Early retirement is bad ...

[Music Lover]

He is out of touch with real seniors having physically demanding, unrewarding and high stress jobs. He is also out of touch with how much it costs to live in LCOL areas. The average SS benefit for 2022 is almost $20K a year. For a couple or two roommates, that is $40K, with no kids to raise, no income taxes, maybe a paid off home or low rent, camping vacations and qualifying for Medicare, that is a normal middle class life in many parts of the country. You'd think someone who is an economist would know that. We have many members here in LCOL areas who live well on that amount per year, often by choice.

There are a lot of people on this board living on several multiples of $40k a year. There are also people here living very comfortably on $40k a year or less. What we all have in common is that we consider our time to be more important than our bank account.

He may be a Harvard trained economist (big deal), but he certainly hasn't learned very much about real life.

 

[SJhawkins]

I have worked at the same place for 30 plus years, still working with a gentleman who was mid 50's when I started, he is now pushing 90.

He is going to "die in the saddle". He and is wife live on SS, they collected a pile of cash and property for past 70 years, kids will have a nice surprise I guess.

I get working because you want something to do but......

I watched this man work all his go go years and golden years, it's a little mind blowing to see in person. I will most likely be retired in my later 50 while this guy is working his final years!

He won't retire because he says he will die, probably true.

 

[ERD50]

... I mostly did not like law students -- imagine spending every day in a room full of generally wealthy, overly ambitious people, none of whom have a clue, but all of whom have an opinion. No, thank you. ... .

Man, maybe that explains why I generally have a rather negative bias towards lawyers?

-ERD50

 

[FindingForward]

I retired as a full professor but also successfully worked in industry for a decade. There was stress in both jobs but with different characteristics. When I chose to return to academia that "cushy job" came with a big cut in pay but a lifestyle I enjoyed. I enjoyed the academic environment but took an early retirement due to health concerns. You must have a different experience to know what the typical "academic type" thinks. Most of my colleagues would disagree.


Cheers!

Thanks for your hands-on perspective - appreciated. Honestly, my only experience with "academic types" is reading several advice articles similar to these recently, all authored by professors at ivy league schools.


So your personal context is more relevant than mine. I stand by my opinion however, as I haven't yet seen the "working longer is better - want to die in the saddle" mantra preached by an IT worker, a public school teacher, a nurse, or other roles. It's usually 1 of 3 people: a tenured professor, a retirement coach/consultant wanting to sell books/seminars/advice; or a C-level exec.

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

FWIW, I retired from a tenured professorship at age 57.

 

[Winemaker]

FWIW, I retired from a tenured professorship at age 57.

Heretic!

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

Heretic!

Haha! Thanks for that.

My wife was also a full professor of physics, and she retired at 55! So she is even worse!

 

[RobLJ]

FWIW, I retired from a tenured professorship at age 57.

I semi-retired at the same age to Reno (although I was an administrator at the time, but still a tenured professor). I enjoyed teaching online halftime for the next 5 years though.
Now I'm just a retired schmuck.


(I doubt the article's points are aimed at the demographic here on ER, since I don't think most here are average or median boomers with 122k or 240K saved--forgot the figure since I didn't click on the article.)

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Another point to keep in mind about the writer is that if he has a Phd, then there are likely at least 8 years he was in school and not on his feet all day at a physically taxing job as a waiter or working at a saw mill. He may not actually have more total years of full-time work by retiring past 70 than someone who retired earlier but started full-time work at age 18.

 

[Out of Steam]

There are a lot of people on this board living on several multiples of $40k a year. There are also people here living very comfortably on $40k a year or less. What we all have in common is that we consider our time to be more important than our bank account.

He may be a Harvard trained economist (big deal), but he certainly hasn't learned very much about real life.

My thought on this is that my wife and I chose to give up the place we had had in the upper-middle class for a decade or so to retire earlier. Even in a medium cost-of living area, $95-100K isn't upper middle class for a couple.

As we've chosen not to go above a 4.5% spend rate on retirement assets while waiting for Social Security, adding about $45K in benefits could change that back in a few years.

 

[MRG]

I have worked at the same place for 30 plus years, still working with a gentleman who was mid 50's when I started, he is now pushing 90.

He is going to "die in the saddle". He and is wife live on SS, they collected a pile of cash and property for past 70 years, kids will have a nice surprise I guess.

I get working because you want something to do but......

I watched this man work all his go go years and golden years, it's a little mind blowing to see in person. I will most likely be retired in my later 50 while this guy is working his final years!

He won't retire because he says he will die, probably true.

I worked with someone similar but different. He was 75, retired twice before and wasn't going to again. Guy worked 60-70 hours on a regular basis and when there was a hardware upgrade he was in Saturday night into Sunday morning every weekend. I was supposed to be his backup, he always said I'd be doing the Saturday night thing when he was gone. Right, I retired after a year.

The rest of this guys story was they had significant debt issues and he was being pestered by creditors. I think his wanting to work was a desire to not be homeless. Sadly I have a friend who expects to work till he drops. Different reasons but results are the same, need to have food and shelter trumps retirement.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Just wanted to swing by and let everyone know that early retirement is ridiculous. I stayed up until after midnight binge watching Netflix. I then got up around 8 this AM and made some coffee...added a little Bailey's since it cold outside. I wandered outside for a bit to see what the weather is like and it's not bad at all. Since then, I have been farting around online and not accomplishing much at all. I am thinking I might go take a little nap and then *maybe* check the mail and net out the pool. Decisions are hard, so that's why I say maybe. So yes...early retirement is so bad.

 

[Dtail]

Just wanted to swing by and let everyone know that early retirement is ridiculous. I stayed up until after midnight binge watching Netflix. I then got up around 8 this AM and made some coffee...added a little Bailey's since it cold outside. I wandered outside for a bit to see what the weather is like and it's not bad at all. Since then, I have been farting around online and not accomplishing much at all. I am thinking I might go take a little nap and then *maybe* check the mail and net out the pool. Decisions are hard, so that's why I say maybe. So yes...early retirement is so bad.

I see what you mean.....

 

[11522914]

Wow, you sure get a lot more done than I do. [emoji16]

 

[Major Tom]

Just wanted to swing by and let everyone know that early retirement is ridiculous. I stayed up until after midnight binge watching Netflix. I then got up around 8 this AM and made some coffee...added a little Bailey's since it cold outside. I wandered outside for a bit to see what the weather is like and it's not bad at all. Since then, I have been farting around online and not accomplishing much at all. I am thinking I might go take a little nap and then *maybe* check the mail and net out the pool. Decisions are hard, so that's why I say maybe. So yes...early retirement is so bad.

You're reminding me of Kurt Vonnegut's words,

"And I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don’t let anybody tell you any different."

 

[aleabo]

Well, since he's Harvard-trained he's obviously out of touch with the real world. ��

The dumbest part about this is that he is drawing conclusions from population averages and not even averages of those who chose to RE.

1) I don't have median wealth and neither do you and neither do any of the people who retire early.
2) I don't get Social Security's average benefit and neither do you. Anyone who is retiring before age 62 gets no benefit (yet).
3) The "almost half" of baby boomers who have no savings are likely the ones who are NOT retiring early.
4) As an economist he makes the faulty assumption that maximizing income/wealth is the only goal in life.

There's more to life (and retirement) than accumulating and spending massive amounts of money. He can die in the saddle. He's an academic. Most of the rest of us who have actually done work would prefer to enjoy the last years we have on this mortal coil. Why should I keep working even though I easily could?

Money ain't everything.

Agree. Those "Harvard-trained economist" usually have very little idea what they are talking about. For years we saw articles that majority of US population cannot come with $400 emergency bill and ..."great resignations" - how those people live?
Median wealth $144K for retirement people? Well, it you count all homeless as "retired" (what to some extend true ) - you can come with this number.

 

[Music Lover]

From the article:

As for me, I just turned 71. Fortunately, I have tenure and can keep doing research, writing books and columns and teaching. My current plan is to die in the saddle. My work is just too rewarding — financially, intellectually and psychologically — to give it up.

Translation: I'm 71 and won't retire because I'm a lot smarter than you and you would be lost without my wisdom.

 

[FREE866]

From the article:


Translation: I'm 71 and won't retire because I'm a lot smarter than you and you would be lost without my wisdom.

 

[ZachTB]

Well, since he's Harvard-trained he's obviously out of touch with the real world. ��

The dumbest part about this is that he is drawing conclusions from population averages and not even averages of those who chose to RE.

1) I don't have median wealth and neither do you and neither do any of the people who retire early.
2) I don't get Social Security's average benefit and neither do you. Anyone who is retiring before age 62 gets no benefit (yet).
3) The "almost half" of baby boomers who have no savings are likely the ones who are NOT retiring early.
4) As an economist he makes the faulty assumption that maximizing income/wealth is the only goal in life.

There's more to life (and retirement) than accumulating and spending massive amounts of money. He can die in the saddle. He's an academic. Most of the rest of us who have actually done work would prefer to enjoy the last years we have on this mortal coil. Why should I keep working even though I easily could?

Money ain't everything.

Well, since you posted this, I no longer have anything to add!

 

[Physics Guy]

From the article:
Translation: I'm 71 and won't retire because I'm a lot smarter than you and you would be lost without my wisdom.

Why so negative? I'd translate it as: I've realized that the university will keep paying me to putter around whether anyone cares about my output or not!

 

[CO-guy]

Why so negative? I'd translate it as: I've realized that the university will keep paying me to putter around whether anyone cares about my output or not!

As someone that assists universities with their self-evaluation processes, many administrations already believe that a single adjunct can do the job of two full professors for less than 1/6 the cost. Not my opinion, but without a productive research program, that's the value calculation for a professor.

Colleges and universities eventually select an approach to solve this resource inefficiency. Some approaches involve early emeritus, extended transitional retirements, part-time teaching, and even office space on campus to continue research, writing, and other professional work. Other approaches involve ambiguous performance plans or riffs of entire overpriced programs of tenured faculty that are replaced completely with remote staff.