Did any of you regret early retirement or is anyone worried about leaving too early?

[MRG]

Left 8 years ago in May when I was 56. I could regret I didn't leave a year before. Nah, the insurance wouldn't have worked so no regrets.

I've seen a few who stayed longer. One of my peers who I truly enjoyed being around kept working and getting bigger. His plan was to take it off after retirement. He was, working out, losing weight, riding a new mountain bike. They found his body off a trail when he didn't come home.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

I retired at 40 years old at the end of 2014. I stayed retired until mid 2020 and did a couple of "side jobs" to help pass the COVID time. I only lasted a few months before I said, "NO WAY!!!" and retired again. Going back to w*rk was the ONLY regret I have had.

 

[Chuckanut]

Once again, my favorite cartoon from this site:

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

OP, your question implies retirement is about leaving work. For me, retirement is about choosing what I want to do with my life. I have never regretted placing myself in a financial situation which allowed me the opportunity to choose my own path.

A forum I visit on occasion that is for lawyers (oh, what a group that is!) had a recent thread asking what everyone's retirement plans are. It was pretty sad in that a lot of them said, "Can't retire, will work until I die." But overwhelmingly, the group responded, "Retire? I won't do that...I would be bored. I have to have something to do!" That is pretty sad....that is an admission that you have to have someone TELL you how to live your life. Yeah, no thanks.

 

[RetMD21]

Regrets? I’ve had a few, but then again, too few to mention

My friend Frank used to say the same thing.

I regret not retiring sooner. Too much attention to worst case financial scenarios and too little attention to mortality

 

[Nemo2]

My friend Frank used to say the same thing.

And Paul Anka will be 80 in a few months....tempus %$@#& fugit dunnit?

 

[pacergal]

No regrets, then again, we didn't leave as early as many here.
Have enjoyed every day, even if I don't "do" anything.

 

[FIYes]

Retired 11 years ago and loving it. One thing I didn’t think about much before retirement was how quickly the years go. I realize that we don’t have the health and stamina that we had 11 years ago. I would say that for my age, I have excellent health and for his age DH has good health. If you want strenuous travel, don’t put it off. We will still be traveling once COVID permits, but probably not tent camping...sleeping on the ground.

 

[skyking1]

We pretty much gave up the crawling up off the ground thing too. I think there is a direct relationship to comfortable bladder capacity and sleeping on the ground. Throw in a side equation relating to lower back health.

 

[rodi]

Two very minor regrets/trepidations. Retired almost 7 years ago.

1) The year after retiring we blew a big wad of money on a 9 week Europe travel adventure with the kids. That money was set aside, separate from the retirement funds. While overseas the market started declining a lot... and I had some nervousness and general "What have I done?!!!!" feelings. The market recovered the next year. And has done great since... It taught me the 'stay the course" mantra really works.

2) 2 or 3 years after I retired the division was sold off - and my old group was laid off - with a year of severence. I had spent 4 years (through a series of mergers/spinoffs/consolidations/downsizes) hoping to get a severance package... I finally quit/retired because I got tired of waiting. That extra year's worth of severance would have been nice.... but not worth hanging out the extra couple of years.

 

[socca]

... But overwhelmingly, the group responded, "Retire? I won't do that...I would be bored. I have to have something to do!" That is pretty sad....that is an admission that you have to have someone TELL you how to live your life. ...

Not always. If you are 'the boss' then you answer only to the current business climate and your own personal standards for performance excellence.

I was lucky to be able to semi-ER 14 years ago. So ... when do I fully retire? Well, it will probably be the day that my future DW demands it.

 

[Gallaher]

Didn’t get a choice, was downsized at 57. Fortunately, I saw it coming 30 years ago and decided to take action and prepare myself.
I could have found another j*b pretty quick but I had been on the road for 30 years, corporate sales/sales management.
Since retiring I moved, built a house and moved again. Building a house during COVID was a blessing since we had nothing else to do. Actually, did lots of the work myself with wifey.
Had to cancel lots of travel and family visits.
At this point I am positive:
* I abhor corporate politics
* could/should have retired sooner
* financial situation today is much better than I anticipated.

 

[sergio]

I've gotta say this is an inspiration thread for us younger guys.

My goal would be to get out of the rat race sometime in my early 50s, once the youngest is off to college. Then I can switch to adjunct teaching math at a local university to keep my mind active, maintain some contact with the outside world, and basically pay for the beer I drink.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Not always. If you are 'the boss' then you answer only to the current business climate and your own personal standards for performance excellence.

Or answer to clients...which can certainly be worse!

 

[FIREd_2015]

No regrets because everything worked out but in hindsight if I had know how Social Security was calculated I might have stayed in the work force a few more years to max out my SS payment.

 

[Tiger8693]

I am not that young (58) and was thinking to retire in a year or two until some health issues. I have been a manufacturing operations guy for 25+ years, so part time/consulting gigs are lost to me. Unfortunately, will probably be working until medicare, but it sure is nice to hear some of these success stories and live vicariously!

 

[socca]

Or answer to clients...which can certainly be worse!

Current business climate = clients/customers, suppliers, regulators, competitors, corporate officers, managers, shareholders/partners, contractors, subcontractors, crooks/thieves/scammers, employees, acts of Satan, lawyers, accountants, accidents, etc., etc., etc., ...

 

[geeky_grrl]

Retired 4 years ago at 45. I don't have any regrets about that, though I wish I could convince my SO to retire as well. He's still stuck in OMY mode.

 

[ejman]

Retired at 52 - 18 years ago at the peak of my earning years. Sometimes I think if I had worked a few more years I could have another million or two. Then I think how would my life be different if I had another million or two? And the answer of course is not at all. I retired to a place I love (SW Oregon) I always wanted to live in the middle of a forest in a cool place and so it is. I've enjoyed it immensely so I'll go along with Francis Albert.

 

[flyingaway]

I've gotta say this is an inspiration thread for us younger guys.

My goal would be to get out of the rat race sometime in my early 50s, once the youngest is off to college. Then I can switch to adjunct teaching math at a local university to keep my mind active, maintain some contact with the outside world, and basically pay for the beer I drink.

Whenever I read a post like this one, I ask myself if I should retire, since I am a professor, which is a job that some people would do in retirement or volunteer.
I can tell you that teaching is still a job. I struggle almost everyday between keep working and call it quits.

 

[martyp]

I’m guessing these are not the answers the OP was looking for.

I ER’d at 55 exactly 10 years ago. No regrets. I am now living and married in Bangkok, Thailand.

 

[USGrant1962]

To start, my plan was always to semi-retire and do some consulting to stay engaged with the business I did for 33 years. I pulled the megacorp plug at age 55 (and 4 days) in March 2017, but stayed with them as a "casual" employee for the rest of the year. They only called me in for a couple of days, which was fine.

The minor regret is that first winter, where I got somewhat bored. After that, independent consulting ramped up to about 1/3 time, vacation travel ramped up, we bought the family summer place, and all was good.

Then Covid hit and I got a taste of the boredom again. For 2020, the work helped but we cancelled 4 diving trips, my 3 live poker leagues died, and were not able to visit one of our sons who lives outside of driving range - ugh.

So without Covid I would say there was a bit of a transition, but otherwise no regrets.

 

[6miths]

Oh yes I regret all that money left on the table... then I think about what I would have had to do for it and how much of an impact the money would have on my life - Nah!

 

[Markola]

Oh yes I regret all that money left on the table... then I think about what I would have had to do for it and how much of an impact the money would have on my life - Nah!

For those who go voluntarily at peak earning, that is the opportunity cost/trade off, isn’t it? Maybe it helps to think about it as bargain hunting: We bought the largest volume of free time left for our lives with the minimum amount of money required, or at least DW and I did.

 

[flintnational]

Lets see. Today, I had a two hour breakfast and coffee with a friend. I excercised. I started a batch of wine. I took a nap. All before 1 PM today. Put me in the "no regrets" group. The DW has been at the lake all week with a group of girlfriends. I think you can safely put her in the "no regrets" group also. Fired at 53 almost 7 years ago.

Most have to rebuild their lives when they Fire. Make sure you have a plan. It can take a few months or a couple of years. Mine is still a work in progress. I picked up extra charity work this winter to fill some time.