Date based retiring instead of money based?

[tb001]

It’s my impression that the date based people tend to have pensions/medical or SS that they’re working towards.

For us it’s a combination of things. I’d like to hit 100% in firecalc, so number based, but that’s mainly dependent on market returns, so may or may not happen. We’re at 93% today, assuming pretty flush spending and some part time income over the next two years. If we ratchet down spending we could be at 100%.

If the markets cooperated, and we hit 100% next year, I would probably be done. That said, we’d like to keep some income coming in for the next couple of years just to get a solid handle on expenses in a new location. If the bs bucket isn’t full I think we both would continue working PT if able, just to fund some extras. If we decide we’re done, we’ll adjust spend.

 

[Kwirk]

It’s my impression that the date based people tend to have pensions/medical or SS that they’re working towards.

I retired from full-time work the very day I was eligible for federal civil service retirement, as I had planned to do for 25 years.

 

[6miths]

Yes I picked a date - April 30. It was the year that was uncertain though I had it in mind. Went a couple years ahead of schedule but still April 30.

 

[joeea]

When the notebooks ran out, we hung up our careers, and moved south to the Carolinas. After ten years of retirement, we have not looked back!!

Nice!
Moral of the story: once your finances are set, you can retire upon any arbitrary milestone that pleases you.

 

[joeea]

I always had my eye on 53 since that was when the youngest would finish college. We had no 529s. Paid for 2 kid's college with regular cashflow. So I would not have been comfortable retiring prior to that. Turns out the numbers made sense at 52, while DD was in her last year of college. So that's when Megacorp and I parted ways. I don't think I would have worked past 55 regardless of the nestegg.

So if you had no money, and no source of income, you would have retired at 55 anyway?

 

[CardsFan]

I think most people that target an early retirement set a tentative date AND try to implement a plan to have the numbers by that date.

In my case, when I joined my last Megacorp, at age 33, they had Combo 80 (age +years of service) as the date you could retire with full benefits and retiree medical. So that became my target (age 57).

Fast forward a few years, and the pension is frozen and replaced by a defined contribution plan. OK, I can play that game and maybe still get there.

Then our division is sold off to some venture capitalists. Retiree medical is now available at any time, but reduced for less than 25 years. So my new target is age 58 (25 years).

Then the great recession happens. Ooops, wildly off track for 58. But, wait, then I get a new position as a project manager, and really like it! Bonuses increase greatly. Maybe I will hang around longer.

Then there is the economic recovery, the market booms, investments go way past where they were before, and hit FI territory, with a lot of margin.

At that point (age 58+) reality hit me, and I set a target date of age 60. At that point, and only at that point, the target date took over as the controlling factor.

Put in my notice 3 months before my 60th birthday. Agreed to work through the end of the year (5 months extra) part time to help the transition.

As someone posted in another thread "Man plans and God laughs". But the planning did get me pretty close.

 

[Gumby]

We needed to wait until I was eligible for retiree health insurance (for us both). That occurred in November. Then, since the young wife was a teacher, we had to wait until the end of the school year in June (no way she would be happy with me retired seven months before her and she would never leave her students mid-year). The pension income and the portfolio total worked out to be within 1% of the forecast I made 8 years ago when the retiree health insurance rule was established.

 

[HI Bill]

Has anyone set a date for retirement that wasn't strictly money based?

My date was based on an age (50). When in my mid 30s, I met a small group of about 10 folks in Maui who retired at/near 50. At the time, I though age 50 was a valid goal, and that it would require about $1M. By age 46, I had already passed $1M, but realized that it wasn't enough to fund the lifestyle that I wanted. Now at 53, I'm in the final OMY of the journey. The compromise of working 4 years past the original goal allowed me to double the retirement assets, the security, the travel, and the retirement standard of living.

 

[Dalmore]

When I was in my 30s I decided I wanted to be FI by the time I was 55. I wanted to be in the position where MegaCorp needed me more than I needed it. I'd been through several down-sizing during the 90s, watched how little people mattered, and wanted to be a position to walk away without regret, hopefully making it hurt as I left. Once that was decided, I set about figuring what I needed to do to make it happen. Currently I am a full year ahead of schedule and the DW and I are negotiating when to pull the trigger.

 

[badatmath]

I am planning on my the first date I am eligible for retiree health. (55). It has been so miserable since the last reorg I do not know if I will make it.

 

[jollystomper]

I kinda sorta did. The various calculators, Megacorp financial planners, and folks on this forum told me I had enough to retire back in 2012 at age 54. I kept setting dates but kept doing OMY delays. Part of the reason was that, with ongoing Megacorp layoffs, I wanted to be mentally prepared for a forced retirement, but as it did not happen I kept working until I decided, layoff or no, I was not working past the age of 60, to hopefully have at least a couple of years of good health doing what I chose.

 

[audreyh1]

I kind of had the wishful goal/fun of retiring before the new century, but as it happened I also had enough, although it was looking dicey for a while. It wasn’t a hard deadline though.

 

[Ronstar]

My retirement was date based. Somewhat tied to DW's retirement date - she would have been upset if I retired long before her. I transferred to DW's employer medical a few years before retirement, then worked 1-2 days a week until I fully retired 4 months before DW. DW waited until she accumulated enough age/working years to get full pension/ retiree medical.

 

[Bigdawg]

I wonder how many people continue to work without knowing better.

I personally know many people in this position. Being in my early 50's and working with many people in their mid to upper 50's it seems ok to talk about 401(k)'s, retirement, etc... I am shocked that early retirment (pre 65 or so) doesn't even cross their minds. It isn't "how much do I have now" or "how much will I need", it is "I'll see how much I will have when I retire at 65 or so". Not much planning until the very end.

 

[Koolau]

My "hard date" was similarly determined as W2R's ER date. The day my pension vested and my employer provided health insurance was available was my first "go" date. When it arrived, the money was there as well. In effect, I was FI at that point.

It turned out that all the planning I had done to create my own little niche within Megacorp was so effective that I decided to stay for a while. I was finally having fun. The DAY it wasn't fun, I announced my RE to my boss. I left at the end of the week. Details include being on call until my vacation ran out at the end of the month, but I was GONE. YMMV

 

[kcowan]

I had watched my Dad work until 65 when his pension kicked in. I also witnessed by brother retire at 42. I had set my date as the year I turned 55. I got an unexpected golden handshake at age 49 and an unplanned divorce at age 53. So I adjusted my retirement age to 60.

When I did a financial plan around age 58, I saw that it would be tight. So I began active stock management when I retired and made out well. After 3 years, I became comfortable with living on WR of 5% on a 70/30 mix, SS and company pension.

Been at it now for 17 years and we are more comfortable, thanks to the S&P500 performance! In fact, we are blowing even more dough, buying a Mexican condo twice as expensive as our current one. Closing on its sale next week. Upgraded our car from Ford Escape to MB CLK250. Because of cashflow, we reduced charitable donations this year only. No debt.

 

[Chuckanut]

I knew a guy who used Date Based retirement. His entire income was his monthly SS check. He was a handsome silver haired fox. He dated a number of well-off widows until he found one who owned a big home free and clear, had money, had the remains of her former husbands pension, and had good health. The only thing she did not have was a man. Now she has a man and he has his retirement.

That was what the OP meant, right?

 

[gwraigty]

I knew a guy who used Date Based retirement. His entire income was his monthly SS check. He was a handsome silver haired fox. He dated a number of well-off widows until he found one who owned a big home free and clear, had money, had the remains of her former husbands pension, and had good health. The only thing she did not have was a man. Now she has a man and he has his retirement.

That was what the OP meant, right?

That would be an interesting anecdote to share here:

Financials and Dating

 

[pacergal]

Ours was more or less date based. DH and I qualified for our pension about 5 years before we actually retired. While I was investigating income, etc. I realized I was in a very small subset of employees who qualified for 100% paid retiree health insurance if I worked to age 60, so that set the date for us.

 

[Chuckanut]

Like many we decided that we retire early, by 60 at the latest. We did all the things necessary, investing and LBYM. Alas, like many, in our 50's divorce unexpectedly raised its ugly head and threw a wrench into the plans. The settlement was a very fair 50/50 split. However, it did push my retirement to age 62, otherwise we both would have been gone when I hit 60.

 

[gayl]

I knew a guy who used Date Based retirement. His entire income was his monthly SS check. He was a handsome silver haired fox. He dated a number of well-off widows until he found one who owned a big home free and clear, had money, had the remains of her former husbands pension, and had good health. The only thing she did not have was a man. Now she has a man and he has his retirement.

That was what the OP meant, right?

Yeah, that's Date based .... a nurse with a purse

 

[OnTheAve]

I knew I was going to retire on my 55th birthday which is in the fall. However, when May arrived of that year, I though hmmn why not have the summer to start? So, I did. This is the only schedule I have ever beat in my entire life, lol.

 

[sengsational]

I knew I was going to retire on my 55th birthday which is in the fall. However, when May arrived of that year, I though hmmn why not have the summer to start? So, I did. This is the only schedule I have ever beat in my entire life, lol.

Welcome to the community, OnTheAve! Consider posting in
http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f26/ Congratulations on beating schedule.


Like you, I left "the year I turned 55", which also was the first year health insurance became affordable (through the new at the time Premium Tax Credit). And leaving then, gave me access to the 401k without penalty before the standard 59 1/2. So between the perfect storm of those two, I pulled the plug.


Unlike many posters in this thread, I wasn't focused on getting out permanently from a young age. Depending on the boss, company culture, etc, I found my job quite fun and interesting. But a third factor, and the one I mention to the casual inquiry is that the culture went in the dust bin after a corporate takeover, crummy boss, fire most of my team, and wanted me to go to India to train replacements for those remaining. Nope! Out the door!

 

[Calico]

I knew a guy who used Date Based retirement. His entire income was his monthly SS check. He was a handsome silver haired fox. He dated a number of well-off widows until he found one who owned a big home free and clear, had money, had the remains of her former husbands pension, and had good health. The only thing she did not have was a man. Now she has a man and he has his retirement.

That was what the OP meant, right?

I did a spit take when I got this far in your post. I took it to mean she still had the literal remains of her former husbands (multiple husbands).

Carry on!

 

[jimandthom]

We weren't so much date based, definitely not $$ based, as we were event based.

Spouse retired at 57 when he mother began needing a great deal more help(she lived next door which really helped) and he was going to be transferred to another PO 30 miles away.

I retired at 62 when his mother passed.

It was a case of $$ mostly be damned, full speed ahead.