Talking to 'regular folks'

[MC Rider]

I just say, the bottom fell out of work, I'd seen that movie before, and decided it was time to retire.

 

[mystang52]

I retired at 60; that's young-ish but hardly young. Nevertheless, occasionally someone would ask why or how I could be retired so young, and I just replied "I was fortunate." Never got a follow-up to that.

 

[MarieIG]

I'll say again what I've said before. Other people do not think about you nearly as much as you think they do. They have their own problems and their worries to give your life much thought. Don't lie to people. That is what they will remember. Just be honest without being smug and change the subject.

^^^ This.

 

[tutan]

I retired at 47. I am 52 (today in fact). I struggle with how to answer the, "what do you do?" question.
My wife thinks every answer sounds snotty. I'm thinking of saying I won the little lotto a few years back. (Reality being we made lots and saved more never buying the BMW or McMansion)
I have jury duty coming up. Is retired even accurate?
Thank you for your time and thoughts.

Don't know if this applies to you. I see this T-shirt at the gym. It's my current routine most days.

 

[harley]

I retired at 50. I dealt with all the "you're too young", "what do you do all day", etc. comments. Depending on who I was talking to, I would deflect, have a serious discussion, or sometimes brag. I have to admit, I was sort of sad when I stopped getting the "you're too young" comments.

 

[SnowballCamper]

I'm not yet 50... Now that I have a well developed hobby, I just answer, I'm building a boat, when people ask me what I do. It does take a while to get comfortable with the situation, and some will guilt trip you...just stay away from them.

 

[Act2]

Don’t get cute at jury duty. If you consider yourself retired, just say you’re retired. Save the “private wealth manager” cutesy stuff for purely social situations when you’re not under oath. Just my two cents.

 

[FLSUnFIRE]

Almost always say I'm early retired with some variation (humorous or explanatory) based off my mood and context.

 

[Kings over Queens]

I'd have to be a smart ass and say something like "witness protection program" or "I was a male underwear model."

I commented on my plan to retire early at a party recently nd a woman said "your too young." My reply, "so?"

 

[Jenna]

I'm between jobs. I go for the "stealth wealth" option.

 

[Route246]

I'm 66 and not retired but have been able to retire since about 59. I thought about this as I had a classmate who retired in his 40s because he remained single, lived below his means, saved a lot of money, never sold his options or RSU and was independently wealthy by the time he was 45. One day he said FU and he was done. I always had it in the back of my mind that I could do the same thing if I wanted to.

If I had RE I already had a script rehearsed. "I studied non-linear complex econometrics optimization in graduate school and invented a program-trading investment strategy that ended up panning out before all of the quants had it figured out. I was a quant before the term was even invented. I just used my system to invest in mismatched supply/demand gradients and ended up with a very large asset base before I knew what happened. Paid a lot of taxes and cashed out all of my positions and 100% invested in treasuries now." I used to practice on my wife and her head would spin but she liked the way it sounded.

I figured there is enough gibberish in that recitation to keep them shaking their heads for a long time. There is a bit of truth to what I said regarding my graduate school thesis but I never put it into practice.

 

[rodi]

Happy birthday! Me too!

I used to worry about it when I retired at 52 but didn't get asked very often. For jury duty they required you to put the field you worked in prior to retirement as well. I was kicked off during jury selection when they kicked out all engineers/former engineers in a trademark case. (Fake coach bags).

Just today I ran into the corollary- found out an acquaintance was 76 and still working... my question was why aren't you retired? (He likes his work).

 

[Popeye]

I retired at 50. I dealt with all the "you're too young", "what do you do all day", etc. comments. Depending on who I was talking to, I would deflect, have a serious discussion, or sometimes brag. I have to admit, I was sort of sad when I stopped getting the "you're too young" comments.

Like when you get the senior discount automatically!

 

[PatrickA5]

I "retired" at 50 from Megacorp. I found it very difficult to explain and I actually dreaded the question coming up. A few years later, I took a seasonal part-time job doing taxes (earning next to nothing) and started telling people that asked that I did taxes which sounded normal since most knew I was a CPA. I completely retired about 6 or 7 years ago but was closer to 60 by that time, so it wasn't as difficult to say "I'm retired".

I understand what you're going through though.

 

[cyber888]

I retired this year at 59. My hair's mostly dark like 99%, don't have that daddy belly, so I'm hoping no one will ask me.

 

[big-papa]

Turning prematurely grey helps quite a bit when these discussions happen!

And when I'm carded, I usually tell the individual that it's just a really expensive die job.

Cheers

 

[Andre1969]

When I was younger, I used to wonder about this same thing, mostly because I'd see the topic come up here on E-R from time to time. I'd heard the idea of saying "financial consultant" or something similar bandied about before.

So, one time, when I was around 43, a younger guy asked me what I did. I was (and still am) working, but figured I'd try it out as a test. When I said "financial consultant," he actually got a bit snotty and said something like "oh, so all you do is make money for OTHER people?!" like he was trying to size me up financially or something.

Anyway, here I am, at 53. I've been working from home mostly, since March of 2020, and even before then, my schedule was pretty flexible. I think I'm past the point of no return for "super early" retirement at this point, so when it does happen, I have a feeling I can just say "retired" and nobody will be too shocked.

Most people who have known me long term, know I've been at the same place for over 30 years now, so when I do retire, even if somewhat early, they're probably just going to presume I get some kind of pension. So, I don't think I have to worry about too many people thinking I'm filthy rich, and that the First National Bank of Andre is open for business.

Now, a couple years back, I did have someone say "you are rich". I asked what made him think that, and he said the house, the swimming pool, the "man cave" (which is really just a little ~10x14 office/workshop built on skids so it could be dragged, sitting on a concrete slab). I said "No, I'm not rich. I just have good credit and a big mortgage payment." But he just repeated "no, you're rich." I was waiting for him to try and hit me up for a loan, but thankfully that didn't happen.

 

[old medic]

Happy Birthday...
I've used "gainfully Unemployed"

 

[eytonxav]

Just tell them you are related to Elon.

 

[punkinhead]

I retired at 54 and wonder why the "you look too young to retire" causes some people so much angst. I got it a lot and took it as a compliment. It means I planned well and made good decisions.

 

[Amethyst]

I don't hear "you're too young to be retired" any more, but I used to, fairly often. I just took it as a compliment and said, "Why, thank you!"

 

[tmitchell]

I retired at 54 and not a single person has asked me what I do until I ran into a former colleague at the farmer's market last week and she asked what I was working on. I said "I'm retired" for the first time and her jaw dropped and she said "you rock!!" Then she gave me a high five.

I felt a little weird like I was bragging, but afterward just figured I followed a plan and it worked, so why not be proud of that? Also I don't think a person over 50 being retired in this world is particularly unusual.

Happy bday and congrats for winning the game!

 

[Gumby]

A perfect spot for this:

 

[38Chevy454]

I just say I'm retired. No further unless they ask what I did for work and I say I was an engineer. That usually ends it. I retired fairly young at 53.5 and rarely got the too early to retire questioning. Maybe it's the grey hair? Now six years later I never get questioned.

 

[audreyh1]

We got the question and the occasional “too young” comment often as I retired just before 40 and DH was in his 40s. We didn’t try anything other than were retired. I think I would usually shrug “lucky I guess”. That would generally end the conversation. It was kind of obvious while we were this youngish couple RV fulltiming.

Nowadays >20 years later people rarely ask or comment.

I’m sure it helps that we now live in a retirement in an area full of Winter Texans (snowbirds). So many retirees here no one talks about it. Also no one ever talks about w@rk - yay!