Did you retire at the right time?

[Music Lover]

There probably was a poll about this but I've never seen one. Did you retire at the right time, or:

Way too early
A little too early
At the right time
A little too late
Way too late

 

[street]

A little to late. I went at 58 should of done it around 55 year old.

 

[Music Lover]

Darn it. I was trying to make a poll but screwed up.

 

[stepford]

A little too late here as well. Went at 55 and in retrospect could have done just fine if I'd left at 51-52. Difficult to guess this at the time, though. This was in the early 2010s and my (and everyone else's) finances improved to an unexpected degree in a very few extra years.

 

[rk911]

There probably was a poll about this but I've never seen one. Did you retire at the right time, or:

Way too early
A little too early
At the right time
A little too late
Way too late

i went at 55. wanted to go at 50 but couldn't get the ducks lined up. i'm happy with my timing.

 

[Helen]

I retired at age 56 which was the soonest I could go to qualify for health insurance. I wish I could have retired 4 years sooner while my mother was still alive.

 

[rk911]

I retired at age 56 which was the soonest I could go to qualify for health insurance. I wish I could have retired 4 years sooner while my mother was still alive.

my mom was still with us when i retired. when i told her about my early retirement she wanted to know what i...we, as my wife was about to retire as well...were going to do. my wife and i are avid RVers and prior to retiring we used to save up our vacation time and take the entire month of September off. after retirement we planned to expand our travels to 6-months each year. she remarked that we couldn't spend our lives driving up and down the interstate. i laughed and told her that we had already reserved I-57 between MP 44 and MP 312. i think she was worried that we'd get bored (i was a classic type a...folks at work were taking bets that i'd be back at work somewhere within 6-mos). i told mom not to worry...if we got tired of riding up and down I-57 i could always just stay home and supervise my wife!

one day, about a year into retirement or as i called it, the "mission", i was on the phone with mom and she told me that i really sounded relaxed and that she was happy for me and no longer worried. i didn't think i sounded any different but mom's can tell. i lost her in December of 2013 and I miss her every day.

 

[FlaGator]

Exactly the right time.

One year after DW passed, and enough time for it to be obvious my kids needed me more than my employer did.

ER was not part of the plan before the wife got sick, but we had enough to give ourselves options. Very fortunate to have had a partner like that, and one who did such a great job with the kids while I was working.

I’m absolutely one of the luckiest men alive [emoji2]

 

[DrRoy]

A little too late, but I wanted to max my modest pension. Hated to leave money on the table, but would have been OK.

 

[Midpack]

A little too early. Though she said she was going to keep working, when I retired I assumed DW would retire sooner rather than later. She continued to work for 7 more years! If I had known I might as well have worked at least a few more years. But then most of us can’t know when the best time to retire will be beforehand.

And no one can know if they retired too early or late financially until the end of retirement. You won’t know if the nest egg held up or not until then. Way too many variables to know for sure.

Until you go poof, you’re just guessing if you retired at the “right time” financially. Those who claim to know within 5-10 years may be kidding themselves...

 

[ckelly78z]

I'm 54 now, and could probably swing it with the "55 rule", but I have had alot of serious health issues, and have a pension/SS that won't start until 62. Yes, I would love to be retired now, but reality says no...still have a college student at home, and paying for a wedding for my other one.

 

[CaptTom]

And no one can know if they retired too early or late financially until the end of retirement.

Best answer! You beat me to it.

Three years in, I'm not wishing I'd gone sooner or waited longer. Well, not very often, anyway.

 

[RunningBum]

And no one can know if they retired too early or late financially until the end of retirement. You won’t know if the nest egg held up or not until then. Way too many variables to know for sure.

Until you go poof, you’re just guessing if you retired at the “right time” financially. Those who claim to know within 5-10 years may be kidding themselves...

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Now that I know what 2011-2019 were like, it looks like I could've retired earlier. I couldn't have known that at the time though, and there's still no guarantee.

Bottom line, I have no regrets. There's no point in worrying about it anyway, since I can't get that decision back. If I felt I retired too early financially, that would be different, as I could go back to work now if needed. But I can't retire in 2009 any more. And the next 10 years may be very different so I don't know that any OMY regret I had will be helpful to anyone else.

 

[Red Badger]

26 days too late.

We qualified for pension and health insurance once I turned 60. Didn't retire until the end of that month.

 

[athena53]

Could have done it a bit earlier but that's hindsight after 5 years of a very good market. Retired in May, 2014 at age 61. VERY glad I retired when I did; DH's health issues morphed into leukemia 2 years later (we'd known this was a possibility when he was diagnosed with polycythemia in 2002) and he died in late 2016. I was very glad to be able to be there for him without the distraction of work.

Life is still very good- I now have 3 wonderful grandchildren (first born a month before I retired) 3 hours away and I can visit them AND take trips to interesting places without having to count how many vacation days I have left.

 

[Dtail]

Retired at 57 y.o. Based on my non work situation at that time and discovery of FI, it was the earliest time I could do.
Now if I had known at 40 y.o. what I know now.......

 

[Kabowest]

Retired at 58, 30 days ago. So far it feels like the right time - this summer has been great. Financially I could have gone sooner, but wanted to have a bit of a cushion.

 

[freedomatlast]

Retired at 59 1/2, 38 days ago and so far it's been the best summer ever. Financially, I waited till Firecalc said I could spend twice the average of what my last three years actual expenses were, so probably could have gone much earlier, but still too early to tell for sure.

 

[Senator]

Probably too early, maybe 4-5 years early. I left at 56.

I did have a LOT more peace of mind, and I am able to do a lot more with the 'insurance' money I saved during those 4-5 extra years of working. I knew I would rather work those years in my 50s, than in my 70s.

And I also knew I was not going to be riding a bicycle to the grocery store to save money,

 

[marko]

I retired involuntarily at age 52. The 'at a bad time' part was that it was just shortly before we slid into the Great Recession.

In hindsight however it was the best thing I could've done and at just about the right age. Left to my own devices I'd still be working and missing out on so much of life.

 

[Chapter 3]

Certainly valid point that this is best measured at the end, at least financially. Financially I believe that I could have gone sooner, but am happy with my timing at this point - 8 months in. Personally I would have been happy without those last couple of years at work, but again, very happy that I had the option to leave when I did.

 

[RxMan]

I’d like to be able to leave on my terms and when I know I have enough for DW and myself to live comfortably. I’m still trying to figure out the timing but a rough estimate guess would be in 5-7 years. If that gets pushed out a couple of years to add to the funds I won’t be upset. I’m only 45 years old so even if we’re talking 8 years out I’d still be in my early 50s. I’m certainly thankful that all those years of saving money will give us options down the road we otherwise wouldn’t have available to us.

 

[Gumby]

I retired on the day I chose, so of course it was the right time. Why would I choose a sub-optimal time to retire?

 

[CyclingInvestor]

At the right time, 2006 at 48. I had hit my $ number 2 years earlier, but the extra dividend flow cushion gave me more peace of mind.

 

[Aerides]

@ 47, but the timing was perfect. I was ready to pull the plug, but had a strong suspicion that layoffs were coming, and talked my way onto the list. Ended up staying about 3 months longer than I would had their been no layoffs, but left with one of the best severance packages I've ever heard of.