Waited too long to retire?

[stepford]

I do regret not retiring earlier as I'm finding some of the activities I like to pursue a bit more challenging as an older guy. That said, my primary concerns prior to retirement were financial and given how well the market has performed over the last few years it's easy to second guess one's conservatism.


In other words I find that I have about 30-40% more than I "need" for a comfortable retirement and find myself wishing I'd traded some of that surplus for a few years less of work. That said, if the last 4-5 years had produced less stellar returns I could easily have been very happy to delay as long as I did.

 

[Olbidness]

Money for me was not the hold-up for retirement. The major milestones were DS to be off the payroll, and be eligible for retiree health care. DS was thriving by the time I turned 54 so when I turned 55 in 2016, and retiree health care eligible, I knew I crossed the finish line. I continued to work although I thought of it as a victory lap versus OMY. Two months after my 55th birthday I had a heart attack so for the next few months I weighed my options while in cardiac rehab and officially retired in 2017. Man plans, God laughs.

 

[NYEXPAT]

My only regret is the time I spent working for others!

 

[Teacher Terry]

G, sounds like a good idea not to retire now because it is just too many life changes at once. So sorry about your husband. It’s one reason we started to travel more as soon as we retired. You just never know.

 

[RunningBum]

I regret not taking the financial steps that would have allowed me to retire earlier.

That is a whole different situation. Likely one that is universal.

I don't know about that. Sure, there were probably a few things I could've done smarter, but maybe not so much without the benefit of hindsight. I wouldn't have wanted to deprive myself of living decently just to pull the plus a little earlier.

 

[aja8888]

Had a VP/GM job at a Mid-Corp California location, owned two SOCAL homes, two kids in high school, country club membership, etc, all at 49 years old. (DW was a stay at home Mom).

Then BOOM!

Surprise job loss!

Surprise DIVORCE!

Ended up in Texas with two daughters, an apartment, one car, new job (less $$) and alimony payments. Sold two CA houses (wrong time), paid for a house in MI for ex-DW, lost 1/2 of vested pension to ex-DW, and had near $100K in attorney bills.

I retired 20+ years later. a bit late.

 

[RobbieB]

My first wife retired at 55 and then died at 60.

 

[street]

I have no regrets when I retired at age 58. My plan was to retire 55 and could have easily but was still having fun then.

I can say if I would of found this site when I was 55 I would have pulled the trigger then. I was really uneducated about retirement before this site it would have made a big difference that I found it earlier.

 

[Aiming_4_55]

Could you have retired earlier?

Not retired yet but FI, give or take 50x in current expense in net worth.

At age 49 with a SAHM and 2 elementary age kids, I am looking at age 50, 51, or 52. Each offering good reasons to enjoy the W2, but if job loss or company buyout occurs, I'm gonna be lazy for a bit. I have slowed down and enjoying more vacations tho, 6 weeks away from home in 2019 so far. With 1 - 2 more for the holidays planned.

If I wasn't able to enjoy time away from the office, I would not be so willing to OMY. I originally figure 55 to 60 for ER, so still ahead of plans.

 

[Blueskies123]

I always felt very blessed with good health my whole life. I retired at 61 and within the first two years had 5 surgeries some with painful complications that restricted what I can do, even today. Of course I wish I had retired earlier but who knows the unforseen consequesnce if I had done so.

 

[Aerides]

I think we timed it "just right". Technically, I OMY'd, but that put me right into a RIF and a severance package which meant an extra year's pay + medical. It also meant DH was more comfortable with ER'ing, and peace of mind is invaluable.

As for if I'm wrong and we waited too long? If I have too much money when I'm 98 I'll be sure to post an update in this thread.

 

[mystang52]

I think I ER'd smack-dab at the right spot for me. I do have to give my daughter-in-law credit for that, though. Approx December 2012 I had casually mentioned that my ER date was going to be "some time between August and December [2013]" and she reminded me that this was the second time I had extended the time frame. That epiphany hit me hard. I said, "You're right. It's going to be March 2013," and that's when I pulled the plug.

 

[Nemo2]

I always regretted suffering the imposition of employment; therefore I underwent as little of it as possible.

 

[griffithee]

As far as my pension was concerned, I could have retired 11 months earlier. Unfortunately, I was under orders and an 11 more month commitment was required. Those 11 months made all the difference. I was able to do an incredible amount of research and set my record up for a great transition. So, I dont regret that decision. DW still had two years until eligible, moreover she deployed and left me and DS (15 months old at the time) and went to the desert. I was able to transition, be a SAHD, and work out the details for her retirement and transition while she was away.

 

[unclemick]

I was canned at 50. Er layed off is more polite. I whined, dinked around, did some temp. work, and generally took a while(gradually not an ah ha moment) before I realized a) I didn't have to work and b) I no longer liked the idea.

heh heh heh - also kept a low profile for about 5 years til I got an 'official' pension at 55.

 

[cyber888]

I can retire 12 months from now at age 55.5 yrs and Firecalc says Im 100% but I wont have enough buffer to feel comfy. So I’m aiming for 24-36 month.

 

[homestead]

I went through a financially disastrous divorce when I was 50 years old. It left me with essentially nothing but my clothes, my books, an old sofa, and a k-car that was on its last legs, with intermittent electrical problems. Oh, and $1K in the bank, no retirement, and the rent was due and I was working on a soft money (possibly temporary) research job. He got the house and contents by mutual agreement, and there was a lot of credit card debt. Life is like this sometimes!

Anyway, I took a job for the federal government, mainly for the retirement benefits (retiree health insurance and mini-pension). I could not afford to retire until eligible for them, by which time I was 61. The day I was eligible was a Saturday, so I retired two days later, on Monday to make sure there was no question about my eligibility. A big "plus" to my situation is that I knew for a decade exactly what day I would retire. I dreamed about retiring a year or two earlier, but when I broke out my spreadsheets there was just no way that I could make it seem even slightly feasible for me. When Katrina hit I thought I might have to delay another 6 months until my 62nd birthday, but I made it happen on the date I originally planned to retire.

TLDR: Nope, I couldn't have retired even a day earlier with enough safety margin to suit me.

Nice comeback!

 

[GR111]

Goog, thanks for the reminder to all never take health or time with loved ones for granted.

My grandfather retired at 65 and told me his biggest mistake was to wait. He said he was worried about money but learned the extra years would have been more valuable. I retire next year at 56 but if I could do over would plan better and retire sooner.

 

[DrRoy]

I was 57 3/4. Could have gone earlier but it is nice to have the extra $ to spend.

 

[athena53]

I was planning on 65 but my BS bucket was suddenly full at 61. I still deplore some of the backstabbing that led me to leave but it was excellent timing. DH and I had 2.5 good years left before he died- took a second trip to Alaska and one to Iceland- and I was able to be at home with him in his last days. Our granddaughter was born just before I retired and I can visit them (3 hours away) without counting how many vacation days I'm using up. Despite a blow-that-dough travel budget, my net worth has increased over 3.5%/year since retirement.

Health insurance was an unhappy surprise (doubled over 4 years and the network got crappier) but I'm on Medicare now.

 

[Offgrid Organic Farmer]

Waited too long to retire?

Did you retire too early?

I did it just right

... Could you have retired earlier?

Maybe.

If I had not gone to college, then I could have gotten my pension at 38. But that time was spent gaining some wisdom, that I needed to make retirement work for me.

... Do you regret not retiring WAY earlier?

No, not at all.

I retired at 42 and that was plenty early enough.

 

[Stormy Kromer]

I RE'd 1/1/2016 at age 50.5. Cold turkey after 31 years in the same office. I planned on age 50 when I was 21 years old and stuck to the plan. Financially I'm fine and am confident in my future. No regrets, in fact I still have frequent nightmares about work. I put a lot of stress on myself and staying would have impacted my health (physical and mental) no doubt.

I was a small business owner in a small town (population 1,200). The hardest part of retiring at 50 has been the social part of it. Many in my old home town seem resentful that I could retire so young "He made too much money off of us" is a comment that I hear. I moved 350 miles away and started over. It's gone well, when asked what I do I tell others that I work from home. My work is managing my own finances since I'm gradually moving all my funds from my FA to Vanguard. I also own a farm which takes a little time to manage. ER is not always admired in a small midwestern town where you're expected to work til you drop, even when you're long past FI. Still, I have no regrets.

 

[Moemg]

I had always planned to retire in my mid 50's but when my husband died when I was 51 I stayed on the job to keep myself busy .It was a smart thing to do while I healed and formed new relationships .

 

[IMATERP]

I retired 2 days before my 57th birthday. I probably could have retired a bit earlier but I wouldn't have the same comfort level that I do now + really thrilled to get an extra 9 months of pay - volunteering to be part of a buyout.

So, I guess the time was right. ��

 

[HI Bill]

Same for us B. Suze Orman just wrote another article for AARP telling people to work until 70. Many won’t live that long.

Work till 70, die by 80, eliminate your chances of running out of $! (Sarcasm)