Challenges of retiring early

omni550

Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
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We often are so looking forward to retiring early that when we 'arrive' we may not be expecting some of the new challenges that can happen.

Here the blogger Chris Mamula on "Can I Retire Yet?" writes about 5 challenges he and his wife underestimated after they retired early, some of which were brought about by their long-distance move.

https://www.caniretireyet.com/fire-make-life-harder/

omni
 
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He looks like a full time blogger, so he isn't really retired ;)

He also appeared to really love his job, and underwent a cross country move in the first year - anyone here would say that's a bad idea.
 
Change was certainly not a problem for us. Nor was transition. We go to the grocery store during off business hours. We go in and get out. We see no thrill in wandering about nor do we find ourselves wandering the aisles aimlessly.

I thought the entire blog was a little over the top. It certainly did not reflect our early retirement or that of some other folks that we know. We did not move across the country. We did however make some drastic changes in our lifestyle that included packing up and travelling for seven months with no home to return to.

After finally getting to the end (and it was a hard slog) I came to the conclusion that the author was either a whiner or someone who is trying to attract a following for some sort of commercial reason. At some point you need to move forward with your life and make the best you can of your remaining time.
 
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I believe he is reasonably younger than the average retiree on this site. Thus the thought of having guilt free do nothing days from time to time can be challenging.
I was Type A, but had no issues settling into a more relaxing lifestyle.
 
He looks like a full time blogger, so he isn't really retired ;)

He also appeared to really love his job, and underwent a cross country move in the first year - anyone here would say that's a bad idea.

And "retired" at 41.
 
I’m not type A and I retired from my job, not really to anything. Since I did not move away from family or the couple of good friends that I have, I’m not feeling the issues expressed in this article. The only concern I have about retirement is whether or not the money will last. For that, I’ve done all the planning I could and things look fine on paper. It’s just my nature to worry a bit about that. I will say, going from accumulating to deaccumulating is a change that we’re a little uncomfortable with, but that’s just because it’s our nature to be secure. Of course, in reality, there is nothing that is 100% secure so I’d have to deal with that anyway.

I enjoy not working. I do keep busy, but if I do nothing for a day or three, I’m good with that too. When people tell me I look better, more calm/relaxed, I know I’m on a better path. Coming up on my one year retirement anniversary and so far so good.
 
"The simple act of going to the grocery now took an entire morning of wandering aimlessly around an unfamiliar space." Ummmmmmmm, this happened to him because he moved, not because he retired. I shop at the same grocery store I did before I retired. I am just as familiar with the store's layout now as I was before. Once in a while, if I happen to shop at an unfamiliar grocery (or other) store, I do wander around looking for some items. But that nothing to do with being retired.


The author seemed to mix together the aspects of retiring and relocating. They are separate choices, and one does not imply or require the other.
 
The author needs to visit a food bank, a homeless shelter, a hospital, or perhaps a hospice.

Then he might gain an insight into what people with real problems deal with on a daily basis. Especially retirees who live at or below the poverty level.
 
"The simple act of going to the grocery now took an entire morning of wandering aimlessly around an unfamiliar space." Ummmmmmmm, this happened to him because he moved, not because he retired. I shop at the same grocery store I did before I retired. I am just as familiar with the store's layout now as I was before. Once in a while, if I happen to shop at an unfamiliar grocery (or other) store, I do wander around looking for some items. But that nothing to do with being retired.


The author seemed to mix together the aspects of retiring and relocating. They are separate choices, and one does not imply or require the other.


From what I've seen, most grocery stores aren't laid out THAT differently from each other. Even when I would go to Aruba, and we'd hit the local grocery stores there, to save money over eating out, it's not like learning the new layout was rocket science or anything. Now, being in a different country, there was a lot of new stuff that we didn't have in the States, plus different brand names and such, so there was a bit of exploring and discovery on that front.


I wonder, if in this guy's case, suddenly having so much free time, he's now taking chores that used to take a short amount of time, and expanding them, to fill the day? I noticed that, after my uncle retired at the end of 2013, he started doing things like that. When he'd cut the grass, he would hit half of the yard one day, and then wait to do the rest. Nevermind the fact that even if you let that yard really get out of hand, it would rarely take more than two hours to cut.
 
I can't really relate to this guy. Seems to me that he convinced himself that he needed to retire early (and 41 is very early), despite having a job that he enjoyed. Also, it sure sounds like his identity was pretty well tied to the job (sobbing as he left, etc). I don't think he really thought through WHY he wanted to retire at age 41, and exactly HOW he was going to spend his time in retirement. As others have said, the cross-country move right away also probably contributed to his feeling of being somewhat lost.

About the only thing of value I got out of his blog entry is that you really do need to think long and hard about why you want to retire, and what you are going to do in retirement, because only you are responsible for planning how you spend your days. That is indeed a big change, but for me (and I think many other ER-types) it was a very welcome change.

He makes one statement at the end that is very true:

"But to think priorities will magically change because you have more time once you retire is a fallacy."

I never thought that, but I get the feeling that he probably did, which may be why he is struggling a bit.
 
Moving without a job mostly caused the stress. When you move for a job it’s hard but you meet people at work and it fills your time. Some people say that they are busier than ever but that hasn’t been true for us. This is probably why 6 years later I am still working from home p.t.
 
I’m not type A and I retired from my job, not really to anything. Since I did not move away from family or the couple of good friends that I have, I’m not feeling the issues expressed in this article. The only concern I have about retirement is whether or not the money will last. For that, I’ve done all the planning I could and things look fine on paper. It’s just my nature to worry a bit about that. I will say, going from accumulating to deaccumulating is a change that we’re a little uncomfortable with, but that’s just because it’s our nature to be secure. Of course, in reality, there is nothing that is 100% secure so I’d have to deal with that anyway.

I enjoy not working. I do keep busy, but if I do nothing for a day or three, I’m good with that too. When people tell me I look better, more calm/relaxed, I know I’m on a better path. Coming up on my one year retirement anniversary and so far so good.

+1.

I suppose what the author wrote could be true for some. However, like a few others here, I could write a lengthy tomb (or 3) about the the sheer joy of living life on our terms. :dance:

I retired at 60, so more like FIre than FIRE. Being able to exit the Rat Race with modest, but sufficient resources, while having the gift of reasonable health is an immeasurable blessing.

Life is a series of milestones for most (school, promotions marriage, etc). There's usually only one major milestone after retirement, :dead: so not enjoying retirement would really, really suck. :(
 
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I think it's an interesting post and refreshingly honest in comparison with so much of the brag-type posting out there.

I agree with him that it's easy to imagine an ideal life, ideal self, but that's just your imagination, reality has a depressing habit of never matching our fantasies. That applies to everything: perfect spouse, perfect job, perfect house, perfect child, perfect retirement, none of these things turn out how we imagine them. The quicker you reconcile yourself to that, the quicker you get on with the business of living rather than fantasizing.

This is why they say it's the journey, not the destination that matters.
 
Thanks for posting the article. It's interesting to learn about the experiences of others who find themselves on a similar life track.
 
My early retirement has been nothing compared to what the blogger experienced. Sure, some days are tougher than others, but generally...my retirement days have been far more enjoyable than most of my w*rking days.

But, the blogger said something that I would never, ever, ever had said when if I were to describe my last days of w*rking...

The career I invested so heavily in, the group of people who had become my second family, the place where I spent the majority of my waking hours; in an instant all were gone. With that, a piece of me died.

I found myself unable to fight back the tears as I said my goodbyes. When I left the office, it got worse. I sat in my car and sobbed for a few minutes until I composed myself. Then I drove the whole way home with tears rolling down my cheeks.

The blogger definitely identified with his j*b. I avoided doing that at all costs.
 
Most challenging of all was saying goodbye to family and friends.
Well, he shouldn't have done that. I still do lots of things with my family and friends, especially good friends made during my [-]job[/-] professional career. We/they live all over the world and still find time to get together with our shared interests. I even went out to lunch this week with a former colleague because we are planning some things that we want to do together.

I have even gone on shared vacations the past few years with friends and family. My wife is even better at this, as in "Let's meet in Cuba!" or "Let's meet in Barcelona!"
 
I had some tears on the last day I worked. But they weren't until I got off the train for the last time and walked home from the station. My lifelong dream of putting an end to the long, tiring, hated commute (even 2 days a week) had finally been realized!
 
I tend to agree with him that people put forward the positive and downplay or under-report the negative things about their retired life. That's the nature of people, and it's amplified on social media.

My thoughts about his points, one by one...

#1. He says he's driven by goals and purpose, but yet he did not seem to have thought through the question of "What will be my goals and purpose, once I retire?" -- beyond writing and skiing. That seems like a pretty major oversight on his part.

It also sounds like, as a couple, they did not think through, in advance, what it would be like to shift from accumulating to spending down. Again, that's a pretty big oversight. One of the first things I learned about ER is that the people who do best in are the ones who prepare for it, by thinking these sort of issues through.

#2. He was very emotionally attached to his job and the people he worked with. I don't think most people headed for ER feel that way -- at least not to that degree.

And then 7 months later, they move to a completely new area. That meant not only saying goodbye to his beloved work and colleagues, but saying goodbye to a house full of memories, and saying goodbye to family and friends. That is a complete social uprooting and upheaval, and a huge amount of loss in a very short period of time. Most people would be plunged into grief by all that.

#3. Of course "life became chaotic." That's a massive reordering of your life in 7 months.

Then he says, "Yes became our default answer to every offer. In the process, we had little time for ourselves, our relationship and the activities we moved to the mountains for." When you divest yourself of a beloved job, colleagues, home, family, and friends within a short space of time, you are going to lose your sense of who you are and what you need. I'm not surprised they lost their bearings.

I'm a little surprised that he didn't anticipate that. He said he did lots of reading of ER blogs. Granted, most retirement blogs focus on the financial piece, not the emotional, social, or psychological pieces.

#4. He says he is "too busy." That's because he is saying "yes" to everything and has lost a sense of priorities. And that is because he abruptly tossed aside so much that gave his life direction, meaning, purpose, direction, satisfaction, attachment, etc. I mean, that is going to happen, if that's how you retire. It's like you're stripping yourself down, psychologically, to the bare minimum and expecting increased ski and blog time to compensate. That's not how people work.

#5. This is a good point -- that priorities won't change (e.g., if you're not volunteering now, chances are you won't be volunteering all that much after you're retired).

Overall, my sense is that he was prepared financially but completely unprepared psychologically. He greatly underestimated the impact of the losses he would incur and the challenges he would face.

And yeah, as someone already said, he's not really retired anyhow. He's working hard on being a writer. I wish him luck. He's not ready to write a book about how to retire, that's for sure.
 
He also seems like an emotional mess. Makes a bunch of rash emotional irresponsible decisions that really make no sense and seems confused at the outcome. Wimpy guy.
 
I retired from 28+ years in the Navy where I moved every 3-5 years. (I then worked in the private sector for 6 years before retiring for good.) Thanks to the Navy, I had already learned how to plan/pack for a relocation, find my way around new supermarkets, sell and buy houses and do all that other stuff that comes with upheaval. Retiring and then relocating (albeit 2 years later, not immediately) was a piece of cake for me although I can understand not everything is the same for everyone.
 
The blogger definitely identified with his j*b. I avoided doing that at all costs.


I think this is the root of the author's issue. He did not have other things in life that could fill the void left when he quit working.



I always identified myself as an engineer if someone asked what I did for work. However the engineer job was just the means to have money for life. I used to always say two things: "Quality of life is when I go out the gate, not come in the gate to work", and "Work to live, not live to work".
 
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