ER

[Big_Hitter]

Don't those guys switch to a desk job after a certain age anyway. Like of my sister's ex employers, CEO has to retire once they reach 60. They can do other job but not CEO job.

no desk jobs in the gulf of mexico
the union jobs for the plant plan I worked on were all physical jobs
some of the terminaling jobs for the pension plan i worked on were physical and required such things as cleaning out tank cars (from the inside) or dragging heavy cables across the dock at the port of houston

so not to my knowledge, no

 

[Big_Hitter]

But it's ok if he's fat and has a full head of hair.

no I was poking fun at myself (i'm bald and fat and will probably still be at 60)

 

[euro]

To me, 50-ies to early 60-ies is "early", 40-ies "very early"

 

[GravitySucks]

56

 

[FIREd]

To me, 50-ies to early 60-ies is "early", 40-ies "very early"

That's how I see it too.

 

[Olbidness]

It's common in the oil business for someone to become injured and then after the disability benefits run out, get kicked to the curb. There are desk jobs but more often they are jobs still require reasonable physical fitness. It seems most of the benefits are set up to encourage people to work til 55, past that it just adds to the pile. I've worked for 2 majors and had I done it reverse order I'd had to work until 60 to get the retirement health benefit.

 

[evilanne]

Early Retirement for U.S Federal Civilian Employees under FERS starts at 55-57 (depending on year born) Minimum Retirement Age (MRA) for "couch potato jobs"

Early Optional Retirement- Agency downsizing or major reorganization:
Age Years of Service
50 . 20
Any 25 (Celebrated when I reached this milestone in 2012)

No-one was surprised when I retired early in 2016 (4.5 years early) as I had my projected 2020 early retirement date circled on the calendar in my office & replaced it for 29 Feb 2016 They would have been shocked if I had decided to stay.

 

[Clone]

At mega-corp, for office jobs, I saw the following milestones:

(For someone who started fresh out of college)

Age 50ish: 80 points (Age plus years of service) eligible for retirement which included medical benefits and pension.

Age 55: Able to draw from 401k

Age 60: No penalty in pension formula for retiring under age 60. (Pension formula would deduct 4% per year of age under 60).

Age 62: Eligible for SS

I would call anything between 55 and 60 years old to be early, 60 to 65 normal. A lot of people would have 35 years of service, not many would have more than 40. Before 55 was rare, and I would call that 'very early'.

In the bargaining unit, most of the folks would go out with 30 to 35 years of service. Their jobs were more physically demanding, and their pension formula was different. A number of them could work in companies that serviced mega-corp, thus double dipping a second paycheck for a number of years.

 

[Scuba]

All I know is when I RE'd at 56, my coworkers were dumbfounded. People said things like "oh, you'll be back after you take a break, I'm sure." Others thought I had a better job lined up. DH said his coworkers said "I know you said you're retiring, but where are you really going?"

 

[Cobra9777]

All I know is when I RE'd at 56, my coworkers were dumbfounded. People said things like "oh, you'll be back after you take a break, I'm sure." Others thought I had a better job lined up. DH said his coworkers said "I know you said you're retiring, but where are you really going?"

+1

That was my experience exactly. I was 52. Most people thought that my retirement had to be a cover story for something much more interesting, like going to a competitor.

The official "early retirement" age at Megacorp was 55, at which point there was a bump in the pension and you keep unvested options and RSUs. "Normal retirement" was 65, with another pension bump. The vast majority of my coworkers left in the 55-60 range. Below 55 was highly unusual, typically a 50+ voluntary retirement offer as part of a RIF with benefits bridged to age 55 (no such luck for me). Above 60 was slightly less unusual, with some of those folks holding out for the full pension and some just enjoying the work routine.

 

[Koolau]

I didn't leave until 58 but was Financially Independent at 51 (large enough "stash", modest pension and empl*yer health insurance at 51 - better at 58 but not why I stayed). I consider FI the more important of the two numbers FI vs ER. After 51 was the best period of my c@reer. I had an office with a window overlooking woods and fields full of deer. No one bothered me. I had created my own j*b so to speak. I got a very nice (not stellar) salary. I was the go-to person in my chosen field. I had a DW who took care of the kids at home. How could it have been any better - until it wasn't. Then I left with (officially 2 weeks notice) 3 day notice. YMMV

 

[karen1972]

Well if your under 62, your early retired, but to me based on years worked... like anyone who can retire with < 20 years of work is extremely early retirement, 20-30 is very early, 30-40 is early.

Or you could be my dad who has now worked 63 years. At 45, I had 26 years of full time work in but given the # of hours I worked, I likely did 10 years of overtime so I don't feel like I retired that early.

 

[jkern]

I always considered 65 as the standard retirement age. Early retirement generally meant 62 or earlier to me. My original target was 60. I ended up retiring at 51.

 

[GravitySucks]

Well if your under 62, your early retired, but to me based on years worked... like anyone who can retire with < 20 years of work is extremely early retirement, 20-30 is very early, 30-40 is early.

Or you could be my dad who has now worked 63 years. At 45, I had 26 years of full time work in but given the # of hours I worked, I likely did 10 years of overtime so I don't feel like I retired that early.

Mom worked full time to age 75.
Not sure when Dad stopped full time but I did call him one evening when he was 81 and he was happy that he picked up a gig finishing Sheetrock on a kitchen remodel job.
Neither is real happy about my dropping out at 54.

 

[Big_Hitter]

I always considered 65 as the standard retirement age. Early retirement generally meant 62 or earlier to me. My original target was 60. I ended up retiring at 51.

65 was set as the national retirement age of germany by bismarck, but that was back in the late 1800s when life expectancies were in the 50s.

social security cavalierly adopted the same in the 30s

 

[ESRwannabe]

I consider retiring before 60 to be ER. Most people are going to retire after that.

I consider ER at 50-60 to be a "kicking-rear-end-and-taking-names ER". Retiring between 40-50 to be "OMG WTF BBQ Sauce ER" and before 40 to be "God-like ER".

I will hopefully be in the OMG WTF BBQ Sauce range.

 

[mystang52]

I was 60 1/2 when I ER'd, and I considered that age as early, albeit not super-early. Of the 16 guys I consider my friends, only 2 others retired young - one was a successful injury lawyer (57), the other an orthodontist (61). Of the remainder, one is forcibly retired (64, looking for work for the past 9 months or so), another unhappily retired (66) and looking for permanent part-time work, two (65) happily working by choice.
So, my unscientific sampling points to early as anything before 64 or so.

 

[exnavynuke]

About half of Americans call it quits between ages 61 and 65 while 18% retire even earlier, according to the data shown here from LIMRA Secure Retirement Institute. By age 75, 89% of Americans have left the labor force, LIMRA says.

Average Retirement Ages in the U.S.: Probably Too Young | Money

If only 18% of people retire prior to age 61, I'd say that's a decent number for "early". The ~5% before age 55 could be a decent metric for "very early" using just the statistics imo.