Reflecting back after 1 year, 1 month, and 1 day of being FIREd

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FedRetired50

Recycles dryer sheets
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Feb 14, 2023
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I retired for 4 months, then they talked me into coming back (my boss wanted me around until she retired). Not really OMY since I had a half-time position, but with the initial break, some full-time and then some part-time work, my final retirement date was 1 year and 1 month from my initial one.

Now I'm 1 year, 1 month and 1 day from that date and I feel like the honeymoon hasn't ended. I read so many articles and books before I FIREd, and one thing I remember was that there likely would be a 6-month honeymoon, then possibly a crash into depression. Not me! I'm very happy with my slow days on the couch, the busy days getting things done (I still haven't made it through my original to-do list) and all the travelling I've done with my fiance. The Facebook memories feature has been great, reminding me of all the fun we've had.

I started saving in a 401k when I was 22. Lots of other things fortuitously fell into place at the right time that allowed me to retire early. It could have been different and I could still be dealing with the high stress and hating the commute. I know I'm fortunate.

How did you feel 1 year after full retirement?
 
I'm still pretty much in "honeymoon" stage some 19 years later. Never any depression - certainly NOT from being retired, at least. Dealing with aging is a bit depressing, but I can't imagine that would be better if I still had to go to w*rk! YMMV
 
I retired 6 years ago almost to the day and the honeymoon never ended for me. I would not go back to work for any amount of money. I do not miss it at all.
 
Retired about 20 months now. The shine hasn’t dimmed one bit. My passport and couch has gotten a lot of use.
 
Working on year 4. Still have highs and lows but the baseline is higher and both are better.... especially the lows. It is easier to deal with "life" with the extra bandwidth that was once taken up by w*rk. My identity was never wrapped up in my job.

I'm overdue for an update post myself but one unexpected thing I've noticed since ER is that I feel I'm becoming a better person and am more patient, empathetic, and even a bit more compassionate than I was. Possibly a some of that is due to age and life experience but I think a huge part is the bandwidth ER provides; I have more time for meditation, exploration, introspection along with the actual time to give to, and invest in, others. I've been helping friends and acquaintances recover from Helene this week and it is extremely rewarding. Once they are taken care of, I may join some community organized efforts.
 
I retired at 58, 5 years, 5 months, and X days ago. Since then my son got married, bought a house, and gave me a grandson. Between being busy with family, projects at my son's house, and travel there is has been little time for the honeymoon to end. During my down time I read the ocassional lengthy, when to collect SS, threads! Still holding out - :oops:
 
Honeymoon still going for me after 8 years in ER. I can't believe it's been 8 years, OMG.

I make more money now than when I worked so my new job ER was a great move for me. Who doesn't want to make more money at a job we love to do.
 
I ER'd 8 years ago too at age 50. No regrets.

I'm also making more in retirement than I did my best years working. Immediately had the time to take care of my own real estate and investments. I got rid of my real estate manager and switched my investments from an AUM advisory firm to Vanguard. Those two moves alone cover my entire living expenses, plus the performance is much better than it was with the AUM Advisor (thank you index funds).

I have a simple low stress life here on my farm, just what I was hoping for. I don't go looking for ways to stay busy and I don't miss my former job at all. Wouldn't change a thing.
 
Retired 11/2016.
Every day is a blessing.
Thankful for our family and that finances that have allowed us to do what we want, on our time.
 
1 year 7 months and 1 day ago was my first day of retirement. This has been one of the best periods of my life. The first summer of no school and no work in 40 years was magical. The second summer was just as great. I do not miss the stress of w*rk at all.
 
Love all these comments. Like a couple other posters I retired at 50 back in January of 2017 so it's been almost 8 years. I absolutely love the freedom; hard to describe.
 
We sold our business when I was 53 and I loved working and didn't want to retire. I made a deal with my husband that I would try this non-working thing for a year. The year flew by and I never wanted to work again. It surprised me, my close friends and ex-colleagues and staff. They thought I would get antsy as I had a ton of energy and drive. Well, I still have a ton of energy and drive but now it's mainly around how to play better golf, drop my handicap and play better in tournaments. I am in inter-club tournaments, playing for my club, and other tournaments at my club, and more than I could have ever imagined, as a non-golfer 12 years ago, and 8 years ago when I retired.
 
After FIRE we spent six months getting our house ready to sell and downsizing our belongings into an 8X8X16 PODS container.

The next seven months were spent international travel...mostly spontaneous. The only things booked were an African safari in November and a one monthJanuary condo rental in Costa Rica.

We were in Rome, aimlessly walking about enjoying ourselves exactly one year and a day from my last work day. Sitiing in an outdoor cafe enjoying the weather, our surroundings, a carafe of house red and musing about how good I felt about pulling the pin as it were. Never looked back.

It has been 13 years. DW is a little worried. I came home from the library today with a Lonely Planet Nicaragua guide book!
 
I often think back to my first few weeks of ER. We were living in Paris and my ER was involuntary. It was pleasantly disorienting because unlike a week's vacation, there was nothing to go back to.

When you're working, there's always that little thing in the back of your mind that says you eventually have to return to the job. For a long while, I kept feeling that "go back" piece but then reality would remind me that there was nothing there. One tends to visualize a near term future and to have that vision change radically and suddenly is an amazing experience. A job does give you a certain structure to your life but finding a new framework was a fun challenge.

It was all just so different, more interesting to observe myself in that state than anything else. "Oh, that magic feeling....nowhere to go. " (Beatles)

The big reality check: when the company paid driver informed me he'd only be available to me for the next four weeks.
 
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marko said:
It was pleasantly disorienting because unlike a week's vacation, there was nothing to go back to.
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I know many people have a little trouble making this transition. And often it takes a few weeks to fully register that you aren't on vacation, this is the new normal. Both times I stopped working it never phased me. I took multiple 3 and 4 week vacations over my career, the most recent the year before I first retired, so maybe that acclimated me.
 
FedRetired50 said:
I know many people have a little trouble making this transition. And often it takes a few weeks to fully register that you aren't on vacation, this is the new normal. Both times I stopped working it never phased me. I took multiple 3 and 4 week vacations over my career, the most recent the year before I first retired, so maybe that acclimated me.
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Yeah. My work was not just a job, it was my lifestyle and sort of my life for 34 years.

I was known as "Mr [company name]" so having that void was an adjustment. Of course, the seven figure contract payout did take a lot of the sting out of it!

I've noted before how I had a two year, no-show position in France that inadvertently allowed me to adjust to a more leisurely pace but even with that, there was that disorientation. It wasn't the lack of work or going into the office because I really had limited access to each for the last two years. It was more about some sort of vacuum of 'nowhere to belong'.

Losing the driver was the first slap of reality that I was no longer on the team. A slow realization that things were going to be different for the first time in almost half my life.

As I said, one tends to visualize a near-term future and when that future dissolves you can become a bit lost.
 
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marko said:
A job does give you a certain structure to your life but finding a new framework was a fun challenge.

It was all just so different, more interesting to observe myself in that state than anything else. "Oh, that magic feeling....nowhere to go. " (Beatles)
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Great observation, it'll be a fun challenge to develop a new framework. And great Beatles quote! Tomorrow is my last day of w*rk. Although really I have no duties left so today and tomorrow are like the last two days of elementary school. Maybe I'll do some coloring or something! :dance:
 
Ballhawker said:
Great observation, it'll be a fun challenge to develop a new framework. And great Beatles quote! Tomorrow is my last day of w*rk. Although really I have no duties left so today and tomorrow are like the last two days of elementary school. Maybe I'll do some coloring or something! :dance:
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Heartiest congratulations!
 
I am nearly one year out of leaving the job, Oct. 11, at age 53 -- and DW left, too (we worked in the same place) at 51 -- though our paychecks lasted until the end of March, so I don't know whether to call us one year out yet -- but certainly we haven't been working for nearly a year, and I can't believe it. I echo many of the things everyone said here. Through the end of last year I really got back to tending to our portfolio (and navigating health care) as well as family matters, then in January, feeling like I should be accomplishing something, I took a course in training for possible new side work. Completed it in June, and then I did extremely little work and lots of play (my cycling) alllllll summer. That was great; I've long dreamed of doing that. Overall, many highs, some lows -- like missing being at least *a part* of my former industry (journalism and editing), though certainly not my particular former workplace. Deciding what to do in a given day sometimes is daunting, but nearly always, I figure it out, and it's awfully nice doing what I want. The slower pace is fantastic. Winter will be a test again, but then spring will come!
 
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