ER life evaluation.

[nun]

I imagine most ER folks can pretty readily tell you their net worth. But what is a life really.........ER makes you evaluate stuff other than finances.

So here I am, 52.5 and ERed......net worth, including my real estate is $1.7M and I have pensions that will start in my 60s. I'm divorced, but have an ex wife who still talks to me, no kids and a good group of friends. I've published a few scientific papers and worked on some cool optical systems.

My biggest regret is the no kids bit, but those couple of sentences pretty much sum up my life....what would your two sentences be?

 

[Looking4Ward]

Made a really bad decision at the age of 17 and spent ten years in prison because of it but used the time to teach myself as much as I could. Spent the next 26 years applying what I learned and today my net worth is over $1M and I am retiring in 57 days at the age of 53.

That's my rags to riches story in two sentences.

 

[robnplunder]

Made a really bad decision at the age of 17 and spent ten years in prison because of it but used the time to teach myself as much as I could. Spent the next 26 years applying what I learned and today my net worth is over $1M and I am retiring in 57 days at the age of 53.

That's my rags to riches story in two sentences.

Not much for me to say after this post. Whenever I think I had it tough growing up and overachieved since then, there is always another who can top it.

Where and how I grew up, I could have easily gone the wrong way and ended up in jail or mental hospital. Instead, I am FI and posting in this forum.

 

[steelyman]

That's my rags to riches story in two sentences.

My hat's off to this one!

 

[REWahoo]

My hat's off to this one!

+1

 

[Moemg]

Made a really bad decision at the age of 17 and spent ten years in prison because of it but used the time to teach myself as much as I could. Spent the next 26 years applying what I learned and today my net worth is over $1M and I am retiring in 57 days at the age of 53.

That's my rags to riches story in two sentences.

Congratulations !

 

[Alan]

Married my best friend at college, graduated as man and wife, got a stimulating and enjoyable job and settled in Yorkshire where we had 2 children. My job gave us the opportunity to move to the USA where we all have prospered, done much traveling and for DW and I to retire at 55 with enough funds to enable us to live very well, and set up a permanent residence back in Yorkshire.

I think that summarizes our ER life up to this point, and we are still looking forward to the future.

 

[Major Tom]

So here I am, 52.5 and ERed......net worth, including my real estate is $1.7M and I have pensions that will start in my 60s. I'm divorced, but have an ex wife who still talks to me, no kids and a good group of friends. I've published a few scientific papers and worked on some cool optical systems.

Hey, hang on - that's 3 sentences!

My 3 sentences would be,

"Lived in Los Angeles and did DJ, voiceover and commercial production work for 25 years. Saw lots of famous people, had fun, and made some money along the way. Now 50, ER'ed and happily living alone in a tiny place with 3 cats and a bicycle."

 

[Dash man]

Married young to a woman who left me with $45K in debt and a ruined career after 13 years. Six years later I married my soul mate and after 15 years we've together accumulated a net worth of $4M.

 

[Walt34]

That's my rags to riches story in two sentences.

Impressive! Always good to hear a success story.

Net worth ~$530k, but have a DB COLA'd pension that would cost ~$2 mil to buy. I consider myself very lucky for that! Spent just under 30 years in law enforcement, made things a little bit better in my corner of the world and I'm comfortable with that choice.

Now I'm just doing what we want to do that day, which frequently is nothing more ambitious than going to the gym and putting down weed killer.

I like this retirement gig!

 

[Theseus]

Youthful aimlessness stunted my early working years, marriage #1 fell apart as I gathered steam in my academic and career aspirations; earned three degrees through the years all while working full-time, hitched up with my soulmate in the process, no kids. Oddly enough, only regret is not having entered military service - probably would have whipped me into shape a bit earlier in life.

Any way, managed to catch up by combination of improved income earning potential and staying in a rural area with lower COL. ER at age 57 is 73 working days away, DW even sooner.

 

[robnplunder]

Those are some of the long 2 sentences I've seen in this forum .

 

[stepford]

Was going to retire at 40... which turned out to be right in time for the 2001 tech crunch - Ooops. Plan B to retire in my late 40s was interrupted by, you guessed it, the debacle of 2008-9. As I approach my (for real this time) ER age of 54-55 in the next year I've come to regard those financial disasters as backhanded godsends forcing me to get my ducks truly and securely all in a row. Happily unmarried to my best friend for the last 20 years and hoping (planning) for another 40.

 

[LoneAspen]

I'm not ER'd just yet, so here's my pre-ER sentences...

Lost everything I had accumulated at the age of 40 from a failed real estate venture and had to start all over again. But got lucky and joined a startup that IPO'd.

Hope to ER in about a year at the age of 48, never work again (or at least not for other people), and pursue hiking, backpacking, skiing, snowboarding, traveling, and getting my pilot's license.

Never married, and no kids. Although sometimes I have regrets about never pursuing a relationship, I've grown very accustomed to my freedom and independence, and the fact I don't have to ask anybody for permission to do anything.

 

[RAE]

I'd prefer not to sum up my life just yet, as at age 58 (and retired for 4+ years now), I think I have a ways to go yet. I've made my share of mistakes along the way, as we all have, but it all turned out okay, and I'm hoping some of my best years are still ahead of me. Life in retirement is very different from my life while working, but in many ways, these last 4 years have been the best time of my life. It is a very rewarding life, if you are able to refocus on things that are most important to you - in my case, those are family, maintaining my health and fitness, enjoying new experiences, and learning new things that are of interest to me. I look forward to every new day, as there are always new challenges and new things to learn.

 

[RetireAge50]

Been in prison since 1989. They let me out evenings and weekends in which time I spend with beautiful wife and 2 kids. In a couple years at age 50 will be freed for good.

 

[Calico]

Made a really bad decision at the age of 17 and spent ten years in prison because of it but used the time to teach myself as much as I could. Spent the next 26 years applying what I learned and today my net worth is over $1M and I am retiring in 57 days at the age of 53.

That's my rags to riches story in two sentences.

I'm glad you got a second chance. Congratulations - you certainly made the most of it!

 

[Valen]

In my 30's I thought I had all my ducks in a row for "us" to retire in 20 years or so but was thrown off course when my husband decided he didn't want to be married to me any more. Fifteen years later we reconnected, fell back in love, remarried and enjoying our retirement together.

I have to admit, I never saw that one coming.....

 

[LoneAspen]

In my 30's I thought I had all my ducks in a row for "us" to retire in 20 years or so but was thrown off course when my husband decided he didn't want to be married to me any more. Fifteen years later we reconnected, fell back in love, remarried and enjoying our retirement together.

I have to admit, I never saw that one coming.....

Wow. You're a better and more forgiving person than me.

I tend to hold a grudge (must take after my Mom, she did too) and once somebody does something like that, they're pretty much out of my life for good.

 

[RetiredAndFree]

Married young, had children, and spent next 12 years raising them while simultaneously obtaining my college degree as hubby worked his tail off to support us all. Returned to work at 33, and between the two of us, amassed the necessary funds to retire 15 years later.

 

[jerome len]

I imagine most ER folks can pretty readily tell you their net worth. But what is a life really.........ER makes you evaluate stuff other than finances.

So here I am, 52.5 and ERed......net worth, including my real estate is $1.7M and I have pensions that will start in my 60s. I'm divorced, but have an ex wife who still talks to me, no kids and a good group of friends. I've published a few scientific papers and worked on some cool optical systems.

My biggest regret is the no kids bit, but those couple of sentences pretty much sum up my life....what would your two sentences be?

You can still change that "biggest regret is no kids", I had my last one at age 54 and every day since he was born has been a joy!

 

[seraphim]

Met my love n high school, we married in college and both found secure jobs - hers enjoyable, mine acceptable - with good pay and good benefits. Adopted our (wonderful) son in Lima Peru, who is a talented performer now (mostly) on his own, and we both retired in mid-fifties with decent pensions and a nice portfolio.

It's nice to know if our pensions failed we can replace the income from investments, but what's important now is the freedom to spend our days as we wish.

 

[MichaelB]

Second chances, serendipitous choices, no looking back. A mostly pleasant and uneventful mix of sweet and bitter, with hopefully more to come.

Some inspiring storys in this thread.

 

[RetiringAt55]

Married in college, pursued an engineering career, had two incredible children, and was happily married for over 20 years until the day my then H toddled off to be with a woman he had met playing Second Life. Picked up the pieces and held things together for my two devastated children while trying to focus on my career again so we would be financially secure. Married two years later to my wonderful DH who is a fantastic stepfather to my children and planning an early retirement so I can spend as much time together as possible with my DH.

 

[BTravlin]

I met DW after my two apprentice marriages and together we worked and saved enough to retire last year at ages 55 & 50. Now living on the water in the Caribbean and enjoying life immensely.

Amazing what two people can do when they have the same mindset and goals.