Poll: How happy are you in your ER stage?

[FIREd]

I voted happier than expected, mostly because everybody kept saying how much of a bad idea it was for me to retire so early. All the gloomy predictions have been proven wrong.

 

[H2ODude]

Becoming happier. While FI for several years, at 60 was able to pull plug and materialize a good pension and move to another gig I was recruited to. It didn't work out to my satisfaction so I bailed not long into it. Hence I was unintentionally ER at 60, but that's not all that early really. One thing I know, I am/was DONE working. I'm VERY happy to not work other than missing some of the people.

Biggest issue is finding interesting things to do. I've done the photography, model airplanes, woodworking, built houses and additions, and I'm just sort of done with it. So I make it a point to exercise a lot (which has always contributed to a sense of happiness, working or not). Fortunately DW and I get along great so look for things to do and that helps. Worst part is two kids and now 5 GC both living overseas. We are now booking our third trip to Africa this year for December, and those flights are not fun. However, the ties to family and ability to make the trips really are the highlights of our retirement. We thought traveling always would be fun (and not just to see family) but the time spent traveling to family uses up our tolerance for other pleasure travel.

I think part of the increasing happiness is recognizing that I can't work anymore, just not cut out for it and it's all used up. So I had to leave it and start retirement. When I was 60 I think there was a twinge of guilt or some such, as in I really should be DOING something with my life. As a few years go by, that just doesn't seem so important. Instead, it's been replaced with joy that I'm retired at a point where I'm still healthy enough to enjoy it.

 

[haha]

I would be amazed if many people who are still here on a forum essentially created as cheer leading for ER would admit to being unhappy. Those who were, went back to work, or moved to the Amazon or something.

When you are retired there is more time where you are in touch with you. This can good, or not so good. Distractions are less, as is the stress caused by commutes, horrible bosses, office politics and today's extreme requirement to be more PC than the next person. If you are a you know what, you know to walk on eggs if you work.

So overall, I am very pleased to be retired, and furthermore to avoid any and all volunteer work. I am lucky to live in a very good place, at least relative to most other US places, to have good health, to have good relations with my sons and my relatives, to have a loving and very attractive girlfriend, and to have a doctor who treats me like a human. If I weren't happy, I would be an idiot. However if I ever get ecstatic for more than a minute or so I would assume that I have suddenly gone mad and will soon need hospitalization.

Ha

 

[mickeyd]

12 years in and am a bit surprised how easy ER is. More $ than I can spend, more time to waste as I please, just passed my colonoscopy.

What's not good?

 

[braumeister]

I can't change my poll response, but the more I think about it, I should have answered differently.

I'm 13 years in, and I consider myself happier than I originally expected (my poll answer was "about as expected")

In the early years of ER, I knew there was enough to get by on for life, so I expected a certain satisfaction level.

But as time has gone by, I have come to realize that it's better than "getting by."

For one thing, I believe I'm healthier now than I was then. That's a huge thing. And DW is also healthier now than then, so we are truly lucky.

For another, I have more hobbies to enjoy now than I did then. So does DW, and we enjoy them even more, since we can engage in them whenever we like.

Finally, the market has been very kind to us. Entering ER in 2001, we have seen a couple of big declines, but overall the trend has been very positive. I've learned so much (a good bit of it right here (THANKS, EVERYONE!!!)) about asset allocation, withdrawal rates, diversification, etc., that I have high confidence in being able to enjoy our remaining years even more fully than initially expected.

Yes, life is good.

 

[Mulligan]

Heading five years into retirement already and just turning 50, I would say it is just as I imagined thanking a lot to this forum.... However I must admit if I did not enjoy spending a significant amount of time alone, I probably would be unhappy as my GF and my friends all still have to work.... I am also not a type A person, and I have no interest whatsoever in learning new hobbies, or needing to have a purpose in life post career. I am a master in the art of piddling and wasting a day away, and really have no desire to improve on that...


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[Lsbcal]

Hi Mulligan, any pointers on the art of piddling?
This might be a good thread on its own.

 

[Mulligan]

Hi Mulligan, any pointers on the art of piddling?
This might be a good thread on its own.

Oh ya, Lsb... First of all don't immediately get out of bed when you wake up...slowly transition by catching some morning news while half awake in bed ... Then get Krueg machine warmed up around 8, and head out to the driveway to pick up the morning newspaper... Drink 2 cups of Java while reading paper, then eat breakfast and then scan the internet and obligatory emails and forums with post coffee soda. Next thing it's you know it's 11. Shower cleanup and hit morning walk and workout at local SNAP fitness and then it's 1 when you get home... Eat late lunch, check up on cnbc and internet and it's 2:30. Go walk and play 9 holes of golf come home and it's time to fix supper. A few hours with GF who just got off work and then come home and I just barely have time to watch one of my season long hockey bets before it's time to watch Oreilly Factor while I am drifting off to sleep for the night. That's M-F as I do more stuff on the weekend...last month I put a floating perrigo floor in my small 4X6 downstairs bathroom... Probably an 8 hour job...But I'm such a piddler it took 3 weeks to get it all done as I had to work it around my routine!


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[Rick_Head]

6+ in. I'm not dead. That makes me happy.

 

[rockyj]

I chose "0-2 years into ER, neither happier nor less happy than expected", as I had pretty high expectations, but was flirting with "happier than expected" on one count below.

At six months into ER (both voluntary and planned):

- I am *much* more relaxed - no longer worry about things I need to do to meet others' workplace agendas, how well I may be doing them, etc.

- I have been quite content (and so far not bored) just taking things as they come - day-to-day household stuff, reading more, some socializing, some impromptu travel, a bit of volunteering, etc.

- I am in somewhat better physical shape - I have time to exercise more regularly, am eating better and have lost a few pounds (though still targeting a few more)

- Spouse and I are doing fine with new routine.

- Finances are on track.

- Fortunately we have had no significant personal crises or other surprises.

- In particular, and in excess of expectations, I have been pleased at how little I miss my former work and whatever social or self-identity I got from it. I thought I was pretty tied up with that, but there really has been no hole to fill there. From what I hear about current goings on at former workplace, I still am glad that I moved on.

As my first ER winter approaches, however, I am beginning to think that I could clarify some longer term goals, and begin to work on them in a more structured way than I have been - a little more focus, perhaps. I can easily see how someone could become disenchanted over time if personal expectations remained either unformed or unaligned with day-to-day activities. I think that ER provides the freedom to experience, learn and/or contribute more than one can ever hope to do in a lifetime. As someone else here said in another thread (perhaps it was W2R) "So many things to do and oceans of time in which to do them." In ER, it's up to the individual to decide (and then do, if any doing is needed).

Ask again in a couple of years.

 

[seraphim]

Oh ya, Lsb... First of all don't immediately get out of bed when you wake up...slowly transition by catching some morning news while half awake in bed ... Then get Krueg machine warmed up around 8, and head out to the driveway to pick up the morning newspaper... Drink 2 cups of Java while reading paper, then eat breakfast and then scan the internet and obligatory emails and forums with post coffee soda. Next thing it's you know it's 11. Shower cleanup and hit morning walk and workout at local SNAP fitness and then it's 1 when you get home... Eat late lunch, check up on cnbc and internet and it's 2:30. Go walk and play 9 holes of golf come home and it's time to fix supper. A few hours with GF who just got off work and then come home and I just barely have time to watch one of my season long hockey bets before it's time to watch Oreilly Factor while I am drifting off to sleep for the night. That's M-F as I do more stuff on the weekend...last month I put a floating perrigo floor in my small 4X6 downstairs bathroom... Probably an 8 hour job...But I'm such a piddler it took 3 weeks to get it all done as I had to work it around my routine!


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You're awake before 8


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[Kimo]

You're awake before 8


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,

Funny you mention that, I know you are having fun with the post but after 2 years I still can't sleep in!!!!!!!

 

[W2R]

,

Funny you mention that, I know you are having fun with the post but after 2 years I still can't sleep in!!!!!!!

If I don't set an alarm, I start living 25-26 hour days, staying up later each night and awakening later each day. That just doesn't mesh well with the rest of the world!

So I have an alarm that just plays soft, soothing birdsongs. For me that is enough to do the job, and it is a nice gentle way for me to transition from sleeping to being awake.

 

[Walt34]

Oh ya, Lsb... First of all don't immediately get out of bed when you wake up...slowly transition by catching some morning news while half awake in bed ... Then get Krueg machine warmed up around 8, and head out to the driveway to pick up the morning newspaper... Drink 2 cups of Java while reading paper, then eat breakfast and then scan the internet and obligatory emails and forums with post coffee soda. Next thing it's you know it's 11. Shower cleanup and hit morning walk and workout at local SNAP fitness and then it's 1 when you get home... Eat late lunch, check up on cnbc and internet and it's 2:30. Go walk and play 9 holes of golf come home and it's time to fix supper. A few hours with GF who just got off work and then come home and I just barely have time to watch one of my season long hockey bets before it's time to watch Oreilly Factor while I am drifting off to sleep for the night. That's M-F as I do more stuff on the weekend...last month I put a floating perrigo floor in my small 4X6 downstairs bathroom... Probably an 8 hour job...But I'm such a piddler it took 3 weeks to get it all done as I had to work it around my routine!

Slightly different activities (no golf for me for example) but we are definitely on the same page on the art of piddling around. I can take all day to change the oil on a lawn mower.

 

[Kimo]

If I don't set an alarm, I start living 25-26 hour days, staying up later each night and awakening later each day. That just doesn't mesh well with the rest of the world!

So I have an alarm that just plays soft, soothing birdsongs. For me that is enough to do the job, and it is a nice gentle way for me to transition from sleeping to being awake.

I guess because even in all my working years I never used an alarm, I was up between 4 and 5 whether I needed to be or not and I don't think it is going to end anytime soon!

 

[Mulligan]

You're awake before 8


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I wish I could sleep longer but I am stirring way before that. I have been in bed since 10pm...if I piddled longer than that in bed my back would be so stiff I wouldn't be able to bend over to pick up the newspaper. That would ruin the day!


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[Mulligan]

Slightly different activities (no golf for me for example) but we are definitely on the same page on the art of piddling around. I can take all day to change the oil on a lawn mower.

I think retirees should band together, vote and abolish day light savings time. I would much rather have that hour on the back end of the day than the front end....it takes too long to get going in the morning.


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