How old were you when your retired early?

[Tim Bates]

LOL, the response to this post kind of epitomizes the issues that the people on this board have.* I've been lurking on here a couple of times a month because SOME people say useful things once in a while that I really do benefit from.* For that I am grateful.* Certain of the long time posters though tend to chase off intelligent people with their rude, derogatory and somewhat psychotic comments.* This leaves a few narrow minded people with similar points of view that tends to limit the usefulness of the board.* It's almost like the some of the people who repeatedly post on here are sick and just spend their time here posting their dribble hoping that someone will listen and make them feel relevant again.* I'm not saying that roscoe's post wasn't ridiculous... but the response from many of the 'heavy' posters on the this board is ridiculous... including certain moderators, which I am sure dory36 doesn't even realize.* Some of these 'moderators' are real problems to the success of this board.* Anyway, my advice is to just lurk and ask the occassional question if you need to and pretty much ignore anyone whose name repeatedly appears in almost every thread.* Cheers!

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Hmmm...maybe you need to re-read the thread. Looks like a couple of perhaps unnecessary comments, but the first moderator comment asked some good questions, had some good suggestions, and offered excellent guidance, to which the OP was pretty rude for someone holding out their hat.

Then the second and third moderator posts were also pretty well restrained...and another rude comment from the OP.

After that, games on...

[shorttimer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kcowan You people spend a lot of time on the posting of one troll!

thus the answer to the question
"so whaddya do all day"

In My opinion much better use of time than going to work.

[kcowan]

I retired 3 months before my 60th birthday. I had always planned to retire early but the timing was just fortuitous. Since then I have managed the nest egg such that it has grown about 15% after living expenses.

How about other posters (now that troll is gone)?

[brewer12345]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Master Bates LOL, the response to this post kind of epitomizes the issues that the people on this board have.* I've been lurking on here a couple of times a month because SOME people say useful things once in a while that I really do benefit from.* For that I am grateful.* Certain of the long time posters though tend to chase off intelligent people with their rude, derogatory and somewhat psychotic comments.* This leaves a few narrow minded people with similar points of view that tends to limit the usefulness of the board.* It's almost like the some of the people who repeatedly post on here are sick and just spend their time here posting their dribble hoping that someone will listen and make them feel relevant again.* I'm not saying that roscoe's post wasn't ridiculous... but the response from many of the 'heavy' posters on the this board is ridiculous... including certain moderators, which I am sure dory36 doesn't even realize.* Some of these 'moderators' are real problems to the success of this board.* Anyway, my advice is to just lurk and ask the occassional question if you need to and pretty much ignore anyone whose name repeatedly appears in almost every thread.* Cheers!

Oh, please. If you are that easily offended, maybe you need to rub your whole head with the toothpaste they sell for people with sensitive teeth.

A troll/spammer posted a laughable attempt to gather personal data and was treated as they deserved. Anyone who has interesting stuff to talk about or advice to give/receive is generally treated well and gets lots of comments. So what exactly is the problem you see?

Are you really h*cu5? I kept waiting for a reference to "the ER community" or to your self-published book...

[Sarah in SC]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Master Bates some of the people who repeatedly post on here are sick and just spend their time here posting their dribble hoping that someone will listen and make them feel relevant again.*

Hoping to beat T-Al to the correction: it is drivel, not dribble. I like reading the sick stuff, it is WAY more entertaining than work! Keep it coming!
Sarah

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Eh, some of what gets posted here is definitely dribble.

[accountingsucks]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kcowan I retired 3 months before my 60th birthday. I had always planned to retire early but the timing was just fortuitous. Since then I have managed the nest egg such that it has grown about 15% after living expenses. How about other posters (now that troll is gone)?

No offense, but can retiring at 59 be considered an early retirement? I would be devestated if I had to work to that age.

[unclemick]

Heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh

I was devastated when I was canned at 49 - my thinking then put 'early retirement' at 63 aka before 66 and SS.

Suseguent events altered my viewpoint - attitude adjustment and all that there - worked out great in hindsight.

[riskadverse]

Quote:

Originally Posted by accountingsucks No offense, but can retiring at 59 be considered an early retirement?* I would be devestated if I had to work to that age.

The answer is YES and you may well be. *

[SteveR]

Quote:

Originally Posted by accountingsucks No offense, but can retiring at 59 be considered an early retirement?* I would be devestated if I had to work to that age.

IMHO, anybody that retires before 65, 66 or 67 (SS FRA) is retiring early. If you can do it before 50 that is RE (real early) if before 40 that is RRE (really really early) and if before that you are NRE (never really employed).

There will always be the retire early purists that believe early retirement is only prior to 60 or 50 or 40, etc. To me, it is retiring before you originally thought you could or should when you started out working. Retirement before that mental or manditory date is still early.

[Andre1969]

In the past, I usually used to look at early retirement as retiring before the age of 65. I guess nowadays though, I'd look at it as being able to go out before my full SS benefit would kick in (67 for me). I want to be gone by the age of 45 though.

Now I'd be pissed if I had to work until the age of 59. And I'm doing my best to make sure I don't. However, if I have to it won't be the end of the world.

[SteveR]

My original retirement age was 65...that was the traditional age...my dad retired at 65 so it had to be the age you finally quit, right?

After 15 years on the job, I started thinking 65 is sooooooo far away. I started looking at my company's retirement plans and the wheels started turning....if I could hold out until age 55 I could qualify for X, Y and Z benefits. My new target became 59-62 (full retirement benefits). After a few more years of corporate bliss, my retirement "line in the sand" changed to 55; that was THE age I was going to pull the plug for ever. The reduced benefits could be worked around and the extra years to full benefits seems to much to bear. Dropping dead at my desk was a very good possibility. (Being carried out of your office to the ER is a life-changing event).

After a few more not so good years it was clear that I needed a change. I did not want to lose X, Y and Z so I gutted it out until age 50. The earliest retirement age you could take and still get some X, some Y and a Z. I did it.

I got out of mega corp. and moved to a mini-mega corp. Different products, different company, different part of the country and different benefits (no X, no Y and a little z). Lower stress...more appreciated for my experience...more job freedom...but a lower paycheck. The plan was to work a year....leave this job after a year and then enjoy ER. Plans do not always work out sometimes and life has a way of throwing stuff at you that keeps you ducking and jumping to get out of the way. It also brings you new directions you never dreamed of.

So, my next line in the sand is 55 (again). DW will retire then too so she can get her X, Y and Z. It won't be a lot but it will keep the wolf away from the door and paid medical premiums to age 65 are worth working another few months for. In the meantime, I will continue to pay down debt, organize our recently combined financial matters, feather the nest a bit more and then jump when I have either had enough BS at work or when DW is 55 (12.5 months). It is nice to know I have a choice.

[kcowan]

My original target was 55. Then I got divorced and left half my assets behind. Then the markets in early 2000s happened.

So yes, retiring at 59 was definitely early based on my new reality. And even then it was somewhat aggressive.

[laurence]

I still have many years to go, original target was 45, our child and DW staying home complicated that, and I made a new target of 55. If I stay with this company, worst case is 55 because my house will be paid off at 49 and I get a pretty nice retirement check at 55, 401k/IRA/after tax accounts should put the dollop on top to make it go from living to living well. I've run the numbers, and I think 50 is the earliest realistic date, so I have three scenarios worked out and a general path that they share to follow. Hey, when you are 31, there's a lot of life that could get in the way of best laid plans, I'm not counting on anything.

[treypar]

I am ready to retire early and can afford to do so if I can solve the health insurance problem. Just hoping that one of us is offered a early retirement deal which includes the health insurance. We will be gone immediately.

[kcowan]

Also the value of our big estate home dropped in half after the last real estate bubble from $1050k to $537k over 7 years. Based on my prognosis, the same thing is about to happen again. It has been an 7-8 year cycle historically. The current cycle started up around 1997.

Specific regions behave differently, but if your retirement plans rely on liberating some home equity to make the plan, you may want to adjust your timing to account for the 7-year down cycle.

Cheers, Keith

[spideyrdpd]

For some people early retirement is when it happens and yer still alive and kicking.

I think 55 is a nice target .

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Early retirement is when you retire and people look at you funny and ask "whadda ya do all day?"

Why doesnt anyone ask 67 year olds that question?

[Mwsinron]

Pretty much. I go and get my haircut I just lie and say its my day off. Otherwise the person will go on about how they couldnt possibly do that. Frankly I dont like to argue with people who have scissors aimed at my head. I come from a blue collar background where you worked till you die. Its very difficult for any of my relatives to understand and it has caused some strained relationships.