Perspective and OMY

[Carpediem]

I am currently still in OMY mode (mostly due to HC costs / uncertainty) even though FC and FRP show a success rate of 95-100% but we'd like to add some more dollars to the pot to allow us to check off more items on the bucket list.

Well, yesterday we learned of two drownings at the complex where one of our vacation condos is located. We were concerned that it might be our current guests based on the news report but finally heard from them this morning and they are all okay. Still very sad news.

Then today I return to w*rk after a 3 day weekend and read an email that a person I have worked with for several years (and talked to last week) died instantly on Thursday when she hit a semi truck while returning from a meeting. And she had just lost her brother a couple of months ago to terminal cancer. This is the 3rd co-worker who has died during my time at mega corp - (1) brain cancer, (2) heart attack, (3) car wreck.

Needless to say, I'm kind of shocked and questioning the OMY thinking. But I know from having read other threads on this forum that a person should never make a rash decision when their thinking is clouded by tragic events.

Just curious if anyone else was in OMY mode and a life event convinced them to go ahead and step away from corp world.

 

[flyingaway]

Do you have a goal (or goals) for OMY (or OMYs)?

 

[RunningBum]

I understand the feeling, but if I had pulled the trigger earlier and got hit by a bus a year later, I doubt the last thought going through my mind would've been "I'm so glad I got that year in!" If I had a change in health that put my life span in a lot of doubt I would definitely leave immediately, but I don't think you can plan for a sudden death that likely won't happen.

I'd stick with the more realistic question of do you want to work a little longer for some buffer and to spoil yourself, or have you had enough and just want the free time now, knowing that (it sounds like) you have enough to live comfortably.

 

[Carpediem]

Do you have a goal (or goals) for OMY (or OMYs)?

Basically to (1) lower the WR for the first 3-4 years, and (2) get us closer to Medicare.

 

[rodi]

It's your life, your nest egg, and therefore your decision.

I started getting super serious about early retirement in 2007. That's the year my dad died and my brother died - within 2 months of each other. My mom had died a few years earlier. My mom was 67, my dad was 77, and my brother was 48 when they passed.

I wasn't ready financially - but that motivated me to double time my savings, debt retirement (mortgage) and get my ducks in a row... Took me 7 more years to have the confidence in the financial aspect and finally pull the trigger.

How flexible is your spending? If (when?) the market goes down, do you have some flexibility to pull in the budget a bit?

As I said - only you can decide if you're ready... but it sounds like you've got a lot of food for thought with the recent events in your life.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Since I retired 5 years ago I have lost 3 close friends from 59-67. All from cancer. It made me glad that I retired. Will you be able to do the things you want if you retire now? I would think about it for awhile because retiring in fear does not seem like a good idea.

 

[JoeWras]

Well, I'm OMY too, but 2018 looks pretty firm. Aside from friends, family and coworkers passing, I'm concerned about my ability to enjoy the bucket list. Especially in light of the fact I had to have recent surgery.

One example: hiking. What good is a bigger nest egg if you can't use it? You may grow the egg, only to find out your time ran out for it. As it is, many things are now off my list due to health issues (rollercoasters? Good bye.)

DW and I had another serious discussion about this over the weekend. They haven't been easy. We're ready financially, but man-o-man, doubt creeps in. Letting that net go is tough, especially in the tech field where when you let it go, it is gone.

 

[REWahoo]

Better go while the going is good....

 

[Whisper66]

The closer to home these types of events hit, the more they are likely to impact your decision. I had the finances to retire for a couple years but planned to work another 3-4 more years. Then my wife ended up in the hospital with a serious heart problem that required surgery. When she recovered from that, I decided my time was more important than any consderations I had about continuing to work. I changed my plans to retirement ASAP. Was retired in 2 months. Have never looked back nor regretted it for one moment. Not the right decision for everyone, but I'm happy with it.

 

[OldShooter]

“One winter night during one of the many German air raids on Moscow in World War II, a distinguished Soviet professor of statistics showed up in his local air-raid shelter. He had never appeared there before. “There are seven million people in Moscow,” he used to say. “Why should I expect them to hit me?” His friends were astonished to see him and asked what had happened to change his mind. “Look,” he explained, “there are seven million people in Moscow and one elephant. Last night they got the elephant.”
― Peter L. Bernstein, Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk

 

[Throwdownmyaceinthehole]

Ok if you have 95-100% per Firecalc, rerun it with the OMY earnings to see how much more you can increase expenses with those addl funds. I was OMY until I realized that if I took 4% SWR on my earnings, let's say of 100k, I would only have an increased spendability of 4K less taxes, 3k, divided by 52 weeks is 58 bucks a week. I chucked that OMY pretty quick.

 

[Walt34]

“Look,” he explained, “there are seven million people in Moscow and one elephant. Last night they got the elephant.”
― Peter L. Bernstein, Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk

I have that book on my bookshelf and remember reading the story.

More aligned with the thread topic, I had to confront that issue myself when I had three years on the police department and was just beginning to think I had a fairly good grip on things. (Experience tells that it takes three to five years to make a good street officer.)

On the same day two officers I knew were killed in a shootout with a bank robber. One was one of my field training officers, and the other had been an instructor at the academy. Both were very smart guys.

I spent several nervous months deciding whether I really wanted to continue down that career path. Finally I decided that either there was a bullet out there with my name on it or there wasn't, and that most guys went out on a normal retirement so the odds were vastly in my favor.

Unless, of course, you're the elephant....

 

[jollystomper]

I too have seen co-workers, friends, and neighbors die at a relatively young age. While not yet retired one change I made was to greatly reduce the amount of work stress in my life. I am fortunate in that a good deal of stress I had put on myself - in my Megacorp when you get to a high technical position, with a salary you never imagined you would make, you feel you need to be involved in a lot of projects and visible to executives and further compete for the highest technical levels that puts you on par with executives. After seeing those things related to the thread topic I deliberately scaled my activities way down, and that will help me transition from OMWhatever to retirement.

 

[TimeMeasure]

Agree with your sentiment that acting impulsively or out of fear would be rash. On the other hand, the mortality of those around us shouldn’t be dismissed as “just one data point” (even though the elephant story is very funny!). It serves a useful purpose (aside from reminding us to care about those around us), by countering recency bias, and reminding us that tomorrow is not guaranteed just because we’re still breathing at the end of today.

In my case, since my wife has mild dementia and it is progressive, the awareness of mortality is a daily companion, and because the numbers look feasible, leaving work is a near term proposition in all likelihood.

Ultimately one has to decide whether work and all that comes with it - income, the illusion of security, identity, status, connections, and other benefits - outweigh the importance of the other parts of life - knowing that one’s own years are finite and will come to an end, and also the years of your spouse, family, friends. If you are not working because the money is really necessary, it’s worth reflecting on the real underlying reasons you’re still working. Maybe those reasons are valid, maybe not, but the first step is to name those reasons to yourself.