Okay.... Does anybody not like early retirement/pitfalls?

[Toddtheformeraccountant]

That is great advice scuba... I will put together a list of things to do. Thanks!!!!

 

[Toddtheformeraccountant]

IMO if you have to ask yourself "Will I miss w*rk?" then you should probably keep w*rking, especially if your finances are in any way marginal (I know yours aren't).

In my case it was, "Will I blow my brains out if I go to w*rk tomorrow?" That meant it was time to FIRE.

That's a great point about how strong the push is... That is.... Do I want to blow my brains out if I keep working vs. The pull of early retirement bliss. There is definitely some decent push, but not to the point I want to blow my brains out, at least yet

 

[Focus]

That is great advice scuba... I will put together a list of things to do. Thanks!!!!

Don't be surprised if you never look at that list again after you retire! It's just part of the process.

 

[2017ish]

What are you retiring to?

DW and I both enjoy our careers, even now in our last week. But, despite the compensation, they put serious constraints on our freedom. We've been planning for mid-50s retirement/travel for 30-some years and doubt that we'll miss either of our professions enough to have any regrets.

Good luck with your decisionmaking!

 

[CaptTom]

I think "when the time comes, you will know" (expressed often here) is the right answer.

Just one thing to add. I seriously considered taking a 3-month sabbatical to go on that one big trip I mentioned. The timing would have been perfect (no big projects at work) and my employer would have been totally supportive.

Financially and logically it would have been ideal. But something told me that wasn't the answer. For me. At that time. Over a year later, I'm even more sure it was the right decision.

YMMV.

 

[Danmar]

As others have said, you are asking a selected sample of people who are happily retired. Many of them had work they did not find fulfilling, so they will generally not speak to the positive aspects of work. People who struggle in retirement don't post much here (just occasionally).

I'd encourage you to not to take the happy forecasts here as the whole story. Plenty of people find benefits to continuing to work in some form or fashion, and plenty of people struggle in retirement, for a variety of reasons.

Not trying to rain on the parade. Just pointing out you're asking the question in a group where you're pretty much guaranteed to get an enthusiastically positive answer. Sort of like going to a Chevy forum and asking, "How do you guys like your Chevys?"

Excellent post. We should always keep this in mind. We usually tend to reinforce the collective thinking here. We should probably be more welcoming to contrary views?

 

[Maenad]

I agree that there are plenty of people for whom ER isn't a good fit, and that's OK! Even if you try out retirement and find that it isn't your thing, going back to work isn't a "failure", it's you doing what's best for you.

And if the people here aren't supportive of that, well, we're just a bunch of yahoos on the internet, you don't need our approval to live your life in the way that makes you happiest.

In short, don't put too much pressure on yourself. If you find that a decision to retire isn't what's best for you at that time, you can return to work. The working world doesn't lock you out once you have the scarlet "R" on your shirt.

 

[splitwdw]

After reading this forum for a while, I've found that there are quite a few people that say they are retired but work part time. This topic usually brings up a brisk discussion "I'm retired", "No, you're not". Do what works for you. My husband and I enjoy our jobs but my husband has been having lots of health issues. We're in our mid 40's and thinking of retiring soon due to his health. I came to this site to learn about retirement but not necessarily to retire early. I have learned much on this site.

 

[Which Roger]

As others have said, you are asking a selected sample of people who are happily retired. Many of them had work they did not find fulfilling, so they will generally not speak to the positive aspects of work.

And for these people (myself included), the bar was not as high for "having something to retire TO", because we weren't leaving much behind when we left the workplace.

 

[jabbahop]

I am wondering what traits would someone who is financially independent need to have for you to recommend they NOT retire?

Based on my friends/relatives three thing would cause me to advise against.

- If their self-worth is defined by their job
- if all of their friends are work related
- if they never take vacations or when they do they are always working

What are things that would cause you to recommend against?

 

[2017ish]

I am wondering what traits would someone who is financially independent need to have for you to recommend they NOT retire?

Based on my friends/relatives three thing would cause me to advise against.

- If their self-worth is defined by their job
- if all of their friends are work related
- if they never take vacations [-]or when they do they are always working[/-]

What are things that would cause you to recommend against?

Good points. I agree with the first two, and especially the first. The guys I primarily work with are still perplexed at the idea I am walking away from practicing law. Work is their life and, from the outside, it probably appeared to be mine as well....

The last one, however, is hard to avoid in some jobs.

 

[bradaz2488]

Retired at 49 and have zero regrets. Hardest part was making that first jump off the cliff and walking away from the big paycheck and health insurance. It did take about 8 months to detox from the dysfunctional MegaCorp culture. I still hang out with some coworkers and it felt weird not being "in the game" when they talked shop, but that feeling went away soon after. The freedom of being on your own schedule is priceless. Do I have boring days? Absolutely, but would not give those days up to be back in "the game"....

 

[Midpack]

This question may seem strange.

Is there anybody out there that regretted it? If so, what do you think you did wrong? That could help a fella like me out from making a mistake either in planning or execution on the big RE. Even second hand info is most appreciated!

There's nothing strange about the question, but this is an odd place to ask. This is a community of people for whom (early) retirement was a primary goal, so they obviously didn't enjoy their work enough to stay much past FI. I'm sure most here are genuinely happy with their decision, and few would admit it if they had regrets. But you might get a few.

All in all I am enjoying retirement, but I have some regrets in the dead of winter after cabin fever sets in...

Just search "OMY syndrome" on this site and you'll find plenty of discussions dealing with this.

 

[Which Roger]

I am wondering what traits would someone who is financially independent need to have for you to recommend they NOT retire?

Based on my friends/relatives three thing would cause me to advise against.

- If their self-worth is defined by their job
- if all of their friends are work related
- if they never take vacations or when they do they are always working

What are things that would cause you to recommend against?

My advice would be, if all of the above are true, AND you truly like your job, then keep working. But if you don't like your job enough that you would do it for free, start developing the above outside of the workplace so you are not stuck working just to receive things that you could also get in retirement.

 

[Bir48die]

At face value many would have said I was crazy for leaving my job. Large privately held company with lots of freedom and great money/benefits.

About two years before retiring the new president of the company started making poor decisions that specifically affected my department. I had managed it well and was very profitable. Told them 18 months and I'm gone. Everyone laughed and said it wouldn't happen. Trained my replacement, re-structured the division. Then came the part time offer. Very generous offer with full benefits and allowed me a long winter vacation.

However I lost my flexibility. Set days to work and some of the same demands as before. I was really mentally ready to RE and after six months the plug was pulled.

In a couple months I'll hit 18 month retired and will lose my Cobra. I know there will be some risks. But my blood pressure is down, my anger level is down and I am very happy.

Sure there are things I miss, especially the people and some of the power with the position. But as I sit here with my coffee reading the paper and blogs any reservation about RE goes out the door.

 

[Tallman4123]

I'll be ER'ed one year come August 1st (if 59 is considered ER). I'm somewhat different than the OP in that once I considered myself FI, I immediately pulled the ripcord with little hesitation. I've had no regrets; of course much of that driven by the fact the market has been great in the last year and my wife intended to continue to w*rk at a good salary for two more years as a buffer.

Before I retired I read How to Retire Happy, Wild and Free, by Ernie Zelinski and went through the exercise of creating a "Get-a-Life Tree." I still have those results but honestly haven't looked at them since I created it!

My DW and I share a passion for golf and we play once or twice every weekend. During the week I play once or twice with the "boys"; none of whom are retired but are mostly long-time business owners with decent flexibility in their w*rk life. I did find myself bored occasionally this past winter (we live in New England) but based on advice on this forum, made it a priority to leave the house every day, even if it was just to get a cup of coffee. Also based on comments from this forum, I gave myself permission to OK with being bored once in awhile!

I'm 99% certain I will never go back to work in my previous career field unless the market absolutely imploded (though I'm not sure what exactly my definition of implosion is). DW and I have had many conversations about "making things work regardless" and we are committed to that and to each other.

I'm going to assume the OP is emotionally intelligent, resourceful and disciplined since he's in position to RE. Apply those same traits to early retirement and you'll be equally "successful".

 

[FIREmenow]

I'm going to assume the OP is emotionally intelligent, resourceful and disciplined since he's in position to RE. Apply those same traits to early retirement and you'll be equally "successful".

Those words sound like the makings of a "second career". After reading, it occurred to me that this may be a good response to that question that keeps coming up about what will you do?

"I'm starting a second career!", with the optional addition of, "......that involves managing my savings and my lifestyle to insure that I'll never have to work again."

 

[Sojourner]

Do I like early retirement? Absolutely!

Do I sometimes get bored or frustrated? Absolutely!

Is it all fun and games? Certainly not!

....

[R]etirement can be great if you've prepared yourself in more ways than just financially. I highly recommend it, but I also recommend that you be prepared for periodic "slow" times, things that don't go exactly as expected (stay flexible), and perhaps even a bit of loss of self worth tied to your working role. Learn to relax in ways that you do not or cannot now. Good luck with your preparation and decision making process.

This is basically how I feel about ER. I'm in my late 40s and have been semi-ER'd for about 4 years now. I'm also single with no kids. There are lots of great things about having so much free time and very little responsibility and constraints on my schedule, but there are also some not-so-great things. I've gone through a few rough patches where I felt very isolated from the world and a bit lonely, but I was able to mitigate that to a large degree by joining various Meetup groups in my area and getting out of the house and meeting people who are craving more social interaction, just like me.

Bottom line for me is that, even with its social pitfalls and occasional periods of boredom, I don't think I would ever go back to the Mon-Fri 9-to-6 corporate treadmill. As each year passes, I'm getting better at this ER thing and find myself recoiling at the thought of sitting in a cubicle all day long or commuting back and forth to an office every day. Just writing that last sentence and thinking about those soul-sucking things made me shudder.

 

[Rosie]

If your identity and your sense of self worth is wrapped around your work, you might have a hard time with ER.

If you have outside interests, are willing to try new things, and don't identify yourself based on your work (or, solely based on your work), you should be fine.

I found that my identity *was* heavily wrapped up in my work and it took me a while to release myself from that. But I did, and I don't look back. Lots of outside interests helped.

 

[Grabberson]

Welcome! Three data points to pass along:

1. I never missed w*rk, but had become great friends with a few of my peers. Plus there were actually some really interesting projects going on there. So we meet for lunch every couple of months and jabber excitedly about what we've been up to. For me, this addresses a potential downside of retirement.

2.

What are things that would cause you to recommend against?

Latent alcoholism. A friend wrote "When my father retired, his alcoholism set in hard. The last 10 years of his life he never left the kitchen table". I'd recommend against retirement if w*rk keeps a person off the cirrhosis express.

3. All through life I heard stories about people retiring then dropping dead within a year. This was interpreted as "Retirement is obviously dangerous for some people. Should I take that risk?". But I'll share a unique perspective. FIL worked for years at MegaCorp, processing imminent retirements. There, many people retired due to severe health issues and wanted to spend their remaining time doing X rather than w*rking. Others didn't know they were terminal, but retired due to fatigue, confusion, constant pain, etc. and were diagnosed with Y in the months after they retired. Their true reason for retiring was never public knowledge, so retirement got a bad rap.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

...I don't think I would ever go back to the Mon-Fri 9-to-6 corporate treadmill. As each year passes, I'm getting better at this ER thing and find myself recoiling at the thought of sitting in a cubicle all day long or commuting back and forth to an office every day. Just writing that last sentence and thinking about those soul-sucking things made me shudder.

You said it best. When I was still w*rking, I think I had one of the coolest j*bs someone could have...but it was STILL a j*b.

Just yesterday, I ran into a former co-w*rker and he immediately starting telling me all about the issues going on the flightline and how dysfunctional it all was. I was cringing the entire time and was looking for a quick escape. This was surprising to me because I have known this guy since 1998 and have flown many trips around the globe with him and *was* a fun guy to be around. BUT...all he wanted to discuss yesterday was w*rk related stuff and it was very eye opening in that I have FULLY embraced retirement and really would a very, VERY difficult time going back to that world.

And Sojourner, we need to have another drink and talk about something NOT work related.

 

[Nemo2]

Whatever the topic, someone's lyrics can generally be applied to it:

"Might have seen better times
But maybe we ain't been there yet
Remember who you are don't you forget
Have no regrets..."

 

[W2R]

OK, here's something to watch out for. If you are the type of person who:

1. gets bored on Saturdays, or
2. goes in to work (or brings work home) on the weekends just for something to do, or
3. sits on the sofa expecting your spouse to give you ideas for what to do in order to not get bored, or
4. just turns on the TV automatically only to find that you are watching a boring show but keeps watching it,

then that's a red flag. I think that you need to know how to entertain yourself and keep from being bored in order to experience a happy retirement.

Personally I have found retirement to be so much fun, and much less boring than work, because I have always been full of ideas of interesting stuff that I could be doing instead of working. But not everyone is wired this way.

 

[walkinwood]

I have ER'd for 9+ years now and have no regrets.

I have a couple of friends who had a hard time making the transition. One went back to work and the other is happily retired. Both had jobs which came with a lot of responsibility, took almost all their waking hours and a came with lot of status/perks. One said that he got bored since he didn't have any hobbies or interests outside of work and didn't have the energy to go find them - he is back at work in a less stressful, more enjoyable situation. The other person found the lack of outside validation and 'usefulness' (his term) to be problematic, but he got over it in about a year.

I think you have valid concerns. There are a couple of books on the topic that are worth flipping through. Bob Clyatt's Work Less Live More and the ones by Zelinsky. I just googled early retirement books and found that the category has exploded in recent years.

 

[kcowan]

I'm not 'retired', (I had nothing to retire from), but I did quit working 28 1/2 years ago.....thing is, I'm not quite sure what constitutes these supposed 'pitfalls' you've alluded to.

I can relate to that. After 14 years, I don't know what working is like. I remember installing Compuserve email on a computer in a hobby club near our resort, but that was because I had a No Calls policy when on vacation plus wanted to stay in touch with friends.

I believe with the pervasive Internet, people are no longer away from work like we used to be. Does that make it easier or harder to leave?