Downsides of Early Retirement

Two years in and I have had none of those issues :).
 
RetireBy90 said:
1. You may suffer from an identity crisis.

2) You may second-guess yourself.

3) People may treat you like a misfit.

4) You’ll be surprised that you aren’t that much happier.

5) You may get really, really bored.
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As an earlier poster pointed out, if I retired at 34 like the writer did, it would be very likely I shared his feelings.

But having retired at a much later age, if I missed my job it was because I enjoyed my work. I stayed highly technical to the end instead of seeking promotion to management. I now have to look for home projects to get to do some technical work, and it costs me money instead of getting paid.

Just a couple of months ago, they tried to contact me to ask me to return to work, to help with a problem similar to something I solved for them in the past. I was tempted, but my wife reminded me why I left. She said I would soon be going home in frustration with the bureaucracy, the jealousy from the incompetent full-timers, etc... Yes, even doing consulting or contract work could not save me from these petty things before, and there is no reason to think it would be any different now.

Heck, I will continue to spend my own money and time to do my own things at home.
 
Granted, I didn't retire at 34, but at 40...I wasn't too far behind. I am almost 5 years into this fantastic adventure that *is* retirement and I find NONE of the sentiments that was expressed by the author (who is having more and more stuff published these days...I find that "interesting").

Do I get a side eye on occasion when people ask me what I do and my answer is, "whatever I want, I retired a few years ago"? Yes, yes I do. Nonetheless, over the last couple of years, I have gotten used to that and it occurred to me that I don't CARE what people think of that fact.

When I see these "ER might suck!" articles, it is usually from people who were highly involved/invested/intertwined with their w*rk. For me, it was the means to an end. Yes, I generally enjoyed what I did for $, but not enough for me to stick around!

Edit: OK...now I am calling BS on all of it. Here is an earlier article by the same guy as the OP posted (a whole month ago by Sam, ((Financial Samurai)) where he says he plans to retire at 42. Well, what is it? Are you retired at 34 or 42?

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/03/why...-to-retire-to-hawaii-by-age-42-this-year.html
 
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One other thing. In the original article, he says...

Sure, I got lucky by landing a high-paying investment banking job and in some of my investments, but I live a frugal life and have always been diligent about staying on top of my finances
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But he often discuss his car purchase, such as this...
It wasn’t until I got a raise and a promotion to join a new firm in San Francisco in 2001 that I finally had enough money to go big. Go big I did by purchasing a $75,000 Mercedes G500 SUV...I regretted my decision several months later because I was spending $720 a month to finance the vehicle. I had traded a perfectly fine 1995 Nissan Pathfinder for $10,000 to take on so much debt. I was probably only making about 2X the cost of the vehicle and felt stupid still renting a one bedroom apartment for $1,800 a month. My financial priorities were askew.

A year and a half later, I sold the G500 for a $17,000 loss because it wouldn’t fit in the garage of a condo I wanted to buy.
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https://www.financialsamurai.com/follow-the-one-tenth-rule-for-car-buying/

I used to enjoy some of his writing, but it seems like he is trying to compete w/ MMM for worst FIRE blogger.
 
Easiest to just always tell the truth. That way, you don't have to remember what you said before.
 
I learned about these bloggers from this forum. Same with MMM. And even the Boglehead forum. And I do not go to those sites often if at all.

I guess I do not get out much. :)
 
NW-Bound said:
I learned about these bloggers from this forum. Same with MMM. And even the Boglehead forum. And I do not go to those sites often if at all.

I guess I do not get out much. :)
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Nah, you are just smart to get your info here and ignore those blogging fools. :D
 
I would not call them fools if they made beaucoup money off their blogs.

Recently, I have been watching some Youtube travel channels, whose video clips get several 100K's to 1M+ views. Some of these guys are pretty good and go to exotic places. No wonder I do not miss the Travel and the Food TV channels on cable. I wonder how much money they make, because it's their full-time job.
 
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NW-Bound said:
Recently, I have been watching some Youtube travel channels, whose video clips get several 100K's to 1M+ views. Some of these guys are pretty good and go to exotic places. No wonder I do not miss the Travel and the Food TV channels on cable. I wonder how much money they make, because it's their full-time job.
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No thanks! I'm too busy doing 'nothing all day!
 
RetireBy90 said:
Found this interesting, thought others might also:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/24/i-r...f-early-retirement-that-no-one-tells-you.html


"I retired at 34 with $3 million"


Says he certainly doesn't regret early retirement but noted some downsides:



1. You may suffer from an identity crisis.

2) You may second-guess yourself.

3) People may treat you like a misfit.

4) You’ll be surprised that you aren’t that much happier.

5) You may get really, really bored.

And closes out with
"Here’s the truth: If you’re unhappy before you retire early, it’s likely that you’ll still be unhappy after you retire."

Just one perspective but I thought important to consider other perspectives.
Click to expand...


I retired in my 30s too. With 9 years of FIRE under my belt:

1) no identity crisis for me. My Job title (senior scientist) wasn't glamorous or all that impressive. So my sense of identity was never tied to my job.

2) I did a lot of research into FIRE before leaping into the unknown, so I haven't second-guessed myself yet (although, a divorce well into ER brought me close to doubting).

3) People do treat me a bit like a misfit. But, as an INTJ, I am used to blazing my own trail regardless of people's opinions.

4) True. FIRE did not seem to have a lasting impact on my baseline happiness level (Even when my professional situation wasn't ideal, I found other ways to remain generally happy).

5) This has never happened yet.
 
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The concept of early retirement will always appear to be odd to the vast majority of people in this world. The reason is that the vast majority of people in this world are financial misfits no matter what their income levels are. I know people with mid to high six figure salaries living on the edge due to their irrational spending.

I know of one person from university that retired at 29 after Microsoft bought their company. I never saw him depressed or bored. If anything, he was having too much fun partying. After 30 years into his retirement, he is in much better shape than many who are worried about retirement due to insufficient savings.

I would ignore these silly articles. Retirement is becoming frightening for those who haven't saved for it as they approach their 50's.
 
Hmmm - memory fades but at age 50 I flew under the radar until age 55 - an early pension gave me 'official status.'

Obviously I 'adjusted' and have survived ER so far.

heh heh heh - happiness is like fishing - catch and release. Love to whine and downloaded a Curmudgeon Certificate from this very forum. After almost 25 years of ER taking myself serious is getting somewhat difficult. ;)

The article popped up on my Google feed. :D Whoo! Big Brother is ?
 
Freedom56 said:
The concept of early retirement will always appear to be odd to the vast majority of people in this world. The reason is that the vast majority of people in this world are financial misfits no matter what their income levels are. I know people with mid to high six figure salaries living on the edge due to their irrational spending.

I know of one person from university that retired at 29 after Microsoft bought their company. I never saw him depressed or bored. If anything, he was having too much fun partying. After 30 years into his retirement, he is in much better shape than many who are worried about retirement due to insufficient savings.

I would ignore these silly articles. Retirement is becoming frightening for those who haven't saved for it as they approach their 50's.
Click to expand...

Only 9 months into retirement, so a newly retired. I think the important thing for me was mostly FI and not As much RE. Although the FI allows retirement either early, on-time, or late. I’m learning a new lifestyle in retirement but the FI is important to my happiness.
 
NW-Bound said:
Sure. But if you have to work, is their job a good one to have? :)
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FI has made me unemployable. Perhaps this was my natural state all along, born free!

I do wonder... The first couple of years into FIRE, DW and I made a few bucks doing our hobby j*b for a friend. The w*rk was reasonably interesting, but we didn't feel the money was worth the effort. This small commercial relationship and the friendship itself ended over a $200 squabble. We haven't done a gig in 2 years...

I've offered to do some w*rk for a buddy of mine, but he's avoided the subject. He know's I'm FIRE'd. Maybe he doesn't want to risk the friendship or thinks I'd be hard to keep in line.


Heck, we love the outdoors and we occasionally get dragged into volunteer "guiding" through church or one of our clubs. We have to pack a bunch of emergency gear and you never know when something bad will happen. Too much hassle, worry, and responsiblity. Just like w*rk, without the paycheck!
 
Just by chance I retired at 34 in aug of 2000. If you rely on other people for your daily entertainment/drama then early retirement isn’t for you. If you would feel uncomfortable saying you’ve just been f-ing off for the last xx years when people ask about your work then early retirement isn’t for you.
As far as feeling out of touch it’s Kind of like getting used to women in their 20s looking past you instead of at you when you turn 50.
If I could have afforded to retire at 24 I would have.
 
RetireBy90 said:
Found this interesting, thought others might also:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/24/i-r...f-early-retirement-that-no-one-tells-you.html


"I retired at 34 with $3 million"


Says he certainly doesn't regret early retirement but noted some downsides:



1. You may suffer from an identity crisis.

2) You may second-guess yourself.

3) People may treat you like a misfit.

4) You’ll be surprised that you aren’t that much happier.

5) You may get really, really bored.

And closes out with
"Here’s the truth: If you’re unhappy before you retire early, it’s likely that you’ll still be unhappy after you retire."

Just one perspective but I thought important to consider other perspectives.
Click to expand...

I get the identity crisis thing...I was a social worker for 34 years before ER at 52 and since I have an MSW, I guess I'll always think of myself as a social worker on some level. Just not one who drives 1.5 hours or more daily, works after hours and weekends, takes verbal abuse from a miserable boss, etc.

Never second-guessed once--I was planning on ER since I was in my 20s.

"Misfit" is not a new label. But other "misfits' have been pretty easy to find.

I'm so happy with ER I could tap-dance daily. My health and relationships are happy too.

Bored?? I've discovered so many cool exciting things to do now that I'm not ground down to a nub on the daily. Took coding classes, learned to bake, travel, dabbled into the "entertainment industry" on a very part-time basis, and have gotten three World of Warcraft toons to level 120 :) There's not enough hours in the day...
 
TheRunningMan said:
He's a financial blogger and runs Financial Samurai. I view this piece as a plug for his site...
Click to expand...

Exactly right. Sam is in the business of Sam. He throws out controversial articles every few months as click bait. Back at the end of last year/beginning of this year when the market tanked he posted his article about how he was giving up FIRE because he couldn't make things work living in San Francisco on his $200k annual passive income and was arguing "poor me". He then went on to argue that everyone should give up FIRE because they will fail. People post left and right that he's a fool and to move to a low cost area. A few months later he posts "We're moving to Hawaii".

Best to avoid Sam.
 
ExFlyBoy5 said:
Edit: OK...now I am calling BS on all of it. Here is an earlier article by the same guy as the OP posted (a whole month ago by Sam, ((Financial Samurai)) where he says he plans to retire at 42. Well, what is it? Are you retired at 34 or 42?

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/03/why...-to-retire-to-hawaii-by-age-42-this-year.html
Click to expand...

Here is why...

https://www.financialsamurai.com/dire-movement-delay-inherit-retire-expire/

I’m personally looking to head back to work to buffer the expected obliteration of my finances, but I’m afraid after almost seven years of unemployment, nobody will hire my dire self.
Click to expand...

There's no date on that article, but it coincided with the market pull back at the end of last year/beginning of this year.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/a...ts-threatens-to-kill-fire-movement-2018-12-18
 
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Personally, there was no big downside to ER. I could say that while everyone is working all day, I'm not and so there is some social aspect missing. But I have hobbies, always have lots to do around the house, personal "work"/research that keeps me engaged doing the kinds of things I want to work on that give me satisfaction that my last employer never appreciated (but generated lots of income for them). I get together with one of my buddies (who also retired "early") for dinner the last Wednesday of each month (tonight!) at our favorite restaurant. It seems that last Wednesday always rolls around extremely quickly.

If you retire early and are just waiting around expecting to see the light one morning about what to do, it's not going to happen. You at least need to have some idea of how you're going to fill the time. It doesn't need to be about what to do every hour you're awake, but some concept of what you want to do that will bring satisfaction. For a few decades you were basically told what you needed to do all along. Now you likely have somewhere close to those decades to fill that time on your own - nobody will do it for you.
 
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