The Five Years BEFORE You Retired?

[Independent]

Exactly 5 years before I retired we became empty-nesters. Thought life would be easier.

Then we invited a 14 year old in. Needless to say, she came to us because she had bad luck in parents.

Those last four years before retirement we more "active" than I had expected.

Financially, we didn't do anything different. Just stayed the course.

 

[nash031]

To be determined here, but it'll vary for DW and I. For her, business as usual, no change. For me, likely working less at a less demanding position and thus saving less.

We have a lot of variables, but we're probably in that 5-8 year window now.

 

[mountainsoft]

in my case, I had no choice. I couldn't retire any earlier no matter what I did. I retired ASAP as soon as I was able to get my retirement benefits, including mini-pension and retiree health insurance. Five years before I would not have been eligible and like many here, I had realized for years that health insurance would become a huge issue in retirement for those in my generation. So what else is an overly motivated, ambitious person to do while being forced to essentially tread water? Work harder, save more seemed to fit my situation and personality.

That's basically the situation we're in. I can't withdraw from my IRA till I'm 59-1/2 (five years from now) and my wife can't get her pension till she's 55 (five years from now). Unless a huge chunk of cash falls from the heavens, five years is the soonest we can retire.

I suspect we'll continue as we have been until that time is up, but the closer it gets the harder it is to wait. So, we're just looking at options that would allow us to enjoy life a bit more until we can make the break for good. Climbing the work ladder doesn't matter much anymore, we want to jump off.

 

[MBAustin]

1 for me. I had originally planned to ER in 2015, but realized in 2010 that we were FI with several major expenses in the rear view mirror or fully accounted for (house renovation, new car, kids' college), so I decided in July to RE in October. So for me, the last 5 years essentially happened in 3 months.

 

[brett]

Business as usual. Worked longer hours, lots of pressure. Two or three years prior to FIRE I was ready.

Kept hoping for a golden handshake....and it came two years later. I was a very happy camper. I did slow down, really slow down, because I had a six week heads up that the package was coming and then another few weeks after the official paperwork was done before I walked.

 

[Just_Steve]

Year 5 on the path to another promotion, then caught a case of the "Big C" took off work for close to six months, went back to work and waited until I locked in my pension, "High 3" Then voluntarily demoted and with an agreement from my GM I was buried as a midnight shift manager in a small out of the way location to finish out my time. Never had to attend another staff meeting again.

 

[jollystomper]

How did you spend your last five years before retirement?

1. No change, business as usual.

2. Worked harder, saved more.

3. Worked less, took a less demanding position, and enjoyed life more.

Years 1-3 were option 2. Our savings rate peaked at around 40% during those years (even with college expenses for our last child).

Years 4-5 where more option 3. These were my "OMY glide path" years (which I documented on another thread on this site), where I was prepared for Megacorp to "retire" me at any time, but figured on my own I would not choose to retire much further than 2 years out. But since our share of the college bills ended during this time, we enjoyed life more but still saved at a high rate.

 

[aja8888]

#1 till the bitter end. (actually, it wasn't all that bad..)

 

[Red Badger]

Like Wahoo, #1 and second part of #2.

 

[Walt34]

1. All along. Five years before retirement I was eligible to retire normally in one year, but was giving it no thought because I was enjoying the job and the work. So I stayed an additional four years and that was a very good thing because the pension benefits changed dramatically (for the better!) during that time. Prior, "normal" retirement was 25 years and the pension was basically 2% per year of service, or 50% for 25 years. That changed to "normal" retirement was 20 years and the pension went to 2.5% per year for me because I was grandfathered in to the old pension plan. So instead of ~60% I went out at the max of 70% including credit for unused sick leave. (Hey, I didn't write the rules!) Because I was maxed out on the 457 contributions and a couple of work-related expenses like SS contributions going away, my net income actually went up a few bucks (single digits) after retirement.

What did make me finally retire was mounting frustration with getting the needed ongoing training, equipment and software at work, and dealing with having to plan one's life around D.C. area traffic.

 

[braumeister]

Mostly #1. Five years before RE I was FI and could have quit but took a job at a local company simply because I still enjoyed what I did. When they were bought by megacorp, it had already started to be much less fun, but the rumors started flying about a big layoff so I hung around to see what would happen.

The rumor mill had just about settled on a particular two-week period for the expected layoff, so I took my vacation just before that. Sure enough, it happened almost on schedule. I had already cleaned out my office and brought home whatever I wanted, so it was easy. On layoff day I was called in and my bosses were almost in tears about having to let me go. I really don't think they understood why I was grinning from ear to ear. A nice little package and six months of unemployment amounted to a bit of icing on the cake.

That was 17 years ago, in 2001.

 

[Callitaday2022]

0cq

 

[Ronstar]

3 for me. I worked 1-2 days a week for the last 2 years before retirement. Most of that from home. I sold my last share of the company around 2 years before retirement also. At 5 years before retirement, I was working 3-4 days a week. I saw my bosses gear down long before they retired, so I thought I would do the same thing. It was acceptable to everyone involved as long as the work got done. And I had experienced coworkers to pick up my workload.

 

[MarieIG]

2 is the closest fit. I am about 2 years out; DH less. We have both had changes to our employment in the last two years or so which have resulted in significantly more income - and to go with that - significantly more work.

 

[Offgrid Organic Farmer]

How did you spend your last five years before retirement?

1. No change, business as usual.

2. Worked harder, saved more.

3. Worked less, took a less demanding position, and enjoyed life more.

Mentally we are ready to retire today. Financially, we have to wait five more years. We're getting impatient and, after my wife's recent health scares, we're a little worried about our health failing before we get to enjoy retirement.

When I was 5 years out, I was stationed on a nuclear submarine. We had our plan for retirement set in place, and we were moving along toward that goal.

At 4 years out, I was diagnosed with a bleeding duodenal ulcer. Our Doc said that I needed to transfer to a job with less stress. The military in it's wisdom transferred me into combat.

Fortunately, our plans for retirement remained intact, and I retired on-time.

I wish you luck

 

[corn18]

3 years out from RE and #2 applies. If an opportunity presents itself for #3 (work less and play more now), we would definitely consider that.

 

[mystang52]

#2, at first. Then I was laid off, and landed a sweet spot in #3. After that layoff, it was nice to coast until retirement.

 

[cyber888]

3) Took a less demanding job .. the job is easier now. I do more online work from home, and less going to the office.

2) I'm trying to Save more .. rather than "Work harder", I'm Working Smarter. Saved $200K+ liquid since I changed job 1.7 years ago (started new job last Jan. 2017).

3 more years to retirement, but I suppose I could also call it quits in 2 years if the market will grow at a minimum of 8% a year.

 

[Oz investor]

realized i ( probably) wasn't financially ready , so spent a lot of time and energy investing aggressively ( and learning extra investment strategies )... however i was retired before i had planned .

maybe i got it right by accident , but time will tell ( i still wouldn't call it 'financially secure ' before the next global downturn )

 

[DrRoy]

For the most part #1. I had already set up a nice arrangement where I could cover my sizeable responsibility in 30 hrs/week.

 

[Dash man]

Combination of 1 and 2. Work level was steady, but beefed up the savings rate to over 50% of income.

 

[audreyh1]

Five years before I retired our company had not gone public yet, so I really had no idea that retiring very early would be an option. I just found out my mother had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. My thoughts were elsewhere.

The next year our company went public - it was kind of a surprise, announced early in the year, then it happened real fast. All of a sudden my net worth jumped and I had an inkling that it might be possible for me to retire in a few years.

 

[Souschef]

I am a late retiree, but 5 years before I hit my FRA and stated taking SS. 1938 was the first year I had to wait 2 months after my birthday.
Unfortunately, my wife's health continued to decline, and I kept w*king to keep our medical coverage.
I was doing the same job, but a few years later my immediate boss retired, and a new supervisor came in with a completely different management style. He started bringing people from his old company, and I could see the handwriting on the wall.

 

[marko]

RE wasn't in my plan for another 5 years or more. Found out in late August that I'd be 'retiring' in December of that year.

 

[Pellice]

But there are lots more options! The 5 year horizon came when I reached the 59 1/2 year mark and could change some of my 403(b) into an IRA with different distributions, which I did. I met with an outside FA twice and gained enough faith in her to trust her that I could retire when I wanted and to take her advice about investments. I was at an age when it wasn't a surprise to receive a small inheritance, which I was able to put half to work towards FIRE. I finalized my retirement budget, got my health assessments scheduled, made a couple of planned larger purchases.

I guess my point is that the 5 year horizon is actually a period when the tempo of both financial and non-financial preparations vastly increases. For me, it definitely was different than "business as usual."