Poll: Did you retire too early, too late, or about right?

[SecondCor521]

I don't think I've ever seen a poll on this, and I'm curious.

Please evaluate how long you've been FIREd and how you feel currently about whether you retired too early, too late, or just about right.

 

[scrabbler1]

Your year ranges are not quite continuous. Where would someone who is retired for 10 years fit into your selections?

 

[RunningBum]

Your year ranges are not quite continuous. Where would someone who is retired for 10 years fit into your selections?

If they are exactly 10 years retired, they could wait a day and pick the >10 year option.

 

[marko]

Going on 14 years now; RE'd at age 52. Could've RE'd much earlier --and had planned to--but was suddenly having a lot of fun with work.

Fate intervened with an involuntary RE and I'm glad fate had it's way with me. Best thing I ever did.

 

[SecondCor521]

Your year ranges are not quite continuous. Where would someone who is retired for 10 years fit into your selections?

You got me. I'm deeply saddened that my plan to exclude people who retired 10 years ago today and want to express an opinion from my fabulous 100% scientific poll has been outed. Drats!!!

(If you retired 10 years ago today, vote from among the last/bottom group of three options. I meant them to mean 10 or more years.)

 

[Alan]

You got me. I'm deeply saddened that my plan to exclude people who retired 10 years ago today and want to express an opinion from my fabulous 100% scientific poll has been outed. Drats!!!

(If you retired 10 years ago today, vote from among the last/bottom group of three options. I meant them to mean 10 or more years.)

I changed the last 3 options to show >=

Hopeful that will satisfy all options.

 

[SecondCor521]

Thanks Alan! What service!!

 

[Alan]

Thanks Alan! What service!!

No worries

 

[SecondCor521]

No worries

You deserve a raise. I'll talk to the board about doubling your salary and stock options.

 

[Alan]

You deserve a raise. I'll talk to the board about doubling your salary and stock options.

Thanks.
One nice thing about the salary - it’s completely tax free

 

[RunningBum]

Thanks.
One nice thing about the salary - it’s completely tax free

You should defer as much of it as you can.

 

[W2R]

I would have liked to retire maybe 7-8 years before I did retire (at age 61, back in 2009). It just took a while longer for everything to come together, especially federal retiree health insurance eligibility and that was a necessary part of my plan.

So, I slogged away at it and finally "all systems were go", so to speak, so I retired.

 

[38Chevy454]

Only been retired about 1.5 years to date, but it seems the right timing so far.

 

[Cobra9777]

I passed the 5 year mark last year. Knowing what I know today, I could have retired earlier than I did. So that's how I answered (5-10, too late). At the time, it felt a bit "borderline," and some here told me so. I was also heavily discounting SS at the time. And DW worked 3 years longer than planned. So yeah... had I known all that, I could have retired ~48-49. I was certainly ready.

 

[braumeister]

When I was still a teenager I decided to try to retire at 55, simply because I had always been told that 65 was the normal, accepted retirement age and I wanted to beat that by ten years.

My plan was successful, and I've been happy ever since. Neither too early nor too late.

 

[Bir48die]

To me I felt frivolous retiring at 60. No one I knew did that. However it was perfect. Soon after they started dropping like flies. No regrets

 

[Kwirk]

I (mostly) retired the day I became eligible for CSRS. I couldn't have retired a day earlier and had no wish to wait a day longer. I did continue to do very part-time, unscheduled, remote contract work for some years afterward but viewed that as strictly optional.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

I would like to have retired at about 22, but that wasn't feasible. But at 4 years in, I think my time to retire was about perfect. I had a career I enjoyed, hell it was even *really* fun at times...and a lot of people don't get that. BUT...I am now able to live *my* life the way I want and the memories of my career days are still there, and I can reflect on the fantastic and ignore the rest of it.

 

[MRG]

I left at 56, I was planning on 57 but sometimes plans change! I'm glad I left when I did, could have hung out waiting for a RIF, but the toxic environment won.

 

[scrabbler1]

I always thought I'd be able to retire in my early 50s, even after switching from FT to PT in 2001 at age 38. But the pieces of ER plan began falling rapidly into place in the first few years after 2001, so I knew I'd be able to ER well before my previous goal. So, when the final piece fell into place in 2008, I retired at age 45. For me, it wasn't too early or too late, it was just right!

 

[Dtail]

Retired around 18 months and it feels just right.
If I had known all the info 20 years ago that I do now, I would say too early, but one can that for lots of things.

 

[stepford]

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, so I can say now that I wish I'd FIRE'd at 50 instead of 55. Then again, even with recent reversals, we are still near a market high after 10+ years of growth. Another crash/recession and my FIRE at 55 might start looking about right again.

 

[Lewis Clark]

Your year ranges are not quite continuous. Where would someone who is retired for 10 years fit into your selections?

The ">=" means "greater than or equal to".

 

[NYEXPAT]

FIRed 31 years, seems about right, but ask me again in another 30!

 

[scrabbler1]

The ">=" means "greater than or equal to".

I know that. When I asked about it, the range said ">10" only. Alan changed it after reading a discussion about it.