Why ER May Not Be Your Best Option

[missionfinder]

For me, its about doing what I want to do while still contributing to society. By this I mean contributing by mentoring, charitable involvement or part-time when I want to do it work. I haven't drawn a "pay check" in 3 years and love my life for the most part. Rather than face traffic, deadlines, overtime, taking vacations based on someone else's expectations of my availability....

I take vacations when a great deal comes along, I attend PTA meetings and all the different parent/student functions at my child's school (I'm usually the only male there other than teachers!), I spend time with my wife and kids I never could before and I involve myself with others mentoring and sharing life experience. My daughter in college benefits from seeing her parents live life like few of her friends parents can though those kid's parents make "good income." Its a valuable lesson that's hard to teach from books. As a result, she's going through school with no student loans, buys everything via cash and doesn't rely on credit, and has set herself up on a path for early retirement.

I supplement income doing something I never thought I'd be into: I invent things. And I don't do it out of neccesity, but because I really enjoy it and if it brings in a few bucks that's icing on the cake. I have a couple of patents, do the fun part of the projects and farm everything else out. I gear my mind towards creativity and let someone else handle the grunt work. My freelancers know I'm liable to disappear for a week or two on short notice, because I run my life the way I want to. Its very fulfilling. The great thing for me about FI is that I have a choice: I work if/because I want to, not because I have to. The ability to just fart around town on a day trip window shopping or doing something else to keep myself busy is worth it. Plus, when I get those "I have to work" feelings I put it to productive use by working on my hot rod, making things around the house, tinkering with new ideas and making a game of saving money. Freedom.

A big issue for me is structure of some sort. When I first started my life of FIRE I suffered from depression. I thought sleeping in late, staying up late (doing stupid things like watching TV all night) was great.... but in actuality contributed to depression. Plus, though I hate to admit it I suffered from a sense of loss and purpose for well over a year. I have found that going to bed and getting out at the same time each day, having a plan of action for the week, making sure I spend plenty of time with non-passive activities and getting out of the house often has contributed greatly to my happiness.

My wife works at job. I gave up trying to convince her to quit, but she really does love what she's doing. She was a stay at home mom during my working career and started working after I retired. To her, it gave her a sense of productivity, and she was worn out from full time house-keeping and taking care of the kids (she still gets plenty of time with them now). I'm Mr. Mom now, and its funny how gratifying that is for her... not merely because she doesn't have as much to do around the house, but because we both believe its made me a better father.

This ties in with something haha said... I live in a very small town. People know each other and see what they do. In the spring and summer months I'll sometimes spend hours on the front porch with my laptop, reading a book, working in the shop out back. People around here notice I'm always home and can't help but ask my wife questions like "what does your husband do for a living", "is he disabled", etc. Rather than deal with explaining our situation (some people seem to express jealousy as hostility) she simply tells them I work via the Internet. Same goes with my family... only one sibling who's also on a path to FIRE knows I retired at 40 (it also helps because they won't see me as a bank and beg for money, lol!).

 

[Midpack]

Thanks for sharing missionfinder. I suspect my experience will be very much like yours, and I hope I am as successful in finding my way as you've been. Well done...

 

[M Paquette]

The studies (some more rigerous than others) seem to be all over the place in terms of whether early retirement is good or bad for you. Here's a sample:

1.Retirement, Health and Life Expectancy – Linking Retirement to Health and Life Expectancy This one concludes that people who retire at 55 suffer more health issues than people who retire a 60

This is one of those little details that studies like this don't always point out. In an industrial environment, there will be folks who retire early because their health has deteriorated significantly, to the point where they can no longer work. Employees who make it to age 65 before retiring are likely to be 'selected for health', that is, they didn't die on the job or from work-related illness, and didn't retire on medical disability.

A study at Shell Oil company looked in to that very question and found that people who retired at age 55 had almost twice the risk of death compared to people who retired at age 60. Here are the details:

• The study examined the survival of 839 employees who retired at 55 and 1929 employees who retired at 60 and compared them to 900 employees who retired at 65. Women made up only 11% of the study population.
• The link between early retirement and early death was greater for men. In fact, men for retired at 55 had an 80% greater increase risk than women who retired at 55.
• People who retired at 60 were no different than people who retired at age 65, in terms of overall risk of death.
• It could be that people who retire at 55 have poor health (and therefore chose early retirement).

 

[BTravlin]

I'm looking forward to proving his premise wrong, or at least having the opportunity to prove the exception to the rule.

 

[toofrugalformycat]

I'm coming up on my 11 year anniversary of retiring early. I just recently attended a retirement party for a former coworker. Seeing and conversing with that group of people did not make me at all wistful for my old job. I am so grateful that I have had this time to regain my health and will to live, do some of the things that are important to me, and enjoy each day. Would I be more intelligent and productive if I hadn't quit? I'll never know for sure, but I doubt I would still be alive, if I was stuck in that stressful environment.

 

[haha]

Looks like the overwhelming conclusion is "Yes, ER is you best option"!

Ha

 

[Nords]

The studies (some more rigerous than others) seem to be all over the place in terms of whether early retirement is good or bad for you.
None of these studies is conclusive (all the ones I have seen either lack control features or are somewhat inconclusive) and a lot will depend on what you make of it.
Personally, I'd like to believe that retiring early is a good thing if you keep yourself mentally, physically and socially active. Alternatively, unless and until someone comes up with conclusive evidence that early retirement shortens life expectancy even in people who are happy, healthy and active I'm going with early retirement (hopefully early next year, but certainly no later than the end of 2013).

Researchers gave men and women of various ages and occupations a pager that would randomly beep eight times a day. They were each required to keep a log of their emotional state when the pager went off. When at work, 54 percent of respondents reported feeling "strong, creative, motivated, active, and positive." When away from work, a mere 18 percent noted these same positive emotions. When asked how they felt about work, however, the overwhelming majority of respondents said they would rather not be at work, but engaged in leisure activities.

I think UC should contact us to improve their original study with a double-blind control.

They should double the number of pager-carriers by making half of them ERs. Don't tell the researchers who's who-- let them figure it out.

Personally, most of my ER days have been so damn mentally, physically and socially active that I need a vacation.

However I've found that the great masses of active-duty military & Reserves/NG are much more receptive to the familiar concept of "financial independence, and then you can do whatever you want, whether that's a bridge career or retirement" rather than the terrifying unknown of "early retirement".