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

T

Toddtheformeraccountant

Recycles dryer sheets
Joined
Jul 23, 2017
Messages
99
Location
Southern California Area
This question may seem strange.

I'm FI now and thinking of RE within the next two years or less. Financially is not an issue. My hesitation is.... What will I do? Will I regret it? Will I miss work?

Brief bio.... 51, wife is sahm, down to the last kid in high school, one out of college, the other in last two years of college. I enjoy putzing around, gym, tennis, whatever.

I figure my fallback is that if I'm bored or regretful I could always work again, part or full time. Maybe for less coin than I'm making now but, it wouldn't really matter since I'm FI now.

I've read many posts here and everybody is thrilled to be early retired, and frankly, I get it. It would seem one would be crazy to not enjoy being out of the rat race.

What, am I nuts, why don't I just pull the trigger today and call it a career? Maybe I am nuts.

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!

Thanks!!
 
18 mo side FIRE and still going strong! :dance:
 
Just search "OMY syndrome" on this site and you'll find plenty of discussions dealing with this.
 
I'm loving it. Enough to "do" hasn't been a problem for me. It seems to find me without my trying very hard.

OTOH, I'm not sure those who don't find that FIRE is right for them would hang out here much. I'm sure if you looked hard enough you'd find threads on the subject. I recall one or two but I can't say what to search on.
 
Now I am only speaking for my former cow@rkers, but most that returned back to w@rk did so because their FA screwed up or they did not have any outside interests other than w@rk. One gentlemen put two kids through med school, and his kids were busy practicing medicine. He told me,"There is only so many times you can clean the garage out, until it's empty." Hell, I haven't had time to clean mine once in three years, and I have 3 garages, 3 basements and 1 wine cellar, although the wine cellar is spotless and has been since I built it 5 years ago.
 
Been ER for about 5 years now. Have really enjoyed it. DW will also ER early next year.

I recognize that there may be challenges/changes ahead as we both will occupy the same space at home now during the days.

We have a very strong marriage so I don't suspect any major issues but I do expect it to be a transition.

Since your wife is already SAHM, you will likely experience something like this in addition to your transition from w*rk to ER.

-gauss
 
Asking this question on an early retirement forum is not likely to produce the results you apparently desire. An analogy might be... walking into a 4th grade math class and asking the students if anybody hated Disney World or saw any pitfalls in deciding to go there instead of finishing their multiplication tables.

There is nothing wrong with not retiring if you don't want to. You aren't going to find many here who would agree, but the important thing is to do what YOU want to do with your life.
 
This is a self selected interest group. From time to time, a poster voices dissatisfaction with ER, and subsequently vanishes. It's impossible to know whether he or she has gone back to w*rk or just left the forum. Be aware that you will not find a sample representative of the population at large here.
 
After 7+ years, no regrets here whatsoever. Keeping busy has never been a problem........I have more things to do than I have time for. I cannot imagine going back to work for a paycheck, and don't anticipate having to do so ever again.
 
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.
 
Do I like early retirement? Absolutely!

Do I sometimes get bored or frustrated? Absolutely!

Is it all fun and games? Certainly not!

Ok, what do I like about it? "Freedom" is the single word answer that best describes it. But with freedom comes responsibility...once FIREd you are now responsible for your own entertainment. You have to figure out what to do with your newfound free time. One thing we both wanted to do is exercise more, spend some time and effort on "better" nutrition, and the resultant weight loss...which we achieved. We also wanted to travel to visit our kids a bit more...done, and still doing.

The boredom or frustration comes when there isn't something I want to do "right now" which is often because I've failed to plan for that block of time. Part of that comes from not having exactly the same interests as my DW, who now has a condition that does not allow her to drive for a while...which means I have to be around for her transportation needs, and I can't really go away and do what I'd always dreamt of doing in retirement: camping and hiking. She's never been a big fan of that, but I believe that may be changing, as our daughter talked her into going camping and hiking with her and her husband, and she just loved it. And, hopefully the doc will clear her to drive again soon so that If I want to go and she does not, I can just go for a quick overnighter and not feel guilty about it. Another word about "freedom" here, is that because I'm retired, when she developed this condition, I was available to care for her 24/7. If I hadn't been retired, I could not have, and in my job, I travelled 2-3 weeks out of the month, usually a 5-12 hour flight from where we were living. In fact, if I had not been retired/home when this started, she may have died.

But that's us. What do YOU and your DW want to do, both together and separately? Do those desires mesh, or clash? Will she be ok with you at home all the time? If not, what will you do? Will she be ok if you want and/or need to go and do something to maintain your sanity? With a kid still in HS, will that tie you down when you don't want to be tied down? How do you feel about retiring with a kid still at home? I wanted to show an example to them of "work ethic" and didnt want to retire while they were still in high school...but this is a very personal decision.

My final thoughts: retirement 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.
 
Retired at 56. Last 13 years in Big 4 consulting.... the last 5 were part time (80% then 50%). When I announced that I was resigning, some people (including many who knew me well) were concerned that I would be climbing the walls after 6 months of not working. I didn't think so but there were some doubt there but I took the plunge anyway.

One of the most surprising things about being retired is how content that I can be puttering around and not doing much of anything, though I am pretty busy with golf, home projects, voluntter work, small project for friends and family, etc. I occasionally get a slow spell and boredom, but very infrequently.
 
GalaxyBoy said:
I'm loving it. Enough to "do" hasn't been a problem for me. It seems to find me without my trying very hard.

OTOH, I'm not sure those who don't find that FIRE is right for them would hang out here much. I'm sure if you looked hard enough you'd find threads on the subject. I recall one or two but I can't say what to search on.
Click to expand...

Had this conversation yesterday with a fellow retiree. We're both a little over a year in. He asked me how I was dealing with it.

I thought for a moment and said I've been too busy to think about it. He asked what I'd been busy doing. I told him about the 3-month boat trip last summer, the renovations I did on the house over the winter, all the little stuff I do around the house, the yard and the boat, and of course the volunteer activity we were both involved with.

It turns out he's having trouble finding anything to do. He lives in a condo. He sold his boat last year.

Some days I'd like to trade with him. The thought of having nothing to do seems foreign to me. I don't think I'd like it. But I suspect I'd volunteer for things and take on responsibilities until I was just as busy as I am now.

I think you need to decide if you're going to be more like him, or like me. If the former, might as well keep working.

Oh, and for the record, it's a different kind of "busy." Yes, I get stuff done, but I can afford to wait for the right weather, or for the right part or tool, or just until I feel like it.
 
Honestly, I had the same exact fear, and put it off for 2 years. Turned out much better than I expected. Started volunteering at a dog rescue a few months ago, walking dogs at 3 hour shifts. Feels like a big responsibility sometimes, but I do enjoy it. My best advice: you will know when it is time, then JUMP in.
 
One thing I did before I FIREd was to address your question of "What will I do?" by making a list of all the things I wanted to do but couldn't do while working. I made a list of a bunch of travel destinations and hobbies and so forth.

For your question of "Will I miss work?" I made a list of things that really bugged me about work and were driving me to retire early.

If I got bored, my plan was to do something off my first list.

If I felt like going back to work, my plan was to read my second list.

So far (about 18 months in), I have done a lot of things but not very many from my first list. I have not even had to worry about reading my second list, but the market being kind to me has helped with that too.
 
3 years in to a pretty early retirement and have zero regrets. I can't think of a greater freedom.

Downsides? Nothing really to speak of.
 
After 8 years of ER, I've never stopped building--something all the time.

When I get home, I listen to my wife talking to herself constantly. Every thought coming out of her mind comes out her lips. She's not a boring person, however.

We spend most days raising our grandchildren--or being a big part of their lives. Other than not being able to travel during the school year, it sure beats working for a living.
 
Toddtheaccountant said:
What will I do? Will I regret it? Will I miss work?
Click to expand...

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.
 
Just over one year now. Would not even think of going back to work. If you get bored, maybe you do not have a life now...

I always encourage people to keep working. Someone has to pay my SS when I begin to collect.
 
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?"
 
We live in an over 55 retirement community. There are 200 clubs to join. I retired at age 60 about 18 mos ago and my husband at age 59 just 3 weeks ago. I love the life here and have started a number of hobbies including sewing, crochet, and a sport I share with my husband, water volleyball! We are addicted to it...building skills and friendships as well. We now serve on the steering committee (more than 125 players and 6 levels). My husband plays softball and we'll start pickleball in the fall when our hot weather cools off. I volunteer 1 morning a week at local school 3rd grade helping teacher. I worked 40 years and we don't need the money any longer (pensions and retirement savings are more than adequate!). Time to reinvent ourselves. My husband had a high stress job (principal engineer for Level 1 trauma center). He feels like a fish out of water right now but loves his extra sleep. He's kind of a type a personality but he'll get in a groove here soon enough. Lots of plans to landscape front, get rid of 30 years of stuff we no longer need and plan and fund vacations including our late 20's kids, their significant others and our dear year old granddaughter! Cheers to reinventing ourselves!!!
 
I agree with the posters who say that you will know when the right time is. It's hard to explain, but I believe this is true. I agonized for a few years after attaining FI as to when the right time would come. Then several things happened (commute got a lot worse, got a different boss I didn't enjoy working for, friends started getting bad diagnoses or even dying at a young age). Unrelated events converged and I realized I was ready.

I also advocate making a list of all the things you want to try or do once you retire. That really helped build my excitement that ER was the beginning of a cool new chapter of life vs just getting away from my j*b.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

I
REtiring early at 57 and scared
2 3 4
Replies
82
Views
5K
orbops
O
N
Article: 'I'm too young to retire': What forced these workers to retire
2
Replies
46
Views
4K
meleana
M
C
I may have made the mistake of updating my Linkedin status to 'Retired'
2
Replies
42
Views
4K
EastWest Gal
E
F
Traumatic events were my blessing
Replies
15
Views
604
Koolau
Koolau
R
Final Approach Planning for Retirement
Replies
15
Views
1K
Route246
R

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom