very early retirement - impact on friends?

[W2R]

I don't mean to sound rude, but comments like this really make me wonder: Why do you guys stay in jobs you hate so much that you're counting the days until you can quit?

It almost sounds like you're "putting in your dues" for 20 years so you can finally start enjoying life. Why not find a job you enjoy?

I'm 32. I've got a long ways to go until retirement, and I'm looking forward to that new adventure when the time comes. But in the meantime, I like what I do at work, I like the people I work with, and I'm doing things I probably won't be able to do when I'm older.

Sorry if I'm reading the comments the wrong way, it just seems to me that "only 2000 days to go!" is a pretty sad way to go through life.

At your age, you are exactly right (and I shared your opinion 150% at your age). However, at almost age 60 I am a great deal older than you and wear "the golden handcuffs". And when I retire next year with a pension and lifetime medical, just remember all of this before you assume that I was really lucky and it wasn't fair and that older baby boomers get all the breaks.

 

[Khan]

I don't mean to sound rude, but comments like this really make me wonder: Why do you guys stay in jobs you hate so much that you're counting the days until you can quit?

It almost sounds like you're "putting in your dues" for 20 years so you can finally start enjoying life. Why not find a job you enjoy?

I'm 32. I've got a long ways to go until retirement, and I'm looking forward to that new adventure when the time comes. But in the meantime, I like what I do at work, I like the people I work with, and I'm doing things I probably won't be able to do when I'm older.

Sorry if I'm reading the comments the wrong way, it just seems to me that "only 2000 days to go!" is a pretty sad way to go through life.

I'm retired now, but I have some answers.

With only 2 or 3 years to go, is it really worth all the rigmarole of finding a new job? Especially if you will likely be losing benefits?

Want2retire has said she is staying for the retirement medical benefits; that was also a major concern of mine.

What is the hiring potential of the average 50 - 60 year old?

We are not all high powered executives or doing cutting edge projects (nor do we want to be). As we get older it simply isn't worth the trouble.

A job I enjoy? What might that be?

I can go days without speaking to or hearing another person.
I listen to the birds and watch the squirrels (and other critters that venture onto the lawn).
I putter around in the garden.

Will someone pay me to watch the squirrels?

 

[W2R]

A job I enjoy? What might that be?

Khan, your post expresses what I wished to express, only SO much better than mine. I love the above sentence, which pretty much says it all at this stage in my life.

I can go days without speaking to or hearing another person.
I listen to the birds and watch the squirrels (and other critters that venture onto the lawn).
I putter around in the garden.

Will someone pay me to watch the squirrels?

Not with guaranteed lifetime medical and pension to be provided in 604 days.

 

[Goonie]

I don't mean to sound rude, but comments like this really make me wonder: Why do you guys stay in jobs you hate so much that you're counting the days until you can quit?

It almost sounds like you're "putting in your dues" for 20 years so you can finally start enjoying life. Why not find a job you enjoy?

Thirty-plus years ago I took the job in municipal government that I ER'd from last April. The the top reasons why I originally took that job were:

#1-Job Security

#2-Good Wages

#3-Medical/Dental Insurance

#4-Great Retirement Benefits

Those were the good attributes of the job. When I started there I was 10-20 years younger than all the rest of my co-workers......which meant I was, quite literally, the low man on the totem pole. That wouldn't be too bad in most fields, but I worked in wastewater (a.k.a. sewage) treatment. That meant that I was the guy at the bottom of 30 ft. deep tanks, with the chest-waders, rain-gear, and hard hat on, waist deep in poo. Our boss was the biggest @sshole that I've ever met in all my life. There were many times that I was ready to walk out and quit.......until I remembered those four benefits listed above. I was also aware from day-one, that my full retirement age would be 55....unless they offered a 'buy-out' (which they did), then my full retirement age would be 50 (which it was).

I out lasted that boss, as well as the 3 that followed him! I also out lasted all of my other co-workers! There was only 1 other guy who had ever stayed there more years than myself. When I retired, out of close to 200 employees, there were only 2 guys with more seniority than myself. My last 10 years there were better than the first 20-some, because I had gradually crawled up the ladder out of the poo, to eventually become plant foreman and lab manager. Of course that climb just took me to a new and different version of poo......dealing with the red tape & bureaucracy of the state and federal regulatory agencies....and dealing with elected [-]sh*thead politicians[/-] officials.

I NEVER loved my job.....it was merely the means to reach a desired (and planned) end result.....FIRE! Mission Accomplished! I am now thoroughly enjoying all 168 hours each week, totally unencumbered by any thought or actual burden of employment!

As for putting in my 'dues' for all those years so I could "finally start" enjoying life........Naaah, not even close! The job only took an average of 40 hours out of my 168 hours each week.......those other 128 hours were mine to enjoy life! And enjoy life....I did!!! Retirement just added those 40 hours back into the enjoyment pool!

My retirement benefits for sticking it out there for 30+ years:

#1- COLA'd Pension which equals 87.9% of my former wage

#2- Full Medical & Dental Insurance (for life)

#3- Total Freedom to do whatever I want, whenever I want, wherever I want...for the rest of my life!

Good luck in your life choices!

 

[Goonie]

BTW....it's been 347 days, 4 hours, 30 minutes since I ER'd!!!

(still counting.....hahahaha!)

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

just last night i had a conversation with a friend who still lives in the hometown where we grew up and who i will be meeting next month in daytona (he's visiting and i want to look around again at some downsizes).

during our discussion of his recent dinner with another friend of ours who is early retiring to sarasota, my old friend tells me that he is jealous that i don't have to work. so i had to remind him that his net worth is greater than mine.

"but i'd have to sell my houses" he says. "well, what do you think i'm doing" i said. heck, i'm even considering a life overseas just so i don't have to work anymore.

it's not that he's jealous that i have more, because i don't. he's the one with more. what he is oddly jealous of is that i'm doing more with what less i have.

"less is more"~~ludwig mies van der rohe

 

[Ronstar]

I don't mean to sound rude, but comments like this really make me wonder: Why do you guys stay in jobs you hate so much that you're counting the days until you can quit?

It almost sounds like you're "putting in your dues" for 20 years so you can finally start enjoying life. Why not find a job you enjoy?

I'm 32. I've got a long ways to go until retirement, and I'm looking forward to that new adventure when the time comes. But in the meantime, I like what I do at work, I like the people I work with, and I'm doing things I probably won't be able to do when I'm older.

Sorry if I'm reading the comments the wrong way, it just seems to me that "only 2000 days to go!" is a pretty sad way to go through life.

I think a lot of people enjoy their jobs to a certain extent, but many have found more enjoyable things to do, and they have the means to retire early - so why not do the things you enjoy more if you can afford to?

 

[Fireup2020]

A mere 37 year old opinion on your question

I don't mean to sound rude, but comments like this really make me wonder: Why do you guys stay in jobs you hate so much that you're counting the days until you can quit?

It almost sounds like you're "putting in your dues" for 20 years so you can finally start enjoying life. Why not find a job you enjoy?

I'm 32. I've got a long ways to go until retirement, and I'm looking forward to that new adventure when the time comes. But in the meantime, I like what I do at work, I like the people I work with, and I'm doing things I probably won't be able to do when I'm older.

Sorry if I'm reading the comments the wrong way, it just seems to me that "only 2000 days to go!" is a pretty sad way to go through life.

I DO like what I do (they actually PAY me to TALK to people about some things I am passionate about)...BUT, I will be pulling the plug on my lovely j*b May 1, 2020 as a result of also wearing the proverbial golden handcuffs. Since I am only 37, that gives me a mere 4,424 days until I am no longer a W2 employee!!! (and in receipt of COLA'd pension, med/den/vis for life, etc - and a few years from another pension) I am already starting to participate in some of the things I plan to do "when I am older" - and will have more time to commit to those things at that time. The beauty of it all is that I am planning on pulling the plug, not disgruntled with today!

May you be as lucky as well to find a field/occupation/vocation you DO enjoy, so as to make the journey to FIRE as pain free as possible!

 

[rs0460a]

What I say...

I have no "friends" (only acquaintances) .

Therefore, there is no "impact"...

- Ron

 

[Billy]

LG4N

it's not that he's jealous that i have more, because i don't. he's the one with more. what he is oddly jealous of is that i'm doing more with what less i have.

This says a lot. You have put it very well. What you are doing takes courage, too, and it's possible that it's your courage that he's jealous of...

We speak to many folks who have 2, 3 and 4 times as much as we do, but they are afraid to not have a job. Truly, money is only one aspect of retirement. There's a lot more to unplugging from the 'norm' than money.

Congratulations!

Be well,
Akaisha
Author, The Adventurer's Guide to Early Retirement

 

[unclemick]

LG4N


This says a lot. You have put it very well.
We speak to many folks who have 2, 3 and 4 times as much as we do, but they are afraid to not have a job. Truly, money is only one aspect of retirement. There's a lot more to unplugging from the 'norm' than money.

Congratulations!

Be well,
Akaisha
Author, The Adventurer's Guide to Early Retirement

Hindsight - getting canned/er layed off at 49 was a good thing - while I was counting the days till age 63(early retirement).

And then I didn't realize what I was doing til after I'd been doing it for a while - then my brain shifted from 'unemployed' to 'ER don't need to work no more.'

Sometimes you gotta do what you do until you realize you really can do what you are doing - er something like that.

?

heh heh heh -

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

Sometimes you gotta do what you do until you realize you really can do what you are doing

also very well said.

What you are doing takes courage, too, and it's possible that it's your courage that he's jealous of...

i'm not sure if it is courage or a last-ditch effort in disguise; though, if courage, you, billy & others here have shown me a lot about this. my first thoughts was what a wonderful way to enjoy an adventurous life and so living overseas quickly became part of my original planning. but now that i've lost all my bubble money, it really is either that for, i project, about five years (though i imagine it will be a lifetime) or back to work for 10 to get me back on track. kind of a no-brainer.

never having been a real motivated guy, i wonder if i hadn't lost so much after deciding to retire, if i wouldn't have been content to wither and die in place rather than venturing off. now that my hand is somewhat forced (of course, though, by my choices), i'm looking foward to one day looking back and remembering the great times i'm about to have.

thanx for the inspiration akaisha et al.

 

[HFWR]

Sometimes you gotta do what you do until you realize you really can do what you are doing - er something like that.

?

heh heh heh -

Kinda brought a tear to my eye...

 

[Nords]

I don't mean to sound rude, but comments like this really make me wonder: Why do you guys stay in jobs you hate so much that you're counting the days until you can quit?
It almost sounds like you're "putting in your dues" for 20 years so you can finally start enjoying life. Why not find a job you enjoy?

I did find a job that I enjoy, and I am enjoying life.

It just took me 24 years of dues-paying to acquire the qualifications, experience, and savings to earn the job I've always wanted. Luckily I plan to keep this job for another four or five decades. Maybe longer. I'll never quit!

I've been to 20 years of school too (kindergarten through master's degree), and it sucked almost as badly as midwatches, but no one suggested that I drop out of that either...

 

[Eagle43]

Well, I did 43 years on the job. So, not really ER (I was 60). I think the proper attitude is "never be defensive" about retiring. It's your life and when it's gone it's gone. I remember those florescent lights at the cubicle farm. I did not want those lites to be my last view as they rolled me on the gurney to the ambulance. My aim is to "outlive the ba$tards." So far, so good.

 

[Billy]

LG4N

i'm not sure if it is courage or a last-ditch effort in disguise; though, if courage, you, billy & others here have shown me a lot about this….now that my hand is somewhat forced (of course, though, by my choices),

Well, you are certainly welcome…

I do want to mention that - from my point of view - there is nothing wrong with having one’s hand forced on occasion to bring you to another location mentally or physically. I have never had my life planned out years and years ahead. Although I respect those who are able to hold focus for decades I’m not one of them.

Some of the best locations (physically and mentally) where I have arrived, some of the most profound lessons I have learned have been in response to my ‘hand being forced’. (I prefer to call these times opportunities and options, filled with creativity! I choose to do something different.) That style, I’m sure, wouldn’t appeal to everyone, but then I simply can’t look at my calendar for years in the future only to see that all the squares are already filled in for me. Although there are those who would consider that ‘security’ - for me, that style would suck the life and enthusiasm out of me quicker than I would like to think.

I guess that’s why there are different strokes…

thanx for the inspiration akaisha et al.

Be sure to realize that you are the other half of this equation. If you listen to what others offer, receive their insight and then act on these things yourself, then the credit goes to you as well!

Be well,
Akaisha
Author, The Adventurer’s Guide to Early Retirement