Is ER a race?

[jIMOh]

Here are two questions:

1) did anyone out there FIRE before their parents retired?

2) how many people FIREd before a sibling and that alone made them feel good? As in FIRE was a race, and beating your older sibling felt so good?

 

[Walt34]

2) how many people FIREd before a sibling and that alone made them feel good? As in FIRE was a race, and beating your older sibling felt so good?

I retired before an older sister. All she said about it was that it made her feel old that her younger brother was retired. I didn't "feel good" that I retired before her, it was simply that I picked a career that has a short span compared to most others. Normal retirement age was 20 years, I went 29.

 

[RetireeRobert]

In terms of relative ages at ER, I FIRED at a younger age than my dad did. I noted and reflected on that fact and felt a sense of achievement because of it. My brother who is 4 years older also retired at about the same age as I did.

But FIRE as a race, a competition? No, not really. More a meeting of my own goals, not a race with someone else.

 

[REWahoo]

Is ER a race? Yes, but in my case it was only with the calendar, not parents or siblings.

 

[W2R]

Here are two questions:

1) did anyone out there FIRE before their parents retired?

2) how many people FIREd before a sibling and that alone made them feel good? As in FIRE was a race, and beating your older sibling felt so good?

Ugh. Please don't remind me! (j/k)

My parents retired in 1966. My brothers retired in the 1980's or early 1990's.

My ex-husband is watching TV and drinking beer on disability (for a slipped disk that the VA doesn't think is bad enough to merit surgery) while living at his parents' house and waiting for his humungous 401K to grow even larger, I suppose.

I think I will probably work forever. Poor me! Oh well. I will get the last laugh, because I will have the happiest ER of any of them. Quality beats quantity.

 

[clifp]

Well I did jokingly tell my mom that I was going to retire before I was 40... So not so much a race but keeping a promise

 

[CuppaJoe]

No, its not about race; are you taking about Tiger Woods and Obama? -- Its mixed. My sister retired many years ago but I never thought about it. You know, IMO being R'd is not less complicated than w*rking. My brother just missed getting to my current age. Game over.

 

[CyclingInvestor]

I retired 3 months before my mom. She had planned to work forever, but had
to quit for a minor health issue at 71.

 

[audreyh1]

We ER'd so young (I was 39) that there was no way it seemed like a race. We were just lucky to be granted a major shortcut.

Audrey

 

[LOL!]

My sister married a gentleman about 10 years older than her. Before they got married, she brought him by the house to meet the folks. My dad asked my future brother-in-law, "Well, son, what do you do for a living?"

He replied, "I'm retired. You'll enjoy it when you get there."

My wife's sister also retired around age 33 when she married a recently retired FBI agent.

So in our family, retiring early seems to be the norm rather than the exception.

BTW, I am still working.

 

[REWahoo]

So in our family, retiring early seems to be the norm rather than the exception.

BTW, I am still working.

Hang in there. Every family has at least one black sheep.

 

[Moemg]

I retired before my older sister and she is not at all happy about it but I always lived below my means while she spent freely !

 

[dm]

My dad retired at 57 and I retired at 50. He always brings it up that I'm retired when we are golfing with his buddies. I think he gets a kick out of it. He helped me make up my mind to go ahead and do it. He said he never regreted it.

He's been retired now for 16 years so he's way ahead of me. I called him last night as I hadn't talked to him for a couple of weeks. He said the fish were biting in florida and he was going golfing today. He lives in Southeast Missouri and sold his place in florida last year. He bought a trailer and took off for a month to see some of his buddies. Life is good.

 

[mountaintosea]

My oldest brother retired from one county and immediately went back to work for another county. So I guess I'm the first to permanently retire. My Dad retired at the age of 62. I just retired last November at the age of 55. I never thought of it as a race. I think it helped that I'm LBMM and single, no kids etc. I think it also has something to do with being female. Many of the guys that retired from the office immediately went looking for other work or opened an office etc. So far I really enjoy it and going back to work is not in the cards. However I did just renew my Bar card instead of going inactive. I thought I would leave my options open.

 

[megacorp-firee]

I don't think so. IMO it (retirement) is a milestone on the journey of life.
I retired, age-wise before my parents as well as my siblings. But getting there 1st, so to speak, is not what matters to me. I get satisfaction from doing things the way I want to do them (we used to call it being a 'free spirit', ... no I was not a long haired hippie).

 

[Goonie]

Here are two questions:

1) did anyone out there FIRE before their parents retired?

2) how many people FIREd before a sibling and that alone made them feel good? As in FIRE was a race, and beating your older sibling felt so good?

In terms of relative ages at ER, I FIRED at a younger age than my dad did.

I retired before my older sister and she is not at all happy about it but I always lived below my means while she spent freely !

Like RetireeRobert, in terms of relative ages, I retired younger than both my Mom and Dad. They retired @ 60 and 62 respectively in 1987, and I bailed out @ 50, twenty years later in 2007.

I'm the youngest of 3 kids. I'm 50, sister is 56, and bro is 59. They both will be w*rking for many more years! One had a [-]sugar-daddy[/-] spouse who made VERY good money, but divorced him a few years back (Lucky guy!).....and is now out in the real world having to earn her own keep. The other has a spouse who LOVES to spend money. Neither of them have pensions, or any savings that really amount to anything. One of them is thoroughly peeved at me, and the other doesn't really care one way or the other.

I'm just thankful that I had the opportunities that I did, and that I was able to FIRE when I did!!! Life is grand!!!

BTW.....I didn't consider it a race. I just wanted out ASAP. I never had a great desire to w*rk!

 

[redmcclain]

I never thought of it as a race but my mother served as an inspiration or motivator of sorts. She retired at 57 and spent the next year actively involved in her community & church as well as traveling with friends and family. After 14 months an aneurysm ruptured putting an end to her carefree retirement. Anyway, I'm determined to retire as early as I possibly can so that I can enjoy whatever time remains. Not that I don't enjoy my current life - for I do - but I know that life throws some wicked curve balls.

My brothers are younger than I but will probably be able to retire after 30 yrs with COLA pensions.

 

[Spanky]

1) did anyone out there FIRE before their parents retired?

No. They retired 20 years ago.

2) how many people FIREd before a sibling and that alone made them feel good? As in FIRE was a race, and beating your older sibling felt so good?

ER is a journey not a destination -- definitely not a race or competition. I would not feel good or bad if I retired before my older brothers do. Everyone has his/her own goals. My older brother has no intention to retire completely since he does not have any hobby or another interests other than managing or expanding his business.

 

[Helen]

1) did anyone out there FIRE before their parents retired?

My Dad was 50 when I was born. He retired at age 65. I'm planning to bail around age 56.

2) how many people FIREd before a sibling and that alone made them feel good? As in FIRE was a race, and beating your older sibling felt so good?

This does not make me feel good. My brother is 1.5 years older than I am and has not started saving for retirement at age 52. He does not want to tie his money up "for that long" in retirement accounts. Meanwhile, he is seriously dating a 32 year old with two young children. Both of his kids just got married, so he is starting a second family. I worry about him, I don't know if he thinks he can work forever or if he's thinking his inheritance will fund him. My Mother is 83 and has aunts and uncles who lived beyond 100 years. We both hope our Mom lives a really long and healthy life, but WTF is going through his head?

 

[kaudrey]

Hi,

Well, my parents retired at age 57. Did you mean will I retire before I hit the age THEY retired? Yes, I plan to do that. I am shooting for 52.

FIREing was always in my planning, since my whole life my parents worked toward FIREing and taught us all about LBYM and saving money and having goals.

At first, I randomly picked 52 because it was 5 years earlier than my parents, and that seemed like a good goal. Now that I have a spreadsheet and a plan, not only is 52 workable, but I could probably shoot for a few years earlier.

I don't compete with my sister. She is married with two newly adopted kids, and I am single. They LBTM also, and have a good chunk saved, but our situations are so different that there's no real comparison for a "competition" toward FIRE.

 

[jIMOh]

I meant that if you were 50 and parents were 75 the same year, that you retired, and your parents were still w*rking. For example.

I realize life is not a race. I often see people spending more money now and I tell myself "I'll be retiring before him". Sometimes that works. I need to believe it's a race sometimes to keep myself focused.

 

[youbet]

In the later stages of my career I wound up in a management position where I was responsible for a large number of people. The primary lesson I learned from that experience is that people are concerned about their lot in life relative to one another more than in absolute terms. For some time, I was surprised at the extent of people's reactions to even the slightest unevenness of distribution of tasks or rewards.

Today I find that being free from obcession to compare my own life's status to others is a wonderful thing and I try to have that outlook as much as possible. Everyone lives their life on their own terms and I'm happy to let them without needing to compare my own lifestyle decisons to theirs. I did it my own way and whether I spent a little more and therefore FIRED a little later or whether I beat a buddy into ER or ......... whatever, has come to have little consequence for me.

No competitive race here.