Did you want and plan FIRE or did it just happen?

[DrRoy]

I didn't have a specific target age for RE when I was that young. I had a rough idea of the year with about 10 years to go, and set the final date with about a year to go. It was a month ago at 57.

 

[phil1ben]

Never thought about retirement when I was younger. Didn't enter my mind until I was about 50. Opened my own firm at 30 which through luck and some diligence grew. The enjoyment of running the firm eventually subsided and by 52 the whole thing was not fun anymore and I began to realize that our time on the earth is not perpetual. It took 5 years to gather the momentum to structure a sale and transition and I retired this January at 57. Great so far.

 

[LuckyDog]

I started working at a mega corp at age 21. At various times throughout my career, the company offered early retirement packages where one could take a paid leave at age 53 and bridge to retirement at age 55. I always figured (hoped) that would be my path. DW and I saved our $$ and, as luck would have it, a package was offered when I was age 53. I turned the paperwork in the next day and never looked back...

 

[Midpack]

DW and I both came from frugal households, so saving came naturally. I had some vague desire toward FI, but no $ goal. Once I read Your Money or Your Life it cemented the idea. The Four Pillars of Investing and The Millionaire Next Door were the other books that profoundly affected me. Self taught on investing, naturally inclined toward DIY and discovered Bogle, Bernstein and others early in my investing education. ER was never a thought until my early 50's. FI and RE should be separate decisions IMO.

 

[RobLJ]

In 2000, I joked to DW that if the 401k/403bs continued on the current path, that we might be able to retire at 55ish--then Enron hit (she was working at Dynegy and her "company 401k match in Dynegy stock" went down to almost nothing, although her contributions did fine. At that point, you could only take the match in stock, although the law changed on this post-Enron).
However, I did a retirement plan in Microsoft Money at that point and plotted out a relatively frugal retirement at 55, 60, and 66, just for kicks. After dodging the bullet of the tech crash in the early 2000s and then escaping comparatively unharmed from 2008/9, I realized 60 or 65 was quite possible, although the market would need to "cooperate," which it did, in spades.

About 20 months ago at 57, I went into "Voluntary Modification of employment" (working less than 1/2 time online for 1/2 salary) and never looked back. DW, who is 5 years younger, may stop next year or in two years at the most. I can ski or fly fish in the morning and work in the afternoon or evening, or vice versa; I like the freedom of working on my own schedule and haven't touched retirement savings and won't for the next two-three years. Withdrawals then will fund from 62 to full-retirement age (or later, if the market cooperates; earlier, if not).

We now have 70% more assets than I originally calculated we needed and consequently am planning a less frugal retirement, when we start to draw down in a few years.


As Midpack indicates, Four Pillars of Investing is a fine resource.
And on frugality, reading Thoreau's Walden in high school, particularly the first two chapters, cemented the idea of work/expenses versus "experience"/free time, an idea I never forgot.
My Okie grandfather retired a few years early after building his own cabin in Colorado about 8 years before he retired (he was a rural postman), so that also was a powerful example. Going up there in summers in my youth to fly-fish made a "yuge" impression. Paradise.

I believed in a flexible approach, adapting multiple plans (a matrix) to what might occur, and still do. DW originally wanted to work for another 6 years, but I'm trying to convince her that she can stop when she wants to do so, including next month. I'm getting renewed for at least two years, so that makes this more than a possibility.

 

[Fedup]

I always put money in retirement plan but definitely don't have a plan. I actually liked working but not commuting. But the last job definitelykilled my joy of working, bot the commute and the nature of the job. So here I am. But truth be told, if I had the same job I had before the last job, I wouldn't retire yet. My husband probably would still retire today but not me. Maybe because I'm actually an extrovert. I pick up energy by meeting people.

 

[kimcdougc]

I called it quits at 50 in 2010 after DD finished college. Went to our Fidelity guy and he said we could retire then in 2010. DH was 52. Fast forward 5 years and DH quit at 57 on my birthday. DH boss told him way back in 1984 about the "new" 401K plan and showed all his employees the magic of compounding dollars. It worked. We just always paid ourselves 10% first and the company match was 5%.

 

[Christine]

I did not plan for it at all but was thrown headfirst into it when I suddenly became handicapped at 38. And since it was a very rare illness I did not get my disability pension and insurance payout until 10 years later.

Now I'm two years in - and those years managing on social security has made me more careful with money than I need to be. I bought a motorhome and use it a lot but the rest of my stash keep growing.

I was lucky enough to enjoy my work so I probably would not have FIREd if I hadn't gotten ill. But with hindsight I think my old me would have loved FIRE. But it never crossed my mind.