Downsides of Early Retirement

[RetireBy90]

Found this interesting, thought others might also:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/24/i-r...f-early-retirement-that-no-one-tells-you.html


"I retired at 34 with $3 million"


Says he certainly doesn't regret early retirement but noted some downsides:



1. You may suffer from an identity crisis.

2) You may second-guess yourself.

3) People may treat you like a misfit.

4) You’ll be surprised that you aren’t that much happier.

5) You may get really, really bored.

And closes out with
"Here’s the truth: If you’re unhappy before you retire early, it’s likely that you’ll still be unhappy after you retire."

Just one perspective but I thought important to consider other perspectives.

 

[Pellice]

So Not True. Mr. Early Retirement needs to convert those statements to "I" statements. I accept that HE had an identity crisis, HE is second-guessing himself, HE isn't that much happier. Now, he is much younger, but he still needs to speak only for himself.

I'm coming up on one year's retirement. It's been the happiest year of my life. It wasn't particularly early as far as early retirement goes, but - I'm quite certain I could have managed just as happily and successfully in his situation. So much to do and see and think and read and talk about and write about. I wasn't particularly happy before I retired, at least with work, and am much more so now.

I wish him luck in coping with $3 million and financial independence, lol!

 

[Dawg52]

So Not True. Mr. Early Retirement needs to convert those statements to "I" statements. I accept that HE had an identity crisis, HE is second-guessing himself, HE isn't that much happier. Now, he is much younger, but he still needs to speak only for himself.

The article should have been titled as 'possible' downsides as he doesn't list them as definite downsides as he says they 'may' happen.

 

[Big_Hitter]

6) you may have to start blogging

 

[RAE]

I read the first part of the article, until I came to this quote from him - which to me sums up why he had some of the problems he did:

"It was only after I left my job that I realized how obsessed I was with my profession. I often wondered: How is the business doing without me? I was there for 11 years. Were they really able to survive without my expertise?
But after months of no emails or phone calls begging for me to come back, I finally accepted the fact that I was no longer needed."

This guy's sense of identity/worth was obviously closely tied to his job, though it appears he didn't admit that to himself before he decided to retire at age 34.

If you like your job (or most parts of it, anyway), and feel like you are making a contribution there, it's of course normal to have some of those feelings upon retirement. But, if retiring early is important to you, you really need to start detaching yourself from those feelings well before your retirement day, and start preparing yourself for the next phase of your life. I also felt like I made a significant contribution where I worked, but I knew (many years before my actual retirement day) that I wanted to do many other things with my life, too. So, the transition to retirement was not very difficult in my case.

You might be good at what you did, but no one is irreplaceable. If you think it's different in your case, you should probably keep working, as you're not ready to retire.

 

[Nemo2]

But, but, people have ALWAYS treated me like a misfit.

 

[MichaelB]

But, but, people have ALWAYS treated me like a misfit.

That’s only because we know you

 

[mountainsoft]

1. You may suffer from an identity crisis.
2) You may second-guess yourself.
3) People may treat you like a misfit.
4) You’ll be surprised that you aren’t that much happier.
5) You may get really, really bored.

1. I've never based my identity around my employment, so I don't see that being an issue.

2. I'm sure we'll have some second guessing early on until we settle in to retired life and know for sure what our expenses are. For now I'm overestimating expenses and underestimating our income, and won't pull the trigger unless the estimates are 99% or above.

3. As a stay-at-home dad before that sort of thing was common I'm used to being a misfit.

4. We're pretty happy now, but getting rid of work related stresses and daily commutes will be very welcome.

5. Between traveling and our many hobbies I don't see that being a problem. There are so many things we want to do now but just don't have the time.

 

[Nemo2]

That’s only because we know you

Infant children, belonging to strangers, point and laugh as I pass by.

 

[Chuckanut]

So Not True. Mr. Early Retirement needs to convert those statements to "I" statements. I accept that HE had an identity crisis, HE is second-guessing himself, HE isn't that much happier. Now, he is much younger, but he still needs to speak only for himself.

I'lol!

+1

To many people project their needs, their feelings, their situation and their beliefs onto the rest of the world.

 

[MichaelB]

Infant children, belonging to strangers, point and laugh as I pass by.

Well, I guess that’s better than if they run away screaming.

 

[TheRunningMan]

He's a financial blogger and runs Financial Samurai. I view this piece as a plug for his site...

 

[candrew]

I am retired, therefore, I am.

 

[Golden sunsets]

I follow Financial Samauri and apprediate his blogging. He is a really smart MBA, whose very readable explanations for textbook macro economics I appreciate. His writing is also very entertaining and grabs the reader’s attention. His blog is highly read ( and therefore a significant money maker). He has also made a pile of money investing in San Francisco real estate. All that is to say, I think this guy can make money doing anything.

I also think there is a big difference between retiring at 34 than 50. At 34, one has barely begun. At 50(even 45), an early retiree might have a solid 25 year work history and view his/her launch as a finale to a productive career, rather than an early exit.

 

[W2R]

I read the first part of the article, until I came to this quote from him - which to me sums up why he had some of the problems he did:

"It was only after I left my job that I realized how obsessed I was with my profession. I often wondered: How is the business doing without me? I was there for 11 years. Were they really able to survive without my expertise?
But after months of no emails or phone calls begging for me to come back, I finally accepted the fact that I was no longer needed."

This guy's sense of identity/worth was obviously closely tied to his job, though it appears he didn't admit that to himself before he decided to retire at age 34.

In comparison, I retired at 61 which is early but not extremely so. And yet I went through much the same thing. So is it typical of early retirement? I think not.

Anyway, in my case I knew for a fact that my job was left in good hands and I had passed on all the institutional knowledge that they needed. Still, when the Gulf oil spill occurred just a few months later, you cannot imagine the terror I felt. I was dreading the possibility that they might need me; I guess I did not have enough faith in them. I worried that they might come unglued and not be able to deal with that crisis without my expertise. Also I felt guilty about letting everyone down by retiring when I did (as though I KNEW this would happen? Obviously not). Occasionally had unreasonable feelings that I had somehow shirked my responsibilities and felt like such a lowlife until talking myself out of feeling bad. I avoided contact with anybody from work, and immersed myself in the genuine fun that I was having in retirement, instead. I posted here a lot ("No, really?" )

Those taking on my job functions were highly competent, hard working, and responsible scientists. I should never have worried about it for a second. I know it was a big challenge for them to go into that cold, but they did just fine without me (I could tell from the news articles about it). I was so proud.

Thank goodness, they never contacted me asking for help. This was all in my head, and I think that for some of us it's perfectly normal to feel that way for a little while during our initial adjustment to retirement.

 

[BoodaGazelle]

I am going on 2 years now of ER, and while I am glad I did it (now at 63), I *can* see how I might have made a different decision about continuing to work, even if I did not have to. So although this is commonly stated, each person needs to realize that they may feel very “disconnected” at first, and, for me at least, lots of volunteering and free time has not always helped that much. I miss working with a lot of smart people, which I found to be true in tech.

 

[RetireBy90]

As OP I only posted this as some potential things to look at. I would take each of these topics and think about if it applied to me. If not then I would consider it a non issue for me. Did retirement at 62, and although I Had already considered most of these items, I still was more wrapped into my work than I had thought.

 

[scrabbler1]

Found this interesting, thought others might also:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/24/i-r...f-early-retirement-that-no-one-tells-you.html


"I retired at 34 with $3 million"


Says he certainly doesn't regret early retirement but noted some downsides:



1. You may suffer from an identity crisis.

2) You may second-guess yourself.

3) People may treat you like a misfit.

4) You’ll be surprised that you aren’t that much happier.

5) You may get really, really bored.

And closes out with
"Here’s the truth: If you’re unhappy before you retire early, it’s likely that you’ll still be unhappy after you retire."

Just one perspective but I thought important to consider other perspectives.

I disagree with all 5 of those statements, as well as the closing statement. The exact opposite happened to me with regard to that nonsense closing statement. Simply eliminating a big negative in my life (the commute to work, even as little as 2 days a week by the time I was done) greatly improved it.

I have always been an outlier, so adding one more thing to my outlier resume doesn't change my being an outlier.

Now in my 11th year of retirement, I am soooooo glad I pulled the plug in late 2008 at age 45. I can't begin to imagine how miserable I would have been had I still been working, even 2 days a week as I had downsized myself to in the last 17 months of my 23-year career.

I like many of the comments here and will reply to some of them individually.

 

[Rianne]

Didn't read it. I don't like people telling me how I should feel. You...you...you...really? None of those are me, not one. Get a life, you!

 

[scrabbler1]

I read the first part of the article, until I came to this quote from him - which to me sums up why he had some of the problems he did:

"It was only after I left my job that I realized how obsessed I was with my profession. I often wondered: How is the business doing without me? I was there for 11 years. Were they really able to survive without my expertise?
But after months of no emails or phone calls begging for me to come back, I finally accepted the fact that I was no longer needed."

This guy's sense of identity/worth was obviously closely tied to his job, though it appears he didn't admit that to himself before he decided to retire at age 34.

If you like your job (or most parts of it, anyway), and feel like you are making a contribution there, it's of course normal to have some of those feelings upon retirement. But, if retiring early is important to you, you really need to start detaching yourself from those feelings well before your retirement day, and start preparing yourself for the next phase of your life. I also felt like I made a significant contribution where I worked, but I knew (many years before my actual retirement day) that I wanted to do many other things with my life, too. So, the transition to retirement was not very difficult in my case.

You might be good at what you did, but no one is irreplaceable. If you think it's different in your case, you should probably keep working, as you're not ready to retire.

What I put in italics I can surely relate to. The bigger change to my everyday life occurred in 2001 when I switched from working full-time to part-time. Knowing that this was going to happen 6 months earlier, I had already planned on resurrecting an old hobby while preparing to take on a new one (one which required some lead time) and quickly made progress on both activities.

Simply being able to do my everyday errands on a weekday in the late morning instead of on the busier Saturday morning was such an improvement. It was so refreshing. Being able to do things on weeknights instead of being too worn out after a long day of work and a long commute was also refreshing.

Seventeen months before I full retired, in the middle of 2007, I reduced my weekly hours worked again, from 20 to 12. This lessened my weekly commute from 3 days to 2 and got me home from work an hour earlier on the 2 days I did work. I knew at the time I was probably going to retire at the end of 2008, as my ER plans were in full swing.

Switching from a 17-hour work week to a zero-hour work week was not a big transition. I was able to expand one of my hobbies because there was no work conflict for my time. It became easier to schedule my growing midday activities without having to schedule them around a 2-day work week. But being able to do 7 days a week what I had been able to do on the 5 days a week I wasn't working before wasn't a huge change to my overall day-to-day activities.

 

[Dtail]

Almost 2 years into retirement and they are the happiest years of my life. Just finished 3 hours of Pickleball and then jumped into my pool.
Had a stressful job with 72 reports and don't miss it one bit.
There are different stages of life and one needs to adapt to each stage with a positive attitude and purpose.

 

[Scuba]

I read the first part of the article, until I came to this quote from him - which to me sums up why he had some of the problems he did:

"It was only after I left my job that I realized how obsessed I was with my profession. I often wondered: How is the business doing without me? I was there for 11 years. Were they really able to survive without my expertise?
But after months of no emails or phone calls begging for me to come back, I finally accepted the fact that I was no longer needed."

This guy's sense of identity/worth was obviously closely tied to his job, though it appears he didn't admit that to himself before he decided to retire at age 34.

If you like your job (or most parts of it, anyway), and feel like you are making a contribution there, it's of course normal to have some of those feelings upon retirement. But, if retiring early is important to you, you really need to start detaching yourself from those feelings well before your retirement day, and start preparing yourself for the next phase of your life. I also felt like I made a significant contribution where I worked, but I knew (many years before my actual retirement day) that I wanted to do many other things with my life, too. So, the transition to retirement was not very difficult in my case.

You might be good at what you did, but no one is irreplaceable. If you think it's different in your case, you should probably keep working, as you're not ready to retire.

Totally agree!

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Miss long commutes, crabby co-workers, impossible deadlines, being on call 24 X 7, working evenings and weekends, sitting in an office building 50+ hours a week? I guess it depends on your job but if we missed our last megacorp jobs it would be from Stockholm Syndrome, not lack of purpose in life. We spent the day in wine country today. Neither one of us have ever missed megacorp work for one second.

 

[FreeBear]

I don't miss w*rk at all, although I retired at 45, not 34. I had been plotting ER after maybe 5-8 years into my tech, private sector career. The company was outsourcing and offshoring and I knew I had a limited shelf life. Equally important, I just didn't want to spend the rest of my life at w*rk. I had other things I wanted to do!

Now, after over 4 years of retirement, I realize it still took 3-4 years to adjust fully to my new free state. It has taken this long to learn to "chill out" and allow myself the freedom to do what I want, instead of turning chores and personal commitments morph into a "w*rk" obligation. I still get w*rk nightmares, although they have become rare after 3 years. So, the adjustment to actual retiremnt has been slow, even though I embraced the concept of retirement and freedom decades ago. Now, retirement gets better each year!

 

[robnplunder]

It is understandable for people retiring at that early age (34!!!!). Had I retired that early instead of at age 53, I may have felt all the 5 downsides to certain degree. That is my honest take on the article. Having said that, I think I could have retired 5 years earlier at age 48 without any of the downsides. Regrettably, my finance wasn't there to pull the trigger at 48.