What led you to retire??

[RunningBum]

A couple of days after that, my manager was telling me about the next steaming pile he was going to dump on my plate and, before I was aware of what I was saying, I told him "Sorry. You'll have to find someone else. I'm retiring."

That makes the highlight reel!

 

[gerntz]

I had enough assets years before I retired, but had most always enjoyed my work - consumer products development. But the last two years I realized little was new anymore - was getting redundant. The excitement was going.... gone. So I stopped.

 

[aaronc879]

I never wanted to work in the first place......so, when I could afford not to, I didn't.

Exactly. I would have retired at 18 if I didn't need the money.

 

[Bamaman]

MegaCorp overreacted to the business turndown of 2008. They retired everyone that was 55 or older and 30 years on the job. And a hold harmless agreement was required to be signed to old them not liable for age discrimination.

They paid dearly to get rid of us. 1 year severance, 5 weeks vacation, unemployment for 50 weeks, substantial pay supplement until our age 62 and health insurance at their cost until age 65.

 

[Bir48die]

I'm with many that I never liked working. It was a necessary evil. I have always been in the camp of work to live.

 

[CoolRich59]

That makes the highlight reel!

The best part was running back to my office and calling the DW to say "Um, guess what I just did."

 

[savory]

I think the mistake we make is to think as leaving work as retirement. I always thought of retirement simply as an opportunity to make a choice. My choice.

I needed to make enough money so I could control my choice. It may have been to stay at work. In fact after I left my job, I did a few things including my own little consulting business. I just wanted to try it but did not need the money.

I am happy I approached it that way. It required a self awareness of interests so when I was FI, it was not as much of a challenge to decide what to do.

 

[Red Badger]

1. DW health issues
2. BS bucket at capacity
3. Got educated financially at WhatsaMatterU (cum laude)
4. This forum
5. Fish are biting

 

[friar1610]

Two retirements for me:

- Navy: At about 28 years ran into that "you'll know when it's time to retire" feeling. Didn't dislike the Navy and could have easily remained for two more years but knew I'd just be marking time until mandatory retirement at 30. One day I sat through another meeting from hell and went directly from there to the personnel office and submitted my retirement letter. Retired a few months later.
- Second "career": worked for several [-]Beltway Bandits[/-] defense contractors but never really enjoyed it. As I'd continued to live as I had in the Navy (no new house, car or wife), I saved a large percentage of my civilian salary. Once I thought I had enough, I bailed. In retrospect I could have bailed sooner as I overestimated expenses in retirement.

 

[Austin704]

I liked my job and the people I worked with, and had a lot of autonomy over my day-to-day work. But I’d grown tired of the commute, seemingly endless meetings, and bureaucracy. So, after 23 years and when my finances allowed, I said Adios! That was 3 months ago at age 53 and so far I don’t regret the decision.

I will say that I’ve yet to really “find my passion” in retirement and have struggled at times to fill my time meaningfully. But at least every day I know I’m free to let my interests take me where they may... and I absolutely love mornings taking my time waking up and drinking coffee...

 

[RobbieB]

No problems with job, just had enough dough. So many hobbies, so little time. Planned to retire (and gave notice) at 59.5, left 6 months early at 59.

No biggie. No angst, no soul searching, no doubts, no shame, no boredom, no remorse, no regrets.

Just lotsa fun!

 

[Eagle43]

We have enough money. We don't know how much time we have remaining. So, didn't need the b.s., and I retired. Free 16 years, so far.

 

[Samething]

I had a bad case of burnout but held on for @ 5 more years. It was a good discussion because I was able to add considerably to my NW mainly due to the increased value of company stock. At age 58 my body was hurting. I had a physical job as a tradesman. So basically I was hurting every day. I am lucky. I have the resources to be comfortable.
I’m afraid I’m not very good at this FIRE stuff. I like not having to bust my rear every day, playing more golf, being able to exercise more and eat better but I feel bored/unproductive. I have a move coming up so I’ll be able to keep busy getting my house ready to sell and relocating but after that I’m going to need to find a way to contribute. I have one thing that might be worthwhile to pursue. Nice that I don’t have to worry about compensation.

 

[FlaGator]

Liked my job, most of the time, until the last few years. New management was destroying the culture that made it fun. Wife got sick and died, knew I couldn't travel and raise the kids as I wished while on the payroll. Did some math, saw I could hang it up. Volunteered to be a participant in a pending layoff and was treated fairly on my way out the door. Overall, a great career, more than I could have dreamed as a graduate of mediocre semi-rural/suburban HS in the 70's.

Never looked back, and don't spend time thinking about the once fulfilling and lucrative job.

 

[rk911]

since you asked...two things really.

- my grandpa retired at 60 in 1959. that was unusual in those days. i would spend my summers with them and i think that's where the seed was subconsciously planted.

- my wife and i have been traveling and vacationing by motor home since 1986. during one of those early trips we were at a private RV resort in florida. they were advertising a special...$300 p/m if you booked 3 or more months. for fun we started playing the 'what if' game. we figured that all we needed were two FT min wage jobs...as long as our home was a 25' x 8' 'hallway'...in order to live pretty "good", good being one of those open-to-interpretation words. these days plenty of folks live and travel in their RVs full time but most are retired and have an adequate nest egg. but playing that game made us realize that ER as well as FI were attainable goals. so we worked hard, saved, invested in a LBYM lifestyle and we attained those goals in 2005 and 2006.

 

[Dtail]

Liked my job, most of the time, until the last few years. New management was destroying the culture that made it fun. Wife got sick and died, knew I couldn't travel and raise the kids as I wished while on the payroll. Did some math, saw I could hang it up. Volunteered to be a participant in a pending layoff and was treated fairly on my way out the door. Overall, a great career, more than I could have dreamed as a graduate of mediocre semi-rural/suburban HS in the 70's.

Never looked back, and don't spend time thinking about the once fulfilling and lucrative job.

Bolded by me - this statement is very true for me. Had a great career, but don't think about it anymore and don't keep track or in touch with anyone associated with it.
It is a whole different lifestyle in so many ways and we never feel bored, even when doing nothing.

 

[DrRoy]

I had the $ to leave, and did not have the desire to stay.

 

[Major Tom]

The company I had worked for, for most of my working life, went out of business and laid me off at the age of 45. I didn't feel like re-inventing myself in order to continue working, which is what would have been necessary. Early retirement at that point required me to commit to living on a fairly low income, and I was prepared to do that.

For me, the choices were -

1) Adapt myself to a different type of work, do whatever was necessary to remain in the work force and, in return, have a higher standard of living in retirement or

2) Stop working at that point, accept a lower material standard of living, but enjoy more years of doing what I want, when I want.


I chose #2. That was 10 years ago. I do occasionally wonder if I should have worked for another 5 or 10 years but, to be honest, had I done that, I most likely would have had moments in which I wondered whether I should have retired instead of continuing to work. Heck, I sometimes wonder what my life would have been life if I hadn't moved from the UK to the US in my early 20's. There is no way of knowing with these things. We can only move forward. Overall, I'm pretty comfortable with my decision.

 

[street]

Reasons for finally pulling the plug?

I finally figured out what I wanted to do when I grew up and had the funds to do it.

This is my story also. Never even thought about retiring till I looked into it and realized I had enough and wanted to spend all my time doing the things I love to do it this world.

 

[Badger]

I enjoyed my last career path of the past 20+ years and probably would have stayed a little longer even though I had enough to retire earlier. Unfortunately medical issues forced my to leave. We are financially set but the same health issues and a few more that are in the near future prevent me from doing most of what I had saved and planned for. Bummer. I guess my 2 grown step-children are going to be financially independent when the day comes. I hope they don't blow it or get pestered by their other relatives for the money and wind up struggling in their retirement years.


Cheers!

 

[ncbill]

OP should add a poll.

In my case I left to be a caregiver to an ill parent...didn't know at the time that would last well over a decade. Was able to work part-time for a member of my extended family until they sold their business.

Doubt I'd be able to return to full-time work at this point, fortunately spouse plans on working until we're both eligible for Medicare.

 

[vagabonding]

I worked in a small family owned construction business. We had two employees killed in a job site accident, and I saw more than I needed to see. I was always able to bounce back from life's big hits (divorce, major illness, etc), but couldn't get up off the canvas from this one. When the owners of the company decided to continue on with their European vacation plans instead of delaying it by one day to attend the funerals, that was the straw that broke this camels back. It took a two year exit plan for me, but now I'm retired and travel full time. Every day is a vacation day for me..........

 

[pacergal]

Liked my job for the most part, enjoyed my co workers. Did not like the endless meetings.

A few years prior, started researching, landed here, and when I was comfortable with my answers to "Some Important Questions to Answer Before Asking - Can I Retire?", I retired at the earliest I could to max benefits.

 

[Rianne]

When I think about it, working was all about the benefit of something other than myself. Sounds selfish (maybe). My thoughts, decisions, motivations were about something other than my quality of life. It's good to be part of a team and accomplish goals, but who does that benefit in the long run? Sure, the paycheck or bonus made me feel special. Completing a project, so on was fulfilling to an extent. But it was for some entity that really did not benefit me. Unless, I were to leave some extraordinary legacy from my work, my ultimate goal was to have the freedom to live a less stressed life where I'm in control of my time and my goals.

 

[RunningBum]

OP should add a poll.

I suppose one could try, but there seems to be a myriad of reasons, and many of us have multiple factors. Besides, I'm enjoying the stories, and young dreamers may find them motivating.