Any Regrets?

[MBAustin]

It was 2 years ago this month that I started seriously considering earlier ER, having for many years planned to ER at 58. Once I discovered we were already FI with a good cushion, it only took a few weeks to decide to go for it.

The only time I have had any serious regrets was a few months ago when I got caught up in the idea that my value as a person was less because I was no longer w*rking. I happened upon the Zelinski book during that time and after reading the first two chapters, it knocked some sense back into my crazy head and I was immediately happy again.

The stress reduction for me has been transformational. I'm still a type A but my husband and kids assure me I'm a lot easier to live with now.

 

[Amethyst]

That's an interesting quote, and bears some resemblance to my feelings. Still, the quote sounds as if Anna was able to reconcile herself to her "reinvented" self. I never was able to do that.

Amethyst

Here's someone who is evidently having a somewhat similar experience.

 

[marko]

OTOH:
If I had to do it all over again, I'd have gone the teacher/firefighter/city worker route.

After killing myself, back breaking post grad work, a life of saving and 25 years of business travel I find that my neighbors in the above vocations 1) retired earlier than me, 2) are living better than me, 3) have lifetime pensions that pay more than my 4% SWR and 4) have lifetime Cadillac health plans.

I'm not denigrating those jobs, but if I knew then what I know now....fully retire at 43 and maybe get another job with another pension at 63?

Not sure about other states, but here in Mass that's the game.

What a chump I was!!

 

[wanaberetiree]

OTOH:
my neighbors in the above vocations 1) retired earlier than me, 2) are living better than me, 3) have lifetime pensions that pay more than my 4% SWR and 4) have lifetime Cadillac health plans.

My neighbors grass is always greener....

The question I am straggling with - do I have enough to ER and don't look at somebody's pensions.

 

[Islandtraveler]

Wow, some great insights. This is a real thought provoking group. Thank You all for your responses. The general consensus appears to be that ER was the right move. I think I do need to explore the “life after” scenario a bit more but at the end of the day, I believe that I will enjoy reclaiming my own time.

 

[Midpack]

Wow, some great insights. This is a real thought provoking group. Thank You all for your responses. The general consensus appears to be that ER was the right move. I think I do need to explore the “life after” scenario a bit more but at the end of the day, I believe that I will enjoy reclaiming my own time.

Is it conceivable the consensus here could be otherwise? Those who regret retiring (early) aren't going to be active here (for long).

If you ask about buying a Hummer at hummer.org, I suspect the consensus would be overwhelmingly in favor of buying. The minority there who have regrets about buying a Hummer would be less likely to post because a) it would be admitting they'd made a mistake (people don't like to do so), b) the majority would override them and c) they wouldn't be members for long.

 

[W2R]

OTOH:
If I had to do it all over again, I'd have gone the teacher/firefighter/city worker route.

My neighbors grass is always greener.....

That's a really good point. If I had taken any of those jobs as my career, I'd probably be a nervous wreck in these hard economic times, with local communities finding it so difficult to scrape up the necessary money to cover their pension obligations each year. Sure, most will probably find it somewhere but I would worry every time I listened to the news.

 

[Islandtraveler]

Point well taken. I do think I will enjoy ER. I do not however, like Hummers!

 

[marko]

That's a really good point. If I had taken any of those jobs as my career, I'd probably be a nervous wreck in these hard economic times, with local communities finding it so difficult to scrape up the necessary money to cover their pension obligations each year. Sure, most will probably find it somewhere but I would worry every time I listened to the news.

Sacred cows here in Mass. Different world...nothing to worry about!

They actually have an expression here: "the DPS"...the dreaded private sector!

The OP was asking "any regrets?". That's mine. Again, what a chump I was!

 

[Walt34]

OTOH:
If I had to do it all over again, I'd have gone the teacher/firefighter/city worker route.

After killing myself, back breaking post grad work, a life of saving and 25 years of business travel I find that my neighbors in the above vocations 1) retired earlier than me, 2) are living better than me, 3) have lifetime pensions that pay more than my 4% SWR and 4) have lifetime Cadillac health plans.

It can be a bit of the "grass being greener". I worked as a police officer for 29 years and if I was 22 I'd do it again. At the time I didn't realize how high-risk that job is. Firefighters get killed/injured at about the same or higher rates than police officers. The county I worked for still has it's AAA bond rating and is one of the few with no unfunded pension liability so I'm not concerned about the pension.

I'm also very much aware that ~20-25% go out on permanent disability because of injuries at work. So at the most basic level I feel lucky that I can still walk across the room and get myself a glass of water without being in pain. I know a bunch of people who can't.

So if you end up being one of the ones on crutches or in a wheelchair for the next 30 years it isn't such a good choice.

There are all kinds of risk. I took a physical risk and got lucky. Sometimes I think it's nothing more than that. Just luck.

 

[razztazz]

To survive, I adopted a false persona and lived a sort of half-life, pretending to like things I didn't like and dislike things I did like, until college, when for some reason I was finally free to be myself, for the most part. Then, work, and having to wear the full-body mask again. I don't know how many other people feel this way, since nobody talks about it.

I can dig it.

 

[Hud3]

My wife and I retired at age 56. The first six months were difficult for me. It took me that long to adjust to the lack of structure, pressure of deadlines, expectation of finishing the day with something concrete accomplished, etc. The other adjustment was getting used to so much "togetherness" with my wife. It all really does take some getting used to. But after getting over those "humps", I have never had a single moment of regret in the 11 years we've been retired, not one!

 

[Nords]

OTOH:
If I had to do it all over again, I'd have gone the teacher/firefighter/city worker route.
After killing myself, back breaking post grad work, a life of saving and 25 years of business travel I find that my neighbors in the above vocations 1) retired earlier than me, 2) are living better than me, 3) have lifetime pensions that pay more than my 4% SWR and 4) have lifetime Cadillac health plans.

You aren't going to have any neighbors who were severely injured or even killed in those occupations... a different sort of survivor bias!

 

[haha]

That's an interesting quote, and bears some resemblance to my feelings. Still, the quote sounds as if Anna was able to reconcile herself to her "reinvented" self. I never was able to do that.

Amethyst

I hadn't read the post re: Anna. But I immediately thought of Anna Karenina, who clearly could not reconcile herself to her social role.

I think your experience is very common- people, especially girls, hate high school, feel much freer in college, like work for a few years for the money and the autonomy, then begin to be ground down by the required role-playing and the cutthroat politics.

Boys are usually not as hard on one another in high school as girls are. But work, especially today, often requires much of same soul sacrifice. One thing I think tends to make it easier for men is that we tend to be aggressive, and feel quite free to actively hate our oppressors usually with little or no guilt.

Ha

 

[Bestwifeever]

OTOH:
If I had to do it all over again, I'd have gone the teacher/firefighter/city worker route.

After killing myself, back breaking post grad work, a life of saving and 25 years of business travel I find that my neighbors in the above vocations 1) retired earlier than me, 2) are living better than me, 3) have lifetime pensions that pay more than my 4% SWR and 4) have lifetime Cadillac health plans.

I'm not denigrating those jobs, but if I knew then what I know now....fully retire at 43 and maybe get another job with another pension at 63?

Not sure about other states, but here in Mass that's the game.

What a chump I was!!

Maybe, but if you were drawn to those professions, you would have gone into them. The good teachers that I know have a calling for their professions, and becoming a fire-fighter (or police officer) is not easy, never miind the actual job. And "city workers" cover such a range of jobs but just like the private sector, they're subject to office politics (pun intended) and budget cuts, etc.

 

[Zero]

I was a fairly mellow fellow as a young guy but after college, which was a blast, I hated work from the very get-go because of kiss-butts. I had seen a few kiss-butts in HS and college but my workplace seemed like a breeding place for those maggots.

I will say that I put on less of a mask than most had to and I paid the price in promotion and salary but still did well.

I walked out of my company as soon as I could get my retiree benefits and I have Zero regrets.

 

[tmm99]

Not a regret but an observation. Many people identify and place some degree of self value/worth to the job/position they hold or held when working. Being an A type personality it took me some time to disengage from that flawed perception.

I am not retired yet.

My mom is 84 years old and she tells me she sometimes struggles to find things to do (fun things to do). She tends to get depressed when she has nothing fun to do, so she tries hard to keep herself busy. (She had her own business until she was in her mid 70's.) Because of that, I feel I should have a bunch of hobbies (not expensive hobbies but you know) for my later years.

I am very busy woking now (long hours and very challenging) so I am totally immersed in that and I believe my identity is somehow wrapped up in my job; plus my source of entertainment or social interactions happen there because I really don't do much on days off except chores and hanging with my SO. So yeah, I think what frayne says is what might happen to me too.

 

[Zantastic]

If I’m honest with myself, I have to admit to some regrets. I’m in the category of those running FROM a horrible work environment more so than running TO early retirement.

I loved the first nine months of retirement, but slipped into a bit of depression when I started to run out of projects to keep me busy. I planned well for retirement financially, but in hindsight, I should have spent more time developing interests and hobbies, especially since I’m single and all of my friends are still employed.

I just started a temporary job that is right up my alley and it’s picked up my spirits. I hope for more temporary or part time work down the road. It’s a better balance for me than full time retirement.

That said, I still made the right decision to retire when I did. The job was killing me, mentally and physically.

 

[Mulligan]

I am very happily retired and have no regrets at all (though I do still enjoy part time jobs for some reason and cant quit them). However 2 years into retirement I have noticed something odd. I have absolutely no interest in learning anything new whether it be a musical instrument or foreign language, etc. I thought I would be a little experimental, but that part of me is gone I guess. I have a routine (that includes spur of the moment trips out west) that I love and dont like being out of it. For example yesterday, the paper guy gave me 2 early sunday editions instead of one and the saturday edition. Saturday paper cannot be bought locally at newsstand. Threw me into a fit of rage and my routine for the day was all screwed up! Now keep in mind I have access to the whole edition online as a hard copy subscriber, but that doesn't work for me as I need to have it in paper format to enjoy with my coffee. If this had happened to me while working, it wouldn't have even made a blip on my radar screen.Today the paper was delivered in its proper manner and life is back to being normal

 

[East Texas]

Regrets? Absolutely none. I knew I was going to retire at age 55 when I was in my mid-20s. I lived below my means. I saved. I saved even more. I was debt free, including the house several years before retirement. When it came time for that magic day, I shook hands and walked out the door and we moved to our ranch. This comes from someone who is a Typical Type A personality.

These past years have been amazing. We are young enough, healthy enough, financially prepared, still debt free, and are able to enjoy this time in our life. It's a gift for which we will not squander.

I think the vast majority of the people on this board did similar planning. It's those people who thought "they'd work forever" who got surprised. Either health, or economic downturns, or just life in general put them in a position to (voluntarily or non-voluntarily) exit the workforce before they were ready. They are probably not ready financially or emotionally to be without a job.

I suspect the planners and savers have no regrets. I suspect those people who lived life "happenstance", hand-to-mouth, and figured things would just work out are those people not happy with retirement.

 

[Gonzo304]

Very insightful comments. I retired two years ago from a high profile, high stress job at age 55. The first few months were fun but after that I had a difficult time as I thought I missed "the action." I realized that instead of "fighting" retirement I needed to embrace the beautiful gift I had been blessed with and had earned after 25 years of stress, travel etc. A friend once told me when you change the way you look at things- the things you are looking at change. Bottom line- I am starting to enjoy my new found freedom much more and appreciating the little things in life which I never noticed before!