What's er?

[livingalmostlarge]

I ask what is considered retiring early? What is the normal retirement age? 62? 65? 66?

Is anyone before 62 considered retiring early? Is anything before 55?

 

[foxfirev5]

I'm sure you'll get a wide variety of answers. My original plan was age 55. Pension frozen, health insurance problems etc. now it looks more like age 59 1/2 to just before age 60.
But it's all relative. I don't have a physically demanding job, other than endless travel, so I might be able to perform the job functions longer than some others. The key to me is FI so ER can happen at any time. The particular age it happens is not so significant. Some of us will have very long retirements while others who retire early may not be so fortunate. It's all a big crap shoot. Do what you can to take care of yourself, have fun and see how it works out.

 

[RunningBum]

Is there a reason for asking, or do you just want to put a label on it?

 

[REWahoo]

Depends on your perspective: http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/what-is-the-age-cutoff-for-re-23468.html

 

[pb4uski]

No idea. When I was growing up I think 65 was the typical retirement age and 55 was early. I planned on 55 and ended up retiring just after my 56th birthday after we sold our main home (we had previously move into our summer home full time).

I consider myself as retiring early - if for no other reasons that so few or my peers are retired at this point.

 

[kimcdougc]

I would say anyone that is under 62 and retiring is ER.

 

[Telly]

From post #12 in the link that REW posted:

Purely my own metrics:

ER = 55 or so. Coming from the corporate world where there are usually plans that you can (or could, in years past) "Early Retire" at 55 with full benefits by meeting certain criteria.

EER (Early Early Retire) - Before age 50.

IHY (I Hate You) - Before age 40

GMAFBYDHACATWIGTHTY - Before age 30
(Give Me A Frigging Break, You Don't Have A Clue As To What Is Going To Happen To You!)

That thread was almost 8 years ago!

I'm an EER. But as good as EER is, it does not totally prevent one from aging

 

[RetireAge50]

I always said I was going to retire before my hair turned grey.

 

[robnplunder]

I always said I was going to retire before my hair turned grey.

My hair turned grey at age 35. I dye my hair to hide it from work. Age is viewed as a weakness at my megacorp.

I agree that RE is a RElative term. If you RE earlier than what you planned for, I'd say the words fit you.

 

[braumeister]

I would say anyone that is under 62 and retiring is ER.

When I was young, there was never the slightest doubt that the age of retirement was 65. No exceptions.

So I consider anything before 65 to be ER.

For me personally, I was able to do it at 55, which had always been my goal, so I consider that to have been a great success.

But I had a friend whose goal was to retire at 40, and he made it (with a couple of weeks to spare). Unfortunately, he was a classic Type A personality and started a new business within a year, which he is still running today in his 70s.

 

[traineeinvestor]

When I was young, there was never the slightest doubt that the age of retirement was 65. No exceptions.

When I was younger 60 was the definitive retirement date - the age when people could collect the universal pension in NZ. That age has been marched up to 65 so since then. So I guess 65 is the new 60.

For me, ER is more about a state of mind than any specific age - retiring before deterioration in physical and mental abilities become impediments to living the life you want to.

 

[Walt34]

When I was young, there was never the slightest doubt that the age of retirement was 65. No exceptions.

That was it when I was growing up too. Age 65 also meant you were "old" and had one foot in the grave. Now that I'm 64 I will argue that last one.

 

[mickeyd]

ER is whatever you want it to be.

For me it was age 58 (12 years ago) when my job evaporated and I did some simple math and realized that my pensions, SS and investment pool was plenty to provide us with all we all ever need forever.

 

[Pleeplus]

When I was younger 60 was the definitive retirement date - the age when people could collect the universal pension in NZ. That age has been marched up to 65 so since then. So I guess 65 is the new 60.

I am in the camp of anything before 65 years old is RE. Thinking this might be a generational thing I asked my SD who is a sophomore in college what she considered the normal age of retirement, to which she quickly replied 65.

For me the end goal is to be FI at the age of 55. I may or may not pull the trigger and RE at that age but having the ability to make that decision is my criteria for success.

 

[Aus_E_Expat]

I grew up in Australia and I always thought anything before 65 was early as 65 was the age at which a male was eligible for the old age pension

The eligibility age for the pension is rising to 67 soon and there is now a debate about raising the eligibility age to 70 by 2030.

The age at which you can access a private pension account is 55 but you pay tax, if you access after 60 it is tax free.

So I guess anything before 65 is early and anything before 55 is extremely early.

 

[HFWR]

A few years ago...

 

[martyb]

For most of my federal career, I was 100% sure I would retire at 55. So fast forward to now: I'm 56 1/2, still working, but am retiring in 2 1/2 months. I consider myself to be retiring not early, not late, but right on time!

 

[donheff]

My hair turned grey at age 35. I dye my hair to hide it from work. Age is viewed as a weakness at my megacorp.

By 35 I was all grey. Started turning grey in HS. It was actually a positive attention getter when it was obviously premature. Your megacorps sounds like a lousy place to work. Maybe you should ER

 

[Pleeplus]

By 35 I was all grey. Started turning grey in HS. It was actually a positive attention getter when it was obviously premature.

I would love to have grey hair! I haven't owned a comb in 10 years.

 

[Tom52]

My definition of ER is not based upon age, but upon the ability to no longer need to work in exchange for a paycheck and before receiving any type of pension or social security benefits. Typically an ER lifestyle would be supported by only income generated from your investments, savings, inheritance, etc.

 

[Donzo]

I got free at 49 and folks would give me triple takes when they heard I had quit work for good. That felt young. Now at 57 I barely get a double take when others find out I'm free . Maybe not considered so early any more...
Either way these have been the best years of my life.

 

[tryan]

Early Retirement applies to anyone who retired before I did

 

[Independent]

When I was growing up, 65 was the "normal" retirement age. People who retired at 62, the earliest age they could collect a reduced SS benefit, were retiring "early".

I retired two weeks after my 59th birthday, and felt I was getting our "early".

 

[Katsmeow]

I'm with those who grew up always thinking of 65 as normal retirement age. When my dad retired at 60ish (in his case disability related due to an arm injury) I considered that retiring very early.

DH retired at 62 and he and I both thought of it as early. He had always had in his head retiring at 65 until I told him I thought he could retire sooner if he wanted to...

For me, I'm about to turn 60 and I semi-retired at 56. I worked very part time (8 to 12 hours a week) for the first 3 1/2 years and now am working about 2 or 3 hours a month from home as called upon. So, I'm finally feeling retired. Certainly most of the people I've known in my profession who are my age aren't retired. It seems very early to me....

 

[scrabbler1]

My definition of ER is not based upon age, but upon the ability to no longer need to work in exchange for a paycheck and before receiving any type of pension or social security benefits. Typically an ER lifestyle would be supported by only income generated from your investments, savings, inheritance, etc.

+1

Well put.