Insane Emergency RE strategy

[haha]

Here's another update to this old thread. We don't often know when an early retirement fails to thrive, but this one certainly did.

I think it is likely that ERs go bust not infrequently. I always figured that it was usually from imprudent investments, but the two that I know in my personal life were just from chronic overspending. I have written about a woman that I met maybe 15 years ago who blew through a $2mm inheritance, and now pinches pennies and gets some money from her son while waiting for her spousal SS.

I learned from my sister last night that one of our cousins, also a woman, has totally run dry on her roughly $1mm inheritance, and can no longer find work. She lives in the basement of some better off friends from her childhood and high school girl's school days. I passed on to my sister that she should apply for SSDI, based on apparent mental illness.

She likely will not have the get up and go to do even this.

Ha

 

[NW-Bound]

I have not read his blog recently, mainly because it has been mostly inactive. As I recall, he did not expect to fully retire, but more looked to be semi-ER, as he knew he was underfunded. I think that he was looking for a break from work more than anything else. And he's done that.

 

[dixonge]

Here's another update to this old thread. We don't often know when an early retirement fails to thrive, but this one certainly did.

As I pointed out in my first post in this thread:

Worst case scenario? If the savings dissipate, if disaster strikes, if we overspend, if we undersaved or miscalculated.......well, then we go back to work. Disappointing but we're working now, so not a horrible change.

The fact is we possibly could have scraped by without going back to work. Still not 'thriving' but also not a 'real job.' We chose to go back now so that my pension vesting date would coincide with my wife's official earliest possible retirement date. She'll be 60 and I'll be 56.5 when that happens. Will that still qualify as 'early' retirement? I'm not sure, but the fact remains that my wife will have been jobless for six full years by then. No paid work or income for her beginning at age 54. No more for me at 56. That seems like it still qualifies as 'early' retirement.

This two-year delay in our plan will not only help replenish our savings but will provide a 25% boost to our monthly retirement income for life.

So no, our early retirement plans didn't work out as well as we had hoped, but the current scenario is well within the scope of possibilities we anticipated. We still won't be working into our late 60's or longer. And we've already had a mini-retirement of four years and thousands of miles and hundreds of people and several countries and countless memories.

If I died today, I'd die happy. 'Failed to thrive' won't be on my tombstone.

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Glenn, you are a brave man. You have dared much and shared your journey with us. Thanks.

 

[Koolau]

She'll be 60 and I'll be 56.5 when that happens. Will that still qualify as 'early' retirement? I'm not sure, but the fact remains that my wife will have been jobless for six full years by then. No paid work or income for her beginning at age 54. No more for me at 56. That seems like it still qualifies as 'early' retirement.

"Early" may be a state-of-mind. I originally planned on age 65 retirement, so age 58 was "early" to me. IIRC, that's pretty close to the median in a poll some years back. In any case I was financially Independent at age 51 so I'm counting that as "early" FI even though my RE came later. It's all in the way you look at it. If you're having fun "getting there", that should make up for missing the original FIRE goal. In any case, not too many folks here ever criticize what others count as "early" (we criticize just about every thing else - but not that.) YMMV and thanks for the Blog.

 

[dixonge]

brief update - I am employed again in I.T. and will fully vest in April 2017. We'll head back to Mexico and points south in September/October 2017 for our real, true not-quite-so-early retirement. I'll post a final update to this thread around that time...

 

[W2R]

brief update - I am employed again in I.T. and will fully vest in April 2017. We'll head back to Mexico and points south in September/October 2017 for our real, true not-quite-so-early retirement. I'll post a final update to this thread around that time...

Good luck to you, Glenn, and happy trails.... Your retirement sounds nice and early to me, since I was 61.5 years old when I retired. What great adventures and fun you have ahead of you.

 

[dixonge]

Just for kicks, I thought I would share an article I ran across that explains in some detail the *valid* reason some spreads can gap up or down on expiration day.

https://tickertape.tdameritrade.com/thinkmoney/2010/10/expiration-pm-index-settlement-70305

 

[RobbieB]

Someone said here that "early" was anything sooner than your full SS retirement age.

I like that definition. I also like to do what I want w/o having to worry that it costs too much. I hate budgets.

So I worked a bit longer than I needed to, but I didn't hate my job either and now I'm pretty nicely set.

Whatever works! The most important thing about your retirement is you. It doesn't matter what anyone else does or thinks, just you -

 

[Bruce]

You could always rent a house in the mountains of Tibet for $25.00 a month. Of course running water is outside and you need to bring some newspapers to fill in the cracks between the wall boards.