I guess I'm just thinking out loud! Did anyone else struggle with this? Thinking of those who didn't have so much $ that they knew they could do it, but those who felt it was a little bit of a gray area.
Appreciate the responses. Again, I've crunched the numbers and ran them through some analysis tools, but still hesitant, and just wondering if others were, did they hold off, if so how long, etc.
@motley, about 15 years ago on this forum we military veterans put together an entire book on leveraging your military benefits for financial independence.
You've mentioned that your finances seem to be enough. That's math & logic. I could point out that your military pension rises with the same Cost Of Living Adjustment as Social Security, which means you'll have two inflation-fighting life annuities in addition to Tricare For Life with Medicare, but that's just piling on more math & logic to the numbers you already know.
Since we're humans, we also have to deal with the emotions of behavioral financial psychology. Even when you don't like your boss and you no longer enjoy working, you still have to move toward some sort of retirement lifestyle with activities which you do enjoy.
I'm a member of a forum of millionaires who feel the same hesitation about quitting work. Because, you know, they're only 62 years old and they have to make their $8M last for the rest of their lives. Yet they can do math, and their hesitation is based on the fear of retirement failure instead of crunching numbers.
Retirees in our 60s are notorious among the financial industry for underspending and oversaving, even when they're financially independent by every rational measure of financial security. In addition, you are highly likely to have far more money than you might have the time left to spend it on the things which bring you value.
You could read a book like "Designing Your Life" or Jordan Grumet's "Taking Stock" or "The Purpose Code." If you keep working out of your concerns about the calculator tools and "erring on the side of caution" and being hesitant... well, you're giving up control of your retirement planning.
You have the choice of figuring out how you want to live your new life on your terms (an internal locus of control), or you can have the decision made for you (an external locus of control). Unfortunately the external locus is usually layoffs, a medical emergency, or a family crisis-- and once those things happen then you're still no more ready to live your next phase of life than you were before they happened.
Right now you're exchanging life energy (which you might not have) for more money (which you do not need). Make the time to exert the effort to find out what you want to do with your dwindling life energy. Figure out what lights you up-- what makes your eyes pop open each morning without an alarm clock like it's a kid's Christmas all over again-- and then move toward that life.
At the very least, you need to find a job that you enjoy with a boss you can tolerate. But if you don't want work or bosses anymore, then you need to be responsible for your own retirement entertainment.
Here's a cautionary tale about losing one of my friends to that same type of hesitation. The post includes some other ways to cope with the emotions:
In an earlier blog post I wrote: “In a future blog post I’ll share more ways to get comfortable with the 4% SWR.” That’s based on a question from a member of ESIMoney’s Millionaire Money Mentor for…
militaryfinancialindependence.com
If you choose not to decide how & when to retire, then you still have made a choice.
