What age would each of you define as “early retirement?”

I

Itsagrind

Dryer sheet wannabe
Joined
Sep 20, 2018
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I know that, technically, anything under 65 is considered early retirement. I’m 58, and I am counting the days to when I can finally escape the clutches of big corporate. Now, I always plan to do “something” to keep busy, bring in some spending $$$, but I don’t view 58 as a particularly early retirement.

You?
 
I retired at 57, but do consider anything under 65 to be early. Reading on this site, can skew thoughts on the typical age for retirement. Even on this site, the average retirement is probably 56/57.
I live in a gated non retirement community in FLA (but has some retirees) and don't know anyone else under 60 who is retired.
 
I always thought of 55 as early retirement. I guess that's because where I worked, that's the earliest you could take retiree health insurance. So, 55 or anything earlier I would consider early. Between 55 and 65 is grey for me. I guess that's semi-early retirement.

Practically speaking, if you can get out of the grind while you still feel good, I think that's early. It's one of those questions that only matter for the sake of conversation. Off the treadmill is good no matter the age.
 
RunningBum said:
Why does the label matter?
Click to expand...

Agreed... it's just an arbitrary label. I suppose if you wanted to come up with a somewhat objective definition of "early", you could do a survey and find out what the median age of retirement is, and then "early" would be any age younger than that. Or, alternatively, any age younger than one standard deviation below the average age at retirement.

Personally, I tend to think of early retirement as any age under 62, which is the earliest age at which anyone can claim Social Security benefits.
 
Itsagrind said:
I know that, technically, anything under 65 is considered early retirement. I’m 58, and I am counting the days to when I can finally escape the clutches of big corporate. Now, I always plan to do “something” to keep busy, bring in some spending $$$, but I don’t view 58 as a particularly early retirement.

You?
Click to expand...
I tend to think of the label as a sense of pride and accomplishment. Many of us sacrificed, took a lot of risks, lived below our means and created wealth much faster than the average Joe.
 
In my former aerospace employment 55 was the nominal age for "early retirement" as modest pension and healthcare benefits were provided for those leaving after this age. "Full retirement" age was 65 and pension benefits maxed out at this point. Most folks retired between these two ages, a few would hang on until their late 60s for various reasons and almost nobody retired before 55.

I agree that labels don't matter, but some variant of this structure seemed common throughout the industry (though the details of the benefits varied considerably among individual companies). As a result I tend to think of 55 as early, 65 normal, and anything under 55 as way the heck early retirement.
 
I would say most consider that to be 55 or younger. These days you could slide that up a tad to 57
 
65 is kind of the normal retirement age per many people's definition, so anything before that is early. I can agree with this.
 
RB,

You’re right, the label doesn’t matter...just curious to get the perspective of others. I do feel a pang of guilt leaving the corporate payroll, when I could easily stay on another 2-3 years. BUT...I really don’t like what I do...we are financially secure...my wife is a teacher and will continue to work mainly for the benefits, and my adult kids are launched. My family is concerned that I will get bored, maybe even a little depressed. But I promised them I would consult, take up some new hobbies, etc. And exercise, much, much more. So, looking forward to my...early retirement...
 
I look at anything below 62 as being early, being that's the earliest you can get SS
 
I retired at 52, but that was from a public safety position where early to mid fifties is normal. Some even retired in their late 40's.
 
Itsagrind said:
RB,

My family is concerned that I will get bored, maybe even a little depressed. But I promised them I would consult, take up some new hobbies, etc. And exercise, much, much more. So, looking forward to my...early retirement...
Click to expand...

Wouldn't you say that you earned the right to spend your retirement, early or otherwise, as you see fit? After my early retirement (age 59), I slept late for a couple of months and my wife just went about her business and didn't bother me about it. When I was ready to start doing things and becoming engaged again, then I started doing so. That said, sometimes my best moments are sitting on the couch, gazing out the windows and just letting my mind wander!

-BB
 
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No particular reason, but always thought anything before age 62 early SS. .
We retired at 53.
22 years growing up and going to school,
30 years of w*rk,
30 years of retirement ,
60 years of marriage, and
wouldn't change a thing.
 
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I consider 55 the cutoff point for early retirement. I read somewhere that most people leave the workforce before the traditional retirement age of 65 now, usually in their late 50's or early 60's. Often retirement in this age group is involuntary, but it is retirement.

Retired before 50? Probably because you started planning early and read this forum!
 
Jerry1 said:
I always thought of 55 as early retirement. I guess that's because where I worked, that's the earliest you could take retiree health insurance. So, 55 or anything earlier I would consider early. Between 55 and 65 is grey for me. I guess that's semi-early retirement.
Click to expand...

You summed it up well. Before 55 means you very, very likely have to use only your non-retirement assets to pay your expenses, and you need to buy your own health insurance (re: my own situation for the last 10 years when I retired at 45). Between 55 and 65 you likely have some unfettered access to retirement benefits such as a pension, 401k, IRA, SS, and may have some uninterrupted access to employer-based health insurance (i.e. retire health or COBRA) to get you to Medicare.
 
I stopped working at 45. After reading these comments I feel fortunate. I thought more people here retired earlier than what I have read.
 
I shouldn't be surprised, but when I see people who look like they're in their mid-sixties or older working in stores, etc, I say to myself, "Wow, s/he is so old and still working." So my definition of retirement must be somewhere before then.
 
tmm99 said:
I shouldn't be surprised, but when I see people who look like they're in their sixties or older working in stores, etc, I say to myself, "Wow, s/he is so old and still working."
Click to expand...

When I see that I think it is for one or a combination of four reasons:

1. They need the money
2. They need the health insurance
3. They need the social contact
4. Some people feel unfulfilled if they're not working
 
Itsagrind said:
RB,

You’re right, the label doesn’t matter...just curious to get the perspective of others. I do feel a pang of guilt leaving the corporate payroll, when I could easily stay on another 2-3 years. BUT...I really don’t like what I do...we are financially secure...my wife is a teacher and will continue to work mainly for the benefits, and my adult kids are launched. My family is concerned that I will get bored, maybe even a little depressed. But I promised them I would consult, take up some new hobbies, etc. And exercise, much, much more. So, looking forward to my...early retirement...
Click to expand...
My issue is if you'd do something different based on that label.

- 58 is early retirement. Oh, I feel too guilty to retire early, so I'll hang on.

or

- 58 is not early. OK, I can retire and feel ok about it.

It just doesn't make sense that you'd do one thing or the other based on what others do with that label. Since you're asking in this context, it seems to at least be on your mind. It shouldn't. If you have enough money to retire, and have better things to do with your time, you should retire. Whether it's early or not.
 
Early retirement age is whatever age I am when I retire, plus one day. :D
 
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