Early Retirement Is Overrated: Here’s What We Plan to Do Instead

[HI Bill]

Hoping for the best is not a strategy

Hope may not be a strategy, but many folks retire without planning..and without determining what their standard of living might be. I have one friend who's about to retire in January. She was planning to live on a certain budget. Last week, she went to a Medicare/health insurance class, and found out that because of her income, she'll be paying $200 more per month for Medicare than she thought. $2,400 per year. Busted her 'budget', which obviously had little to no contingencies.

Most of us here try to plan meticulously for the future, which, if you're not counting on hope or God to take care of you, is probably a rationale course of action.

 

[HI Bill]

You can be RE without being FI and without being homeless.

As you pointed out, for a limited time. You may end up having to sell the house to move into an apartment, or move from an apartment to a relative's house, or be reliant on Medicaid and other assistance to live. You're absolutely right. It's just not the choice most of us here would make or plan for.

 

[RonBoyd]

Hope may not be a strategy, but many folks retire without planning..and without determining what their standard of living might be. I have one friend who's about to retire in January. She was planning to live on a certain budget. Last week, she went to a Medicare/health insurance class, and found out that because of her income, she'll be paying $200 more per month for Medicare than she thought. $2,400 per year. Busted her 'budget', which obviously had little to no contingencies.

Most of us here try to plan meticulously for the future, which, if you're not counting on hope or God to take care of you, is probably a rationale course of action.

"The Commanding General is well aware that the forecasts are no good. However, he needs them for planning purposes." --Ken Arrow

 

[RobbieB]

Is anyone else but me getting tired of these silly opinion puff pieces about fire with no meat to them?

I don't bother reading the dreck so don't know. No bloggers, no articles, no financial advice. No health for elderly either.

Too busy having fun in retirement -

 

[AS2019]

From her article: “So, for now, we plan to keep on working and saving … and working and saving. The more we can invest now while we’re young, the more confident we’ll feel when we decide to stop working later on.”

Isn’t that EXACTLY what most on this forum are doing or have done?

 

[ncbill]

At the risk of alerting the retirement police, I've always wondered how many on this forum have a spouse/partner/etc. who plans on working while the other is already retired?

Or retires from a MegaCorp "just a job" to something they're passionately into?

In one of his interviews Stan Lee talked about how most people he knew were only thinking of their next vacation, while he looked forward to going to work every day.

Which says a lot considering all of Marvel's many ups and downs.

 

[braumeister]

At the risk of alerting the retirement police, I've always wondered how many on this forum have a spouse/partner/etc. who plans on working while the other is already retired?

That's probably worth a thread of its own, don't you think? Maybe even a poll.

It has certainly been discussed here off and on, but I don't recall if there has ever been a thread strictly on this point.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

At the risk of alerting the retirement police, I've always wondered how many on this forum have a spouse/partner/etc. who plans on working while the other is already retired?

Well, my DW would fall into that category. Over the last 4 years, I have tried to convince her to join me in the retirement adventure, but she says she just "isn't ready". It's not a $$$ thing, as she has an effective savings rate of damn near 100% (and somehow...even with us "blowing dough" recently, I am still saving, too). I think it's more of an upbringing thing. Her parents have ZERO need to w*rk (own several very successful businesses) and are in their 70's but keep on w*rking.

Unfortunately, now that she is w*rking from home with very flexible hours, I don't know that I will convince her anytime soon. But, she has no issue with my life of leisure and the simple fact is that we are still saving a decent amount of $$$, so when she *does* decide to retire...well, we will be able to continue to blow that dough!

I would start a poll, but that seems like too much w*rk to me.

 

[scrabbler1]

Those characterizations certainly don't describe my lifestyle; how about yours?

No evidence was offered to support her hyperbolic assertions. She has zero idea what she is talking about.

They don't describe mine, either.

One unbreakable condition for my retiring early 10 years ago was there would be no change to my everyday lifestyle. If I wanted to go on a minor spending spree once in a while, I could do that without worrying about busting my budget (which contains a cushion to allow for such a spree).

Another condition of my retiring early was that I would never, ever, have to work again. I do pick up about $200 a year from helping my (snake-bit) friend out with his taxes and finances and from small compensation due to my volunteer work (to cover my expenses). If neither paid me, I'd still help them out. And it doesn't impact my finances one bit. At most, it saves me a trip to the ATM once in a while.

 

[Offgrid Organic Farmer]

At the risk of alerting the retirement police, I've always wondered how many on this forum have a spouse/partner/etc. who plans on working while the other is already retired?

My wife did not start her career until after I retired.

We used her income to fund building our farm.

As soon as she qualified for their pension she quit and got that pension.