How did you decide/plan to ER?

[martyp]

I had an unpleasant year of of downsizing in 2009-2010. I wasn't in danger of being laid of myself but I felt like I needed to find another job. I spent about 2 days looking at job listings when I got the idea that I should look at the current state of my pension benefits. I had never done that before and I was surprised to find that I was already FI. When I brought up the idea of ERing to my DW she thought is was a good idea. I put together a financial spreadsheet and in 30 days I made the final decision to leave w*rk. I didn't actually leave until about 5 months later in December 2010.

We are FI because we both have worked over 30 years at the same university which has a COLA'd defined benefit plan. We paid off our mortgage last year. DW is still w*rking but plans to leave in Jue 2015

 

[nash031]

My goal is to be like my neighbor who ... is in his mid 80s; golfs daily and still does all his yard work.

This pretty much sums it up for me. I might still be doing triathlons in old age if everything works out, but either way I do not intend to be a houseplant in my 80s, so I try to really take care of myself in my 30s. (Of course a lot of other things have a say in that!)

 

[MikeWillRetire]

I'm not retired yet. I started seriously planning it about 3 to 4 years ago when I realized that my job skills were becoming obsolete, and I did not want to move into management. I noticed that the newer employees were becoming better at the job than me, and it was being reflected in my performance appraisal. Basically, the plan is to retire before being fired!

 

[Trawler]

It was after the 2001 downturn that Mega Corp was starting to crumble and my job was eliminated several times but I was able to land somewhere within the organization. I realized then that I needed to become FI as no matter my job performance it could be gone. DW and I always LBOMs and I knew it was possible to get there. Started researching ways to better plan the portfolio. Sought the advice of a FP and learned we were already on track to FIRE at 55. That was 13 years ago. Over the next 11 years Mega Corp was bought and sold twice and last was to a Private Equity firm and that is when it became very stress full and no fun and unrewarding. Looked around the industry and realized the situation was not any better elsewhere. Ramped up more savings as we continued to earn more as DW was a nurse. Fast forward in late 2011 I got another new boss and needless to say I would prefer to go to the proctologist than have a meeting with him. I found myself saying every day I need to leave. My DW one day pointed out that she had noticed I was not happy even when not a work. With that I crunched the numbers once again and this time I could not think of a reason to continue working and ACA was on the way. Thus October 1 2012 was my last day and I was 51 years old. DW followed in spring of 2013. I sure feel better!!!

 

[sengsational]

Several years ago I ran the numbers using tools recommended on this site. I realized that the thrifty gene of mine had paid off. At the time I liked the work I was doing, was well respected, had no commute, was getting well paid, so didn't do anything.

When I was asked to train my Indian replacements, I came back to this site, put a very fine point on the financial analysis and learned about the 401k access at 55 rule. Since I could theoretically spend quite a bit more than my annual burn rate, and the writing was on the wall for my job (even though they said "we'll always need someone stateside"), I gave them my 2 weeks notice.

 

[Lcountz]

I was fortunate I chose a career with a nice pension. Though the pension wasn't even on my mind until I hit my mid 30s, then it simply was stay the course until I hit my retirement age. My goal is to be like my neighbor who retired in the mid 1980s with a good union pension. Now 30 years later he is in his mid 80s; golfs daily and still does all his yard work.


Me too. Thank God for the pension....Out since 1-4-2013 and have not had to touch my 401k yet (I'm 58). I trial lived on my anticipated pension amount for about 3 years prior to retirement.....and, I bought a car for cash, and a new steel roof before I left employment!! ( thank goodness, from what I've read here lately)..

Sometimes being single is a drag, but at least I can afford to live a nice life in retirement...and I actually like being alone and quiet most of the time....tho I do wish I knew someone who wanted to go camping in an Airstream trailer......so at least I'd have someone along to help learn the ropes of truck, trailer, WD hitch, etc etc etc......!

 

[truenorth418]

I had long had an interest in ER and had been saving money like crazy for years. I hated my job and knew I wanted to get out at a young age. Once I had enough money to do so I made a specific plan to quit in 18 months. As it turned out I was laid off after 12.

 

[robnplunder]

I am not officially ER'd yet...but close. I hit the wall this past year. Stress.
My health and happiness is suffering greatly. I used to love what I do. . .
I want to be free so badly I cannot stand it!

I really never realized I was FI until this site and firecalc. I have used several others to confirm. It has been a pleasant surprise.

< snip >

Funny thing, the more I think about ER the stronger the desire has become to the point I feel a bit obsessed with it. Anyone else feel that way?

Me. I spend a lot of time recrunching numbers, evaluating downsizing, studying new places to move to, making list of things to do in lieu of work, adding items to bucket list, splurging now while I have a megacorp job, .... It has become a part time job.

 

[W2R]

For me, retirement planning was part of my psychological recovery after divorce. After 23 years of marriage, at age 50 I found myself with no house, a junk car, and almost nothing else except mountains of debt and constant nasty phone calls from creditors that I could not pay. I was living in a strange town thousands of miles from home and knew nobody, working at a new and possibly temporary (soft money) job, with no savings. And, my marriage was ruined, something I never thought could happen to me. Needless to say, that was a real low point in my life. In a sense I was lucky to have such a strong motivator I suppose, although Scarlett had it worse by far! The comparison is half in jest, but like her, I tried to find strength in all this and not let life beat me down:

I'll never be hungry again - Gone with the wind scene - YouTube

I did what I could, muddling through things for that first year. When I was 51, my older brother sent me an email encouraging me (thanks, George!). On that day I felt much like Scarlett must have, though for much less reason, of course. I decided that I was going to do whatever it took to get out of that financial hole and still manage to retire before I was 62 with a paid off house somehow, as had always been my dream previously. On that day I started a very early, tiny version of my Excel spreadsheet and I have worked on it each day since. I would say that the keys to ER for me were:

(1) my spreadsheet
(2) LBYM
(3) living in the 20th-21st century in the USA, and consequently experiencing some amazing opportunities for which I am so grateful.
​

 

[John Galt III]

I think it was way back when I got divorced. I chose to not give any of my 401K to the ex. I had to remortgage the house to pay her off. But that 401k was a symbol to me of freedom, someday.

 

[iam21177]

Ever since I was a teen, I always knew that I would just do everything differently than my parents. Dad has cancer the last 6 years of his life and also retired when he had his first diagnosis. He secretly spend his entire 401a and then died at the age of 58 with $6.13 left to my mom (it was spend on drugs, gambling and probably hookers). So with that, I just knew I was not going to be like them and worrying about retirement. My mother was always in the dark about where they stood.

I met my H. He was 30 and I was 32. He had his PhD by the age of 25 and had been aggressively putting away money before we met with his own goal of ER. Very financially savvy and responsible. Seeing out detrimental it can be to find the WRONG financial partner in life, this was something I was looking for in a husband. Someone who would be a team with me and not have secrets.

The ER goal was my husband's at first. I just knew I was going to make sure I was fine in retirement (and not struggling) but had not dreamed of ER really. Together we worked out numbers, analyzed our saving potential and now it's our joint goal to ER. I am on board 100% (didn't take much convincing really).

The actual age of ER? We are still working on it, but it's projected between ages 45-50 right now. We are 37 and 35 right now.

I've see a lot of recent deaths, cancers, lives unfulfilled; it just makes all the more reasons to aim for ER for me.

 

[kaudrey]

It's in the family blood to be frugal; we are all savers. I started thinking about ER pretty much as soon as I got out of college. My parents were always planning to retire early - they had bought land when I was a kid on which they would later build their retirement house. They pulled the trigger when they were 57 and I was 25. In my mind, it became my goal to retire at least as early as they did. I created the first version of my "retirement spreadsheet" when I was 32, I think.

They retired 20 years ago. I am now 45. My parents are almost 77 and have never looked back. They traveled in the earlier years, played golf, tennis, got involved in a variety of hobbies and charities, and lived a very full life in retirement. My mom's health has suffered in the last few years and she doesn't get around too much anymore, and I am so glad they had so many years together to enjoy each other and reap the benefits of 35 years of hard work. I want to do the same.

My second husband is on the same page as me as far as retiring early, which works out really well for him since I still want us to retire when I am 57 and he will only be 52!

 

[heeyy_joe]

I will be done at year's end. 2013 saw my wife battle breast cancer successfully, treatments finished and scans clean as of March 2014. Some of you may have noticed I was off-line for several months last year. Just told employer I'm selling Texas home and will finish the year telecommuting from Florida. Helping employer with transition for my management role until year end. Time to kick back and relax with DW while the sun is still shining.

 

[EastWest Gal]

Funny thing, the more I think about ER the stronger the desire has become to the point I feel a bit obsessed with it. Anyone else feel that way?

I know EXACTLY how you feel. I'm obsessed too.

 

[Major Tom]

Funny thing, the more I think about ER the stronger the desire has become to the point I feel a bit obsessed with it. Anyone else feel that way?

I was never obsessed with it, but I was always thinking about how much I could put away each year and looking for extra opportunities to save and invest. I've always liked doing simple math on bits of paper, and I would often do back-of-napkin calculations to figure out how much I would have when I was older, based on different savings rates and different assumed interest rates.

When the time did come, I had some money stashed away, so the years of saving and scribbling sums on bits of paper must have helped.

 

[nash031]

I know EXACTLY how you feel. I'm obsessed too.

I'm still a bit torn sometimes. RE at 42, or keep working for a little while longer for a few more luxuries. I mean 45 is still pretty dang early, as is 50... I have OMY syndrome like five years early.

 

[Bigfish]

I was 30 years old in a new job and my boss told me about the 401K and he said "I don't care how much you put in but just start" so I starte at $25 a pay period and when I got a raise I would add a little more. I knew very little about money management at the time but slowly educated myself and 13 years later when I changed jobs I rolled the money over to the new plan. One of the options to where you could put your money was Vanguard so that's where the money went and I chose my own funds. Luckily like many others DW was onboard with the plan. I will be retiring at the end of the year at 63. I know that's not early but we agreed to enjoy a few things over the years not knowing what lay ahead otherwise I probably could have retired earlier. I often think about the advice my boss gave me many years ago and how much it means to me now.

 

[scrabbler1]

Funny thing, the more I think about ER the stronger the desire has become to the point I feel a bit obsessed with it. Anyone else feel that way?

Back in 2008 in the months leading up to my ER, I would think to myself several times a day, especially on the 2 days I had to go to work each week, "Why am I still working here?" Between that and checking my (proposed) ER budget spreadsheet I was definitely nearing the point of being obsessed with it.

 

[athena53]

I never realty planned for early retirement, but I've always had a philosophy of "save as much as you can while having a little fun along the way". I'm an actuary so it's easy to obsess over variables like inflation rates, out of pocket medical/dental/vision/hearing costs (already I've got 4 dental implants), etc. About 15 years ago (age 46) I started a simple spreadsheet projecting my assets at age 65 under some reasonable assumptions about future savings and investment returns. That really helped because now I had a plan. Investment returns didn't always follow plan, but my savings did!

When my employer was acquired in 2006 I realized that, unlike many coworkers, I didn't need to jump ship in a panic because we had resources. I ended up staying another 6 years there and had some good jobs and great travel (London, Zurich and Bangalore) on the company dime. When I could no longer find good opportunities there without moving to a HCOL area, I left for a local firm. At the time, Plan B would have been to just retire if I couldn't find anything.

I got fed up with that job 2 weeks ago and quit. I'm 61.5, so earlier than expected, but I'd always known that might happen and I'd read too many sad stories about 50- and 60-soemthings losing jobs and being unable to find another. I'm grateful I had that option.

 

[Sea Kayaker]

I was around 36 years old, miserable in my job, and I was aimlessly surfing the interwebs when I stumbled across a site called Free at 45 - a quick look and something CLICKED. I wanted to retire early... unusually early... and I wanted this BADLY. I have been somewhat obsessed with this goal for the past 9 years.

Fast forward to now, I am 42 and ready to pull the plug - 3 years ahead of schedule. Just need to grow a pair and actually DO IT. 1.3 million portfolio, handful of paid off, wonderful west coast properties that take our NW north of 2M. Wife still wants to work for a bit yet, making a great six figure salary. No kids. No debt. We live quite frugally (around 2k monthly). Likely large inheritance down the road. Yet I am nervous to take the leap.

OMY syndrome is awful.

 

[Looking4Ward]

What made me decide?

Reading this thread.

 

[A Bird In Hand]

Frugal parents instilled frugal values and habits in me. So LBYM and maxing out my 401(k) soon after starting my first job after college were no-brainers. DW did the same, and both of us had generous matching contributions from our employers. As a result we managed to save a nice chunk in our retirement accounts after working for 10 years or so.

Starting at around 10 years of working at a computer all day, it began to dawn on us that we were gradually compromising our health with a sedentary lifestyle. I think that was the initial impetus that got us thinking about switching gears. At first the focus was on a career change rather than ER.

Somewhere between years 10-15 of working, some other life circumstances caused us to start thinking harder about an exit strategy from the 9-5 routine. After we started having kids, we noticed it was difficult to carve out enough quality family time. And even when we did have time, we were often mentally drained from work. I looked at our still-working parents and realized that, like them, we'd probably be working well into our 60's and beyond unless we did something to break out.

So a few years ago we started brainstorming to figure out how we might be able to escape. DW switched to a part-time career that was much less stressful; we doubled down on debt reduction; we focused on LBYM; and eventually I came across sites like this one while researching ways to downshift. From this site, bogleheads, and others, I got some good ideas and inspiration on how to focus our ER dreams into practical actions.

With the help of tools like Firecalc, we gained some confidence that we might actually be able to RE in our 40's. We chose 45 as a target age to enter ESR, and we've been following that plan for the last 2-3 years. So far, so good. Currently we think that downshifting to part-time work (same career/jobs we have now) when the mortgage is paid off is the right approach. There's a light at the end of the tunnel in about 6 years, and that's made a big difference in our outlook and ability to cope with the daily grind. Still gotta work on the sedentary part though!

 

[UnrealizedPotential]

I was never obsessed with it, but I was always thinking about how much I could put away each year and looking for extra opportunities to save and invest. I've always liked doing simple math on bits of paper, and I would often do back-of-napkin calculations to figure out how much I would have when I was older, based on different savings rates and different assumed interest rates.

When the time did come, I had some money stashed away, so the years of saving and scribbling sums on bits of paper must have helped.

I try and figure out how much I will have in the future all the time.Even though I know it is not based on any accuracy,it keeps me motivated trying to actually make it happen .

 

[nokkieny]

For me the decisions has always been more philosophical. To be frank, life is to short not to. I will not allow myself to get stuck in a hamster wheel, and one day look back and realize I spent my life trying to accumulate stuff, working for the weekend, stressed and unhappy.

 

[tkopel]

My husband is a type 1 diabetic, so has a shorter lifespan, with potentially physically limiting complications. This is motivating us to retire as soon as possible so we have as many good retirement years as possible. This is also a major reason that I am going to stay in the Army until retirement. We are planning on retiring when I hit 22 years, he will be 54, and myself 50.

We are also motivated because my husband's parents both died in their early 60s. Like many have said, life is too short.