Wish you had done it sooner? Yes or No?

[Midpack]

I might was well have worked a little longer, though admittedly I wouldn’t have enjoyed it. Though I was about 2X FI WRT SWR when I retired at 57, DW worked longer than I (mistakenly) expected, and none of my friends retired anywhere near as early as I did - so no one to play with Mon thru Friday. No serious regrets but I might as well have worked a few more years, though admittedly I wouldn’t have enjoyed it. Hindsight is a wonderful thing…

This isn’t the best place to ask, it’s mostly an audience who (so far) have retired early successfully, so a little bias. Ask again in the midst of the next really serious market sell off and you may get different answers, at least from more recent retirees. The truth is few if any of us know if we’ve retired successfully financially until we reach end of plan. I see (grossly) premature claims of financial (retirement) success here often, I just hope readers making the decision to pull the trigger recognize same.

 

[pacergal]

I "could" have retired early at 54, when I had my 30 years in for full pension.
However, for medical insurance benefit, I needed to work until age 60. It was a significant reduction in premium, so worth it to us.
Plus, that extra few years gave me time to really start investigating finances and budget planning for retirement.

 

[CindyBlue]

I was 64 when I retired. I was happy to retire when I did. It was time. I had wanted to work a few more years, but the admin had gotten so bad (and from what I'm hearing from people still there, is getting much worse) that it was time to leave before I ended up hating the job I loved.

 

[stepford]

I retired at 55 and most days I wish I'd gone a few years earlier. Then on days when the market tanks or inflation worries grow I'm happy I stayed as long as I did.

It's almost impossible to know exactly how much we need to retire so most of us save a bit more than we need. We won't really know if we retired too late until we're dead - and I guess we won't know then either.

 

[athena53]

I'd planned to retire at 65 and instead quit at age 61. It was good timing. DH was 15 years older so he qualified for Medicare but I had to scramble for ACA coverage and premiums doubled in the 4 years before I could get Medicare.

We were saving at an amazing clip before I retired- close to $100K/year counting generous 401(k) matches. If I'd retired, say, 5 years earlier, that would have meant starting with a smaller base. I was also traveling a lot for work, including long-hauls in Business Class to Europe and India, racking up airline miles and hotel points. It meant that DH and I could significantly reduce our personal travel costs.

I retired in May, 2014. DH died 18 months later- somewhat expected due to chronic health issues. We got in some more good travel (Alaska, Iceland and Paris) before he got sick. Our first grandchild was born in April of 2014 and it was wonderful to be able to go visit the family (3-hour drive away) and not have to count how many vacation days I was using up.

For us, the timing was perfect.

 

[kgtest]

my original intent was to RE at 50 but couldn't get the ducks lined up. had to wait until 55. my last day on the books was age 55+1-day.

This is probably how it will all shake out for me. My goal to FIRE is:
1. Paid off Mortgage
2. Replace aged vehicles
3. Have enough to fund most of kid's college
4. Enough cash+taxable to last me to my Roth withdrawals at 55
5. Decent health without any major operations or concerns

I can largely control most of these, but I only have 9 years left to get my ducks in a row. I keep hearing so much or seeeing often that someone I know that retires say at 65 has about 3 to 5 good years without anything major happening, then boom, cancer hits, or operations hit, or their quality of life takes a dive into a less active lifestyle.

Maybe this is my young man thinking but I really want to stay active, Ski the mountains, travel internationally, visit the beaches and keep up with my kids and their ambitions while in FIRE.Maybe I can't have it all, but I will do my damndest to try!

 

[brett]

I retired at 58/59. It was the right time for us-financially and otherwise.

I was in a position to retire at 55 or so but was not ready. The final three years were extremely lucrative so I have no regrets whatsoever.

 

[Midpack]

I keep hearing so much or seeeing often that someone I know that retires say at 65 has about 3 to 5 good years without anything major happening, then boom, cancer hits, or operations hit, or their quality of life takes a dive into a less active lifestyle.

And you should ignore those posts (from random strangers) - it's an exception, which is not what a sound plan is based on ever. Sure anything can happen, but almost all of us should plan for a long retirement as that's what's most likely. Unless you already know about a terminal illness, it would be idiotic to plan on a short life, obviously odds are you'll end up living under a bridge eating cat food if your nest egg is only good for 3-5 years.

Maybe this is my young man thinking but I really want to stay active, Ski the mountains, travel internationally, visit the beaches and keep up with my kids and their ambitions while in FIRE.Maybe I can't have it all, but I will do my damndest to try!

We all have to strike that balance, to maximize the quality of life years versus having enough to see yourself to the end financially. Keeping yourself healthy and in shape helps, and staying active helps - a win win. You should do your damnedest, good luck!

 

[msieweke]

Yes and no. There were several factors.

+ If I understood money and investing, I could have retired 10 years earlier.
+ I didn't realize how unhappy I was at work until I was no longer working.
- I had a few health issues my doctors didn't understand, and the information I needed was only available (on the internet) in the last 5 or so years or so.
- I had other things going on in my life that would have left me equally unhappy until ~2021.

I retired in 2016 at age 53. All things considered, it was a pretty good time to retire.

 

[qwerty3656]

I'm surprised there aren't a lot more "I wish I went earlier" posts in this thread. Like OP, I've seen a bunch of posts about how people wish they went earlier. For me, I just retired at the end of the year, so its probably too early to tell.

 

[Major Tom]

Retirement was forced on me, in a way, by my long-term employer going out of business. This happened at age 45. The thrill had largely disappeared from the job, though I still liked it. I didn't feel like re-inventing myself, and didn't have any particular material expectations from retirement, other than having a roof over my head and food to eat. I had just about enough money to do that, so decided to give it a go. Luckily for me, I retired at, or near to, the bottom in the market in the 2008/2009 recession, so the subsequent bull run cemented my ability to maintain retirement.

I definitely didn't retire too late, at age 45. Not sure if I retired too early though. I don't really think about it. It was the decision I made, and it seems to be working out so far. Sure, I could use an extra million, but who couldn't?

 

[Gallaher]

Retired at 57 when I was downsized by big pharma. I saw it coming for 20 years, so I was prepare. That seems to be typical across that industry.
I WAY, wish I had left 5 years sooner.
The director who hired me into management always said “It’s a Dilbert World”. As in the comic strip. He was downsized 6 months after he hired me.

 

[Midpack]

My successor just hung up his spurs after 11 years, so he'll be retired in April. I guess that means I've been retired for a long time...doesn't seem that long ago.

 

[Walt34]

Where I worked a popular saying was "When it is time, you will know." In my case that was true. The job was interesting and especially the last eleven years was fun most of the time, until it wasn't. That's when I retired.

 

[Midpack]

Where I worked a popular saying was "When it is time, you will know." In my case that was true. The job was interesting and especially the last eleven years was fun most of the time, until it wasn't. That's when I retired.

+1. Same here, I had no reservations when I finally pulled the trigger. I had 34 challenging, exciting, rewarding years in a 36 year career...

 

[N02L84ER]

No, I retired at age 52. However, if I had retired 6 months earlier, my car would not have been involved in 2 minor accidents. The other drivers is ultimately what "drove" me to retire!

 

[Out of Steam]

No, I retired at age 52. However, if I had retired 6 months earlier, my car would not have been involved in 2 minor accidents. The other drivers is ultimately what "drove" me to retire!

A long-distance commute was definitely a factor in my retirement, though I had my accident after retiring. Only the car was hurt, and it has been repaired without lasting effects.

 

[CyclingInvestor]

Retired in Oct 2006 at 48. Looking back, the timing was excellent. 2 years of OMY after I reached my goal gave me a comfortable cushion which eliminated any possible financial worries.

 

[Ronstar]

Of course I wish that I would have retired earlier. But DW wouldn't let me retire years before her. So I spent the last few working years doing 1 or 2 days a week and that helped ease into retirement. Wanted to retire in 2007 at 52 but finally pulled the plug in 2014 at 58.

 

[mystang52]

I could have retired sooner, but 1) I would have been considerably less certain that the finances would support how I wanted to live that stage of my life and 2) I didn't have hindsight to know that it would have been fine to do so. Retiring when I did meant I was 100% confident in my plan and could enjoy myself without any doubts or concerns.

 

[Navigator]

I liked my job, but retired early after a medical diagnosis with an uncertain prognosis. I was worried about money, but in reality I was only working for my kid’s inheritance. In retrospect, I wish I had retired a couple of years earlier as I would have been able to do more of the things I enjoy, like travel. I am grateful for having had a few years of the good life, but that never would have happened if I hadn’t pulled the plug early.

 

[jollystomper]

While I could have retired (based on financial advisor's analysis) at 54, I kept working until 60. For me I still feel my timing was perfect. I used the last several years of working to cover a few major home renovations and final college payments so I would not have to deal with them in retirement. I was able to build up a cash buffer that lets me ignore market gyrations and stick to my desired AA. I have a pension, and it still had noticeable year growth through age 60 before it started to level off.

I enjoyed my job, and I had time to have a "glide path" at work (documented here at https://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/omy-glide-path-plans-81406.html) that permitted me to leave on a high note, which resulted in an unexpected and large bonus a few month after retiring.

We have been spending what we desire in retirement, and it is still below what we planned to spend. From that standpoint, yeah, maybe I did not need to work as long before I retired. But I have no regrets in retrospect, and the timing seems perfect.

 

[Time2]

No, while I had an easy job, it was a lot of hours. However, I had a lot of freedom while working, I could surf the net, watch TV, exercise, go for a 1/2 mile walk and still take care of business. I could have retired 6 years earlier with the proverbial $1M. We worked 6 more, growing and adding to our pile.
It is nice to have more than you need. I put a child through dental school without her taking student loans, I mortgaged fixer upper house for a child, until they get situated to get a bank loan. So, the work was easy enough that the 6 years didn't matter. Lot of hours though.

 

[Dtail]

If I discovered this site sooner, probaly could have retired around 3 years earlier, but no regrets.

 

[Lienlord]

I'd had 2/20/2020 circled in my calendar as my retirement date for over a year. When it came, some red tape prevented me from giving notice. Then the pandemic hit, followed by lockdown. I didn't want to leave the team I lead in the middle of this, so stayed to help develop telework process.
Now two years later, I'm so glad I didn't leave before all this happened! I would have felt restricted during the shutdowns of many things on our list. Also, still working mostly from home, which has felt like a semi-retirement compared to the 9-5 office daily grind.
Lastly, was able to invest two more years of salary & benefits. And during that time, found out if I leave with 10 years worked I can remain on group health plan.
So my new date will be August 1st (10 years and 1 day!).