Has anyone here retired and later wished they worked another year?

[Chuck2]

Advice from my Father!

My dad retired at 62 when he picked up full time hunting or fishing or in the preparation there of. His advice to me was to retire as early as possible. I tried to retire at 55 but my wife suggested I was not ready for such a step. However, at 57 I reiterated the proposition and was at that time ready according to her. I originally retired from the US Air Force in July 1967 and then with IBM in June 1987. In August 1, 2012 makes 45 years collecting retirement from good old uncle Sam. My IBM retired years will be 25 in June 30, 2012. The main object of retirement is to do all the things employment kept you from doing and living to a ripe old age to collect the money not paid during said employment years. I just had my 82nd birthday and hope to have many more.

 

[Danmar]

@Starry Night Nice story. It really does come down to a balance or trade off of time and money. No regrets from me but I did go through a fairly long and difficult mental adjustment period. At least that is what my daughter and DW said. I think I 'm OK now.

 

[vttlarry]

I have been retired for over 7 months now and no regrets! I had lunch with co-workers recently and told them it is amazing how quickly you develop a new routine.

Money has been almost exactly as I had predicted. Of course, my wife is still working and my income does not come from my portfolio. I have a pension and health insurance, but still, no surprises. I guess I am lucky in that, with SS and my pension, we meet our monthly expenses and then some, so the modest (Qt. million) portfolio is more "extra money": a car every 8-10 years, maybe a big vacation, etc.

You have to have enough for sure, but sometimes I think people dwell on just "how much" they need. If you have a portfolio that will provide whatever it is you think you need, plus a healthy emergency fund, you can adjust to anything else that may occur.

 

[jclarksnakes]

Tom,
...I guess WE can call you Tom, but what if Ground Control calls for you??

 

[Major Tom]

Tom,
...I guess WE can call you Tom, but what if Ground Control calls for you??

They can call me whatever they want. I'm floating in this tin can, and need all the help I can get from them........

 

[haha]

Just curious since I'm getting very close to my retirement (freedom) date. From everything I've read, very few people regret pulling the plug, even years later. Some wish they had made the jump earlier.

With all the ups/downs of the economy and the unknowns (i.e. health costs, gas costs, brother-in-law asks for a loan, etc.), is there anyone who retired and then later says "I wished I would have worked 1,2,3.... years more" for the added cushion or just so you'd have more spare cash to do things you want to? Anyone?

Thanks,

If someone did find him/herself in that position, first that person would try to get another good job. Then s/he would take a lesser job. An extremely unlikely thing would be to come on this board and say, "Man, early retirement sucks! I worry all the time, I get on my wife's nerves, all my friends are at work so I'm losing access to them..." Next have to read all the happy ERs talk about how wonderful it is and feel like the odd man out. Not gonna happen.

ER folks are immune to hedonic adaptation, I suppose that those who are not don't stay.

Ha

 

[MasterBlaster]

If someone did find him/herself in that position, first that person would try to get another good job. Then s/he would take a lesser job. An extremely unlikely thing would be to come on this board and say, "Man, early retirement sucks! I worry all the time, I get on my wife's nerves, all my friends are at work so I'm losing access to them..." Next have to read all the happy ERs talk about how wonderful it is and feel like a loser.

ER folks are immune to hedonic adaptation, I suppose that those who are not don't stay.

Ha

I tend to agree with you...

But I do remember some exceptions. The link below is to CarDude's description of why he couldn't take retirement and went back to work.

http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f29/sucked-back-into-the-car-business-55882.html

here's another post about a memorable FIRE flunkee:

http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f29/fire-isnt-for-everybody-20347.html

 

[haha]

I tend to agree with you...

But I do remember some exceptions. The link below is to CarDude's description of why he couldn't take retirement and went back to work.

http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f29/sucked-back-into-the-car-business-55882.html

True, but as I remember he had got out from under a failing business, and entered another profitable aspect of the car business, so he went from success to success.

One guy I do remember crapped out on BAC, and wrote fully about it. But just because we haven't read about a lot of separations, divorces, small business failures, portfolio stress and just general unhappiness is pretty weak evidence that they have not occurred. Plenty people have disappeared over the years. Maybe some needed more time for summit ascents or touring European museums and just didn't feel like saying bye-bye. But not all.

Ha

 

[Tutashen]

I can retire may 11 with full pension and benefits but am hanging on till the fall because of talks of buyouts maybe we will be able to live comfortably in the same house and travel and blah blah but I would be lying if I didn't admit to some trepidation about losing those big paychecks and the ability to go out and buy whatever I want whenever I want.now I am thinking before going I will have some shopping sprees and extremely long leaves of absence to test the water I was poor once and didn't like it much but from what I see here most people are trying to save enough to retire before their pensions kick in,I had to do the 30 yrs omg realy wasn't so bad lol just life better than being poor for sure was lucky to have job alot don't ! I'm 54 now could work til day I die can't force you to retire in canada anymore but waking up to a warm beachfront um someplace in jan. sure beats scraping ice off windshield to drive to work hey!!!!!!!

 

[CCdaCE]

See the "one more year" thread....

-CC

 

[Guitar1]

I am 52 years old and I think about retiring all of the time. But for some reason it has been one of the hardest decisions of my life to take that leap. I am totally burnt out on my job. I have a decent padding in savings and 401K. My pension amount would be enough that my lifestyle would not change in the least. Thank God, I have no debt. So why am I having such a hard time? My wife is still working and can retire in a couple more years. I am pretty sure I could stay busy. I live on a farm, so there is always something to do there. I have many hobbies. I don’t know if it just the fear of possible regret or what. I think maybe I would miss the people. I have been sitting behind a desk for over 30 years and been doing computer programming for 25+ plus years and am totally burnt. Maybe I just need to go on and go for it!

 

[tryan]

Audrey's quote from the "one more year" thread....
is worth repeating :

"You know how much money you have, but you never know how much time you have left on this earth (or good health for that matter)."

 

[Independent]

I am 52 years old and I think about retiring all of the time. But for some reason it has been one of the hardest decisions of my life to take that leap. I am totally burnt out on my job. I have a decent padding in savings and 401K. My pension amount would be enough that my lifestyle would not change in the least. Thank God, I have no debt. So why am I having such a hard time? My wife is still working and can retire in a couple more years. I am pretty sure I could stay busy. I live on a farm, so there is always something to do there. I have many hobbies. I don’t know if it just the fear of possible regret or what. I think maybe I would miss the people. I have been sitting behind a desk for over 30 years and been doing computer programming for 25+ plus years and am totally burnt. Maybe I just need to go on and go for it!

I can see the "miss the people" part. I enjoyed the people I worked with directly, even if I thought senior management was #$#@$#.

We had a poll a couple years ago about what finally triggered the decision to quit. In most cases it was something negative at work, not something positive about retiring. It was new boss, corporate takeover, shift in assignments, new CEO, just can't go through the motions another year, or whatever.

At your age, you might want to think about what it would take to come back as a part-time worker after a couple years of retirement. Maybe call a head hunter or temp agency. If you think you would have options in that direction, that should make it easier to retire now. If the numbers had worked for me, I would have stayed on at half time. As it happened, I've worked a couple temp contracts for my former employer at consultant-level pay, that's a positive.

 

[powersmo]

I retire from the Active Army next year at 52 and feel good and bad at the same time. The bad part is that my dad passed away when I was 16, at the age of 60, so I never got to really get to know him. I hate to do that to my 7 and 11 year old kids. I feel that I have as much an obligation to spend more years at home with them than with my future co-workers. Maybe they would like to hold a year round garage sale or open a lemonade stand or something

 

[bikeknit]

Thanks for the advice and personal stories. I'm a touch more than 12 months out and getting a bit nervous, but I think it's time. Nothing in life is a sure thing

I'm 13 months out myself and totally understand the jitters. I don't expect I'll have any regrets when the time comes as I've got lots of plans. While there are doomsday scenarios that could put us in trouble, we've got plan B and plan C in place. A lot of decisions are reversible but this one may not be for most of us.

 

[glinka]

Never. I retired when I was 55. I was happy to see my first year in retirement come and go because it seemed like so many I worked with died the first year or so after retirement. One inparticular pasted after 11 monthes. I have never heard any of the people I worked with say they wished they had worked more.

 

[woodstock69]

Retired 18mo ago..more or less forced out(about a year earlier than I planned). I do not miss any part of it..stress levels down..BP down much more relaxed. I have lunch with ex co-workers about once a month or so and I listen to the stories and complaints and I realize how much I don't miss it at all. I do not regret it at all and never looked back. Financially we were ready we planned for the last 20 years or so.