personally I think she is being condescending and dismissive toward retirees. While there are no shortage of examples of retirees with the above listed characteristics it by no means follows that that has to be the case or that it is the case for many or most current retirees.


As Nord has said in his blog regarding this thread and as has been said over and over again on this forum, retirement starts with becoming financially independent. Financial independence is much a psychological state as a monetary fact. It presents to you the opportunity of free choice. This can be frightening to people who go down of path of society's expectations. I don't get the sense that she has a deep understanding of herself and that she has then chosen to work to the end . She is apparently is not ready to see past stereotypes. Maybe she is too immersed in her work.


And there is another issue, which is very hard to explain to young people, and that is that priorities and perspectives on life change and evolve as the decades pass. She probably has car insurance, health insurance, property insurance, etc. So why not self insurance for the unknowns that some with advancing age? For people who can't conceive of stepping away from a high spending lifestyle, or who do not have a robust social life outside work, they are going to have a hard transition if the future doesn't go as planned. Living within your means; having activities and interests outside of work; making and having friends outside of work; and doing your best to stay healthy are choices you can make at any time. None of this negates the respect, intellectual challenges, and friendship she currently gets from work. It is all about your values and life balance.

 

[Nords]

And there is another issue, which is very hard to explain to young people, and that is that priorities and perspectives on life change and evolve as the decades pass. She probably has car insurance, health insurance, property insurance, etc. So why not self insurance for the unknowns that some with advancing age? For people who can't conceive of stepping away from a high spending lifestyle, or who do not have a robust social life outside work, they are going to have a hard transition if the future doesn't go as planned. Living within your means; having activities and interests outside of work; making and having friends outside of work; and doing your best to stay healthy are choices you can make at any time. None of this negates the respect, intellectual challenges, and friendship she currently gets from work. It is all about your values and life balance.

If you don't mind, I'm going to work up another 500-1000 words on the metaphor of "retirement & lifestyle insurance"... this probably works a lot better than the "work until you die" or tough-love approaches!

 

[martyp]

Be my guest. You have a way with words.