Non Financial Reasons

[scrabbler1]

I know you (the OP) mentioned that it was all or nothing, meaning that working part-time was not an option. I can see that making it tougher to pull the trigger and ER.

As for me, I switched from working FT to PT back in 2001. I had already lined up some activities to do with my added free time such as vounteer work (school Scrabble, see my username?) and dormant hobbies such as square dancing I had not done in 13 years. Fitting those two things (and later, a third activity in that vein) into my schedule became a bigger and bigger challenge, eventually leading to my ER just over 6 years ago when the other pieces of that puzzle fell into place back in 2008.

But it was the elimination of the commute, even as little as 2 days a week, which was the biggest benefit of ER. I simply could not stand the 75-minute trip each way on the trains even as little as 2 days a week. Going from 2 days a week to zero days a week allowed me to expand some of my hobbies and remove nearly all of the scheduling conflicts between them and working as little as 2 days a week.

 

[FUEGO]

Someone just emailed me at my blog email address with a similar situation as OP. Age 45, $1M+ NW, collects ample royalties and rents each month (married into money he says).

His question was "what do you do when your wife doesn't want you to ER?".

My response:

As for financial issues, put together a good financial plan to illustrate to your wife how early retirement would work.

Maybe your wife has other issues with you retiring other than financial. Does she enjoy status because of your job? Is she afraid you'll be at home all the time and her current activities will be interrupted. Just some issues to work through with your wife once you get her to agree your financial picture is pretty good.

 

[RAE]

It seems to me that you are worried about what others might think of you if you retired at an age that some may perceive as a bit young for retirement. That kind of thing never bothered me one bit. If you've prepared for retirement and are ready to make the jump, why worry what others may think? Believe me, there are people who have retired at a much younger age than 52 (some on this forum). Having said that, though, you do need to spend some time thinking about WHY you want to retire, and how you will spend your time once you do retire. Do you have other interests that you want to pursue? I certainly did. Is work interfering with your ability to pursue those interests? It definitely was in my case. On the other hand, if you have no idea what you would do in retirement, and if you are not unhappy with your current job, then perhaps retiring now would be the wrong thing to do. Only you can answer those questions........

 

[Angela.Bohnsack]

Hello! I've struggled with some of the same issues! I'm also 52 but I've always realized there's more to life than working. I have 7 more days and I'm taking the plunge after 34 years in banking! I realize I may end up back to work in the coming years, but I'm looking forward to some time to travel, time to spend with my Grandson (due any day) and enjoying life with my husband! I'm confident that what we saved will prevent us from living on the streets and starving and expect we'll be quite comfortable. Life is short and as the saying goes, it not the years in your life but the life in your years that matter! Good luck to you!


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

 

[jim584672]

What is getting you? How about the fact that more money is not helping you much at this point. You are putting up with work for no good reason.

 

[firewhen]

I agree with pb4uski, except we are 57, and newly FIRE.

OP - with a WR of 1.5% , and many assumptions, I figure you have 4-8MM stashed which is great! (hope thats not crude on my part to slap a number on it). You don't have to confirm/deny it.

I think since you say you have enough $$$, that you need to figure out what are you going to do when you stop working. If you don't have hobbies that you are currently doing, try some. Also take all your vacation time from work, even some unpaid time, to do a real vacation. Too many working folks don't even use their full vacation time.

There really is no use working and selling whats left of your life for $ when you already have enough.

Yes, stash in that range. That is the only way to get to 1.5% WR unless the annual spending budget is low. I would not mind working but the job is stressful. Not crazy stressful, but stressful enough. There are nights when I work late and/or fire drills during the day. Not everyday, but often enough. Not sure what I will do but know what I should do...

 

[nuke_diver]

I've always looked at it this way. What does working more get you? Now granted like you I had to convince my wife. I think people (and I'm hearing it from everyone it seems that I've told I'm retiring next year) think you need to work to such and such an age. I do hear that "what are you going to do" but if you think about it, what is the difference between 50 and 60 or 70? One could easily argue that the longer you work the less you will know what to do with yourself outside of work..because it's been a part of your life even longer. You will just have less time to not do things in .

If there is a desire to provide an inheritance for children I understand OMY more but we don't have that. What we do know is that we don't know what the future will bring and if the numbers say you are pretty safe (and in your case they do) consider it insurance, getting out while you can enjoy it just in case life throws you a curveball that makes it not so enjoyable.

Good luck