Dark Side of Early Retirement

REWahoo said:
That's one of the more recent among repeated beatings over the years. We had one long-departed poster who tried repeatedly to deliver the following message - obviously with very little success:
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I guess to an extent I can sort of see that point. What's best for me, the individual, isn't necessarily good for the country as a whole. If I'm not out there slaving away at a jay-oh-bee, I'm not paying into social security, I'm not paying income tax, I'm probably not wearing out cars as quickly with a commute to work, so the state loses out on taxes there, both on the purchase of the car and increased repairs. I'm also not buying the wardrobes for work, probably not eating out as much, and so on. And whatever I pull out of my savings to live off of will most likely be taxed at a lower rate.

But on the flip side, isn't it also a bit selfish for people to WANT you to work longer, simply so they can benefit off of you?
 
Andre1969 said:
I guess to an extent I can sort of see that point. What's best for me, the individual, isn't necessarily good for the country as a whole. If I'm not out there slaving away at a jay-oh-bee, I'm not paying into social security, I'm not paying income tax, I'm probably not wearing out cars as quickly with a commute to work, so the state loses out on taxes there, both on the purchase of the car and increased repairs. I'm also not buying the wardrobes for work, probably not eating out as much, and so on. And whatever I pull out of my savings to live off of will most likely be taxed at a lower rate.
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Try all you want but no amount of 'encouragement' will get that horse up and going again...
 
REWahoo said:
Try all you want but no amount of 'encouragement' will get that horse up and going again...
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Oh, don't worry, I'm not trying to force that Jim Jones Koolaid on anyone. Hell, I plan on retiring the moment I feel comfortable enough to! Originally, my goal was to be out by my 45th birthday, which would be April 2, 2015. A couple years ago I moved it to 2016, partly because of the Great Recession. However, I was off all last week, hitting some amusement parks in Ohio, taking my sweet time, and then going to a classic car show in PA this past weekend. First time I've taken an entire week off from work since 2005.

It's inspired me enough that I think I want to move my retirement goal back to 2015, no matter how "selfish" that might be! :D
 
I am a selfish ER old bastard. All I want to do is play golf and play with my buddy. No, not that buddy.;) The one in the pic below.

img_1084094_0_1f6f7f5cf965a3be7806c149196f8c39.jpg
 
There is a dark side to everything. The dark side of ER can't compare to the much darker side of corporate America. It was an easy choice for me. But then I am selfish.
 
I've learned not to over analyze this issue. In the former ER is selfish thread, I tried to argue that I'm not selfish because I do volunteer work, help my family, opened up a job for the unemployed, etc, etc, etc.

Then I realized those who retire early to golf, surf, and do what ever floats their boat are every bit as deserving as anyone. No need to explain this choice any more than many other choices we make in our lives.

:flowers:
 
This is the first time I have read anything like this! What an odd perspective.

If you are a sub-optimal performer, you tend to experience a sub-optimal lifestyle. It’s easier to just give up as a result. Let’s say you are a research scientist who after 10 years never produces any relevant research, and finds no cures. Instead of going on with your failure, you decide to give up, and get out of the game. Early retirement is kind of like the cowards way of not having to be the best any more. Some even liken it to suicide.

So those of us that want out and have had enough are just not able to cut it ! No wonder I have been playing with a razor blade on my wrist. :facepalm:

Unless you’re out there saving the world, you might start getting depressed you are contributing very little to society. Others will stop respecting you because you aren’t doing anything productive either. Traveling the world and writing about how great your life is a very unproductive endeavor. You better be learning a new language and volunteering in the local community, or else you’re just a travel bum.

Depressed about not contributing to society? People not respecting me? Failing to expand and live up to my potential? Is this guy nuts? I don't give a rat's pa-toot about any of that. Sounds like this guy is suffering from serious guilt and self loathing.

Early retirees will croon about how great their lifestyles are. I’m sure, in some ways they are spot on. But notice how they seldom write about the hardships they face. They can’t, because it’s important they continue highlighting how awesome everything is, to justify their decision to no longer work.

What hardships? Like going to bed at 2 am and sleeping to 8 am if I chose to? Like doing what I want when I want vs trying to cram it in on weekends fighting all the other people that have just 2 days to run all their errands? Like having the ability to live a stress free life? I could cite a thousand other examples but we all know what they are. :dance:

All I can say is wow, what an unhappy creature!
 
haha said:
Posting this article here is a little like posting "We don't really want to beat Michigan" in the Ohio State locker room.

If any members here do happen to agree with this article, they are surely not going to say so.

Ha
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+1

Yep, and I also strongly agree with Don's mention of the fact that the article is probably looking at true early RE folks as opposed to folks like myself and many here on the RE Board who didn't make it until our mid to late 50's.

However, sticking out my chin, I'll bite and say that I do agree with several points made in the article. One applies to me. MegaCorp helped me pick my RE date by shutting down my department (and paying us a nice package to go away). I really thought I'd just go find another job but, at 58, and with my skill set based in manufacturing, nothing very interesting popped up. So, I didn't go back to work. I just declared myself FIRE'd. That is, I decided I was FIRE'd after I was fired!

Had MegaCorp not shut down my department and if I could have just stayed on doing more of the same, I'm sure I would have for 2, 3, or 4 more years. But as it is, I've been [-]among the long term unemployed [/-]FIRE'd for five years as of 6-30-2011. It's been great and both DW and I are delighted that our careers and lifestyle choices empowered us to do this when the loss of my long time job was thrust upon us. But, frankly, ER was not particularly a planned event for us.
 
I got out of corporate BS at 49, I was good at my job and could have continued on for years......but, why spend time in places you don't want to be doing things you don't want to do for 50+ hours a week? MY job had a great deal of travel, sounds great, looks great but is a real drag after a while. The reason they call it WORK is because you gotta do it to get the check. I know very few people that really are full filled and enjoy their jobs - esp. the folks that are making serious money -

I have had people tell me that if you retire you will expire, retire and you will shrivel up and die young........They don't know how to respond to - "so spending 50 hours a week doing stuff you really don't wanna do keeps ya young?! Would you do your job if you were'nt paid just for the long life benefits?"
I love being the master of my time and will stay the course.. -
 
I don't think it's selfish. For instance, I have a mtg friday with a guy who wants to buy my company stock and effectively replace me. His former company is going out of business and he will be out of work. How would I be selfish by providing him a means to keep working? Almost everyone that retires provides a job for someone else.
 
I wrote a longer rant on my blog about this article and among the responses was one from the author. He says he intended this as a Devil's advocate piece and wrote a nice comment. I don't know if that was really his intent, but he was good natured about my comments. Even if he was playing Devil's advocate, there are people who feel that way. They may not state it as blatantly as Financial Samurai, but they think that way. I suspect the author, Sam, worries about the things he wrote in the article even if he doesn't advocate them.
 
Andre1969 said:
But on the flip side, isn't it also a bit selfish for people to WANT you to work longer, simply so they can benefit off of you?
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Not if they claim their selfish needs are just societies needs. Claim you owe something to society, rather than "you owe something to me" and it sounds like a good thing. You don't really think all those people out there claiming we should raise taxes and spend more money are really looking out for the common good do you? They're protecting, at least in part, their slice of the pie.

Same here.
 
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