MSN on ER (the "lite" analysis)

[Nords]

http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Retirementandwills/Retireearly/P34496.asp?Printer

I think the article's a few years old since it mentions 11% investment returns and 8% mortgages. But the psychological/lifestyle points are timeless.

I have a hard time agreeing with the advice to accumulate 35 years of earnings for SS. Even starting at age 16 would mean working into our 50s!

Then there's the guy whose plan was to have his summers off. "I made up my mind not to do a darn thing all summer"...

 

[John Galt]

I'm not sure working into "your 50s" is bad. I opted out
at 49, and Terhorst notwithstanding, very few can do it
earlier. On the other hand, if you get your head in
the right mode, most anyone can opt out, especially
in the USA.

John Galt

 

[Nords]

Re:  You might be right...

Speaking from the lower side of 50, I don't think that I could have stayed at work one day longer than I had to. In fact, I took all the leave I could get instead of sticking it out for the extra cash. But that military pension gives me some thinking room.

From the higher side of 50, with rose-colored glasses, I might decide that I coulda hacked it a while longer. But I remember getting a surprise $75K job offer and realizing that I had no motivation to fight rush-hour traffic, wear shoes & socks, or stand the occasional midwatch.

I wouldn't have consoled myself with the thought of the extra SS benefits, either. The most important lesson here is that you know when it's time to go!

 

[unclemick]

I took one of those temp. 75k jobs in 95 after being 'unemployed/ER'd' two years. A tornado took the roof off(no insurance) and used the money to remodel. After that - 'knew it was time to be ER' and dropped the unemployed moniker. BTY - the job wasn't that bad - just that ER is better, way better.

 

[John Galt]

Knowing "when it's time to get out" is a key to ER.
No question. I knew with absolute certainty. I suspect
many have to agonize a bit over this. As I have said before, I could have continued on and made a big pile of
money. I wanted the time instead. Lots of reasons
really, but a heightened sense of my own mortality
and the unknown time I had left was my primary
motivator.

John Galt

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I didnt agonize at all.

After thinking about it (seriously) for a couple of days I just figured

"Oh well, I can ALWAYS go back to work anytime I want to, a month from now, a year from now, or ten years from now".

As some have pointed out, some skills may deteriorate, but I dont think any of us are one dimensional savants.

I do however believe I could step right back into my old job now, or 10 years from now and within a month or two (mostly absorbing the changes and new political dynamic), be just as effective at what I used to do.

Or I can sell stuff...plenty of sales jobs pay pretty good money.

Then there's always the quick-e mart.

 

[Hyperborea]

As some have pointed out, some skills may deteriorate, but I dont think any of us are one dimensional savants.

Not 1D savants but I know that if I was 10 years into retirement and wanted to start doing software again there would be serious difficulties with finding employment that pays what mine does now. I might be able to find something but it would be at a lot lower level and in one of the less desirous and almost assuredly lower paying jobs. Perhaps not even that depending on how well I've kept up with technology.

Then there's always the quick-e mart.

There are quite a lot of 9-5 jobs that require not too much in the way of skills or intelligence (though a little of each makes them much easier) to fall back on. The biggest difference for an early retiree with a failed portfolio is that we wouldn't be requiring that $15K/annum job to provide all our living expenses. We would have some fraction of our original portfolio to top up our income or to save aside until we reach "regular" retirement age. Most also would own their home outright and so there would be no mortgage or rent costs.

 

[Martha]

I didnt agonize at all.


"Oh well, I can ALWAYS go back to work anytime I want to, a month from now, a year from now, or ten years from now".

I think that if you are over 50, or maybe even 40, and have been out of the workplace for a number of years, it is going to be tough to get a job. There is a lot of age discrimination out there. Employers think you are not up on current developments, are probably set in your ways and can't be molded into the employee they want, and will make their insurance costs go up. Maybe this problem will pass as boomers retire and there is more need for workers.

Martha

 

[John Galt]

Hi Martha! I don't ever plan to go back to work, and
doubt anyone would hire me anyway. I don't care
of course! Even though my energy/motivation is low,
I could still produce big time results. I recall back in the
70s, an employer accused me of "doggin' it". I told them
they were better off having me at 50% than having
almost anyone else at 100%. Not only that, I wasn't
kidding.

John Galt

 

[Bob_Smith]

John, I'd hire you in a heartbeat! Of course, I won't have a job myself, but if I did...

 

[ESRBob]

I think a few years into ER and we are pretty much unemployable. You'd never be able to stomach the BS of a workplace, and they wouldn't want us around -- the whiff of freedom makes the other animals restless. However, you could make money if you needed to -- plenty of ways being self-employed, making stuff and selling it, getting paid to tell people stuff that they don't know, investing in real estate or private companies -- that sort of thing.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I've been daydreaming about what it'd be like to have my old job back, but to be able to say and do absolutely whatever I thought was the right thing with absolutely no fear of consequences, since I dont need the job or the money.

In the fantasy, the whole thing is liberating and contagious.

Then my alarm clock goes off and I realize that by lunchtime of my first day I'd have been affixed to a pole out in the parking lot, tarred and feathered, and left as an example.

A mighty fine description of my old workplace:

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=sto...usatoday/whenyouresmilingareyouseethinginside

 

[charlie]

You know how some types of dreams repeat
themselves? Like you have to take a final
after cutting the whole semester? Well one
of my dreams that still comes back 16 years
into ER is wandering the halls of my old workplace
and suddenly realizing I don't have a badge
anymore or wandering into a once familiar
building and getting lost. Some shrink could
probably have fun with this. During my waking
moments I never look back and don't even think
about what once was.

Cheers,

Charlie (aka Chuck-Lyn)

 

[John Galt]

I've had a few dreams about working, even though
I've been retired for years. Usually they
are pretty benign but a couple have turned into nightmares, like "How do I get out of this?" Then
I wake up. What a relief!

JOhn Galt

 

[BigMoneyJim]

This reminds me of a movie scene in "Top Secret": the hero is in high school with his friends scurrying in a panic; he asks what's going on and it turns out it's finals day and he hasn't studied. He starts panicking himself and awakes to realize he's strung up in irons and being bareback leather-whipped by East Germans. He sighs "thank God!"

I imagine some of you would prefer the whipping to being back at work. . . .