At what age did you retire or plan to retire?

[mountainsoft]

Our plan is to retire when I'm 60 (wife will be 55), though I will probably keep doing some part time work till I start taking SS at 62-65.

Of course, with the whole COVID mess I would expect taxes to go up and Social Security benefits to go down. So we may or may not meet our goal depending on what happens over the next three years.

 

[Sanstar]

Retired 5 years ago at age 59. DH retired 2.5 years ago at age 64. DH managed 6 months and has been working last 2 years. He plans to work at least 1 more year. It’s IT work he does from home.

Given the current environment I’m totally supportive and appreciative. Hopefully, in a year or so we can get back to full time retirement with safe travel.

 

[Nords]

rule of 55?

"The following additional exceptions apply only to distributions from a qualified retirement plan other than an IRA:
Distributions made to you after you separated from service with your employer if the separation occurred in or after the year you reached age 55, ..."
https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc558

 

[Alan]

I retired at age 55 and 20 days, 2 months after my wife retired at age 54. That was March 2nd, 2010.

Neither of us have earned a penny since. My private pensions are fixed, no COLA, so 10 years of low inflation have nicely carried us over to UK and US SS next year. Taxable investments have provided all the discretionary spending we have wanted.

 

[MatatuPuncher]

I will retire in a few years at 47. Fully retire. No hobby job, no rental house, no consulting on the side. Pension will easily cover a nice life. TSP is there as well if I want to go more luxurious.

 

[gooddog]

Retired age 49 (2012), but went back and did a few hours of contract work here and there at age 51 & 52. Could never go back, sleeping in until 9AM every day is just too sweet.

 

[reawilliams]

I retired at 62 and haven't earned a dime since then (4 years now). However I do a lot of work at home to keep the wife happy since she still works and covers our health care.

 

[2177V]

I retired at age 55 after 34 years in the federal government as an engineer which I earned a 62% of my salary pension. However the county offered me an engineer job so I continued to work for 10 more years to age 65 earning another 27% of my salary. Adding SS puts me at 110% of an engineer's salary. Still in great health so I perform unpaid volunteer work in my community. I could have retired at age 55 but my job at the county was satisfying. If you hate your job then retire early. If you love your job and you are in good health, then retire later.

 

[Earlygirl]

Retired from my job at 60.5, and my husband retired from his job last year at 67. However we still have several rentals properties that require quite a bit of work. So, as our kids say, I guess we aren't really retired yet. I marked 70 or older.

 

[coderbiz]

Apparently not retired

Since I paint for fun, but people quasi-regularly throw money at me to take a painting I probably would have given them for free if they'd just asked nice, not retired? I'm cool with that. Vote me off your island for making more money for the cost of having fun.

 

[SeanPizzle]

I'm planning on 54/55. Still in a very lucrative park of my career and able to put away a bunch more over next three years with vesting ISOs. I will do some big ticket items like HVAC, new tesla Model Y, a small travel trailer and the three bathrooms in my house prior to that.

 

[meleana]

I resigned at age 62. I voted in the poll wrong. I thought I was 63.


Anyway, new management took over that year and proceeded to try to force long time employees out - mostly older women. I tried to stick it out and even fight it, but finally gave up..


I immediately redid the household budget. Hubby was still working full time. I connected with a fee only financial planner. Before we knew it we were putting our house up for sale and building/buying our retirement home in another state. We moved into a rental temporarily until the new house was finished and hubby was done with his job. Hubby moved up his planned retirement to 12/31/19 and we moved in February of this year.


The financial advisor has us living on our cash for now, hubby is on medicare and I am on an ACA plan, so keeping our income on paper low. The plan is no SS checks until age 70. No pension for me. Hubby had a pension which you could not live off the small annuity payments so we took the lump sum.



So everything worked out and I am glad we did not wait until I was 65 and he was 67. Moving twice was grueling. And we never would have thought we could retire until I could be on Medicare and also save more money.



Now if this darn virus thing would just go away so we can enjoy the retirement life we planned....

 

[piccolopat]

I answered 60 but it was really 59y, 10mo, 2 wks. I simply rounded up. I retired earlier than I planned (would have been at 62) because my company moved, increasing my daily commute from 3 hours a day to 5. I loved my job but after doing this commute for 15 months I decided I didn't need to do it any more and retired. Best decision I could have made and very happy with my decision.

 

[Jeb-NY]

Was ready at 55 but was still enjoying my job, most days, so worked two more years till the company made me an offer of a years pay and bridge insurance till I turned 65. If that wasn't enough incentive my boss, his boss and his boss were all changing at the begining of the year. Nothing would be the same in a month, could be better (not likely) or worse (my old boss saw me about 6 months later and said I made the right move).

 

[Elizrogers]

Wow. I wish I'd read these 20 years ago. I would have maybe done some things a lot differently. Especially investing in real estate. I'm amazed how many people retired long before social security eligibility. Before age 50, I planned on retiring at 62. My mother (my best friend) was living with me then and we planned to travel. She died suddenly of lymphoma in 2000, when I was 50. I liked my work and once she was gone, I had no more family left and didn't want to travel alone, so decided to never retire, put my docial security in savings, but take more frequent vacations to visit old friends. I was laid off in 2018, at age 68. In 45 years I had never taken more than a month to find a job I wanted. After 9 months of getting a dozen interviews, always being one of 2 or 3 finalists, but not getting the job, I decided to retire. I knew it was my age, because on the final interview I was often asked something like "how long do you intend to be with the company?". So, I retired at 68, but would have worked till I couldn't, if not for age discrimination. I do volunteer work, but it doesn't make you feel as vital or essential as a real, paying job does. And with everything shut down for the pandemic, I find myself sitting home watching too much tv, and it's pretty boring. The mind begins to turn to mush and you take a lot of naps, then don't sleep at night. And now I really no longer have the motivation to put in 40+ hours a day in an office. Though I do miss having a reason to get up in the morning, other than just feeding the ducks, birds, squirrels, and bunnies waiting outside and the cats inside. That's a long story to say my answer is, forced retirement at 68.

 

[WhenIsItTime]

47. Great run in Corp America. Invest early, often, live below means, enjoy compounding.

Yes, my username can now be changed.

 

[Rambler]

I retired at 51 and a few weeks. We live off of dividends and interest in our taxable acct. When I retired, we moved back to the States from where I had been posted on an overseas assignment. During my assignment we built a home on 2 acres in a rural community. For various reasons, in 2018, we decided we needed to leave that state, and the rural life, for something a bit more suburban. Now we have a bigger house, but 1/6th the land space. I kept busy on my two acres all the time, and it was fulfilling...building things, growing things, killing weeds. I find that now, at 58, I’m getting bored and thinking about a hobby job. The thing is, if I do a hobby job, at the hobby I like, I’ll make a buck or two over minimum wage. Then I’ll have to pay SS, disability, fed and state income taxes at the max rate, so that I could net $5 per hour or less. So I was considering getting my RE license earlier this year, just about the time Covid hit and RE in our area ground to a halt. Since I don’t “need” to work, I just keep pushing the idea down the road. During April and May, I spent many hours a day lounging by the pool...enjoyable for a couple weeks, but I’ve been bored with it lately.

So will I work for pay again? Maybe. I consider myself retired because I will never work again as a senior executive, even if I do choose to take on a part time hobby job. I do some volunteering as well, but I’ve found that most volunteer opportunities have the same BS and self important individuals running the show as the corporate world. I retired because my BS bucket was full to overflowing and I didn’t need any more BS, nor any more money to be comfortable. So, sign me “retired, was fulfilled, but currently struggling with fulfillment issues”.

 

[Canoeboy]

Original plan (set in my 30’s) = age 55
Revised plan (set in my late 40’s, early 50’s) = age 60
Actual = Age 57.1

 

[alanbennett]

I retired at 62-was bored at work, hadn't identified anything else there that I really wanted to do, and figured that I had more than enough to support myself.

 

[Jamie1101]

Planning for rertirement paid off big time

I have been on this board for long enough to realize what an "outsider" I am. I worked a for GM on the factory floor for 30 years and retired under the "30 and out" provision covered in the Union Contract. I retired in 2005. I was 53 at my retirement. During my working career I invested in every savings plan I was allowed. My last stint at Corvette Assembly I had so many savings deductions there was not enough in my take home pay to cover Union Dues. I was told this was the first time this every occurred!! Once I maxed out my 403 the Union got their back dues!! For the record ... being a member of the UAW and paying those Union dues was the best investment I ever made.
Unless the pay would match the Union Wages I retired from there is no way I would ever go to work for someone else again.....Between my pension, SSI, and a monthly auunity I don't need to access those investments I worked so hard to build up. I am living a rich full life and I'm happy.....

 

[Retired Expat]

Yes, but I want a poll that makes it clear that you are not retired if you are working for money in any capacity for any reason for any amount of time. For this poll it does not matter if you do not need the money, or the job is fun, or it does not feel like work, or you only work 2 hours a week, or you only do it because you are bored, or it is a temporary assignment, or any other reason. Working for money equals not being retired, including working to maintain real estate rental property. And you have no plans to return to work.

Based on that criteria I will never be retired. I enjoy real estate, and living in different places. I buy them, fix them up to my liking and live there a few years, then I sell for a profit, because hey, that is me. But I don’t consider it work. Likewise I refinish furniture that I find. sometimes after refinishing I sell them for profit. Why does making money from a hobby disqualify me from being retired.

What about the 2x a year I would go to Vegas? Eat well, take in the shows and gamble? Of course like all gamblers I know, we always come out ahead with a wad of dough in our pockets. Hate to think I gave up my retirement for the Bellagio!

 

[Old Microbiologist]

Retired in 2009 and moved lock, stick, and barrel to Hungary one month later. Then sold our 4 homes in the US and have not worked since nor needed to or even wanted to. We don't regret our decision for even a second.

 

[GR111]

FIRE’d at 56. That was 15 months ago. I gave 6 months notice per mega Corp policy. Lots of sleepless nights during that time. Then I found the wise and wonderful people of this site. It happened just like y’all told me it would. My last day, as I walked across that parking lot to my car for the very last time, the stress monster jumped off my back never to return....Freedom!!! I never looked back. Thank you great people of this forum, y’all saved my life!

 

[Thag]

Loved my career, but loved FIRE more

Wanted to retire since age 18 (when my dad retired at 55). I wanted to best that and retire at 50. Finally retired at 52. Helped out a time or two since for short periods, but not because of money. Won’t do that anymore because retirement is so liberating.

 

[JustVisitingThisPlanet]

Depending on how you define retired I 'retired' from corporate IT at 54 last year and now focused on private equity investments. But I don't do the research, my brother and his team of Harvard MBA/lawyer buddies do all the research and negotiations and I tag along as a smaller player. So I consider myself retired rather than a career change. No more salary income, just savings/investment income. Though I may consider a job I'd enjoy that has health benefits. Don't have to work but not thrilled with healthcare costs.