I looked at people RE very differently

[street]

I looked at people RE very differently through my younger years. I would wonder why in the world would someone retire early. It must be that they were lazy or just had some problems.

It wasn't that many years ago I thought that way. I now totally understand why people RE. As growing up I always figured all people work till they die or till 65 or older.

Anyone else see it like that?

 

[razztazz]

I didn't think everybody worked till 65 or until they died but I didn't "wonder why" somebody would want to stop working early. the people with the most stuff and the easiest, happiest lives essentially never did anything. Nothing of value anyway. Just whatever they felt like then stopped doing it the minute they wanted to because they could and it didn't affect their well being any. The way a child does. Work was just something everybody else got stuck with. That was where the concept of "work ethic" and "making yourself useful" and "being productive" came from. It's the lie people have to tell themselves or else die of despair.

No. T'was no surprise to come across a person who wanted to retire early.

 

[H2ODude]

My grand goal was to reach FI, not necessarily RE. The ability to walk out seemed incredibly liberating. I reached that point likely in mid 50's. Enjoyed the career until politics changed and BS bucket got topped off at 60. Left and tried a different avenue and realized I was just ... done. So here I am. Life is good.

 

[Amethyst]

At the start of my government career, I looked at the number "55" (full retirement age) as a distant, dismal goal, far too old to have any fun any more. Working till 65 sounded exactly the same as working until you were dead.

 

[aaronc879]

I have never wondered why people retire "early". I have and still do wonder why people would work a single day longer than they need to to get by financially. I would have stopped working at 18 if I didn't need the money and would be far happier if I hadn't been working the last 20 years. Now at age 38, I plan to retire at around 55 but will retire as soon as I no longer need additional money.

 

[Jerry1]

Just the opposite. I've always wondered why people I consider well off keep on working. Most people I figured need to work until 65 or until they can no longer work, because they just didn't earn enough in life and didn't come close to living within their means. That I understand. What I don't understand is what keeps people working once they're able to live well (financially) without working. My dad worked until 71. He was pretty much one of those people how would say - what else am I going to do with my time. Since retirement (he's now 86), he's busier than ever. He's general contracted three house remodel (for his DW's grand kids). Dances and eats dinner at the senior center (where he and his DW met after his previous DW of many years passed). He's just always busy - so I never understood the "I don't know what else I'd do".

 

[ocean view]

I think most people are conditioned to think you HAVE to work until FRA and then you take SS and that’s it. They don’t personally know anyone who has retired early so it doesn’t even occur to them that they can ER. My dad retired early at 54 (I think by chance as he was a minor partner in a company that was bought out), but he set the example for me. Without being too obnoxious about it, I try to plant seeds with my friends about ER/LBYM, especially the young ones who have lots of time to save...time will tell if any of them were paying attention.

 

[HadEnuff]

Just the opposite for me. I was pretty young when I started out, and the idea of even making it to 55 seemed crazy. And I was pretty sure SS would be long gone by the time I retired. Well, 55 didn't work out for me for a number of reasons, but 62 did, thanks, in part, to the SS I thought would never be around for me.

As a few of my close friends, and some family members, were able to RE at 55, I could taste it. But I made it. And I have other close friends who could easily retire now, but they still like what they do. Not me, I'm glad I'm out.

Sometimes I wish that I enjoyed working that much. Didn't hate it, but seldom loved it.

 

[street]

I think most people are conditioned to think you HAVE to work until FRA and then you take SS and that’s it. They don’t personally know anyone who has retired early so it doesn’t even occur to them that they can ER. My dad retired early at 54 (I think by chance as he was a minor partner in a company that was bought out), but he set the example for me. Without being too obnoxious about it, I try to plant seeds with my friends about ER/LBYM, especially the young ones who have lots of time to save...time will tell if any of them were paying attention.

I also think a lot of people would see it that way. It is just the thing to do is work till you are 62 or 65.

 

[Major Tom]

Although I didn't initially consider ER, I started thinking a lot about saving and investing when in my late 20's/early 30's. I was motivated not so much by a desire for ER, as by a desire to be able to retire at some point. I just figured that if I saved regularly, I'd have a stash of money when older - and that couldn't be a bad thing could it? The more money you have, the more options you have (to a point).

One particular job in my career turned out to be the longest-running and most significant one. After being in it for a few years, I began to hope that it would be my last job. I loved it so much, I just didn't want to do anything else. I had hoped to work maybe a little longer than I did, but when I was 45, the company went out of business and over the next couple of years I gradually realized I could make a go of ER.

In short, I have wanted to be solvent in retirement for a long time, but it was only over the course of a few years near the end of my working life, that ER seemed like a possibility. I never thought about early retirement as being something that people did, or didn't do, and didn't make judgments about folk who did retire early. I tend not to gauge myself by the standards of the people around me, as I march to the beat of my own drum. To heck with all those other people! Who cares what they are doing? I'll do my own thing, thank you very much

 

[Scuba]

I have never wondered why people retire "early". I have and still do wonder why people would work a single day longer than they need to to get by financially. I would have stopped working at 18 if I didn't need the money and would be far happier if I hadn't been working the last 20 years. Now at age 38, I plan to retire at around 55 but will retire as soon as I no longer need additional money.

+1
At 18, I wanted to retire at 30. Realized that wouldn't work but at 25, went to work for a megacorp that had ER at 50. When I was in my early 30's, I hoped to ER in my early to mid 40's. Then I realized I'd leave a lot of $$$ on the table if I left before 50. Megacorp relocated to an area I didn't want to go, and 2008-9 happened so I ended up working until a few days after my 56th birthday. Longer than I'd hoped for, but we continued to work long enough to build up a serious contingency fund.

I agree with others that most people just never envision ER and assume they'll work till 65 and they can go on Medicare, especially now that healthcare costs are out of control. People at my last employer were just blown away that I ER'd so young. For this board, 56 isn't all that young, but my former employer had people still working in their late 60's or even 70's.

 

[Ronstar]

Growing up, I don't remember any family or friends wanting to work past 65 or until they died. After seeing my grandfather only get a couple of years of retirement, I set a goal to retire by 55. I whittled work down to 2 days a week at 55 and retired at 58.

Most of my early retired friends are very active - they wanted to retire while they were young enough to do everything that they wanted to do while they were fit enough to do it.

 

[Red Badger]

For the longest time, I believed I would work until 65 or perhaps 67. As I entered my mid-50's, retiring started becoming more concrete / less abstract. It was then I started educating myself on retirement, and the skills needed to invest wisely (by pure luck and ignorance, the bulk of my 401K was always in a low cost target date fund).

Of course, most of the stuff at the top of a web search is the, "You'll need 80-100% of your gross income...." and similar toxic crap. Eventually, I stumbled into those precious and few ER blogs and tools (including here and FIREcalc).

I began to realize that I could possibly exit at 62. Then, a very kind market market allowed me to lop off another two years and exit w*rk a few weeks after turning 60. Not all that early, but ~7 extra years freedom has me pinching myself as I wake up everyday.

I enjoyed most of my career(s), but was burning out and no longer had any fire in the belly (replaced by FIRE).

So, many sincere thanks to all the knowledgeable folks who freely share wisdom (so others can learn same), and foolishness (so others can avoid same). And another layer of thanks to the moderators, and others "behind the scene" that keep the wheels on this awesome forum.

 

[Danmar]

I didn’t ever think about retirement until I was in my early 50’s. Certainly didn’t think much about others except those guys that worked for me and were “playing out the string” before they retired. Their performance would generally decline during this period and my opinion of them as well.

 

[Cobra9777]

I never paid much attention to what other people were doing. In my case, I was thinking about ER since before grad school. I have a variety of hobbies and passions that do not lend themselves very well to nights and weekends. From the beginning, work was a means to an end. The "end" was to have all day, every day, to pursue what I truly cared about in life, instead of helping Megacorp make more money.

 

[T-Minus]

At a young age, I looked at RE as a goal. A goal that drove my savings/investing early-on, and kept me spending less/saving more for > 40 years. A goal which has just been achieved at age 57.

 

[marko]

When I was a kid in the late 50's, my FI uncle's primary occupation seemed to be mostly washing his car and sunbathing in my grandmother's yard.

He became part of a crew of similarly fortunate friends, leeching hanger's ons and folks who's job description had a lot of free/flexible time built in (music teacher, mortician, "artists", attorney, tennis instructor etc).

While it did quickly occur to me that 6 to 8 people lounging in grandma's living room sipping someone else's scotch while discussing where they would all go to dinner together was not how normal people spend a weekday afternoon, the whole lifestyle did have its appeal figuratively if not literally. I essentially grew up around people who never did the 9 to 5, so retiring at 40 or 50 didn't seem odd at all.

I had planned on an early retirement for myself but got caught up in a fun job with lots of international travel instead.

Due to a set of circumstances beyond my control, I was able to return to my earlier plan and RE at 53. Not so many similarly fortunate friends but it was my dream to begin with.

 

[David1961]

Whenever I think about this topic, the Supertramp song "The Logical Song" comes to mind. How society wants to make people "productive" at the cost of their happiness.

 

[OHjosh]

I am now 62 and adapting gradually to RE, at least not working for monay. (I volunteer.)

The idea of starting SS before my full age still seems like blasphemy. (That is my Dad's voice which is ironic and disappointing as he died at 60!). What actually happens, I dunno.

 

[2017ish]

At a young age, I looked at RE as a goal. A goal that drove my savings/investing early-on, and kept me spending less/saving more for > 40 years. A goal which has just been achieved at age 57.

+1. We were planning/saving for early 50s retirement in our mid-20s, just as we started working. Some unexpected bumps (mainly, a stay-at-home-parent gig for 15 years) delayed that several years. Like you, we just got out (end of July) at 57 & 56.

 

[pjigar]

Planning RE since I was 22 years old! Still planning!

 

[savory]

My grand goal was to reach FI, not necessarily RE. The ability to walk out seemed incredibly liberating. I reached that point likely in mid 50's. Enjoyed the career until politics changed and BS bucket got topped off at 60. Left and tried a different avenue and realized I was just ... done. So here I am. Life is good.

I think we have a bad definition of retirement. The goal is CHOICE which comes with FI. Keep working if you love your job, you feel it is contributing to a bigger something, etc. But retirement is about choice with limited to no compromise. Which is easiest to do when FI is accomplished.

 

[Curmudgeon]

When I was just a kid my dream was to get a million dollars (lottery perhaps?), put it in a savings account at 10%, and live like a king for the rest of my life off of the $100,000 interest...
Flash forward, and savings accounts don't pay 10% anymore, and you can't exactly live like a king on $100,000.
I got serious about RE when I saw my Dad pass away at age 62 after just being retired for a year or so (after working his butt off his whole life), and seeing my older brother pass at age 55, before he'd even had much of a chance to think about life after work. At that point, early retirement didn't seem like a crazy goal at all.

 

[aaronc879]

When I was just a kid my dream was to get a million dollars (lottery perhaps?), put it in a savings account at 10%, and live like a king for the rest of my life off of the $100,000 interest...
Flash forward, and savings accounts don't pay 10% anymore, and you can't exactly live like a king on $100,000.

I would feel like i'm living like a king if I could spend $100K/yr for the rest of my life. I remember my Brother once saying he would live like a king if he had my income. The most I ever made in a year in my life is $49,XXX. I guess it's all relative.

 

[bclover]

Truthfully I never really thought about it when I was young.

Most of the people I grew up with all had pensions, so it was sort of like you do your 20-25 years get your gold watch and your pension and call it a day.

lol, 65 was "old people".

When I was in my 20's it was the 70's and 80's and I lived in NY. it was probably the best time to be young. lol disco dancing, sleeping with all the wrong people and it seemed to me very easy to get a job. I know there was the gas crisis but I lived in Manhattan. who drove? lol
unfortunately I save not a dime. lol