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12-27-2016, 05:35 PM
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#1
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 640
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NYT article on ER
A NYT article on the psychological aspects of early retirement:
Is Early Retirement Great? For Some, It’s Hard Work to Have Fun
The pendulum seems to have swung from ER stories to those about people who keep working past the traditional retirement date. In the process, a certain stigma seems to have arisen around ER, not that many of us give a damn what others think about it. It's ironic, though, because it used to be considered something enviable.
Quote:
Retiring happily is one thing, of course, and announcing it loudly and proudly is quite another. “It took four or five years before I could say I was retired,” Ms. Buxton said. “I would just say, ‘I’m not working right now.’”
Mr. Helmuth also sees a certain stigma in the word. “People hear ‘retirement’ and think you play a lot of golf and have a lot of dumb hobbies,” he said.
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__________________
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"Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants."
--Epictetus
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12-27-2016, 05:45 PM
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#2
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Oct 2015
Posts: 2,301
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I'm quite ok if people don't envy my ER situation. I'm also quite OK if they choose to work until 78. To each, their own - as for ME, I'm not ashamed at all to have FIREd at 56.
AND: I'm LIKING it!
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12-27-2016, 06:55 PM
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#3
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Dryer sheet aficionado
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: College Town
Posts: 44
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And frankly - one of the best parts of gaining a few years is you no longer give a sh** if someone you don't even know thinks you or your hobbies are dumb.
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12-27-2016, 07:11 PM
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#4
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 7,746
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I don't worry about it any more. Sometimes I say I'm retired and sometimes I say I'm "not working at the moment" or "run a website" or "I'm a writer" or "I freelance" or "I'm a stay at home parent" or "I consult". Whatever sounds fun at the moment.
__________________
Retired in 2013 at age 33. Keeping busy reading, blogging, relaxing, gaming, and enjoying the outdoors with my wife and 3 kids (8, 13, and 15).
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12-27-2016, 07:15 PM
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#5
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 1,644
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"What do you do?"
"I'm retired."
"You look to young to retire."
"That's the whole point."
Crickets
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12-27-2016, 07:34 PM
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#6
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: West of the Mississippi
Posts: 17,134
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It's interesting how things change with time.
Does anybody remember how all the modern mechanization of work was supposed to give us the 32 hour work week, with a three day weekend every week, and all for the same pay?
__________________
Comparison is the thief of joy
The worst decisions are usually made in times of anger and impatience.
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12-27-2016, 07:37 PM
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#7
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gone traveling
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 3,375
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Good for the long workers. Keeping my SS solvent. Thank you.
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12-27-2016, 07:56 PM
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#8
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Kansas City
Posts: 7,968
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Since I was 'unemployed er layed off from 50 -55' and it took a mental shift to ER, followed by a 'give the world the middle digit, I don't give a durn what others think cause I do what I want which is sometimes nothing at all.'
And with the passage of time in ER one sometimes forgets to say NO when conned/asked/or otherwise slicked into volunteering.
heh heh heh - I can admit to keeping a low(?cowardly) profile until my first pension check at 55.
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12-27-2016, 08:22 PM
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#9
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: North Scottsdale
Posts: 1,545
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"Mr. Helmuth also sees a certain stigma in the word. “People hear ‘retirement’ and think you play a lot of golf and have a lo of dumb hobbies,” he said."
Sounds a lot like me.
__________________
FIRE'D in July 2009 at 51...Never look back!
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12-27-2016, 09:30 PM
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#10
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 6,679
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jebmke
"What do you do?"
"I'm retired."
"You look to young to retire."
"That's the whole point."
Crickets
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Reminds me of how I once commented on a similar thing. I said, "Just like they say youth is wasted on the young, I say retirement is wasted on the old!"
__________________
Retired in late 2008 at age 45. Cashed in company stock, bought a lot of shares in a big bond fund and am living nicely off its dividends. IRA, SS, and a pension await me at age 60 and later. No kids, no debts.
"I want my money working for me instead of me working for my money!"
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12-27-2016, 09:54 PM
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#11
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Bernalillo, NM
Posts: 2,717
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I think DW wishes she would have have told people she quit her job and wasn't working instead of retiring at 58. People start assuming she has extra money stashed around, when in fact everything is planned out. no extra cash. but that stigma thing is still there. People don't understand retirement until all their joints start hurting, and the young people at work start ignoring them, it seems. Best advice to prospective early retirees, keep your mouth shut and be that person of mystery.
__________________
"We live the lives we lead because of the thoughts we think" ...Michael O’Neill
"We can cannot compel others to do our will" ....Norman Goldman
"There never is shortage of the gullible to accept the illogical"...Anonymous
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12-28-2016, 04:58 AM
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#12
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 8,332
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Focus
The pendulum seems to have swung from ER stories to those about people who keep working past the traditional retirement date. In the process, a certain stigma seems to have arisen around ER, not that many of us give a damn what others think about it. It's ironic, though, because it used to be considered something enviable.
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Pendulum has swung indeed. Being wealthy "used to be considered something enviable" as well. Now somehow you're a bad guy.
__________________
Living well is the best revenge!
Retired @ 52 in 2005
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12-28-2016, 05:29 AM
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#13
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Administrator
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Chicagoland
Posts: 40,518
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Quote:
Originally Posted by marko
Pendulum has swung indeed. Being wealthy "used to be considered something enviable" as well. Now somehow you're a bad guy.
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I did not see a hint of that anywhere in the article.
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12-28-2016, 06:22 AM
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#14
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: philly
Posts: 1,219
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Chuckanut
It's interesting how things change with time.
Does anybody remember how all the modern mechanization of work was supposed to give us the 32 hour work week, with a three day weekend every week, and all for the same pay?
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lol yep
__________________
My darling girl, when are you going to realize that being "normal" is not necessarily a virtue? it sometimes rather denotes a lack of courage~Aunt Francis
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12-28-2016, 06:29 AM
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#15
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: philly
Posts: 1,219
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The word "retirement" has always had a certain expectation surrounding it. I think no matter when you retire, eventually each person will need to decide what to do with their days.
People do hear the word "retirement" and think you should be partying 24/7 and traveling around the globe every month. for me it was simply the ability to have "choices".
Now when people ask me what I do I say "whatever I want"
I do think that there is a period of adjustment and depending on your personality maybe there is some boredom, but doesn't any major change come with a period of getting your "sea legs" underneath you?
__________________
My darling girl, when are you going to realize that being "normal" is not necessarily a virtue? it sometimes rather denotes a lack of courage~Aunt Francis
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12-28-2016, 06:34 AM
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#16
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Central MS/Orange Beach, AL
Posts: 9,067
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RockyMtn
"Mr. Helmuth also sees a certain stigma in the word. “People hear ‘retirement’ and think you play a lot of golf and have a lo of dumb hobbies,” he said."
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Pretty much describes me too. No apologies.
__________________
Retired 3/31/2007@52
Investing style: Full time wuss.
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12-28-2016, 06:39 AM
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#17
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 12,566
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I have stopped telling real estate agents we are retired. They focus on that word and assume we are dying (oops, bad word) to move to a retirement community in the middle of nowhere. They also assume we want a master suite on the first floor and will pay extra for it.
__________________
If you understood everything I say, you'd be me ~ Miles Davis
'There is only one success – to be able to spend your life in your own way.’ Christopher Morley.
Even a blind clock finds an acorn twice a day.
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12-28-2016, 07:20 AM
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#18
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 6,496
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Seems the article just recites a bunch of opinions of retirees, nut much different from the opinoins in this forum.
__________________
There must be moderation in everything, including moderation.
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12-28-2016, 08:24 AM
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#19
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 7,746
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Chuckanut
It's interesting how things change with time.
Does anybody remember how all the modern mechanization of work was supposed to give us the 32 hour work week, with a three day weekend every week, and all for the same pay?
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But it kind of has come true for many of us here. Maybe those 32 hour weeks came 2 per week and then we retired in our 30's or 40's.
But seriously, all the technology, productivity gains, and increases in real earnings (at least at the top of the income quintiles) led to many of us retiring early.
Even low wage workers can enjoy an incredible range of entertainment options for next to nothing. Couple that with low cost lifestyle choices (uber/transit with real time location trackers and dynamic routing from your smart phone; smaller living spaces made possible by much of life outside of work fitting into tiny electronic devices) and you have a recipe for a wide swath of society being able to work 32 hours per week and still live a comfortable, albeit different, lifestyle.
__________________
Retired in 2013 at age 33. Keeping busy reading, blogging, relaxing, gaming, and enjoying the outdoors with my wife and 3 kids (8, 13, and 15).
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12-28-2016, 08:29 AM
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#20
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Alberta/Ontario/ Arizona
Posts: 3,393
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ls99
Seems the article just recites a bunch of opinions of retirees, nut much different from the opinoins in this forum.
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Right. I think we would all be better off if we cared less about what others think. The corollary being not to have an opinion about what others do. That's a little more difficult.
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