Hello all,
I’m about 50, single, no dependents, with a very secure job, a satisfactory middle-class income, no debt, solid savings sufficient for a modest early retirement, and expectations of a reliable pension and reasonably-low cost health benefits. I’m set for life, right? Well, it seems I suffer from the “Golden Handcuffs” syndrome – a particularly irksome version of the “one more year” syndrome.
I’m a tenured Professor. Don’t cry for me, but tenure doesn’t mean what it once did – I’m still evaluated formally and frequently, and I would suffer if I slacked off on the grants and publications treadmill, etc. But with a little care and effort, my position offers about as much security as can reasonably be hoped for these days. It’s also a position that offers considerable freedom plus even a little bit of status and privilege.
I earned my Ph.D. and became a Professor only recently. The harrowing Death March of earning a Ph.D. later in life in a cut-throat top-tier program, obtaining a good tenure-track position, and achieving tenure in an atmosphere of competition and highly capricious politics has left me feeling burned out. I succeeded well and quickly, but at a very substantial personal and financial price that still haunts me. Even worse, to my dismay I’ve found that the ideals that I had believed my institution stood for are all too often a pious sham covering a voracious, impersonal machine that rules via Stalinist-era tactics of fear and excesses of implacable power.
I do gain satisfaction from my job, and I do value it a great deal. But, due to 10+ years of stress from the Ph.D. plus tenure death-march, and the vaporization of my naïveté, early retirement calls to me constantly. This is terribly ironic because, with tenure, I’ve finally reached a point where I am substantially free of the need to fight. There are rather few hurdles left in my career that I care to pursue. There are many demands, but to a degree my time is under my control, it’s theoretically possible for me to take entire summers off, I maintain a budget for travel to conferences, etc., so the job is far from tough. My goals are to do some interesting research, graduate some more Ph.D. and M.S. students, and in general try to mentor some knowledge, wisdom and common sense into our next generation. I’d like to avoid political games (very difficult) and make the position pay off on my terms from here on out.
Now, I know how you all love financial porn: I’ve always been an extremely aggressive saver (the primary source of my net worth), and my investments are conservative (currently ~40% stocks, ~20% bonds, ~40% cash equivalents), mostly unsheltered, in broad-based, low-cost index funds. I was expecting my savings to reach the tidy milestone of $2M this year. Now that looks uncertain but, combined with a small pension (~20k, ill-indexed), low-cost health benefits, eligibility for social security, and a modest but comfortable lifestyle (costing ~$40k after taxes, though I'd prefer to pad that by $20k+ in retirement for travel, etc.) including a paid-off house, I suppose there is little to stop me from FIRE at 50.
I am eligible to take early retirement within a few months. The pension at that age would be ~$20k, well below my basic needs, and it would decline over time as it is poorly indexed to inflation, but it comes with fairly low-cost health insurance and my savings would make up the difference. My mostly frugal spending habits could probably be maintained for life without much risk. However, with great freedom comes great temptation, e.g., for extended travel, better toys, etc., and I'd prefer considerable padding for that kind of thing. The point where my pension alone would reasonably cover my needs would be about age 55, and by then I’d gain a satisfying edge in financial security and freedom. If I worked to age 60, the pension plus additional savings would exceed my expected needs and by my current standards I’d be well-off for life. One additional point is that, given the security of my position, committing to working somewhat longer allows me to relax my frugal ways starting now.
Although my job offers me a fair degree of freedom, I’d greatly enjoy even more: FIRE. A part of me would also enjoy saying goodbye to the Machine. My colleagues would be shocked – NO-ONE with tenure retires early! This is because I’d be throwing out the reward for all of my struggles: a decade or so in a comfortable and privileged position. The benefits and security of my job and its rapidly enhancing pension (it would roughly quadruple over the next 10 years) is something that is hard to throw away just to spite the Machine (which would not care in the slightest in any event).
So, if I can shake off a bit more of the burn-out, etc., and as long as I can keep the psychic cost/benefit ratio tilted in my favor, I could see working until 55 or 60. Still, I remain terribly conflicted. As I believe I’m F.I. at my current spending level, the “one more year” syndrome starts now. By a rough calculation, giving up 10 years of income and enhanced pension benefits means giving up on a 40-50% improvement in my financial standard of living, starting now, all of which would be gravy. I also wonder how well I would do after giving up the mantle of my position, and there’s no turning back. But R.E. also means gaining 10 years of enhanced freedom during the youngest years of the rest of my life, however long that may be.
Golden handcuffs are a blessing and a curse, but they are especially irksome when one already has the keys to unlock them.
Thank you for reading.
I’m about 50, single, no dependents, with a very secure job, a satisfactory middle-class income, no debt, solid savings sufficient for a modest early retirement, and expectations of a reliable pension and reasonably-low cost health benefits. I’m set for life, right? Well, it seems I suffer from the “Golden Handcuffs” syndrome – a particularly irksome version of the “one more year” syndrome.
I’m a tenured Professor. Don’t cry for me, but tenure doesn’t mean what it once did – I’m still evaluated formally and frequently, and I would suffer if I slacked off on the grants and publications treadmill, etc. But with a little care and effort, my position offers about as much security as can reasonably be hoped for these days. It’s also a position that offers considerable freedom plus even a little bit of status and privilege.
I earned my Ph.D. and became a Professor only recently. The harrowing Death March of earning a Ph.D. later in life in a cut-throat top-tier program, obtaining a good tenure-track position, and achieving tenure in an atmosphere of competition and highly capricious politics has left me feeling burned out. I succeeded well and quickly, but at a very substantial personal and financial price that still haunts me. Even worse, to my dismay I’ve found that the ideals that I had believed my institution stood for are all too often a pious sham covering a voracious, impersonal machine that rules via Stalinist-era tactics of fear and excesses of implacable power.
I do gain satisfaction from my job, and I do value it a great deal. But, due to 10+ years of stress from the Ph.D. plus tenure death-march, and the vaporization of my naïveté, early retirement calls to me constantly. This is terribly ironic because, with tenure, I’ve finally reached a point where I am substantially free of the need to fight. There are rather few hurdles left in my career that I care to pursue. There are many demands, but to a degree my time is under my control, it’s theoretically possible for me to take entire summers off, I maintain a budget for travel to conferences, etc., so the job is far from tough. My goals are to do some interesting research, graduate some more Ph.D. and M.S. students, and in general try to mentor some knowledge, wisdom and common sense into our next generation. I’d like to avoid political games (very difficult) and make the position pay off on my terms from here on out.
Now, I know how you all love financial porn: I’ve always been an extremely aggressive saver (the primary source of my net worth), and my investments are conservative (currently ~40% stocks, ~20% bonds, ~40% cash equivalents), mostly unsheltered, in broad-based, low-cost index funds. I was expecting my savings to reach the tidy milestone of $2M this year. Now that looks uncertain but, combined with a small pension (~20k, ill-indexed), low-cost health benefits, eligibility for social security, and a modest but comfortable lifestyle (costing ~$40k after taxes, though I'd prefer to pad that by $20k+ in retirement for travel, etc.) including a paid-off house, I suppose there is little to stop me from FIRE at 50.
I am eligible to take early retirement within a few months. The pension at that age would be ~$20k, well below my basic needs, and it would decline over time as it is poorly indexed to inflation, but it comes with fairly low-cost health insurance and my savings would make up the difference. My mostly frugal spending habits could probably be maintained for life without much risk. However, with great freedom comes great temptation, e.g., for extended travel, better toys, etc., and I'd prefer considerable padding for that kind of thing. The point where my pension alone would reasonably cover my needs would be about age 55, and by then I’d gain a satisfying edge in financial security and freedom. If I worked to age 60, the pension plus additional savings would exceed my expected needs and by my current standards I’d be well-off for life. One additional point is that, given the security of my position, committing to working somewhat longer allows me to relax my frugal ways starting now.
Although my job offers me a fair degree of freedom, I’d greatly enjoy even more: FIRE. A part of me would also enjoy saying goodbye to the Machine. My colleagues would be shocked – NO-ONE with tenure retires early! This is because I’d be throwing out the reward for all of my struggles: a decade or so in a comfortable and privileged position. The benefits and security of my job and its rapidly enhancing pension (it would roughly quadruple over the next 10 years) is something that is hard to throw away just to spite the Machine (which would not care in the slightest in any event).
So, if I can shake off a bit more of the burn-out, etc., and as long as I can keep the psychic cost/benefit ratio tilted in my favor, I could see working until 55 or 60. Still, I remain terribly conflicted. As I believe I’m F.I. at my current spending level, the “one more year” syndrome starts now. By a rough calculation, giving up 10 years of income and enhanced pension benefits means giving up on a 40-50% improvement in my financial standard of living, starting now, all of which would be gravy. I also wonder how well I would do after giving up the mantle of my position, and there’s no turning back. But R.E. also means gaining 10 years of enhanced freedom during the youngest years of the rest of my life, however long that may be.
Golden handcuffs are a blessing and a curse, but they are especially irksome when one already has the keys to unlock them.
Thank you for reading.