How confident were you when you left your job?

[daylatedollarshort]

But I have the EU citizenship and would not mind in the least living in Europe again, so I know that I can have secure access to quality healthcare and, even if my portfolio is permanently cut in half, I'd still be able to maintain a comfortable lifestyle there (DW is totally on board with a move to Europe as well).

That is one of our backup plans and if the ACA had not come along we might be there now.

 

[MRG]

I was confident that I was done w*rking. I was at my wits end, stuck doing something I absolutely hated. Up many nights, stuck with 2 idiot backstabbing co-w*rkers that fit in with our screaming management. I'd been there 29 years in many different areas that was the worst.

I wasn't too sure about the financial aspects, three years later things seem pretty comfortable.

 

[Moemg]

I was pretty confident but I retired in January 2008 and then the drop happened . I immediately lost almost 40% of my portfolio and seriously debated returning to work . I did not but that drop left my confidence shaky so I usually way under spend .

 

[Walt34]

We were fairly confident, but like others we knew it was a huge lifestyle change that could not be undone. The financials showed we would never have to work again if we didn't want to. And I have a well-funded DB COLA'd pension with heavily subsidized health insurance, a rare package now. After the move to WV DW fully intended to get another job and we both thought that would be fairly easy since she worked for federal govt. and always got outstanding reviews, service awards, commendations, and the like. Turns out things are different in WV, you have to "know someone". She applied for and interviewed for several jobs but somehow was never hired. Shortly after her father began having health issues and that became her "job" since we lived only 35 minutes away. She said that giving her the free time to take care of him was the best gift I ever gave her. It was a good move for both of us, she would have been miserable and exhausted trying to keep a job and do that too and at some point the money just isn't worth it. We were long past that point.

Both of us had planned on getting at least part time jobs but then we found those didn't pay enough to justify the expense of commuting. I later stumbled into a low stress job a bit over 3 miles away that paid almost what I was making before I retired, a surprising find. I stayed on there ~5 years and quit when things went downhill, which was fine because I was about to quit anyway. It was a good gig while it lasted and we put most of that money away, which became instrumental in delaying SS until much later than planned.

So financially we are in better shape than we thought we'd be when we first pulled the plug and moved.

 

[martyp]

I was totally confident 5 years ago both financially and psychologically. It has been great ever since. However, it has been interesting to watch DW struggle with the psychological part. She hasn't retired yet. She plans to ER in December but this will be about the 6th exit date in the last several years. So far everyone I know who has ER'd is just fine with the decision.

 

[brett]

I was laid off with an excellent negotiated severance package. That cemented the numbers for an early retirement. Could have done some consulting but preferred to walk away. Never regretted it for a moment. Finances are better than anticipated. Not surprising since we took a very conservative approach to the numbers.

 

[Rustic23]

Everyone's situation is different. Knowing how confident I was will have little to do with how confident you should be, unless we match exactly.

Having said that, and because you ask, here goes. 99%, nothing is 100%, and I'm sure there was a little doubt somewhere. In our case DB pension income was enough to cover until SS kicked in. Then another pension kicked in and shortly after RMD's. We do not depend on savings so economic worries are at a minimum. Living in Texas, we can defer property tax when we reach 65. For us that is about a fifth of our expenses, so it is a safety net. Retired military, so Tricare takes care of medical. We take one or two one week cruises each year, and two to three weeks of car trips. We have also replaced automobiles.

Hyper inflation, natural disaster, War, or some other unforeseen event maybe, but I don't loose any sleep over it.

I will say that we under estimated the amount of disposable income we would have. I did not realize how much you save by not working.

 

[petershk]

I have been test driving ER for a month or so now. I was WAY more worried when I had income than I have been in the last month (3 month unpaid sabbatical... with open end for ER).

Honestly I haven't noticed. I just put a couple months of cash in checking and left the rest alone.

I HAVE realized that I want to get my portfolio management to as close to 0 time as possible... so I've been doing that.

Aside from that I run firecalc simulations much less and spend little time looking at money.

Separately I spend less... dunno exactly yet... but seems like 20% or so. It's not from any one thing... it's a combination of time arbitrage and a general sense of knowing there's no "income" so I think a little bit more before buying anything.

It's really weird having so much time... not having to be anywhere... playing with kids all day.

Each day that goes by I get closer to making the sabbatical more permanent.

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Early Retirement Forum mobile app

 

[travelover]

I was confident in the financials, took a little while to reconcile what I did with my spare time. Turns out that I like to loaf.

But it has only been 9 years, so maybe I was overconfident.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

I was confident in the financials, took a little while to reconcile what I did with my spare time. Turns out that I like to loaf.

I am pretty sure part of the reason I stay busy is simply poor time management.

 

[Car-Guy]

I'd say I was highly confident since I had planned, planned and planned some more. Now, after more than 4 years of retirement, the numbers are proving out as planned and I have had no regrets other than I probably should have retired a year or two sooner. I'd be willing to pay back every extra dollar I made in that last ~two years to have that time back.

 

[MBAustin]

I was very confident financially, but after a few months of decompression, I decided that I "should" do some consulting. After spending a couple of months working with a coach on a business plan and doing all the LLC paperwork, I found that I wasn't enjoying pounding the pavement to get gigs, and realized that I truly didn't need the $$. I ended up making just enough to pay myself back for the upfront costs and closed it all down for good early this year. Now I'm strictly a volunteer, and still staying plenty busy.

 

[Koolau]

As I had back-ups to my back-ups, I was quite confident with one caveat. Inflation or some unknown "black swan" could be around any corner. Remember the turmoil caused by 9/11. We can all image a worse scenario though there isn't much point to do so. YMMV

 

[braumeister]

I was extremely lucky, so I was confident.

My goal, ever since I was a teenager, had always been to retire by 55. I had picked that since the "normal" age was 65 and I wanted to beat that by ten years.

So when I hit the magic number of 55, I knew I was FI and could do it, but was stuck in OMY syndrome and just put it off.

The lucky part is that at about that time the rumors started flying around that our company was going to be acquired by a larger one, and that meant layoffs. So I decided to stick around until the end of the year to see if I could snag a layoff package.

Sure enough, the big day came and something like 60% of us got the layoff notice (mostly the higher paid ones). My boss was practically in tears when he gave me the news, but I was grinning from ear to ear.

I saw it as a sign from above, and never thought about w*rking again.

 

[dunkelblau]

I was extremely lucky, so I was confident.

My goal, ever since I was a teenager, had always been to retire by 55. I had picked that since the "normal" age was 65 and I wanted to beat that by ten years.

So when I hit the magic number of 55, I knew I was FI and could do it, but was stuck in OMY syndrome and just put it off.

The lucky part is that at about that time the rumors started flying around that our company was going to be acquired by a larger one, and that meant layoffs. So I decided to stick around until the end of the year to see if I could snag a layoff package.

Sure enough, the big day came and something like 60% of us got the layoff notice (mostly the higher paid ones). My boss was practically in tears when he gave me the news, but I was grinning from ear to ear.

I saw it as a sign from above, and never thought about w*rking again.

I'm in a very similar situation and am aiming for the same thing. No luck in the rounds so far, but the big one's coming next quarter. I was very confident when I first pulled the plug three years ago because my annual spend (excluding income taxes) was less than 1% of my taxable accounts. I went back to work after quickly running out of stuff to do at home, and it's been OMY ever since. No change in confidence because my spending is up by the same percentage as my taxable accounts. I still don't have any preference for ER or not, happy to leave the timing up to my employer.

 

[gayl]

When I left my gov't job, I was confident. I had a pension, and like many, I had a very part time small business. Lasted 10 yrs and there was a house full of dependents

However, retirement adjustment is more about activity than income for me. Laid off 4/27/16 onto unemployment with an empty nest & single, I am not adjusting that well this time. But I'm confident I will

 

[kcowan]

I was extremely lucky, so I was confident.

My goal, ever since I was a teenager, had always been to retire by 55. I had picked that since the "normal" age was 65 and I wanted to beat that by ten years.

I had the opposite problem. 55 was also my target but the company offered a golden handshake when I was 49. So I took it and then consulted. One thing lead to another and I ended up being a CEO twice in consulting engagements.

 

[Cobra9777]

I was highly confident on the money side. We each have traditional pensions and employer-subsidized pre-medicare health insurance. Also have some rental property and dividends from the taxable account. Along with the pensions, this covers most expenses, which are on the high end for this forum, and could easily be cut 20-30%, especially by downsizing the big house. In 3 years of retirement, we haven't actually sold any investments, but I have worked the cash allocation down from 5% to 3%. With SS still to come at some point and rather large tax-deferred balances, we seem to be very well situated financially for whatever the future might throw at us. But I'm still pretty new to this whole ER thing, so who knows.

Regarding the non-money aspects of ER, I was probably less confident and a bit nervous, but very excited about the possibilities. After 25 years of solving Megacorp's complex problems, I feared I would become mentally lazy. I originally had plans to expand our rental business, teach at the local community college, and possibly invest in a small business opportunity. None of that happened, mainly because it all sounded too much like work... schedules, commitments, driving in traffic. I was too busy enjoying the ER lifestyle and re-discovering all my long-lost hobbies, passions, and interests. That's really all I want to do at this point and I'm happier than a pig in slop.

 

[Taxman59]

As to the $$$, I was feeling pretty good. The Fido calculator was giving me the go signal, FIRECalc was at 100%, and EMoney was at 100% as well. I was a bit worried about the non-money issues, but that was more about DW and her fear of a "lost income". Her parents retired on disability, SSI and interest (no stocks, they are too risky, but bonds and CDs will always pay good interest!), so that is what she was looking at. Our plan is to live off of the assets and when an annuity kicks in about 70, that plus SSI will cover 102% of our expenses.
The non-money issues for me were fine, I have hobbies and generally am a loner type (I think most of us on this site are that way), so I am happy. DW wants to socialize more (not that we did much before retirement)and travel to exotic places (she sees something on the TV and wants to visit). That is a new trait and I never saw it coming. I guess we should all be a bit worried about the "surprise" change in us or our SO after we retire.

 

[kgtest]

His younger brother is an A student looking at actuarial programs.

Competitive...I've had the honors of working with Actuaries' in my career. They are nifty with spreadsheet's that's for sure! That eighth decimal place does matter to them hehe.

 

[braumeister]

Competitive...I've had the honors of working with Actuaries' in my career. They are nifty with spreadsheet's that's for sure! That eighth decimal place does matter to them hehe.

I used to have a friend who was studying to become an actuary, and he said it was the hardest thing he had ever done. Considering he already had a Ph.D. in mathematics, that's saying something.

We have some actuaries here on this forum, and they certainly get my respect.

 

[travelover]

...........We have some actuaries here on this forum, and they certainly get my respect.

They have a 97.6% chance of getting my respect.

 

[FIREd_2015]

I wasn't very confident since I wasn't FI when I quit my high tech career over a decade ago at the peak of my earning potential but I figured if things didn't pan out I could always look for another job or rent out my primary residence in Silicon Valley and move to a lower cost of living area. It definitely helped that I had always lived well within my means and did not have any dependents. In hindsight it was a pretty gutsy move and a bit naive but as a friend once said - no guts no glory.

 

[John Galt III]

I was already in my post-retirement job but was thinking about just quitting and retiring, but the problem was that I liked my job. I thought I might like not working even better, but wasn't sure. Anyway, I got fired, which made quitting not an option. I agonized about whether to get another job, but ended up not doing so. I paid full freight ($239 per mo) for a high deductible health ins for one year, then the ACA came along which reduced my health ins costs greatly. So no, I was not confident when I retired, but it is working out fine, generally. Knock on wood. I do live quite frugally, but always have, so that's OK.

 

[GravitySucks]

I left the w*rk world more due to life changes than money. I lost my wife four years ago yesterday , then a few friends went through cancer treatments and I didn't see much sense sitting at that desk spending my days making PowerPoint slides telling the next vp what I did was valuable.
I did speak with a FIDO rep and ran the the numbers through RIP and FireCalc and read A Random Walk Down Wall St. so it wasn't a blind jump. I did plan on doing some contract work or part timing, but the markets saved me from that fate.
If I had found this forum before I jumped I may not have taken the leap as my plans had a 4.5% WR and that seems almost sacrilegious here. Glad I did find you fine folks as I've made way less mistakes since reading your stories and strategies.
After three years and change I'm doing alright so I think I'll stay happily and lazily unemployed.

Senator, with your rental income stream and present spend rate I don't see how you can be worried unless you have some need to leave a multi million dollar estate behind.