Reason you retired ? Poll

[grasshopper]

Another, because I could.

 

[PointBreeze]

I am so sorry for your loss.

I am so sorry for your loss, but am so glad you made the decision you did. You had wonderful times with your son and he died at home with you - you must have a wonderful sense of peace about that.


My DP is 15 years older than me and has had a lot of health problems: CAD, stroke, two cancers. When she started to have cognitive issues, too (chemo brain), I decided it was time, and retired at 57. I have not regretted a second of it.

 

[kcowan]

Was FI and at a crossroads requiring another commitment of time. Decide to skip it. 15 years ago. So far so good.

 

[akck]

While I had planned to retire about when I did, a newly hired incompetent manager sealed the deal and almost made me retire a year earlier.

 

[sgstaley]

I had worked in the transportation industry for 40 years and saw the bar on employment qualifications go lower and lower and . . .
I finally got to where I did not like my job because of the caliber of the people (all but a few) that I had to work with.
The day I retired I RAN (figuratively) for the door.

 

[Focus]

Odds are against it unless you already have a known cause.

More than 84% of us live to 65, IOW only about 16% die by age 65
78% to 70,
70% to 75,
58% to 80,
42% to 85,
25% to 90,
10% to 95,
2% to 100

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr66/nvsr66_04.pdf

All those people nowadays who think they're going to live past 100 are going to be awfully disappointed.

 

[brainsagolfer]

i work rotating 12 hour shifts- actually 13 hour nights- no paid lunch time- have to grab at eat at the desk as i can- no holidays, no shift diff, no time and a half- in december i worked 9 out of 10 13 hour nights (one was 14 - turned clocks back)- IT is routine for people i work with to do 7 straight 13 hour nights - so I AM READY to pull the plug ASAP- probably in 6 months at 57 YO.

 

[pb4uski]

I voted planned... because I planned to retire at 55 but 2008/2009 caused me to pause a bit... when I turned 55 we had just become weather-tight in the rebuild of our lakeside seasonal home to a year-round retirement home and we were writing pretty big checks to the builder. We moved in the folloing May and sold our main home just before my 56th birthday. When we sold our main home we had more $$$ in the nestegg and our annual expenses were much lower so I decided that we had enough... continuing to work was benefitting the federal and state governments and our heirs but not doing much for me or DW... so I resigned right around the time of my 56th birthday.... stopped working about a month later for the Christmas holidays and went on vacation and went off payroll about 5 weeks after I stopped working.

 

[HaveEnough]

Major life event.
Always planned on being free by 55. Left at 53. No severance, no pension. Supported by stay at home wonderful wife.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Point, a good friend of mine had chemo 7 times because her cancer kept coming back. All that chemo gave her dementia. I wish your partner the best.

 

[kilgore]

It was time. Just to make sure, my planner said "wait 2 more years." I waited. I was done. KG

 

[FreeBear]

All those people nowadays who think they're going to live past 100 are going to be awfully disappointed.

No disappointment here, I can't afford to live that long!

 

[njgolfer67]

My ER was planned with a focus on being healthy and young enough to enjoy retirement. Saw too many people dying young or not being physically able to enjoy the benefits of their hard work in their 60s and 70s.

With that said, I did experience a crappy boss coming into my life in my last few years of employment and I was able to take a package to leave which was just a bonus. When I did FIRE it was just before my mother became terminally ill and I was able to spend extensively more time with her in her last year. Shortly after, my father's house was destroyed in a flood, so I have been spending months helping him get his life rebuilt. These weren't the reasons I FIREd, but it sure is nice to have the options.

 

[imoldernu]

Have probably repeated this ad nauseum, but in 1985 @age 50 had worked myself out of my job, by closing the Montgomery Catalog Division (2400 stores) as project manager.
Stepped into a new venture with my sons, to create a franchise operation... obtained financing and cashed in my retirement income. Then... health... Cancer... and maybe it would come back again. That was in 1989. I had expected work in my new business forever. A challenging and fun job.

But if I died?... Leaving jeanie with $1M+ in debt... Long and deep thought... Put the numbers together and decided to take a chance, and enjoy whatever life might be left, living "poor", but happy... and cramming in whatever we could... moving into a campground here in IL, and living half the year in a Florida mfg home community. That was at age 53...

Now 30 years later, and as healthy as I've ever been, we're blessed to still be around.

So, I guess, health... but that seems so long ago.

 

[Idnar7]

Company eliminated my job. Funny it was the same time the George Clooney movie (Above The Clouds?) was out and they stole the script exactly - fake meeting, stranger in the meeting, a packet of paperwork, feigned concern. I wasn't upset, actually laughed because it was so like the movie. They were relieved I wasn't upset. Pretty good movie by the way.

 

[Kim451]

Total job burnout. Tired of living overseas in crappy places. My next assignment was to be head of IT living and working in South Sudan. I applied for Sydney, Australia but had been pigeonholed as the 'adventure/danger junkie' type so wasn't being seriously considered for the cushy jobs. Had enough cash to squeeze by so I decided if I wanted to live someplace nice, I'd better move myself. So far, Hawaii is a huge improvement; haven't had a problem with parasites or food poisoning yet.

 

[robnplunder]

My VP wanted to be a super technical wizard. Unfortunately he didn't have a clue about technology and listening wasn't part of his skills. Shouting was.

After a 14 hour conference call I became done.

What? We worked for the same boss? I quit after he yelled at me in our 1 on 1 for something he has caused. At the end of the meeting, I told him I am retiring and gave him two weeks notice then. He wanted me to hang around for more after all that. I was 53 years old then. He went around telling people that I was 59 years old, overdue to retire. He didn't want to give the impression that yet another underling resigned b/c of him. 2 weeks after, another peer of mine resigned. A year later, the entire division was laid off b/c my non-technical boss signed up for technical impossibility and the project was 3 years late already. 200+ people out of job b/c of one guy's ill fated vision and ego.

 

[Caligal611]

Was informed that a male employee I trained who was later accused of harassment was going to be promoted and I would end up reporting to the sleazebag. Gave my notice the next day.

 

[Oz investor]

my doctor hinted i should stop working

a Government medical review told me to stop working , NOW and gave me a pension , pronto to make the point clear ,

now i am exploring the world of health care ... one medical professional ( and institution ) at a time .

 

[Milton]

... enjoyed being retired together, doing whatever we wanted to do, road trips, vacations, or just sleeping late and vegging out

A completely underrated lifestyle. There is so much societal pressure to keep busy, 'be productive', etc.

Well done!

 

[EastWest Gal]

A completely underrated lifestyle. There is so much societal pressure to keep busy, 'be productive', etc.



Well done!

Well said.

 

[Dtail]

Typically 1 day a week, we do effectively nothing and love it.

 

[robnplunder]

Ok, who are the 3 voted for "Got caught with my Ponzi scheme - in jail?"

 

[earlybird53]

It was time! My original plan was to retire at 50, so I was late. Retired at 53!

 

[robnplunder]

It was time! My original plan was to retire at 50, so I was late. Retired at 53!

Ha, ha. Ditto for me. I was 53 and 359 days old when I retired. I didn't want to go to 54 and retire.


Joined in 2017 and this is your 1st post? Early bird, you ain't.