Did your retirement diverge from your plan? If so, how did it go?

[The Cosmic Avenger]

I'm currently out of work, and while my boss think she will find work for me soon, and I have friends at other companies sending me leads and advocating for me, part of me is enjoying the time off.

(Quick recap: our child is supposed to start college soon, and our responsibility for the 4 years should be about $140K, although that was when we were both working, we might qualify for financial aid if this keeps up! I was planning on retiring after we finished paying for college, unless I really liked what I was doing and liked funding, say, expensive trips or had a vacation home I wanted us to save up for. We currently have $2.6M in savings and $500K in equity on our paid-off house, so we would be in fine shape if neither of us ever worked again.)

So, I don't *need* to work, but I had planned on it, and I had hoped we would have a nice fat-FIRE retirement. We still could, but my plans might have to be scaled down a bit. Not a tragedy by any means, but still a little disappointing.

So, any "life happened" stories out there of having to unexpectedly change your retirement plans late in the game? Looking for both good and bad changes, I suppose, although a surprise that puts you in a better position is probably pretty uncommon.

 

[savory]

Unlike you, TCA, I didn’t have any financial obligations but I needed to leave my last job earlier than my planned retirement age. Like you, I still expected to have enough funds and may need some lifestyle adjustment. Mine was a 4 year gap. I was 54.

As I was looking for options, long story short, with DW, we joined the Peace Corps. While I didn’t save money, I didn’t spend any. That bridged 2.3 years. Upon our return, I altered some spending decisions, started a small consulting business, and enjoyed the stock market growth of the last several years.

Looking back, I could not be happier. The PC was an experience I never could have imagined. My conservative approach to FIRE left me more room than I thought I had. All this was occurring in 2006, a real scary financial time, as you know.

One other thing that comes up on ER a lot is pension vs lump sum. While this was still on the table, knowing I had a pension option during a market crash provided me piece of mind. That was more psychological than planning since they were both included at that point.

 

[Dtail]

A little variation for me.
Took a nice package at 55 and expected to find another job. Couldn't find one for 15 months, but then discovered I can retire and the rest is history as they say.

 

[kcowan]

My contract ended and DW was still active so I decided to become an active trader. Over the next three years, i made enough to enable us to fully retire and we did. I gradually ramped down my active trading and by the time five years has past, we had become buy and hold dividend investors.

At that point we also decided to buy a snowbird property in Mexico, and 6 months there reduced our withdrawal on our portfolio by 40%.

So it did not go according to plan but, in fact, worked out much better.

 

[Red Badger]

I targeted between 62 & 65. Then, in 2015, a re-org changed my job from challenging but rewarding to something else. I sniffed around internally and externally. Through that process, I discovered that my corporate fire in the belly, was only smoldering ashes. I had a couple modest pensions, so I exited at 60 in 2017 and burned some portfolio to get to 62 when DW and I began SS.

Three years in last month. Best decision ever.

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

The lack of a pension is one of the more daunting factors for me; I was planning on learning more about withdrawal/income/tax strategies over the next four years, in order to figure out our draw-down strategy. I could probably cobble together some supplemental income from freelancing or becoming an independent contractor, I just don't feel the need or drive to do that yet. I'm thinking that after a few months of downtime I might work my way through my list of home projects and start look for bigger projects that are more like what I did for work if my networking doesn't yield anything.

davef, the Peace Corps sounds awesome, but we definitely want to stay in the area while our daughter goes to college a little under an hour away. That's something to consider for afterwards, though!

 

[W2R]

So, any "life happened" stories out there of having to unexpectedly change your retirement plans late in the game? Looking for both good and bad changes, I suppose, although a surprise that puts you in a better position is probably pretty uncommon.

When Katrina hit on 8/29/2005, we were both in "golden handcuffs" mode and couldn't quit our jobs and leave because we'd lose our retirement benefits. But our city was in ruins and for years its recovery did not go well at all. Very few people returned, especially at first so this place was a ghost town. We were thankful for the military in Humvees keeping crime down to a low roar and the black helicopters flying low overhead all the time. I don't like to talk about Katrina here.

But anyway, the point is that we planned to move away as soon as we could retire, in order to get away from what was left of New Orleans and resume a more normal life. For those last 4-5 working years we talked about moving every day, dreamed about it, decided where we wanted to live (Springfield, Missouri), and visited there at least a dozen times. If anything, he wanted to move there more than I did. We retired, spent a year and over $10K each getting our houses ready to sell, and finally put them on the market.

F got the first offer (a lowball offer) and suddenly he realized that he really did not want to go. I think he was as surprised and shocked at that discovery as I was. He took his house off the market that day; I wanted to stay with him, wherever he was going to be, so I took my house off the market too.

Our retirement has been wonderful even if it did not go according to plan. By now (our 11th year of retirement, 15 years after Katrina) we are so glad we did not move. New Orleans has recovered quite a bit, the population today has grown to 80% of what it was before Katrina, and we like living here. It's home.

 

[MichaelB]

So, any "life happened" stories out there of having to unexpectedly change your retirement plans late in the game? Looking for both good and bad changes, I suppose, although a surprise that puts you in a better position is probably pretty uncommon.

We were going to retire in Venezuela. That's where our permanent residence was, our social network, my employer, and all my close friends. Also 25 years of my contributions to the Venezuelan equivalent of SS. Then the country went to sh!t.

We were lucky, able to "Plan B" here in the US. That meant a different lifestyle and bigger retirement budget.

Many of DW's family have not been so fortunate and are still there. Retirement plans for all of us changed. They're focused literally on daily survival.

 

[Scubamax]

Wanted to reach a milestone of net worth by age 55, but the last year of my full time job was not fun and waited out for a package which hit right before turning 51. Decided not to pursue full time work, did some consulting and was pretty close to my 55 target net worth anyway at that age, so it all worked out well. (That target number had a LOT of extra in it, and so I just settled for a little less wiggle room in my portfolio for a few years, and it has worked out pretty well).

 

[Gumby]

We had originally planned to retire in 2014, when I was 55. But then the market crashed in 2008-09. Suddenly, we had substantially less money in our portfolio and a new appreciation of the need for a bigger cushion. We took a hard look at our plans and decided that it would not be a bad idea to work until I became eligible for a pension (tiny as it is) and, more importantly, eligible for retiree health insurance. That occurred at the beginning of 2018, so our earliest retirement time was June 2018 (the young wife was a teacher and would never retire in the middle of a school year) . We did OMY to pad our portfolio and retired in June 2019 -- 5 years later than the original plan. Now, our pensions cover our expenses. When I start social security in 6 months, that will provide a nice income cushion. And, we still have sufficient portfolio left to cover our expenses at a 4% withdrawal rate, should anything happen to the pensions and social security. Otherwise we plan to use the money for luxury travel (whenever that becomes possible). Since we both enjoyed our work, the extra 5 years was not a burden.

 

[ivinsfan]

Yes.. we never retired..At 70 plus and after 2 major heart surgeries my DH is not ready to park his tractor.

I was ready 10 years ago when we sold the livestock side. First he said 65 and then he just kept plugging along saying maybe next year.. Now, it's been annoying because we are anchored to this farm and the farming schedule.

I've tried to get him retired using various plans and sometimes pressure. The years between 60 and 70 can be active years and he spent his farming. I'm not unhappy here, not at all, but would have like more options for the two of us.

I've stopped pestering because after his last surgery when he was literally seconds away from dying, as he recovered I saw how concerned he was that would not be capable of doing the farm work. It's who he is and just a part of him. He can't change it. Good news he was able to return to farming and by mutual agreement we now only run family farm land and the pressure and schedule have eased up.

Money we've got a bunch because he still bring in income and bennies, but on the flip side our personal fun spend wasn't ever really ramped up since we were always "waiting to retire next year" I'm just happy to have my farmer around and it's going to be a lifelong condition for him.

 

[RunningBum]

I had planned to retire in my late 30s mostly on the back of soaring employee stock options. I should have diversified because the dotcom bubble burst, and pretty quickly I was no longer FI. I just put my head down and worked and saved until I was FI again after a few years, then worked a few more years 1/2 time because it was pretty easy and flexible and I wanted to make add some buffer and have fatter FIRE. I think I wound up working 11 extra years. That was disheartening, but I learned from it and looked forward rather than wish I could change the past.

 

[braumeister]

I guess I'm one of the more fortunate folks here. While still a teenager, I made a decision to retire at 55, simply because it was ten years ahead of the "normal" 65.

As it turned out, I was able to do exactly that (well, 55.3534247, but who's counting?)

No FIRECalc, no advice, no help, just kept my nose to the grindstone and plugged away. It was many years later that I found this forum and realized there were a lot more like me than I had thought.

 

[scrabbler1]

In the late 1990s, when an ER first appeared on my radar, I was targeting some time in my early 50s. But as things began to take shape after I began working part-time in 2001, I soon realized that I ER a lot sooner than that, in my late 40s. By early 2007, when I reduced my weekly hours worked for a second time, I knew I would be able to ER by the end of 2008, at age 45. And that's what I did, as the remaining pieces of my ER plan fell into place.

 

[FIREd]

The Plan: retire in the US with my wife while enjoying a very comfortable lifestyle.

The plan worked for a few years after I retired. Then the wife asked for a divorce. We split our assets 50/50. She kept the house and the cats. All of the sudden I found myself totally free - free as I've never been free before. No wife, no kids, no house, no pets, no job, no obligation of any kind, just a well-padded bank account. So I decided to completely change my life.

I moved to Europe (where I came from before immigrating to the US) and rebuilt a life which I am eminently proud of. I won't gloss over the fact that my lifestyle is not as comfortable as it once was but I adjusted just fine and have no regrets.

Who knows where I'll be in 10 years? Hey I'm still young enough to have kids...

 

[Retire52]

plan A. when I was a young man in my 20s I thought, retire with a pension and savings after 20 yrs in the Army at 43 and live happily ever after. I am frugal so this was easily doable.

plan B. 4 kids and spendy DW, retire when my spouse and I could both retire from the Army with pensions and savings at 52.

plan C. got unexpected promotion with bigger pension, higher savings than expected and long bull market. DW deferred pension by going into the Army Reserves. able to retire at 48 to a comfortable retirement. that was 3 years ago and no regrets, 43 would have been a little too early and 54 a little too late for me.

 

[Animorph]

MegaCorp closed our division about 6 months before I had planned to retire, but with a package that got me halfway there. Close enough. DW decided to keep working. I worked part time for a few years, just for fun. Not according to plan, but couldn't hurt either. We're both retired now.

Financially it has worked about as expected, given two recessions and recoveries. Our budget has a bit more for travel with all our extra income early on. But otherwise pretty much as expected.

Plenty of contingency plans gave us confidence to retire. I wish DW had retired earlier so we could have started our international travel a few years sooner. At 65 I'm starting to slow down with the more strenuous adventuring.

 

[Offgrid Organic Farmer]

The US Navy booted me out exactly when we predicted they would and my pension started right on time the next month.

We did not miss a payday.

 

[brett]

Left at 59. Went as expected with one slight bump. The package came about a year later than expected. The upside...both the package and the pension were larger that I assumed because they were based on salary plus bonus vs salary only.

 

[savory]

, the Peace Corps sounds awesome, but we definitely want to stay in the area while our daughter goes to college a little under an hour away. That's something to consider for afterwards, though!

We were fortunate that our daughter landed an international assignment after university. She was a 4 hour flight from our Peace Corps assignment. Just like she ended up being when she returned to the States. DS remained in the States, since he was employed but came over for a long visit.

TCA, I just remembered there are volunteer programs under the Returned Peace Corp Volunteer (RPCV) initiative from PC. Upto a few years ago, it was only available to people who had served. Now (but double check), it is available to anyone. PC is looking for qualified people, typically with a few years experience, for shorter term assignments. DW and I were interested but when we looked a few years ago, there were no positions for couples. I talked to PC about their approach. I am not sure they responded to my request for couple placements but now they offer them. I would not have learned that if not for looking up this information given your potential interest. Here is the link to the RPCV hiring program https://www.peacecorps.gov/returned-volunteers/#

 

[RobbieB]

My plan was to be out end of 2014 but I got out 6 months early. So plan was pretty accurate.

 

[1-31-18]

The Plan: retire in the US with my wife while enjoying a very comfortable lifestyle.

The plan worked for a few years after I retired. Then the wife asked for a divorce. We split our assets 50/50. She kept the house and the cats. All of the sudden I found myself totally free - free as I've never been free before. No wife, no kids, no house, no pets, no job, no obligation of any kind, just a well-padded bank account. So I decided to completely change my life.

I moved to Europe (where I came from before immigrating to the US) and rebuilt a life which I am eminently proud of. I won't gloss over the fact that my lifestyle is not as comfortable as it once was but I adjusted just fine and have no regrets.

Who knows where I'll be in 10 years? Hey I'm still young enough to have kids...

Yours is a very positive story. Divorce doesn’t need to derail retirement plans. Even multiple divorces. All best wishes for continued happiness in your new life.

 

[calmloki]

Sorta like user ivinsfan. Now both 70 and we still keep being landlords. Back in 2007 and at 58 years old we sold a couple of the little rental houses and thought we would sell a place/year until fully divested. Next year was 2008 and selling real estate just was not attractive - no pensions and picayune social security to look forward too. The rents kept up though, so we just kept fixing toilets and cashing the rent checks. Did manage to buy a winter place in La Quinta Ca in late 2010 as prices were way down. 2013 rolled around and my heart tried to take an early retirement, but my Gal was having none of that quitter attitude, so I'm still ticking. We've rid ourselves of a few more places, but still have 4 rentals with 36 units total. Silly. We live the same adequate but thrifty life style we've always lived and bank too darn much.

 

[Bamaman]

I targeted between 62 & 65. Then, in 2015, a re-org changed my job from challenging but rewarding to something else. I sniffed around internally and externally. Through that process, I discovered that my corporate fire in the belly, was only smoldering ashes. I had a couple modest pensions, so I exited at 60 in 2017 and burned some portfolio to get to 62 when DW and I began SS.

Three years in last month. Best decision ever.

I'm with you there. We were also caught up in "consolidation" which meant they were moving regional offices into home office in a very undesirable place to live. And in 2008, they "retired" everyone 55 years and older.

We were fortunate to have great termination benefits of MegaCorp and a RHSA that paid our healthcare expenses. No reason to work past 58 at that point.

And by the way, I know where your Hog Mountain residence is. Been there.

 

[Bryan Barnfellow]

I've worked for nonprofit organizations for most of my life. My wife and I originally made a plan in 1992 to retire by 2008; but the financial crash caused a delay. We had always wanted to live in Europe (Italy) at least part time in our retirement, so a job in italian speaking southern Switzerland (just over the border from northern Italy) attracted my attention. I got the job and we moved here in 2009. I then retired from that job five years ago.

The extra years of work/saving and time for our investments to recover were enough to allow us to have a reasonably comfortable retirement here in Switzerland, which is an expensive country and would have been out of bounds back in 2008. We absolutely adore living here, so, the forced detour in the end was a good thing for us.

-BB