ER

[Penny6]

Just a simple question- In your opinion what do you consider "early" retirement and why?

[REWahoo]

It may be a simple question but it doesn't necessarily have a simple answer.

Here is a thread/poll from 2006 indicating most thought age 62 or earlier constituted early retirement. http://www.early-retirement.org/foru...rly-24310.html

[Big_Hitter]

didn't we do one a year or so ago for definitions of "super early" "early" "sort of early" etc?

[Penny6]

To me 40s would be early, 50s average, 60s normal. Depending on when you started your career. I know it varies from person to person.

[Blue Collar Guy]

I retired at age 46. i was born April 25th 1962, i retired October 19th 2008. My real last day of work was some time in May 2007 i had saved up vacation, and compensation time built up. Someone said i really retired at 50 because they rounded up, hahahahaha. I technically could have retired on Jan 2nd 2003. Then i would have drawn an immediate pension(half pay). Most of my work financial gurus said if we retire at 20 years we need to work another 10 making almost equal money. I couldn't find a job that paid me on the books an equal salary, so i stayed. Turns out i should have ran out the door on 1/2/03. i wasted 5 years working for bigger pension and more savings that i needed. So 46 to me was retired early. Financially independent was keeping what i had then, and not needing anything else fall into place(i.e. subsidized health care other than what i was already receiving). I should note that since im a worry wart i didnt include social security in my back of the envelope calculations. Otherwise if i was positive i wasn't gonna get stiffed on that at age 41 i was FIRE. The 5 years i stayed extra was to cover the social security im sure ill get cheated out of. I think anything under 62 is early retirement.

[rodi]

50's average doesn't really fit the mathematical definition of average....

My opinion, fwiw (not much)...

extremely early: 30's or younger.
very early: 40's
early early: 50's
early: mid 50's to early 60's
normal: ss age or older (62+)
new normal: 70

When I gave notice at age 52 - people were shocked I was retiring early. (Well, not close friends, because they knew I'd been working my plan.) It was less of a shock when a coworker gave notice at age 61... but folks were still surprised.

Some professions, with pensions that can be taken earlier, tend to skew younger. But pensions are becoming the exception, rather than the rule.

My sister is retiring in 3 days as a teacher... she turns 60 later this year... Many friends are surprised she's retiring "so soon"... But her pension makes people understand.

[mamadogmamacat]

I think the "norms" today are: up to and including 62 is early (now the younger one is "retirement" can seem a bit murky as many will be part timers or have some internet based enterprise such as a blog or e-bay selling or multiple such income producing activities, which to my mind is not strictly retired, although the term 'semi-retired', especially if the side income is not critical for basic needs, works for me); 62 to FRA for SS is sort of early; FRA to 70 is normal; past that is late, hopefully not in a literal sense, either. We could chat about this all day and night of course and have a myriad of opinions, each worth about the same as a certain body part. It is fun somehow, anyway.

[2017ish]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rodi ... Some professions, with pensions that can be taken earlier, tend to skew younger. But pensions are becoming the exception, rather than the rule. ....

Agree. "Early" is going to depend on the job, I think. For example, if you chose a position early on that has a full-pay pension vesting at 30 years (or whatever), retiring at that age would be "normal," even if you are below 55....

In our case, I think our answer will be that 57/56 was not early enough.

[W2R]

I retired at 61+1/2. When I first arrived here (at age 58, knowing that I couldn't retire until 61+1/2), I wasn't sure if I would be welcome or not.

But when I asked, a member told me that certainly anything under 65 would qualify, and that really any age would be early if I thought it was early. So, here I am.


My answer to you is the same as his.

[Walt34]

I retired at age 52 but that was from a public safety position that I started the week before I turned 23, so 29 years + a few months. At the time I started 25 years was a "normal" retirement and later that was reduced to 20 years so the retirement income is better than I had planned on. I stayed on the extra time because at the time I enjoyed the job very much but it was other factors that made me retire.

[Big_Hitter]

uniformed public safety employees have lower "normal" retirement ages for a reason

I wouldn't consider a police officer who retired at 52 an early retirement, for example

opposite of that, some professions don't have retirement dates at all

for example, actuaries never retire, they just get broken down by age and sex

[Blue Collar Guy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big_Hitter uniformed public safety employees have lower "normal" retirement ages for a reason I wouldn't consider a police officer who retired at 52 an early retirement, for example opposite of that, some professions don't have retirement dates at all for example, actuaries never retire, they just get broken down by age and sex

Yeah , if you look at one of my older posts, i think i said the kids got faster(i got slower), they got meaner(i was losing testosterone) , and they punched harder(my prime power was probably around 35)

[Fedup]

Dangerous or physical jobs, early means 40-45. For the couch potato jobs, it's 50-60.

[Blue Collar Guy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fedup Dangerous or physical jobs, early means 40-45. For the couch potato jobs, it's 50-60.

Nice i like the summary. +1

[YVRRocketSurgery]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rodi extremely early: 30's or younger. very early: 40's early early: 50's early: mid 50's to early 60's normal: ss age or older (62+) new normal: 70

I'm fairly aligned with Rodi's breakdown even with my Canadian slant.
In general, I think anything before 60 is early retirement. 60 is when you can start collecting one Cdn government benefit, albeit at a reduced amount. At 65, the other benefit kicks in so I'd consider 60-65 the baseline.

I find between early 50's to 60 traditional early retirement. People with DB pensions hit their magic number combinations of age and years of service. A number people from my megacorp retire in this range. In Canada, one financial services company marketed an early retirement slogan of Freedom 55. A Cdn tax credit potentially kicks in at 55.

40 to early 50's is likely early such that people would be fairly surprised if you mentioned you were retired at this age. You would have had to build up a decent sized portfolio (investments or RE) to live off of because obviously government benefits are not close to kicking in and DB pensions likely are not paying out yet.

IMO anything below 40 is early retirement extreme though obviously doable as illustrated by a number of people.

[Big_Hitter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fedup Dangerous or physical jobs, early means 40-45. For the couch potato jobs, it's 50-60.

not all physical jobs have employer-provided early retirement benefits before age 55 - for example plant jobs in the oil industry, offshore rig workers, oil services terminaling, etc.

[Fedup]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big_Hitter not all physical jobs have employer-provided early retirement benefits before age 55 - for example plant jobs in the oil industry, offshore rig workers, oil services terminaling, etc.

I don't think they do, I meant they have a reason to retire because their bodies.

[Big_Hitter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fedup I don't think they do, I meant they have a reason to retire because their bodies.

no doubt but many of them have no recourse

IMO, all of us want public safety employees to retire earlier than the rest of us

for example, i don't want some 60 year old fat bald-headed dude trying to pull me out of my house when it's on fire

[Totoro]

The median effective age where people stop working in Belgium (my home country) is just 60 years old. So early starts younger there, before 55 maybe.

The new early probably will be 60 in a decade or so.

[Walt34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big_Hitter not all physical jobs have employer-provided early retirement benefits before age 55 - for example plant jobs in the oil industry, offshore rig workers, oil services terminaling, etc.

Indeed, one BIL has a very physically demanding job in a power plant and he's almost 60. Unfortunately he's married to "Spendarina" who can't stand to see a dollar in the bank and thinks the solution to every "I wanna..." is to charge it or take out a loan. He admits he'll have to work until he's 66. I hope he makes it because he's already running into some physical issues with knees, back, etc.