Others reactions to your Financial Independence

[Bestwifeever]

My family has the stance that money matters are private and it's extremely rude to actually ask someone how much they make/live on.... DD is our executor and in time, we will go over things with her....

Never knew how much our family had, but parents died in their fifties and our inheritance was $0 so not much. Probably not much fun to share information about a low salary or net worth.

We will also go over our stuff with kids later; they are not in line for any life-changing amount that needs to be planned for, they just need to know where it is.

Nothing is more fun than eavesdropping on your preteen kids and their friends and hearing the friends tell everyone how much money their parents told them they make . Actually that could be a problem, when kids think that what they have is their own accomplishment.

 

[RetiredAndFree]

We have not knowingly encountered it (not being sure what might be said behind our backs), perhaps because we don't flaunt it. We are thankful to have been able to achieve FIRE at 48 & 56, and live very comfortably, but in no way flashy, given where we live. Our biggest splurge is on travel which doesn't 'show' so people tend to forget about it.

Several members of my family struck it big during the dot.com days, becoming 'overnight' millionaires, so our ER situation isn't so odd.

The hardest part for me is in comparing my situation to my dad's. He worked until age 67 because he spent as fast as he earned. By selling his home in CA during one of our cyclical real estate booms and moving to a less expensive state, he was able to pull out some $300,000 in equity and finally retire. He keeps the funds primarily in CDs, plus SS, and while he lives very nicely on what he gets/earns monthly, I'm very careful to underplay our situation so as not to make him feel I'm rubbing his nose in our early financial success in any way.

 

[Milton]

Sometimes I hear the "you're lucky" thing but I just acknowledge it - yes, we are.

Exactly right. While to a large extent those who achieve FIRE 'make our own luck', there are many variables over which we have little or no control. No one 'deserves' success based 100% on their own efforts alone.

As I was reading through this thread, I'm having a hard time wondering why everyone is so secretive and closed about their financial situation. I've always known a more open environment when it comes to money.

Presumably you are not Canadian.

Why not share your success and teach others??

What jollystomper said. Who needs the potential hassle?

 

[esorsteve]

When I was still working, I engaged anyone willing to talk about finances. Some co-workers were willing to talk, others were not. But I was able to get everyone I worked with to participate in the 401k/457 plans at work. So when I retired early, everyone already knew my plans to ER, and that I had been working and planning on it for years. So everyone was happy for me and was expecting it.
While growing up my family never discussed finances. We came from nothing and am proud of what we have achieved. It took hard work and a long time for us to get where we are. So I am happy to talk about it with anyone interested or that I can help. I don't brag, but I try to share information with friends and relatives, so they to can also achieve success/FI. I still drive an 11 year old truck, a 13 year old motorcycle, a 15 year old motorhome and a 23 year old boat (all bought used). So I don't flaunt our success.
I have talked relatives into living with us, to help them financially (they are not free loaders, I had to convince them to move in). I have also talked them into investing and/or partnering with me to help them financially.
My daughters were raised to be independent, and are slowly moving in the right direction. But we still help them on occasion when I think it is necessary.
Bottom lines is we have not noticed any negative reaction to our FI and I think is is mainly due to trying to help others so they can see the opportunity is there for them too, if they make the right choices.

 

[Rena]

Our family and friends have all been very happy for our ability to retire a bit early. I'm 59 and just retired 2 weeks and dh is 62 and retired for 3 years.

My dh did have a neighbor comment to him the other day, " Your wife retired? But, didn't ya'll just buy a new car"? As if retiring and spending money are mutually exclusive. We thought that was kind of funny. The neighbor would have really been surprised if she knew we also paid cash for the car.

 

[RetiredAndFree]

Our family and friends have all been very happy for our ability to retire a bit early. I'm 59 and just retired 2 weeks and dh is 62 and retired for 3 years.

My dh did have a neighbor comment to him the other day, " Your wife retired? But, didn't ya'll just buy a new car"? As if retiring and spending money are mutually exclusive. We thought that was kind of funny. The neighbor would have really been surprised if she knew we also paid cash for the car.

We had a similar occurrence. We worked a few months past the end of our designated FIRE year, in order to collect our year end bonuses before retiring. We used a portion of those last bonus checks to upgrade our travel trailer and purchase a new SUV, the travel centerpoints around which our ER was planned. We had several friends express concern that we were taking on new debt after having just quit our jobs. The idea that we might have paid for them both in cash simply never occurred to them.

 

[Milton]

"Always pay cash for toys" is a fundamental rule of financial prudence.

Actually, "always pay cash for everything" is an every better rule.

 

[Rustward]

In 1989 I bought a new truck (a truck which I still get to visit every now and then -- current owner has taken extraordinarily good care of it) and my brother asked me what interest rate I got. Without thinking, I said I paid cash and it really caught him by surprise.

 

[Rena]

We had a similar occurrence. We worked a few months past the end of our designated FIRE year, in order to collect our year end bonuses before retiring. We used a portion of those last bonus checks to upgrade our travel trailer and purchase a new SUV, the travel centerpoints around which our ER was planned. We had several friends express concern that we were taking on new debt after having just quit our jobs. The idea that we might have paid for them both in cash simply never occurred to them.

We also upgraded our travel trailer last year. All part of our retirement planning.