Reasons Why People Retire Early

[Gone4Good]

Variety is very much the spice of life. Even when you “like” your job, spending 40, 50, 60, 70+ hours per week (plus commuting time) doing any one thing is bland and tasteless; especially compared to the smorgasbord of delectable opportunities that must be forgone for the sake of that job.

 

[LakeTravis]

..... And these dogs, er, I mean customers, were getting more demanding all the time. They kept asking for tastier dog food, while wanting to pay us less and less. I worked day and night to please them. I wanted to kick their ass. These customers started to piss me off just as much as the bureaucrats at megacorps. I quit!

I was struggling to compose my response when I read yours and decided that you very eloquently and accurately summarized my own reasons.

I love my job, I really do. And the pay is phenomenal. But you get to the point where the frustration and stress simply aren't worth it anymore, and I am so tired of a client base that will never appreciate the behind-the-scenes efforts involved in providing the high level of service they currently get at below-market rates, yet they continue to beat us up over it. Not all of them, but enough of them to make us realize that there will always be that challenge.

So personally, I'm looking forward to the day that I no longer compare every personal experience in my life to the services I provide my clients and struggle with why they aren't happy to pay more instead of constantly whining to pay less.

 

[NW-Bound]

In my case, the pay was never phenomenal, and in fact was way, way below my salary at megacorps on a per-hour basis. But we kept saying that things would get better. It was OK for a while, but our business was in a high-tech field that was fast evolving, and we needed to constantly redesign to keep up with competition. Thought we were smarter and had a better initial design, but they were bigger and had more resources. We could not continue to fund new developments if we were barely able to pay bills, and the founding members of the business including myself worked for free for a while at the end.

I am no longer in that field and have not followed it. But I occasionally wonder if our customers, who were big businesses, missed us. Now that we are gone, our competition can jack up their prices. Well, maybe, maybe not. It could still be dog-eat-dog as it was. I am just glad I survived it, even though I still have emotional scars. Not too many financial scars though, thank heaven.

 

[Danmar]

Like many of you, I had reached my goals both professionally and financially. This took the "fire out of my belly" and the job got really tedious. Pay was outragious but eventually you reach the conclusion that enough is enough. So retired at 56. Absolutely no regrets. Health greatly improved as job was very stressful. Life is really good now.

 

[Cessna5354]

@58, maybe I am a little chicken to pull the retirement trigger, but I am still working on the nest egg. Looking to live off the investment interest, pension annuity & SS, leaving the principal for the kids. They are beyond their college years and self sufficient, but I believe they will need the $$.

Maybe I am tooo selfish to retire. I know the DW is scared to live with me 24/7. (who wouldn't)
I keep pluggin away, received a 3.8% increase last yr, thanked all, up the line. I am one of six employees remaining of a corp engineering group of 89 in 1987.

I am pleased and content with my sucess.
Looking at 36 months, but really 24 months to pull the trigger.

 

[Semiretired2008]

Career was down shifting so I used it as an opportunity to adjust into semi retirement as it did. Was tired of 60 hour weeks...

 

[cary4run]

my reasons - and achieve soon

For me, I am 14 months away (i hope). That is assuming the market doesn't tank. I will be 55 next month. Reasons I desire to retire early;

1. Looking for life-style simplification. May not completely retire, but want to move to the beautiful mountains of western North Carolina and slow down life. Enjoy my wife and a higher quality of life.
2. Work for mega-consultanting firm and no longer inspired. I want to do something that makes a difference. Not just work for the sake of a paycheck and making a bunch of partners more wealthy. Do what I want to do and make a difference in my community, family and friends.
3. Freedom to travel. I am not talking about world travels (but hopefully some on occassion). I am talking about camping and exploring the wonders and beauty of this great country.
4. Just flat burned out on corporate America. So overrated!

 

[Amethyst]

I took Nemo's comment totally differently. I have a very strong work ethic, even though I never wanted to work and would have preferred being a trust fund baby. It has to do with my belief that a contract is sacred - I must keep up my end. Plus, I've had to work pretty hard to get ahead. The pay in my line of work is anything but outrageous

Amethyst

Really? That would sure make working seem like a longer more tedious experience than it could be. After a while, in my case maybe 25-30 years, I can understand but right off the get go? I sure wouldn't want to be your boss.

 

[JOHNNIE36]

Trigger for my retirement was cancer (cured now), but at the time in my own business and about to expand and take on debt. Looking death in the face gives a different perspective. Fortuitive forced decision.
Having been retired for a time, now... have become selfish... Love the freedom that makes worries seem insignificant.

Joyous... waking in the AM, and not having to go to the train.

Congratulations on beating the beast of cancer. That was the motivating factor in me retireing early in so much as DW went through breast cancer in the 80's. Her last surgery was 1986 and I pushed from that point on to get out early. I was successful in achieving early retirement in 1988 and will never regret making that move. DW is a survivor, having gone through reconstruction in 1996. I am so thankful that everything worked out for the best. Best wishes to you imoldernu.

 

[JOHNNIE36]

The reason I retired at 53 is because I had so many things to do and the job was getting in the way. I wanted to sail the Caribbean. Live where there are no laws about every facet of life. Freedom to do anything long as it dose not harm anyone else. Start a family as I was to busy working and saving for my retirement. Now that I am 70 years old and have accomplished all that I set out to do. Now I can just live life to the fullest and enjoy every minute.

Good for you d0ug! That was a great plan and happy if worked out for you. I love it!

 

[JOHNNIE36]

Reading all these posts makes me so happy. I just wish everyone had the opportunities and good fortunes I have had that enabled me to retire early. As I mentioned, DW getting cancer was the deciding factor but I was ready to go. I had put in 34 years, worked a lot of weekends and daily overtime. If they had counted all that time, I probably had 40 years in. Never to match my father who had 47 years of service. Going into my 25 year of retirement, loving every minute of it and wish everyone could experience that.

I'm really feeling this thread because my very good friend, all the way through elementary school, best man at my wedding, died last week of lung cancer. Called him four weeks ago as he was getting ready for his first chemo treatment and that was out last conversation. He was too weak to even have another chemo treatment and he died last Saturday.
RIP Ben.

 

[marko]

Company acquired + being part of the "redundant executive team" + insanely generous buy-out package = RE at age 53

 

[ShortInSeattle]

I want to spend more time with my DH. 2 hours a night plus weekends isn't enough. Life is short.

 

[plex]

Not even remotely there yet, but the reason for me, is there just isn't a job out there that excites me nearly as much as my hobbies, which aren't particularly reliable for supplying income, and eat up a ton of time. Started developing a plan in my late teens.

Tried taking what looked like the fastest route, but the recession changed the economics around drastically, and in hindsight my original second choice route would have resulted in me reaching FIRE at 31, instead of 36, graduate school was a huge waste of money for the most part. But, can't have everything go just right. I at least picked up some extra skills along the way.

 

[obgyn65]

1. insurance-driven medicine
2. some obnoxious patients and MAs
3. litigation risks
4. want to enjoy life as I am getting older
5. would like to volunteer more for medical missions abroad and help others.

 

[Nords]

College wasn't exactly "fun", but I enjoyed the subsequent 10 years in the submarine force. Then we started a family and learned that the military pretty much just gives lip service to the concepts of "quality of life" and "work/life" balance. That was a powerful motivator for financial independence.

Last month I joined Facebook's "Cold War Submarine Veterans" group. (https://www.facebook.com/groups/301725556590883/) It's been awesome [-]group therapy[/-] camaraderie. It's brought back all my happy memories of those times, and provided commiseration over all the not-so-happy times. I should've joined that group 25 years ago...

 

[peonyprincess]

More to life than work

When my husband died suddenly last year at age 58 I decided that life is too short to spend only 20% of it doing the things that I liked, spending time with children and grandchildren. Because of his caring about the future, I am able to retire at 59. Now I just need to pick the date and I will be free.

 

[Tree-dweller]

1. Because I'm getting lazy
2. Because I can

+ 1,(if I'm honest with myself). That, plus the acknowledgement that I am playing the back 9 was all I needed.

 

[LeavingOhio]

I've not yet held a full-time job that I love. I've had ones that are ok, and I'm ok with what I do now, but the idea of loving a job is foreign to me. I do enjoy the people I work with, and that would be a loss when in retirement, but once I no longer have to work (based on my own level of confort), I'm not going to. If I get bored, I can always go get a job, maybe part time if I want, but I've got a LOT of hobbies, so I can't imagine not being able to find something to entertain myself with. I am a musician and have played in bands off and on for about 25 years, so when I retire, I might join an old guy blues band or something like that. Would leave me more time to run, play music, etc.

Takes a certain personality type to really enjoy retirement, and I've got the personality type (ISFJ) that most enjoys retirement.

Want to take that personality test? Jung - Myers - Briggs Quiz

 

[ziggy29]

Then we started a family and learned that the military pretty much just gives lip service to the concepts of "quality of life" and "work/life" balance.

In other words, the military is just like any other employer. And I tend to agree that this concept is a powerful motivator. I "work to live" in a culture which is increasingly expecting people to "live to work".

 

[Notmuchlonger]

When the opportunity came around I quit work. Perhaps if I had found something rewarding I would still be doing it. Frankly, I lack that 8 to 4 work ethic.

I know people who find their career so rewarding. They are Drs and nurses. Maybe caring for others gives you a different outlook. A few of them are in their late 60s and just love what they do.

 

[Moscyn]

If one can afford to and don't like their job or just don't like working and all the unpleasant things that come along with working, why not retire early? There's a whole new life after ER and it is SO GOOD!

 

[Chuckanut]

When my husband died suddenly last year at age 58 I decided that life is too short to spend only 20% of it doing the things that I liked, spending time with children and grandchildren. Because of his caring about the future, I am able to retire at 59. Now I just need to pick the date and I will be free.

+1

I can agtree with peony on this one. In my case it was a surprise divorce (the husband is always the last to know), the death of a sibling, the death of a good friend and a few new aches and pains of my own. It is time to enjoy life and not wait. Thankfully, 44 years of working, educating myself, saving and investing have paid off.

 

[HawkeyeNFO]

I "work to live" in a culture which is increasingly expecting people to "live to work".

I had an instructor in flight school who was an Aussie exchange officer. You just echoed his observation of Americans.

Here at the Pentagon, there are folks who retire from the US military after 30 years, then continue to work for upwards of 15 more years as a GS. One guy in my office did 20+ in the USMC, retired in '81, and is still here plugging away every day.

 

[Lsbcal]

When my husband died suddenly last year at age 58 I decided that life is too short to spend only 20% of it doing the things that I liked, spending time with children and grandchildren. Because of his caring about the future, I am able to retire at 59. Now I just need to pick the date and I will be free.

Sorry to hear of your loss. I wish you well in retirement. This is a "pre-wish" I guess as it appears you have not yet pulled the trigger. Welcome to the ER site.