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View Poll Results: How long FIRE'd? Too early, too late, just about right?
FIREd less than 5 years, too early 10 4.24%
FIREd less than 5 years, too late 15 6.36%
FIREd less than 5 years, about right 94 39.83%
FIREd 5 to <10 years, too early 2 0.85%
FIREd 5 to <10 years, too late 3 1.27%
FIREd 5 to <10 years, about right 61 25.85%
FIREd >=10 years, too early 1 0.42%
FIREd >=10 years, too late 3 1.27%
FIREd >=10 years, about right 47 19.92%
Voters: 236. You may not vote on this poll

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Poll: Did you retire too early, too late, or about right?
Old 01-31-2019, 10:43 AM   #1
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Poll: Did you retire too early, too late, or about right?

I don't think I've ever seen a poll on this, and I'm curious.

Please evaluate how long you've been FIREd and how you feel currently about whether you retired too early, too late, or just about right.
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Old 01-31-2019, 10:46 AM   #2
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Your year ranges are not quite continuous. Where would someone who is retired for 10 years fit into your selections?
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Retired in late 2008 at age 45. Cashed in company stock, bought a lot of shares in a big bond fund and am living nicely off its dividends. IRA, SS, and a pension await me at age 60 and later. No kids, no debts.

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Old 01-31-2019, 10:49 AM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by scrabbler1 View Post
Your year ranges are not quite continuous. Where would someone who is retired for 10 years fit into your selections?
If they are exactly 10 years retired, they could wait a day and pick the >10 year option.
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Old 01-31-2019, 11:00 AM   #4
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Going on 14 years now; RE'd at age 52. Could've RE'd much earlier --and had planned to--but was suddenly having a lot of fun with work.

Fate intervened with an involuntary RE and I'm glad fate had it's way with me. Best thing I ever did.
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Old 01-31-2019, 11:08 AM   #5
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Originally Posted by scrabbler1 View Post
Your year ranges are not quite continuous. Where would someone who is retired for 10 years fit into your selections?
You got me. I'm deeply saddened that my plan to exclude people who retired 10 years ago today and want to express an opinion from my fabulous 100% scientific poll has been outed. Drats!!!

(If you retired 10 years ago today, vote from among the last/bottom group of three options. I meant them to mean 10 or more years.)
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Old 01-31-2019, 11:14 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SecondCor521 View Post
You got me. I'm deeply saddened that my plan to exclude people who retired 10 years ago today and want to express an opinion from my fabulous 100% scientific poll has been outed. Drats!!!

(If you retired 10 years ago today, vote from among the last/bottom group of three options. I meant them to mean 10 or more years.)
I changed the last 3 options to show >=

Hopeful that will satisfy all options.
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Old 01-31-2019, 11:22 AM   #7
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Thanks Alan! What service!! :-)
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Old 01-31-2019, 11:25 AM   #8
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Thanks Alan! What service!! :-)
No worries
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Old 01-31-2019, 11:30 AM   #9
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No worries
You deserve a raise. I'll talk to the board about doubling your salary and stock options.
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Old 01-31-2019, 11:47 AM   #10
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You deserve a raise. I'll talk to the board about doubling your salary and stock options.
Thanks.
One nice thing about the salary - it’s completely tax free
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Old 01-31-2019, 12:04 PM   #11
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Thanks.
One nice thing about the salary - it’s completely tax free
You should defer as much of it as you can.
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Old 01-31-2019, 12:24 PM   #12
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I would have liked to retire maybe 7-8 years before I did retire (at age 61, back in 2009). It just took a while longer for everything to come together, especially federal retiree health insurance eligibility and that was a necessary part of my plan.

So, I slogged away at it and finally "all systems were go", so to speak, so I retired.
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Old 01-31-2019, 12:32 PM   #13
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Only been retired about 1.5 years to date, but it seems the right timing so far.
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Old 01-31-2019, 12:44 PM   #14
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I passed the 5 year mark last year. Knowing what I know today, I could have retired earlier than I did. So that's how I answered (5-10, too late). At the time, it felt a bit "borderline," and some here told me so. I was also heavily discounting SS at the time. And DW worked 3 years longer than planned. So yeah... had I known all that, I could have retired ~48-49. I was certainly ready.
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Old 01-31-2019, 12:53 PM   #15
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When I was still a teenager I decided to try to retire at 55, simply because I had always been told that 65 was the normal, accepted retirement age and I wanted to beat that by ten years.

My plan was successful, and I've been happy ever since. Neither too early nor too late.
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Old 01-31-2019, 01:06 PM   #16
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To me I felt frivolous retiring at 60. No one I knew did that. However it was perfect. Soon after they started dropping like flies. No regrets
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Old 01-31-2019, 01:34 PM   #17
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I (mostly) retired the day I became eligible for CSRS. I couldn't have retired a day earlier and had no wish to wait a day longer. I did continue to do very part-time, unscheduled, remote contract work for some years afterward but viewed that as strictly optional.
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Old 01-31-2019, 01:48 PM   #18
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I would like to have retired at about 22, but that wasn't feasible. But at 4 years in, I think my time to retire was about perfect. I had a career I enjoyed, hell it was even *really* fun at times...and a lot of people don't get that. BUT...I am now able to live *my* life the way I want and the memories of my career days are still there, and I can reflect on the fantastic and ignore the rest of it.
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Old 01-31-2019, 02:06 PM   #19
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I left at 56, I was planning on 57 but sometimes plans change! I'm glad I left when I did, could have hung out waiting for a RIF, but the toxic environment won.
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Old 01-31-2019, 02:10 PM   #20
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I always thought I'd be able to retire in my early 50s, even after switching from FT to PT in 2001 at age 38. But the pieces of ER plan began falling rapidly into place in the first few years after 2001, so I knew I'd be able to ER well before my previous goal. So, when the final piece fell into place in 2008, I retired at age 45. For me, it wasn't too early or too late, it was just right!
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Retired in late 2008 at age 45. Cashed in company stock, bought a lot of shares in a big bond fund and am living nicely off its dividends. IRA, SS, and a pension await me at age 60 and later. No kids, no debts.

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