Are you retired?

[JustCurious]

Respond with option 1 only if you have NO earned income, and you pay ALL of your living expenses with passive income, or by drawing down your savings, and you reasonably expect to continue doing that for the remainder of your life.

Respond with option 2 only if you pay more than half your living expenses with passive income or savings, and you reasonably expect to continue doing that for the remainder of your life. (Or, you are mostly retired and plan to transition to being fully retired someday)

Otherwise, select option 3 or 4.

 

[Goonie]

My last day on the rock pile is 13 weeks from tomorrow!!! 91 days!!! 55 days that I have to show up!!! 0 days that I have to w*rk!!!

 

[mountaintosea]

Next year some time.

 

[Bram]

I have not had gainful employment for 3 years (after 36 years in the trenches), but the big BUT is that DH is still working & we're living off his earned income. I'm not drawing any of my retirement pension until we both retire, hopefully in 5.5 years. So I'm trying to get meself edumacated here about how to not make any more boneheaded mistakes with my retirement nestegg.

So, I clicked "fully retired" on your poll, but wouldn't really classify it as "fully" since I am not using retirement dollars yet.

 

[OAG]

Really, really, really retired. Checked past Tax Returns - line 7 of 1040 or 1040A is blank, no entry, empty. Have wife but she does not received income either. Just to be clear we do not own or operate a business either. Flat out living off of SS, Pension and Savings, nothing else. Guess that qualifies as a YES we are retried. Personally, I feel anyone what has a DW or DH working is NOT retired. Just MHO.

 

[rs0460a]

Not yet ...

78 w*rk days left. Not that I'm counting : : : ...

- Ron

 

[kumquat]

Soon, just trying to pick the day. April 1st seems appropriate.

 

[dex]

Really, really, really retired. Checked past Tax Returns - line 7 of 1040 or 1040A is blank, no entry, empty. Have wife but she does not received income either. Just to be clear we do not own or operate a business either. Flat out living off of SS, Pension and Savings, nothing else. Guess that qualifies as a YES we are retried. Personally, I feel anyone what has a DW or DH working is NOT retired. Just MHO.

Did you list your occupation as "Retired"?

 

[poboy]

A few months ago I was in the hospital. Filled out form after form, on occupation line I wrote retired. Waited while the admissions rep fed all this info into the computer which printed out the forms.For occupation it listed unemployed.

 

[dm]

Im waiting for my last bonus that usually comes out in February. The wifes last day looks to be July 1, 2008.

 

[Andre1969]

I'm still a few years off. My goal is to retire sometime in early 2016, just before my 46th birthday. Back in late August, I decided I wanted to work 2000 more days (that's workdays, not counting weekends, holidays, time off, etc). So I started a little countdown spreadsheet on August 30. Once today is over, I'll only have 1924 workdays to go!

 

[renferme]

by your definition, I had to reply with #2,
but, as far as I'm concerned I'm fully retired - my part-time job is just for fun,
not for income (although the income from it is nice).

 

[Donzo]

Fully retired - spending savings now - CDs for the next 10 years - then start tapping the IRA/401K.
It is a strange feeling to watch my checking account balence go down - and will be even stranger to elect to take a CD instead of rolling it back.
But it is even a better feeling not having to jump on a plane every Monday and participate in 4+ mind numbing conference calls per week!
I'm going skiing today!!!

 

[Goonie]

I'm still a few years off. My goal is to retire sometime in early 2016....

One year ago THIS week my plan for retirement was 2019.......then in February my employer offered the ER Incentive....IMMEDIATELY shaved 12 years off my plans!!!

 

[Nords]

Personally, I feel anyone what has a DW or DH working is NOT retired. Just MHO.

I try to set a good ER example for my spouse but she just keeps on signing up for more Navy Reserve drills. So the rule is "No Whining".

We're using her part-time income as a great opportunity to burn money from taxable ER accounts while dumping her paycheck into the TSP & IRAs.

 

[Jake46]

June 1 is my target.
Jake 46

 

[unclemick]

Jan 1993 age 49.

heh heh heh heh heh heh - now at 63/64 this year getting close to being a regular old phart instead of an ER.

 

[Bram]

Personally, I feel anyone what has a DW or DH working is NOT retired.

I would probably agree but none of the options seemed to capture my situation.

 

[donheff]

Personally, I feel anyone what has a DW or DH working is NOT retired. Just MHO.

A quick check on Google:

Definitions of retired on the Web:

* no longer active in your work or profession
* emeritus: honorably retired from assigned duties and retaining your title along with the additional title `emeritus' as in `professor emeritus'; `retired from assigned duties' need not imply that one is inactive
* out(p): not allowed to continue to bat or run; "he was tagged out at second on a close play"; "he fanned out"
* discharged as too old for use or work; especially with a pension; "a superannuated civil servant"
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

* Retirement is the status of a worker who has stopped working. This usually happens upon reaching a determined age, when physical conditions don't allow the person to work any more (by illness or accident), or even for personal choice (usually in the presence of an adequate pension). The retirement with a pension is considered a right of the worker in many societies, and hard ideological, social, cultural and political battles have been fought for this right to be granted. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retired

Emphasis mine since it fits my situation. I don't see any mention of spouse, kids, parents or good friends.

Maybe what you are saying is that you don't consider retired people to be fully authentic or some such judgment on your part until their survival is at the risk of the market. Of course that never occurs for someone who has a pension so maybe they can never be authentically retired. I suppose that also applies to social security so maybe *real* retirement only applies to those intrepid few who build a big enough nest egg to ER before earning enough credits for SS. Now wait a minute, that might let in some neer-do-wells who inherited their good fortune. But wait a little further, don't most of us espouse getting out of the rat race ASAP - so what is wrong with bailing when you inherit?

I guess retirement, like net-worth is in the mind of the beholder. Or maybe we should simply accept the actual definitions.

 

[Nords]

Personally, I feel anyone what has a DW or DH working is NOT retired. Just MHO.

A quick check on Google:
Definitions of retired on the Web:

Sheesh, I thought arguing about a definition of net worth was ridiculous, but now we've sunk to new lows!

 

[REWahoo]

...retired on the Web...

That's a pretty accurate description of my situation.

 

[OAG]

Dex -- Sure did!

 

[Sheryl]

It's interesting that our culture generally can accept/understand that a non-working husband is "retired" even if his wife still works.

OTOH a wife who is retired with working husband is often considered a stay at home mom, or "non-working spouse" not "retired."

Present company seems much more enlightened, I hasten to add.

 

[FIRE'd@51]

I would think it boils down to whether you need the working spouse's income to live in the manner you wish. If your pension, SS, nest egg, can support your lifestyle now and in the future, then you would be retired, IMO. However, if you need to have your spouse work (even for health insurance), I would say it's a bit of a fudge to call yourself ER'd.

 

[Telly]

Fully retired - spending savings now - CDs for the next 10 years - then start tapping the IRA/401K.
It is a strange feeling to watch my checking account balence go down - and will be even stranger to elect to take a CD instead of rolling it back..........

Same here. Been at it a while. It is a very strange feeling. Like picking vegetables without planting another crop... ever. May be best not to think about it, just enjoy retirement, as you are doing. The cashing in of CDs is like destroying DWs empire. Which it is, she was the manager of CDs all these years. Did a very good job of it, too. Just another chapter in (financial) life. Non-CD investments doing well, so I won't complain. But it is a strange and sometimes unsettling feeling.