NYT article on ER

[AnIntentionalRoad]

Interesting, DW and I have been open about wanting to both be retired by 55, and no one has had a negative reaction at that - that seems universally the best case scenario for "normal" retirement in our circles.

I have kept hidden from large swaths of family/friends that I have gone down to 24 hours a week, however. I feel like the stigma of retiring/semi-retiring is much greater in your 40's, especially as I did it at 42. But it seems more of the "this is your steak days of salary/income, make hay while the sun shines!" thought, with some sexist old school mindsets thrown in. My wife went part time for seven years when the kids were teeny and it was universal praise for having our priorities right. Me part time, not so much...

Yep. I retired at 43 and got lots of awkward reactions from friends, family and strangers. Retiring when younger than 55 is different than at 55+ IMO. There are lots of government workers, teachers, etc who retire at 55 and at least in my experience, is not unheard of. But at 50 or 45, you got some splaining to do!

It took me a few years to come up with my "consultant and angel investor" disguise. Now I don't get any awkwardness from anyone.

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[scrabbler1]

Interesting, DW and I have been open about wanting to both be retired by 55, and no one has had a negative reaction at that - that seems universally the best case scenario for "normal" retirement in our circles.

I have kept hidden from large swaths of family/friends that I have gone down to 24 hours a week, however. I feel like the stigma of retiring/semi-retiring is much greater in your 40's, especially as I did it at 42. But it seems more of the "this is your steak days of salary/income, make hay while the sun shines!" thought, with some sexist old school mindsets thrown in. My wife went part time for seven years when the kids were teeny and it was universal praise for having our priorities right. Me part time, not so much...

No stigma here. I semi-retired at 38 and fully retired at 45. I had my share of peak earnings in my 30s. That was all for me. Once people learned about my long, awful commute, they quickly sympathized with me. If someone asked me how I was able to ER at 45, I'd answer, "No kids. No debts."

 

[euro]

I can well relate to this discussion. I'm handing my notice in tomorrow. I'll post back in a different thread how that goes.

Over the last few weeks I've been letting friends and family know my plans. The reactions have ranged from disinterest to the usual comments/questions "You're too young to retire" and "What are you going to do all day", to the incredulous and downright hostile. One friend of the family tried to insist that there was no way I could afford it even though she has no idea as to our financial situation. The worst reaction was from my gf's idiot brother, who after trying to convince me what a huge mistake it would be then tried to get me to call his Financial Advisor. (Whenever the topic of finance or investing comes up - he says he doesn't worry about that and let's his FA handle it all - I dread to think how much he is being taken for.)

The story there is that he actually failed at early retirement. He took a voluntary buy-out from his company. Apart from the fact that the amount he got was nowhere near enough to retire on, he also went out and bought a big expensive car. Now he works as a security guard and hates his job.

I think part of the problem is that we've always lived below our means, and some people think this is a sign of financial difficulty. At least that's my interpretation of the looks of pity or derision when we go out to dinner and pull out a BOGO coupon.

I've never understood people who would rather have no money and appear to be wealthy that the other way around. It's like they're more concerned with appearances than reality. Or maybe they just have poor impulse control. If someone offers you a piece of cake you don't have to eat it immediately. You can take it home and eat it later.

Anyway, wish me luck for tomorrow guys.

Well, good luck, N-R! But it doesn't sound like you'll need any luck, as you have your ducks lined up well - congrats!

 

[daylatedollarshort]

We always use coupons if we can when eating out. My friends call me the Coupon Queen. I don't see a thing wrong with that. REstaurant.com is a great place to look for deals. Also many restaurants now have dining clubs and after so many visits or spend so much $ you get free meal.

We do that, too. We like to go out often, live in a high cost of living city and sometimes invite friends, so the coupons and discounts really add up. I usually save $500 - $1K a month on restaurants and event tickets alone just with coupons, restaurant.com, seat filler subscriptions, library passes, nonprofit memberships, etc.