Waited too long to retire?

[aja8888]

Work till 70, die by 80, eliminate your chances of running out of $! (Sarcasm)

That may be sarcastic, but there's a bit of reality in that, especially for the folks that expect to live to 100!

 

[Teacher Terry]

A, good thing you retired earlier than planned and had fun with your husband. Time is more important than money. Suze Orman is so rich she is out of touch.

 

[Splash]

Retired 18 months ago at 55 and it feels right but time will tell.

Can't imagine ever thinking we should have worked longer.

It's possible we will think we should have retired earlier because of:

1. Health - Treated for aggressive breast cancer at age 50, currently doing well
2. Money - Sufficient funds at 54 but wanted Rule of 55 for a safety net since 75% of nest egg tax deferred

Whatever happens, we will have no regrets as we are hoping and planning for a long retirement and if we were wrong, then our kids will benefit.

 

[CoolRich59]

I regret not taking the financial steps that would have allowed me to retire earlier.

I am in this camp. While we could have done worse, I regret not being more financially disciplined. For example, I did not start seriously saving until I was in my 30s.

I have tried to ensure that my kids don't make that mistake. I required my younger sons to read The Richest Man in Babylon and I think they *get it*. However, my oldest has Cadillac tastes but a Kia salary. Every time I ask him if he's read the book, he's still "working on it". Every time I ask him if he's saving 10%, I hear crickets.

 

[tmitchell]

I retired at age 52 in 2003 and although I was a tad apprehensive looking back 15 years this Oct. it was my best decision I ever made. My mega-corp employer cut my healthcare benefits in 2006 and that was a big surprise (and costly) but we got through it, especially after ACA was passed. I came within an inch of leaving when I was around 50 but the market downturn caused me to back out for a few years. I had what I thought was enough using Firecalc but even with a few unexpected expenses things have worked out very well. For the first time in my life I am starting to have a few health issues. Things begin to change in your late 60's healthwise (or at least they have for me). My only retirement regret is that in hindsight I was too financially conservative. I wish I had let my freak flag fly in my 50's.

Peace

Wow I needed to see this thread! Beststash I feel I should heed your warning!

I just turned 51 and just on the edge of pulling the trigger but having a heck of a time doing it. I just arrived where I need to be 25x wise, but have decided to OMY to add a cushion for extras & "in case." My official end date will be end of next year, or 52.5 yrs old.

I'm a bit worried about healthcare costs w/o a job.

 

[tdv2]

I had a plan from early in my career to retire in early to mid 50's. Had saved and invested and held on through the 2000 tech bubble and the 2009 great recession. Actually I think the market tanking in the 08-09 time-frame helped a bit since I was making good money and pumping it into index funds at bargain prices. Was ready to go at 52 but held on until 54.5 to get a little cushion.

 

[kgtest]

I could have retired promptly at 55, but for some reason I didn't. I guess a whole bunch of reasons to leave were fighting with reasons to stay.

I could regret that final year, but spending a year in that particular assignment also led to my being offered a part-time job which has proven quite beneficial, in terms of $$.

Now, if I'd worked any longer full-time, let alone in that final job which had some challenging aspects, I would be taking myself to a psychiatrist. Have just seen the death notice for yet another cow-orker, who started when I did, and was only 2 years older than I am.

lol, cow-orker. I like it, herding us around like the (phat) cattle we are!

 

[foxfirev5]

Retired a day before I turned 60. I should have done it a year or so earlier but I certainly don't dwell on it. After 2 1/2 years w**k is a distant memory and I rarely speak or think about it. There's too much else to do.

 

[lem1955]

I had hoped to retire at 55 but two years before I reached that target the Recession struck and set me back. I lost my big job at 56 and started working for a non-profit at 70% time and about a third of my previous salary and lived frugally for 4.5 more years until I hit the magic number. Could I have retired earlier? Probably. But I felt confident, really ready, and left properly with good notice, warm feelings on both sides and I had had 4.5 years of practice living in semi-retirement putting much less away. I'd say it was just right timing.

 

[Navigator]

I retired at 61 from a job I loved. In retrospect, I wish I had done so a couple of years earlier. I was worried about money, but didn’t need to be. Now that I am retired, I have health problems that prevent me from doing many of the things I always wanted to do. I guess I would vote that time>money.

 

[OAG]

38 Years old with immediate pension and lifetime subsidized medical. Played at doing some stuff but basically was out. (Actually tried to retire one year earlier but the "man" would not let me).

 

[Ronstar]

I wanted to retire earlier, but DW wanted to work longer and she didn’t want me to retire long before her. So I worked part time for several years before retiring which was ok.

 

[ychuck46]

Probably Just About Right

The wife needed to keep working until she was 55 to insure she maximized her benefits from the public sector. We were the same age but I kept working another five years, a few years after we moved from the high cost North to the lower cost South. We have been thoroughly enjoying our joint retirements for the last four years, and the wife her singular five years before that.

It allowed me to be even more comfortable with our investment levels, even though we had 'enough" years before that. As a naturally conservative person financially, the timing was better for me. So our joint retirement was probably just about right, and I have no regrets.

 

[Lukeee]

I have no regrets when I retired at age 58. My plan was to retire 55 and could have easily but was still having fun then.

I can say if I would of found this site when I was 55 I would have pulled the trigger then. I was really uneducated about retirement before this site it would have made a big difference that I found it earlier.

A, good thing you retired earlier than planned and had fun with your husband. Time is more important than money. Suze Orman is so rich she is out of touch.

Totally agree with you. I wished that I had discovered this forum earlier. Early retirement target was 60... then it became 58.... then I realized that time was much more valuable than money. Had a heart to heart with the wife for the first time not too long ago and realized that we were actually both on the same page. I honestly thought I had to sell her on the idea as we both worked for megacorps and Early retirements are few and far between. The new target is 51 with lots (relatively) of travel and major life changes planned.

In theory we could both FIRE now, but are giving it a little time to make sure everything is planned out, all the ‘t’s are crossed and ‘i’s dotted. I find myself wishing the next 15 months away occasionally....there are so many things I want to do and I’ve found a second wind for my daily and weekend free time.

 

[RobLJ]

It's interesting reading all of the narratives--RE is a very individual decision.


I qualified a year earlier but waited (3 years ago at 57), which helped both increase the safety margin and allowed DW to fully retire at 55. I qualified for medical benefits for me and DW at about 350/month, which is very valuable, so going earlier would have been possible but not at all prudent.

To the fundamentalists here, I'm not really "retired" since I work online about 15-20 hours a week on my own schedule for half my former salary, but I love it and feel retired, since we moved to Reno and I can hike the Sierras or flyfish at any time I want.

So it feels like retirement to me, which is the only thing that counts, to me (I love teaching a few classes online and the portfolio keeps growing until 2 years from now when I'll withdraw full amounts while waiting 4 years before drawing full SS. Made my first half withdrawal in February but haven't spend any of it yet. So it's the best of times. )

Long travel holiday is summer and winter/spring breaks, but we only plan 2-3 expensive trips a year, so it doesn't matter. Waiting a year or two helped pave the way to DW fully retiring earlier than I semi-retired, and she loves it. Next decision is when to take SS.

 

[Out of Steam]

Would like to have taken an early retirement offer this year at 58, but I didn't want my wife to hesitate to retire by my going first. She has now set her retirement date.

I could now accept such an offer if it is made, or take regular retirement at the end of 2019.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Rob, I also teach an online college class. I love it and have done it on cruises and in Europe. Started 6 years ago and have no plans to quit.

 

[Lewis Clark]

Rob, I also teach an online college class. I love it and have done it on cruises and in Europe. Started 6 years ago and have no plans to quit.

+1

I'm also an online teacher, teaching part time at the community college level. I had been teaching at a number of colleges and cut back to working at only one college this year, between two and four classes per semester. In my mid-50s, I am financially independent but not mentally ready to stop working completely. I still enjoy what I'm doing … at least most of the time. With the stock markets nearly at all-time highs the income gives me additional comfort to weather the upcoming recession when it eventually comes.

One major benefit of being completely retired is the ability to do what we want, when we want to do it. As a full-time telecommuter teaching online classes since 2005, I have had this type of freedom since 2005. While I'm very happy to be working less, the flexibility I've had - and still have - makes it easy to do everything I want to do and still work a few hours a day from home on my own schedule. My wife and I travel regularly and it is not inconvenient to log on in the morning and the evening and be out touristing during the day.

The only travel I'm not willing to do is work while on a cruise ship. I have found that the Internet connections from cruise ships are highly variable and not reliable enough for me to feel comfortable depending on it. But that is okay with me. We cruise between semesters and do other types of traveling while school is in session.

Terry, how do you handle unreliable and slow Internet access from cruise ships?

 

[goodcookie]

Retired just Right!! Wife was 55 and I was barely 56 when we retired two weeks apart. Packed up and moved to Florida 2 weeks later from Ohio. Everyone wonders how we did it. We lived within our means for years, unlike our friends. We saved and calculated our money, so that we could retire early. We still live within our means, it's easy now. We don't have to save for retirement! We just live retirement! Do what we want, when we want, how we want! Life is good. 3 years Retired!

 

[Draggon]

I've been wishing, dreaming, and planning for FIRE since I had my initial visit with a financial planner (fee-only, specific, short-term scope of work) back in 1995. I didn't really formalize and truly understand what I was doing until I read intercst's reports on the Motley Fool's old Soapbox back in 2000. I was 35 in 2000 and aspired to retire by the time I was 45.

Things change, mistakes are made, and life comes at ya fast. I'll turn 53 in a month, and I'm still working full-time. Overall, plans haven't changed, but the timelines have. I set a certain monetary goal several years ago based on the 4% rule and always thought that upon reaching that number, I'd check out of full-time work. I'm so, so ready.

I recently read The Mad Fientist's latest entry about his second full year of Early Retirement:

https://www.madfientist.com/second-year-of-freedom/

That got my attention again. It got me thinking about how much longer my days seem here than they used to. I stay busy, but my soul (such as it is) ain't in it anymore. I yearn for my freedom. The crazy part is - I reached my FI number over a year ago, but I can't pull the trigger just yet.

My "one more year" syndrome unfortunately has merit. My work benefits are now a curse. I'm too close to qualifying for "early retirement" (in company terms) to rationally throw away the benefits I'll receive when I get there in 2.1616 years (but who's counting?) versus leaving now. Upon turning 55 in two years, my pension immediately receives a bump as if I was 65 (i.e. nearly doubles the monthly payment at 55). On top of that, I still qualify for nearly-free post-retirement medical coverage to 65yo. It would be foolhardy to walk away from this when I'm so close. But I could. FireCalc shows that we'd have to essentially double our current spending budget in order to get below a 98% success rate.

Don't get me wrong... these are good problems to have. It's just that I know what I want, and it's hovering ever closer, but time has slowed to a crawl.

Sorry for the random thoughts - the Fientist's blog (and this thread) got me daydreaming again.

 

[dcotejr]

Retired @ 60

I retired in May 2017 at age 60. My wife is 8 years younger, and works as a travel Surgical Nurse. I now get to travel with her, and enjoying it tremendously. Do NOT miss the stresses of my prior employment...

 

[nafddur1]

As our great president Bill Clinton once said - `It's just math.' When the math (including a few reasonable assumptions, of course) supports it, you retire. It's really THAT simple.

 

[msieweke]

Did you retire too early? Just right?
In 1996 I left work to travel for 5 years. I consider it my first retirement, even though I always intended to go back to work. This wasn't "too early". I learned lessons about living with less (and on less $) that stayed with me. I wanted to ER again, although I didn't have a specific date in mind.

I retired again in 2016. This wasn't "too early".

Could you have retired earlier?
I could afford to retire in early 2006, but I didn't understand money. By mid-2006 I could no longer afford it.

I could afford to retire in 2011, but I still didn't understand money. It took 3 more years of bad management to encourage me to educate myself about money and retirement, then 2 years to feel comfortable taking the plunge.

Do you regret not retiring WAY earlier?
Not really. My first retirement was way earlier, and I wish I had the funds to make it permanent. My second retirement was a little bit late, but it assured I'll never have to worry about money.

 

[SteveR]

My first retirement was at age 50. Early Special Retirement from Major Corp. after 25 years of service (servitude). My DW was 56 with 35 years and we both FIREd in the same year.



I worked for a different company in a different state because 1. They paid for the entire move 2. Offered me a very good job with nearly the same salary I was making 3. Made a product I had not previously worked with and responsibility over areas I always wanted to learn more about. and 4. Was a much smaller company with a totally different mind-set (much nicer work environment). I stayed there about 5 years and "retired" at 55.



Could I have retired earlier from the second company? Yes, but there was a lot more going on than just me at that time. Too much to go into here.


Did I regret not retiring WAY earlier? Earlier than what? Age 50 was great and we could have lived well on what we had squirreled away but things happen and new paths are taken. If you mean earlier than age 50...I would not have been ready...long story.


I felt my retirement at 55 was about right. I could have worked longer but personal issues pushed me into needing to spend more time at home so 55 it was. Money was not the issue...where I spent my time was.

 

[Arizona1]

I retired in 2000 when I was 34. There wasn’t much talk about early retirement I had heard but I had an experience that moved me. I met a really old man and his wife camping in our RV’s on a beach in Mexico. The guy was 93 and had been retired 50 years from a water company job in Canada. He said he was glad to have retired so your and had a lot of great years of freedom before getting old.
Shortly after that I ran the numbers and decided I’d had enough servitude. I don’t think I could have done it earlier but I wish I could have. I can tell my body is starting to break down now but I’ve had lots of fun.
The hardest part was trying to explain to friends and family what enough is.