Many Retirees Wish They Left Workforce Earlier

[AnIntentionalRoad]

Actually, it's probably higher than you think. Many folks engage in meticulous planning to retire at the earliest opportunity, only to have the market screw things up for them down the road. This is why a cushion is necessary (and why many are paranoid = OMY syndrome).

But do they really wish they hadn't retired so soon? I don't know the answer but imagine most people compensate by poor financial luck by reducing lifestyle expenses and/or take PT jobs to make ends meet. They don't end their retirements and go back to careers--at least nobody I know had ever done this for financial reasons.


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[RAE]

I retired at 54 as soon I reached a pension that I could accept. It's not a huge amount but it covers my basic costs and some for savings but the freedom it has brought me is priceless.

+1. Same thing with me. I retired at 54.5, which is when I could get an early-out retirement with a reasonable pension. I took a slight penalty for retiring a bit before the age where I could get the full pension, but I have absolutely no regrets - as you say, the freedom gained was well worth it.

 

[Sunset]

Wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then.

If we had retired four or five years earlier, we might look back now and wish we had worked four or five more years.

I met a couple like that, they had retired 10 years previous to a cheap State, but were complaining about the cost of medical issues.
Basically it sounded like they had failed at doing the math.

 

[Sunset]

I basically didn't think of retirement, until friends of mine told me they were planning to retire. It made me find this site, do firecalc, and realize I should have retired a few years earlier... oops

 

[scrinch]

The surprising results from that survey to me is that less than half of retirees wished they had retired earlier. That means that more than half either were happy with their retirement age, or wished they had worked longer.

 

[petershk]

My personal experience is that the flexibility of the number is more important than the size of the number.... Until the number gets really big.

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[scrabbler1]

I retired 6 years ago at 45, which was at least 5 years earlier than I thought I could retire. So, my answer to that survey would be "No," of course, but not for the typical reasons. Then again, I am an outlier in so many ways, why not here, too?

 

[flyingaway]

For those of us with kids, I do not worry about leaving too much money behind. I worry more about not having enough down the road in 40 years. If I retire, I will not come back to work in any form. (Does it make sense when you can work one more year now to kill the possibility to work 10 years at Walmart in your 70s.)

 

[Jay_Gatsby]

But do they really wish they hadn't retired so soon? I don't know the answer but imagine most people compensate by poor financial luck by reducing lifestyle expenses and/or take PT jobs to make ends meet. They don't end their retirements and go back to careers--at least nobody I know had ever done this for financial reasons.


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Some would say taking a part-time job is ending your retirement. Others would say that it gets you out of the house, teaches you new skills, keeps your mind sharp, etc...

OMY seems to be the most logical way to obviate the need for such a part-time job, simply because you would receive close to minimum wage as a part-time employee. Savings derived from OMY of compensation during one's peak earning years could translate to up to 10 years' worth of part-time earnings (which is probably average tenure of someone who discovers at ~65-70 years old that their money will run out).

 

[Big_Hitter]

thanks for posting this

 

[longranger]

At 58 planning on 1.5 OMYs. Firecalc etc. says 100% now. Working only for the cushion. Will be 60 if the plan holds. Sure hope I don't regret the next 18 months.

 

[purplesky]

Generous vacation time at some megacorp probably keeps OMY workers around.

With 7 weeks of paid vacation time plus easy voluntary layoff available on a weekly basis I have many coworkers who take off work to recharge or take month long trips.
Its not the same as retiring obviously but its enough time off to travel and really cover some ground.

Vacation time is not discussed much on here but I bet for some OMY people it makes the decision more difficult if they get a lot of paid time off.

It definitely makes retiring earlier more complicated.

 

[Big_Hitter]

Vacation time is not discussed much on here but I bet for some OMY people it makes the decision more difficult if they get a lot of paid time off.

wouldn't matter in my profession, it's extremely difficult to take more than one week off at a time or more than 3 to 4 weeks off a year

 

[Jay_Gatsby]

wouldn't matter in my profession, it's extremely difficult to take more than one week off at a time or more than 3 to 4 weeks off a year

Many companies have gone to the use-it-or-lose-it (or unlimited) vacation model so they don't have to carry the accrued vacation time on their books as a liability. The problem is that people often don't take their vacation and don't get paid for the time they didn't take - a win/win for the company!

 

[REWahoo]

The problem is that people often don't take their vacation and don't get paid for the time they didn't take - a win/win for the company!

The president of my old company once asked, "If you can't manage to take all your vacation, what kind of a manager are you?" I found a way to take every - last - day.

 

[Big_Hitter]

Many companies have gone to the use-it-or-lose-it (or unlimited) vacation model so they don't have to carry the accrued vacation time on their books as a liability. The problem is that people often don't take their vacation and don't get paid for the time they didn't take - a win/win for the company!

we have a pto bank - mine maxes out at 240 hours and I accrue about 17 hours per month - so I get "shaved" if I don't take about 2 days off a month so that's what I try to do


the bank gets cashed out upon termination fwiw


my dad worked for a large oil company and got about 6 weeks a year - he took most of it during the summer - again, different job - the oil keeps pumping when he's out of the office - we pump our own oil so extended leaves don't fit our business model

 

[2B]

Generous vacation time at some megacorp probably keeps OMY workers around.

With 7 weeks of paid vacation time plus easy voluntary layoff available on a weekly basis I have many coworkers who take off work to recharge or take month long trips.
Its not the same as retiring obviously but its enough time off to travel and really cover some ground.

Vacation time is not discussed much on here but I bet for some OMY people it makes the decision more difficult if they get a lot of paid time off.

It definitely makes retiring earlier more complicated.

I definitely have to say my vacation time made it less critical to retire. I was up to 28 paid days off per year. I also could take unpaid time off at my managers discretion.

 

[Andre1969]

we have a pto bank - mine maxes out at 240 hours and I accrue about 17 hours per month - so I get "shaved" if I don't take about 2 days off a month so that's what I try to do

the bank gets cashed out upon termination fwiw

My company screwed around with our leave policy. I get 200 hours per year. Initially, they would cash out anything we had over 200 hours at the end of the year, and the check would usually come sometime in early January, so it was like a nice little bonus.

But then, a couple years ago, they changed it to where we could accrue 1.5x our annual rate, but we would lose everything beyond that. So, that meant I could hit 300 hours, but would get no more after that.

I had it timed to where I was going to hit close to 300 hours early this year, so I was planning on starting to take off a day here and there, and keep the total just under 300. And eventually, a real vacation of a week or two would knock it down some more.

But, this year they decided to go back to the old way! So, at the end of this year, they'll cash out anything beyond 200 hours. I stopped worrying about taking a day off here and there, so it's been building a bit. I'm currently sitting on about 326 hours.

My plan, for the time being, is to use the hours they cash out at the end of the year to help fund my Roth for 2016.

I've also been taking off early on Wednesdays, and I found it really helps my morale a lot. I'll usually leave the office around 12:30-1 pm or so. It really helps break up the week, even though it's only giving me a few hours of freedom. Monday still feels just as bad as it ever did, but suddenly, Tuesday seems a lot more bearable, almost like a Friday. And I actually look forward to Wednesday, as it doesn't feel like a real workday anymore. Thursday is usually the worst day of my week, as it's usually the busiest and if there's one day I end up working OT, it's usually a Thursday. But, coming back refreshed a bit, even it doesn't seem as bad as it did. It's funny how just taking a few hours here and there can psyche you out a bit.

 

[2017ish]

...


my dad worked for a large oil company and got about 6 weeks a year - he took most of it during the summer - again, different job - the oil keeps pumping when he's out of the office - we pump our own oil so extended leaves don't fit our business model

yeah, this is our problem--for both of us, taking two consecutive weeks off just blows huge holes in the schedule and income. This is compounded by trying to coordinate two jobs with very different planning landscapes. DW tries to block her schedule out at least 6 months in advance so as to not inconvenience her patients. My schedule is much more conducive to "hey that big case settled, next week is now open." And the less common flipside: "Client needs a TRO; sorry, I can't do that long-planned trip next week."

Technically, we each can take as much time off as we want. Nonetheless, we look forward to long trips with more spontaneity and flexibility....

 

[bclover]

Paid vacation time is probably the one thing that keeps me at my job. I get 6.5 weeks plus 12 paid holidays.

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[Big_Hitter]

Paid vacation time is probably the one thing that keeps me at my job. I get 6.5 weeks plus 12 paid holidays.

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wow, what's that like?

 

[Ronstar]

Paid vacation time is probably the one thing that keeps me at my job. I get 6.5 weeks plus 12 paid holidays.

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That's excellent, and certainly would keep most working people on the job. But I don't know a single retired person who would go back to work even for those benefits.

 

[Spanky]

Paid vacation time is probably the one thing that keeps me at my job. I get 6.5 weeks plus 12 paid holidays.

That's very good. I think teachers have more time offs -
a couple weeks off for winter holidays, another couple weeks for winter and spring breaks, and almost three months off in the summer.

 

[brett]

I went 3 1/2 years ago at 58. It was megacorps decision...golden handshake. I was ready for it.

After three years of complete freedom and 5-6 months a year of travel I have to say that getting another job was the best. Two of my colleagues retired at 65 and both passed away within a year of retirement.

I wanted to get out while I had the strength, the health and the desire to do some things that I could not do while I was working. Who knows what is around the corner.

 

[scrabbler1]

I've also been taking off early on Wednesdays, and I found it really helps my morale a lot. I'll usually leave the office around 12:30-1 pm or so. It really helps break up the week, even though it's only giving me a few hours of freedom. Monday still feels just as bad as it ever did, but suddenly, Tuesday seems a lot more bearable, almost like a Friday. And I actually look forward to Wednesday, as it doesn't feel like a real workday anymore. Thursday is usually the worst day of my week, as it's usually the busiest and if there's one day I end up working OT, it's usually a Thursday. But, coming back refreshed a bit, even it doesn't seem as bad as it did. It's funny how just taking a few hours here and there can psyche you out a bit.

This reminds me some of what I did back in 2000, the last calendar year I worked full-time and the first year I received a 4th week of vacation (I hit the 15-year mark that year).

I had a glut of PTO/vacation days that year and we were limited as to how many days (5) we could carry over with no questions asked. I saw this coming early in the year so when the summer arrived I began taking every other Wednesday off to break up the week into a pair of 2-day mini-weeks within each week. Each of the 4 days was either a day following 1 or more days off (Monday and Thursday) or a day preceding 1 or more days off (Friday and Tuesday).

I often did local errands on Wednesday because the stores were not nearly as busy as they were on the weekends. I sometimes ventured out to our co-op's pool because it wasn't as crowded midweek. I also had another night (Tuesday) I could stay up later and sleep in the next day.

It was a nice way to break up the drudgery of the hot summer, the last complete summer I worked full-time. In August of 2001, I began the part-time era which lasted for 7 years until I ERed in late 2008.