Early retirement is bad ...

[freddyw]

A saying I learned while following the progress of one of our members along the Appalachian Trail is "Hike your own hike." Meaning that the experience is yours alone to create and what other people do or don't do should not control you. So, you go at your pace, stop where you think you should, and see the things you want to see.

As with hiking, so with life. Each of us needs to make our own way through the world as we see fit. If for you that means retiring early, great. If for you it means dying in harness, also great. I have made my choice, but I don't begrudge you yours.

Well said Gumby. For those who have had the opportunity to hike the AT, your comments ring especially meaningful.

 

[RetiredAt49]

There is the Great Resignation, which includes mostly people who were mistreated, as frontline workers during the pandemic.



But there are also anecdotes about people in highly-compensated professions who revolt at their employers trying to make them come back to work, when they think it's been fine WFH the past two years.



These include a lot of tech industry workers who may have some hefty equity portfolios, which grew a lot during the pandemic.

Now that [emoji115] is my story - well said!

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

According to my Old Man there were a couple of tests if you actually are working for a living. Do wash your hands before or after you go to the bathroom? And do you shower after work or before? He died a few weeks before his 70th birthday.

For the entirety of my parent's life, they only showered twice a week. Never noticed that they ever smelled, either. Mom lived to 81, Dad 90. They were not in favor of wasting water. Thankfully, they did wash their hands often. My Dad was the hardest working person I have ever known. Oh, but they did shower at night on appointed days.

 

[RobbieB]

Early retirement is bad if you're broke.

 

[Andre1969]

"My current plan is to die in the saddle. My work is just too rewarding — financially, intellectually and psychologically — to give it up."

“Spoken like a woman with saddle sores!"
-Betty White, "Mama's Family", c1984.

 

[Dtail]

I am also hoping to die in the saddle, but I don't think we are using this term in the same way.

Nailed it.

What Statsman said, although for a different reason.

 

[Dalmore]

He is doing what he preaches, says he's 71 and plans to "die in the saddle."

"dying in the saddle" has always been one of my greatest fears in life. I've worked too damn hard to not be able to enjoy what I have made for myself. During my last couple of years of work, I saw several co-workers, who were not yet 65, die. I want to die doing what I "want" not what I "have" to do.

 

[RobbieB]

Yup.

I've lived my whole life that way. Even when working I didn't go out of my way looking for "the next rung" on the ladder.

 

[Physics Guy]

I guess I see the good side of most things.

We view the article as uninformed and worthless because we tend to be better than average savers and planners. So talking about averages doesn't connect with us. On the other hand as a wake up call to some of the people who are part of the Great Resignation it might be good to point out that retiring early out of frustration might not be a good idea even if you have vaguely heard that there are people making a go out of this FIRE thing.

 

[RobbieB]

Yeah, good idea. Don't retire broke.

 

[Major Tom]

Nicely said.

+1 Gumby.

I am also hoping to die in the saddle, but I don't think we are using this term in the same way.

 

[Gumby]

I am also hoping to die in the saddle, but I don't think we are using this term in the same way.

Nelson Rockefeller comes to mind.

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

I know it doesn't really mean the same, but "In flagrante delicto" is always a nice euphimism.

 

[ImThinkin2019]

A saying I learned while following the progress of one of our members along the Appalachian Trail is "Hike your own hike." Meaning that the experience is yours alone to create and what other people do or don't do should not control you. So, you go at your pace, stop where you think you should, and see the things you want to see.

As with hiking, so with life. Each of us needs to make our own way through the world as we see fit. If for you that means retiring early, great. If for you it means dying in harness, also great. I have made my choice, but I don't begrudge you yours.

+1

This resonates with me so much. We hope to learn from others, get entertainment from their experiences and stories, but not criticize us or them for differences between us.

We also wish to remain compassionate for all that are less fortunate than us. We certainly don't want to make others feel bad. LBYM helps with this because we don't look "rich". In fact, most days I look like an old bum who just got a pair of gently used clean pants.

 

[Venturer]

My DW was brought up in a home that was literally on "the wrong side of the tracks".
The area was prone to flood and the 4 room house had been jacked up by her dad 4 times in the 40 years that they had lived there. I'll never forget the last time it flooded while we were dating myself and 4 of my buddies went over there to help her parents put the furniture up on cement blocks so it wouldn't get ruined. The water did get into the house but no furniture got wet. Her parents were hard working and also hard savers as we learned later after the funerals. They never had a brand new car and after retiring from jobs at 65 they basically were stay at home folks. My DW and her sis tried to get them to go somewhere but they were homebodies. The farthest away they ever went was Miami one summer and said it wasn't worth the long drive. they lived completely on SS and a $35.00 monthly pension from his city trash truck driver's job for 40yrs. They were happy and content in their own skin.

 

[ncbill]

If I had less than $150,000 saved I'd plan on working until at least age 70 as well.

Problem is most won't be doing so, and in contrast to the article, plenty of those retirements will be involuntary.

Buried a close relative a few years ago who had planned on working until around age 70.

They even refinanced to a 15 year mortgage so it would be paid off around the time they planned to retire.

But before age 60 their entire department was outsourced.

Never secured another job, had to cash in their pension to make it to SS at age 62 and scrambled to refinance to a 30 year mortgage.

Thanks to home equity, however, they were still able to stay for another decade in their home of 35 years.

They then passed away after spending only a few months in an assisted living facility once unexpectedly diagnosed with terminal cancer.

 

[Sojourner]

There is the Great Resignation, which includes mostly people who were mistreated, as frontline workers during the pandemic.

[...]

The "take this job and shove it" mindset may have become more common after the pandemic.

Slightly OT, but I've been wondering what all the restaurant and service industry workers who quit during the Great Resignation are doing these days. Surely they didn't have enough money saved to stop working permanently, so are they working in different industries now? And if they are, that implies they could have worked in those (presumably) better or higher-paying jobs even before the pandemic hit. So why didn't they? Do former frontline service industry workers really have so many other attractive job offers/prospects these days? If so, what about the pandemic has caused this to be the case? Very puzzling.

 

[MRG]

If I had less than $150,000 saved I'd plan on working until at least age 70 as well.

Problem is most won't be doing so, and in contrast to the article, plenty of those retirements will be involuntary.

Buried a close relative a few years ago who had planned on working until around age 70.

They even refinanced to a 15 year mortgage so it would be paid off around the time they planned to retire.

But before age 60 their entire department was outsourced.

Never secured another job, had to cash in their pension to make it to SS at age 62 and scrambled to refinance to a 30 year mortgage.

Thanks to home equity, however, they were still able to stay for another decade in their home of 35 years.

They then passed away after spending only a few months in an assisted living facility once unexpectedly diagnosed with terminal cancer.

I have a sister in that situation she never made much money and reported less. She worked past 70 but took her meager SS at 62 because "she needed the money and it's only a tiny difference". I'll never understand how she drove new vehicles all the time[emoji41].

 

[REWahoo]

Slightly OT, but I've been wondering what all the restaurant and service industry workers who quit during the Great Resignation are doing these days.

Not sure what "all" of them are doing, but I'm pretty sure one of them just called me about my auto warranty expiring.

 

[jollystomper]

This is only 27,648th article on this topic with that perspective.

At this point, the focus is not "write something to provide new insight", but "write something to generate income for myself". Just think at how many more clicks the article received from us folks here.

I would complain about these Ivy Leaguers, if I was not one myself .

 

[explanade]

Slightly OT, but I've been wondering what all the restaurant and service industry workers who quit during the Great Resignation are doing these days. Surely they didn't have enough money saved to stop working permanently, so are they working in different industries now? And if they are, that implies they could have worked in those (presumably) better or higher-paying jobs even before the pandemic hit. So why didn't they? Do former frontline service industry workers really have so many other attractive job offers/prospects these days? If so, what about the pandemic has caused this to be the case? Very puzzling.

If today's job report for January is an indication, many went back to work apparently.

They also revised jobs created in November and December upwards by over 700k combined.

 

[GravitySucks]

Slightly OT, but I've been wondering what all the restaurant and service industry workers who quit during the Great Resignation are doing these days. Surely they didn't have enough money saved to stop working permanently, so are they working in different industries now? And if they are, that implies they could have worked in those (presumably) better or higher-paying jobs even before the pandemic hit. So why didn't they? Do former frontline service industry workers really have so many other attractive job offers/prospects these days? If so, what about the pandemic has caused this to be the case? Very puzzling.

Everyone moves up one spot.
Sister was a receptionist. 67 years old and not planning to retire till 70. Covid came. She was afraid to go to the office and left 'early'. She heard a 30 year old ex restaurant worker took the spot.

 

[Samsung4321]

Everyone moves up one spot.
Sister was a receptionist. 67 years old and not planning to retire till 70. Covid came. She was afraid to go to the office and left 'early'. She heard a 30 year old ex restaurant worker took the spot.

Same thing happened after the waves of the Black Plague:

'During the plague year (1348—49) at Fornham All Saints (Suffolk), the lord paid the pre—plague rate of 3d. per acre for more half of the hired reaping but the rest cost 5d., an increase of 67 percent.'

https://demography.cass.anu.edu.au/news/new-research-shows-australians-are-living-longer-lockdowns

'To put this into perspective, the United States life expectancy has decreased by -1.7 years for females and -2.2 years for males.'

 

[Winemaker]

If today's job report for January is an indication, many went back to work apparently.

They also revised jobs created in November and December upwards by over 700k combined.

There was a seasonal January adjustment of great magnitude that not only corrected last December's numbers but also adjusted 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021. This particular adjustment occurs because the BLS adjusts for population estimate revision every 10 years. The future payroll numbers this year will pay a hefty price hereafter.

 

[AlabaMalaysia]

Well, since he's Harvard-trained he's obviously out of touch with the real world. ��

The dumbest part about this is that he is drawing conclusions from population averages and not even averages of those who chose to RE.

1) I don't have median wealth and neither do you and neither do any of the people who retire early.
2) I don't get Social Security's average benefit and neither do you. Anyone who is retiring before age 62 gets no benefit (yet).
3) The "almost half" of baby boomers who have no savings are likely the ones who are NOT retiring early.
4) As an economist he makes the faulty assumption that maximizing income/wealth is the only goal in life.

There's more to life (and retirement) than accumulating and spending massive amounts of money. He can die in the saddle. He's an academic. Most of the rest of us who have actually done work would prefer to enjoy the last years we have on this mortal coil. Why should I keep working even though I easily could?

Money ain't everything.

Nailed it exactly. Depends on your life philosophy I reckon and how you think/value time as either finite or infinite I suppose. I can't imagine living/working that many years and having so little to show for it in the best period of human history to be alive in a high income economic country.