Age at retirement

[Independent]

For people who are retired, how old were you when you retired?

Clarifying:
"Retired" is your definition. If you are getting paid for part time work that you do for fun, rather than because you need the money, I think you are "retired", but you'll have to draw the line. (Tom Sawyer said "Work is what a body is obliged to do.")

If you are married, it's your age when you quit, not your spouse's. (Okay, some people will average the two ages, that's fine, too.)

One of the younger folk can do "Age when I plan to retire" if they like.

 

[Moemg]

I always wanted to retire in my 50's but I procrastinated and finally retired at 59 .

 

[Telly]

One of the younger folk can do "Age when I plan to retire" if they like.

I am assuming that you mean they can go and create THEIR OWN TOPIC AND POLL, and NOT vote in this one!

Because if they vote in this one, using some age they think they will retire, it will screw up the results. (The difference between goals/dreams and cruel reality, you know )

 

[Independent]

I am assuming that you mean they can go and create THEIR OWN TOPIC AND POLL, and NOT vote in this one!

Because if they vote in this one, using some age they think they will retire, it will screw up the results. (The difference between goals/dreams and cruel reality, you know )

Correct. I should have been clearer with the wording.

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

60 was the target originally, but a 1-year delay intervened due to a combination of the Great Recession and career circumstances. Glad I waited but it was a long year.

 

[REWahoo]

60 was the target originally, but a 1-year delay intervened due to a combination of the Great Recession and career circumstances. Glad I waited but it was a long year.

Rich, you failed to mention your attempt at the world's record in the "just-one-more-year" club....

 

[scrabbler1]

I was 45 back in 2008 when I retired. For several years I thought I'd be able to retire early, perhaps in my early 50s. But several things fell into place quickly in 2006-2008 and I was able to pull the trigger in late 2008.

 

[braumeister]

I did it more or less by stealth, at age 55.

The company where I worked was bought by a much larger company, and my job was eliminated. I was already in a financial position to be retired, so I thought about it while collecting unemployment, and eventually just decided not to bother looking for another job.

That was actually my second career, since I had previously retired from the military.

 

[Nords]

Chronologically? Age 41.

Occupationally? I stopped "working" in my late 30s, although some of my supervisors would claim that the evidence points toward a substantially earlier age.

Mentally & emotionally I'm still in my mid 20s. In a few years I'm going to get one of those t-shirts that says "Inside every old person is a 25-year-old wondering what the hell happened."

 

[RonBoyd]

Yeah, I put it off until I was 57... it was a struggle though.

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

Rich, you failed to mention your attempt at the world's record in the "just-one-more-year" club....

I fell short by a few months. But it was worth it.

 

[easysurfer]

I had planned to retire at 50, but circumstances at w*rk made it so I decided to FIRE a couple years earlier. If I had a chance, I wouldn't change a thing about how it all played out.

 

[Ronstar]

My goal has always been 55, but I like the ESR gig and may stay ESR'd a little past 55. (Sorry - voted in this "Age at retirement" poll instead of "planned age at retirement")

 

[Dawg52]

For the one's under 40, I would like to hear how you accomplished that feat if you don't mind sharing. Pretty strong accomplishment. I retired at an old 52.

 

[Independent]

With 121 replies so far, it looks like the median age at retirement was 55. About 25% of us managed to retire before age 50. That's "very early" in my world. Nobody retired after age 63. We are definitely an unusual group.

I guessed wrong when I set up the age groupings. I believed that we had more "higher age" retirees in spite of the forum name. Because of this, the chart feature in the poll isn't very instructive.

Here's a better chart, where each of the age bands is three years. The mid-50s ages really jump out.

 

[ziggy29]

Here's a better chart, where each of the age bands is three years. The mid-50s ages really jump out.

Makes sense, since 55 is a pretty common age for the earliest possible "out" with a pension.

 

[Independent]

Makes sense, since 55 is a pretty common age for the earliest possible "out" with a pension.

Interesting thought. It's certainly plausible, but pensions come with lots of variations. I know that I intended to leave at age 58.5, the earliest I could get a pension without an "actuarial" reduction. (I ended up working an extra 6 months, so my actual out was 59.)

But the decision had more to do with frustrations with management, the size of my 401k, and the fact that our last teenager was out of the house.

 

[rescueme]

Makes sense, since 55 is a pretty common age for the earliest possible "out" with a pension.

What's a pension? ...

(BTW, retired at age 59 and made my own "pension" via an SPIA ).

 

[IndependentlyPoor]

Makes sense, since 55 is a pretty common age for the earliest possible "out" with a pension.

Woulda been true for me. Fifty five was the earliest age to receive a reduced pension and I would have simultaneously hit 32 years service and maxed out my pension. Whoo-hoo! Jackpot!

Oops.

Err, "events" happened and I left at 50. Much less cushy circumstances, but the last 5.5 years have been great.

 

[ejman]

52 here. But does semi retirement by working P/T from home (telecommuting) starting at age 49 count for something?

 

[Birdie Num Nums]

What's a pension? ...
(BTW, retired at age 59 and made my own "pension" via an SPIA ).

Exactly... what's a pension? Currently at age 55, I will have to live on my nest egg's SWR, future interest, dividends, and capital appreciation--plus some part-time earnings, and, eventually SS and Medicare in some 10 years' time.

It IS so interesting to see so many other 55-year-olds retiring these days. That makes me feel I am in a fellow company of those who remember the Beatles on "The Ed Sullivan Show" with one-minute commercials every 20 minutes or so (not the 3 or 4-minute-long commercials every ten minutes these days, along with those annoying bottom-right transparent TV channel logos), Funny Face drinks, Schwinn Stingway bicycles (with their high motorcycle handlebars and banana seats), three-on-the-column, Desert boots, grandiose movie theaters (with those lobby picture cards you saw as you waited in line to enter the theater--wondering where in the movie those particular images would occur) the cartoons and double features, and those huge velvety curtains that spread ever so high and wide as the show began in your local palace of movie amusement.

And, again for one who today is circa 55-years-old, there was..., well, you others of this age please add to the list.

 

[Alan]

Makes sense, since 55 is a pretty common age for the earliest possible "out" with a pension.

...and retiree health insurance. That is what kept me waiting a couple of extra years to age 55.

 

[Rustic23]

I could have retired at 43, with an Air Force pension. Wife was working, we had the cash for the kids education, and health care was covered. However, it just never occurred to us. Then again at 53, and in fact I was retired/not working for two years. I took a job that really seemed like it would be fun and it was. Both wife and I retired at 62. The difference between 43 and 62 is monumental! Our retirement income more than tripled, at todays value. In retrospect the two years off at 53 proved to me that I was not ready to quit. Now it is a different story, and you could not get me back to work.

 

[ksr]

...three-on-the-column, ...

I had a friend who drove one of these. She called it "three on the tree".

I'm 50 and I remember a lot of what you listed. I've also noticed recently that some of the jingles from our era are starting to resurface. Just yesterday I heard "I am stuck on band-aid..." and realized I hadn't heard that in a long time!

 

[Walt34]

I retired at 52, goofed off for almost five years, tried some consulting/contract work for a short time, helped a friend build an airplane, then stumbled into a job that is so low-stress that often the hardest part is staying awake, with an easy commute. I read a lot of library books at work, and they're okay with that.

So for the moment I am once again a productive member of society, and while I did splurge on a new motorcycle the bulk of the unplanned-for income is going to savings/investments, and my KMA hat is firmly in place.