Anxiety before FIRE (poll)

[CyclingInvestor]

No stress at all. I had hit FI in 2004, but since work was going so smoothly I worked (programmed) an extra 2 years before retiring when things finally started going south. By that time I had much more $$ than I needed. I had always been sure of the non-$$ part, as I had wanted to retire since I was a child. The last 4 years have confirmed this.

 

[flyfishnevada]

I had some anxiety, but mine was more to do with the anticipation. I was taking a pension and even though I would have less money in retirement, I had adjusted spending to compensate, mainly paying off my vehicles. That caused a little stress, but no big deal.

Am I the only one who's known since they were in their early 20s they would retire in their mid-50s?

It was more knowing for the last twenty years that I was going to retire in July 2010. That coupled with a bad situation at work made me want to get out of there so badly. I think the anxiety was more the fact I couldn't do anything to get out earlier. I had to wait and put up with the BS. The countdown just go to me. It seemed to take forever. I was so stressed I got a case of the shingles!

Now, 7 months later, it seems like a lifetime ago. Even though I have teenagers at home and we haven't been able to follow are dreams as of yet, it is still nice to not have to go to work. On the rare occasions when I think about it, it makes me smile.

 

[Trawler]

Almost there. Been planing ER for past decade. Set target of 50th B-day which is now April 2011 due to the melt down. New Target 51st b-day. Anxious yes. Been running Fire calc and other caculators and setting up the financial side and fairly confident. Applied for LTC insurance and have shopped HC insurance and concerned weather they will give us coverage due to some past health issues. If we get coverage then we shall go for it.

 

[ScottFromUtah]

Yes, I had anxiety. My main concern--which to some degree is still a concern--was financial. Would I have enough money for my wife and me to live to a ripe old age in comfort and in the relatively high standard of living to which we were accustomed. I am happy to report that after 2.5 years, all is going well--financially, socially, emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually. I have learned that I didn't need to have as much anxiety about finances as I did. Heck, we probably won't even tap into our retirement savings until I turn 70.5 and the government makes me take money out.

 

[ohyes]

A little anxiety here, but lessened when i remind myself that we do not need our current take home pay - only enough to pay the bills plus some.

Reading Retire Happy Wild and Free (which i learned about on this forum) helped loads. The retirement counselor came around for her yearly visit and mentioned that her DH had (unexpectantly) passed away in November and she would give anything if she had retired 5 years ago. She is 61 now and retiring in May.

...so many signs once i started watching for them.

 

[FreeAtLast]

I have been easing into retirement cutting my hours which are now just under 20/week.
There has been some anxiety each time I lopped off another 10 hours/week which is about 20/k per year.

I find that I am compensated by the milestones such as my daughter graduating from college and now on her own, my son just turning 18 and almost done with high school.
The anxiety seems to diminish as I have less responsibilities.

 

[Aeowyn]

I haven't ER'd yet, but soon - I'm surprised that I'm not anxious. I'm more anxious about going into work every day.

 

[Rambler]

I believe we are probably FI enough, but not RE yet. So I did not vote. I find I have quite a bit of anxiety about the finances even though the math tells me I probably have sufficient. I don't worry too much about the social and emotional aspects, but my DW is concerned for me. She is concerned that due to my high profile position, the fast pace, the travel, the demands on my time, and the responsibility/authority I have, that I may be easily bored. Her concerns don't usually bother me, but every once in a while, I get a cold chill when I think about that in combination with my (most likely undue) concern about finances. I stay primarily because of succession planning. The biggest issue there will be complete in 23 months. I will then begin to ease into RE while part-timing a portion of my role. But, the closer it gets, the more anxious I get...for now. Maybe as the cash stash builds, and as I get down towards the end of the 23 months the anxiety will begin to ease. We'll see. Ask again in 20 months or so.

R

 

[SomedaySoon]

I'm still going through the anxiety now, even though things have turned very much to the better. As of a month ago my plan was to give three weeks notice on April 1 of this year. Firecalc showed I was in a safe zone, with the largest question being health insurance, but I felt I had built in enough of a cushion to handle that. Then low and behold, my wife finds a great job with decent pay and full benefits - after being unemployed over 3 1/2 years. She still wants me to retire and she plans on working 5 or 6 more years. With her new pay we'll have a 0% SWR for a while!!!! I don't know why I'm still nervous. I guess I'm still hoping to get the miraclulous RIF severance package. Anyway, I decided to cut the date by an extra month so I only have 3 or 4 weeks left to hang in there......

 

[52andout]

some anxiety due to megacorp being sold several times the last five years. Each time the pension formula changed just a little. Got out at first chance and took the cash balance due to mistrust issues.
Lucky for us we had two people working at the same goal and we knew to the penny how much cash we spent each year and had no debt so plenty of wiggle room to adjust the budget.

 

[Jake46]

Some, but very little, anxiety. I planned well & was confident that it was time.

 

[scrabbler1]

I have been easing into retirement cutting my hours which are now just under 20/week.
There has been some anxiety each time I lopped off another 10 hours/week which is about 20/k per year.

Same here. I reduced my weekly hours from F/T to 20 back in 2001, and most of those hours were telecommuting. My take-home salary took a 40% cut. In 2003, the telecommute part ended, so I had to do my lousy commute more often. In 2007, I reduced my weekly hours from 20 to 12, shaving one day off my commute and getting home a little earlier. My take-home pay took another hit, and most of the few remaining bennies I had went away.

I thought the 12-hour week would save me but that lasted only for 17 months, as the rest of the financial puzzle fell into place and I ERed in late 2008, sick and tired of the commute even 2 days a week. When I got home that final day, I was "Free At Last!"

 

[East Texas]

....my DW is concerned ......that due to my high profile position, the fast pace, the travel, the demands on my time, and the responsibility/authority I have, that I may be easily bored.

My staff said the same thing of me. That it would be impossible for me to slow down, would wind up working just to work, easily bored.... didn't happen. To be fair, we retired to our ranch so there's always something to do. Or not. These cold days it's more of a "not".

I stay primarily because of succession planning.

I had my succession planning in place at least two years before my departure. I was hoping the megacompany would offer me an incentive to leave earlier than my planned date - didn't happen.

You may find yourself walking into work one day and thinking you just don't want to do this any more. That's when you know you're ready for retirement.

 

[REWahoo]

You may find yourself walking into work one day and thinking you just don't want to do this any more.

That happened to me from day one. Every day - well, except for paydays...

 

[M Paquette]

You may find yourself walking into work one day and thinking you just don't want to do this any more. That's when you know you're ready for retirement.

Bingo! This was published the day I gave my 2 weeks notice.
Non Sequitur Comic Strip, February 18, 2008 on GoComics.com

 

[Independent]

Not retired yet, so no vote. However, leading into retirement I can say:

1) Highest level of anxiety was actually telling my boss, I delayed several times. He was in denial for almost a month, but now he realizes I'm serious and we've talked about who will replace me.
2) Moderate anxiety, the period before I told my boss. The one more year syndrome, annoying but probably inevitable.
3) Least anxiety, after I told my boss and ever since. No one aside from DW and my boss know yet, and I like it that way, don't look forward to co-workers once they all know. I am enjoying work a little more now, and whenever something happens I don't like - I smile and tell myself, won't have to deal with this much longer. And mentally checking off some assignments in my head with a 'last time I'll ever have to do this,' and the co-workers/audience doesn't know it.

I had the same experience and really enjoyed it. I was 95% sure I'd retire early for some time before I told my boss. So I mentally said "this is the last time for this ...". In one or two cases I made an unusual effort to document because I knew one of my co-workers would get stuck with a particular job.

My boss was cool with it, especially when I told him I'd stay until a current project got done if he couldn't find a replacement in time. I got to skip a round of annual planning and an HR "make yourself more productive" exercise - that felt great. My co-workers probably knew my personality well enough that the decision wasn't a great surprise to them (and, it did increase their job security).

 

[Independent]

I was most worried when I thought I might get caught in a round of downsizing before I was FI.

That didn't happen. I worked the extra years so when I actually retired I knew we had a significant cushion - no anxiety at that time, just a feeling of success.

As it turned out, we'll probably need all that cushion. Glad we have it.

 

[Fireup2020]

Not required yet - my anxiety is stemmed only by general work frustration...I am REALLY looking forward to retirement! Planning and practicing retirement takes all my free time, and some of my w*rk time! Under 10 years to go...I pray I can keep my head in the game until then!

 

[Retire Soon]

This is what I wrote 5 years ago on Early Retirement Forums:

"I just resigned from my teaching position last week after 20 years.* I agonized over whether or not I should follow through with my resignation for about the last six months. It was especially difficult, because I could have doubled my pension with another 5 years, and tripled it with 10.* What made me finally pull the trigger was my age.* I turn 55 this month and am* still very healthy.* Will I still be healthy 10 years from now, 5 years from now or even 1 year from now?* No one has the answer to that question.* There are a lot of things I'd like to do in the coming years.* Unfortunately, I would have to be healthy to enjoy these things.* Poor health would preclude my being able to experience these dreams at an optimum level.* Not retiring, in my way of thinking would have been a lot* like gambling. Only, I wouldn't have been gambling with money, I'd have been gambling with my quality of life. I could have chosen to work more years, but if something happened, money would never buy those years back for me.* I now feel a tremendous amount of peacefulness and relief with last week's decision."
___

Yes, there was a great deal of anxiety when I retired early, but I am happy with my decision. It has worked out well for both DW and me (she retired a month before I did). I think I am probably healthier now than what I would have been if I continued the daily grind. I have done more traveling in the past 5 years than I did in the first 55 years of my life. We now have more money for discretionary spending than we had when we were both working. Well, I suppose that's as good as it can get.

 

[Koolau]

Wasn't quite certain how to answer, but said "no anxiety". I had my share of anxiety for the several years leading up to my decision to RE. All the 'usual suspects' (money, activities, boredom, 'too much togetherness', etc., etc.). I had talked to many associates and friends at work about their decisions to retire and, almost to a person, they said "you will know when it is time" (meaning, I assumed, the non-money issues). Well, they were right. Once I made the decision, all anxiety was replaced by a calm I can't quite describe. The time between the decision and my last day was short, so maybe I didn't have enough time to worry about it anymore. But I think it's just my personality to take forever to make a decision, and then set that decision in stone.

 

[MBAustin]

Some anxiety because I had originally planned to RE at 55ish. After running the numbers in mid-2010 I realized there was no reason to wait and since w*rk had become less and less fun, I decided (with DH's blessing) to go for it a couple of years early. Four months later, no regrets.
Talked yesterday with a 68-year-old who is terrified of his retirement in 3 months - he has been in a position of power and respect for many years and thinks he will miss it, even though he wants to travel and do other things. He seemed surprised that my biggest problem was volunteering too much.