View Poll Results: Why Retire Early?
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Dissatisfaction with work. (e.g. boss, commute, politics, boredom)
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230 |
51.57% |
Desire to pursue leisure activities (e.g. travel, sports, hobbies)
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273 |
61.21% |
Desire to work in a different capacity (e.g. volunteer, small business, part-time)
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69 |
15.47% |
Desire to spend more time with family, friends and loved ones
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146 |
32.74% |
Desire to care for a loved one with health issues
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25 |
5.61% |
Your health (poor health or desire to become healthier)
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78 |
17.49% |
Freedom to pursue your love of art, music, and/or culture
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73 |
16.37% |
Freedom to live in a different place
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86 |
19.28% |
Ability to live a quiet, tranquil and reflective life
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176 |
39.46% |
Other
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47 |
10.54% |
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02-11-2011, 01:17 PM
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#1
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 5,596
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Poll: Why retire early?
Why did you, or do you want to, retire early? Multiple selections permitted.
__________________
I purr therefore I am.
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02-11-2011, 01:44 PM
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#2
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Smith
Posts: 743
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I think you forgot "Why Not?" and "Because I Could".
__________________
Retired July 4th, 2010 at age 43
Trout Bum, Writer, Full-Time Dad and Husband
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02-11-2011, 02:06 PM
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#3
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 3,323
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Only reason I retired earlier than I wanted is that I had to quit to take care of my mother who had dementia (at 86 she was allowed). Otherwise, I'd kept working till I fell over at my desk; however, now that I haven't worked since '03 and am finding so many interesting things to do...well, not so sure I want to start another business like I kept saying I would. Maybe I should have picked a city with less to do in..
__________________
Please consider adopting a rescue animal. So very many need a furr-ever home and someone to love them! And if we all spay/neuter our pets there won't be an overpopulation to put to death.
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02-11-2011, 02:35 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: May 2005
Location: Lawn chair in Texas
Posts: 14,183
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Numbers 1, 2, 7, and 9. Also, refer to my sig.
__________________
Have Funds, Will Retire
...not doing anything of true substance...
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02-11-2011, 02:50 PM
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#5
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Lake Livingston, Tx
Posts: 4,203
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Other, but Why Not most likely closer to it. Or 'just because I could'.
__________________
If it is after 5:00 when I post I reserve the right to disavow anything I posted.
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02-11-2011, 02:56 PM
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#6
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 4,366
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Other. I loved my job, but just wasn't performing as well as I used to. Time to stop, not to mention a timely layoff.
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02-11-2011, 03:06 PM
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#7
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Gone but not forgotten
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Sarasota,fl.
Posts: 11,447
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I was just ready to retire . I had been FI for a few years but delayed retirement finally I just made the decision and gave notice . It's been a good decision .
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02-11-2011, 03:13 PM
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#8
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: New Orleans
Posts: 47,473
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Quote:
Originally Posted by flyfishnevada
I think you forgot "Why Not?" and "Because I Could".
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I checked all except #3 and #5. I checked "Other", meaning "Because I Could", and "Because I am ready for the next step in life and this is it."
__________________
Already we are boldly launched upon the deep; but soon we shall be lost in its unshored, harbourless immensities. - - H. Melville, 1851.
Happily retired since 2009, at age 61. Best years of my life by far!
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02-11-2011, 03:28 PM
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#9
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 5,596
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Quote:
Originally Posted by W2R
I checked all except #3 and #5. I checked "Other", meaning "Because I Could", and "Because I am ready for the next step in life and this is it."
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I'm thinking "because I could" should have been an option! This applies to DH and I for sure. However, I don't believe most of us would have chosen early retirement if the numbers didn't make any sense. If you can't retire because you need the money, health insurance or whatever, it's not really a choice.
I worked with lots of people who were ready from a financial/security standpoint but didn't go there. We're a different group from the "norm" and it's fascinating to know what inspired us to take this path.
Many of us were first drawn to this forum to figure out this very question. Thanks for the interesting responses everyone
__________________
I purr therefore I am.
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02-11-2011, 03:39 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: Mar 2007
Posts: 14,328
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I was definitely escaping from a hostile work environment.
However, if I had know how much fun goofing off is, that would have been a motivator, too.
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02-11-2011, 03:43 PM
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#11
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 1,608
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I selected several of the choices, but "because I could" would be my main reason. The second most important reason is that I always planned to retire at 55 through my entire 30 year federal career.
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02-11-2011, 03:58 PM
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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: Nov 2009
Posts: 6,682
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For me it was mainly the awful commute although I had been getting down at the work at my job to some degree.
__________________
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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02-11-2011, 03:58 PM
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#13
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Administrator
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: N. Yorkshire
Posts: 34,056
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We had some good examples in our families who had retired early and were having a blast - looked like something we really wanted to do.
__________________
Retired in Jan, 2010 at 55, moved to England in May 2016
Enough private pension and SS income to cover all needs
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02-11-2011, 04:12 PM
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#14
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: NC
Posts: 21,204
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- Liked (past tense) my job and the money, but enough is enough. Fortunately I never reached 'I hate my job,' more the tug of reaching FI and then some.
- Would still like to work, and will if I find a job I just want to do for the satisfaction alone - hopefully less responsibility, see #4.
- Would like to move south some (shoveled enough snow),
- And quiet, tranquil & reflective have more meaning now than when I was much younger.
- Didn't check better health because I'm already active, but it would be a second tier goal.
__________________
No one agrees with other people's opinions; they merely agree with their own opinions -- expressed by somebody else. Sydney Tremayne
Retired Jun 2011 at age 57
Target AA: 50% equity funds / 45% bonds / 5% cash
Target WR: Approx 1.5% Approx 20% SI (secure income, SS only)
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02-11-2011, 04:18 PM
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#15
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: South Texas~29N/98W Just West of Woman Hollering Creek
Posts: 6,671
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Other.
I lost my job in 2002, searched for a new job and soon realized that no one was going to hire a guy in his late 50's for any kind of decent paying job in my field, so I reassessed my financial situation and realized that we had already accumulated a pretty nice chunk of investment money, a paid up mortgage, in addition to 3 pensions and SS.
After the dust settled, I embraced ER and now realize that a loafer is much more than a shoe.
__________________
Part-Owner of Texas
Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read. Groucho Marx
In dire need of: faster horses, younger woman, older whiskey, more money.
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02-11-2011, 04:18 PM
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#16
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Gone but not forgotten
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 6,924
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1, 6, 9
W*rk (& the folks involved) was physically making me sick)
__________________
"Knowin' no one nowhere's gonna miss us when we're gone..."
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02-11-2011, 04:39 PM
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#17
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Pittsburgh, PA suburbs
Posts: 1,796
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Not yet retired (at the latest class of 2014) but I picked number nine as the main motivating factor. I plan to spend Jan. - March in FL when I am retired to escape the cold and snow. I do like the summers and fall in western PA. I close second would be the time to improve/maintain my health on my schedule via regular exercise in the morning hours.
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02-11-2011, 04:59 PM
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#18
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 12,894
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First and foremost, for health reasons. Boredom at work was a close second.
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02-11-2011, 05:08 PM
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#19
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Gone but not forgotten
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Sarasota,fl.
Posts: 11,447
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It is funny how things turn out . I never planned on starting a business and here I am with a successful (hobby ) business .
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02-11-2011, 05:25 PM
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#20
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 6,682
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Just to clarify my previous post....
Because I had been working P/T for 7 years before I ERed, I had already been enjoying to some degree many of the benefits from not working. Working even two days a week had become a nuisance to the stuff (volunteer work and hobbies) I had been doing in those 7 years, so I needed to get rid of the nuisance. However, it was the commute which was the overriding reason for leaving my job.
__________________
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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