Those currently working and planning ER aren't going to like this

[daylatedollarshort]

Less than 55 is too young to retire. I don’t think you can really appreciate retirement at such an age. Yes, you have the finances to give up work for a period of time. Some will make it and others find they are drawn back to the treadmill of MC & work.

I would have retired at age 5 if I had rich parents and been perfectly happy.

 

[MRG]

I would have retired at age 5 if I had rich parents and been perfectly happy.

Had I known what I known now I would have gone at 55. Sadly I waited to 56.

 

[watchman3135]

I would have retired at age 5 if I had rich parents and been perfectly happy.

One of my favorite lines from the movie and was actually a huge inspiration to my FIRE journey kickoff in 1999. As a matter of fact it was Milton who first used the acronym

 

[RetiredHappy]

I think we often have rose-colored-glasses on when looking in the rear view mirror.

There were things I liked about my job. Solving problems, implementing cool stuff, collaborating with cool people. But the things I didn't like come with it, especially in IT:

On call. Weekend Installs. Joining late night bridge calls for outages. Reporting to Upper Seniors on why there was that outage. Super early morning or late night calls with the offshore team. Vendor contract negotiations. Management who wanted re-negotiations every year to get more for less when it was always less for less. Ever dwindling onshore support for more and more offshore.
The BS, the reporting, the budget fights. Running on stuff that needed upgrading, spending a month putting together a business case that had to be redone 17x for your boss, then, getting told, no money, again. Business partners who never wanted to compromise on scope, schedule, or budget and then never showed up to help test, and invented workarounds in production which you found out about 3 years later when you updated code and found broke their stupid workaround that they never told you about and now they've escalated to high levels before even telling you...

I mean if none of that is making you shudder, go back!

^^^^ Are you sure we did not work together?!

 

[RetiredHappy]

I know those currently working and in the ER planning phase are not going to want to hear this.

I FIRE'd in June of 2019 at 53.5 from my IT job of 20 years and now a little over 2 years into it I'm strangely feeling like I need to go back to work, maybe in a part time capacity which is really perplexing given all the complaining I did when I was working and how much I was looking forward to freedom not to mention I'm a introvert so no job = no people constantly at you door breathing down your neck (except for my wife).

I was constantly researching the FIRE movement on this and other forums and would naively discount posters who say "I've been retired for x amount of time and thinking of going back to work because I'm board and miss the comradery" as they just need to find a better hobby. All this is very strange and gives meaning to the saying "be careful what you wish for, you might get it". Any of you at this point? ER not what you though it would be? Do I just need to take my own advise and find better hobbies?

You just need to find a hobby.

 

[Speculator]

I retired at 50 and also became bored after a few months. So I began volunteering for several organizations and over the next few years discovered things about myself I was unaware of. This new perspective on myself started me on a path through college and graduate school, culminating in a second career which I find enormously fulfilling.

 

[RobbieB]

If you want to work, work. If you want to retire, retire. Do whatever you want.

 

[Dtail]

Less than 55 is too young to retire. I don’t think you can really appreciate retirement at such an age. Yes, you have the finances to give up work for a period of time. Some will make it and others find they are drawn back to the treadmill of MC & work.

Retired at age 57, but would have retired much earlier if I discovered this forum plus no divorce.

 

[DrRoy]

Do I just need to take my own advise and find better hobbies?

Perhaps so. I have never once thought about going back to work to any degree since RE over 4 years ago. I even had a side gig in mind along the way, but never had the time or need for it. DW and I travel a good bit, and do landscape photography when we are out and about. Back home, editing and managing the photos takes a good amount of time as well. Between that and our other interests, we are pretty much always occupied.

 

[pb4uski]

Take up golf. Problem solved and different problems started.

 

[FLSUnFIRE]

I think we often have rose-colored-glasses on when looking in the rear view mirror.

There were things I liked about my job. Solving problems, implementing cool stuff, collaborating with cool people. But the things I didn't like come with it, especially in IT:

On call. Weekend Installs. Joining late night bridge calls for outages. Reporting to Upper Seniors on why there was that outage. Super early morning or late night calls with the offshore team. Vendor contract negotiations. Management who wanted re-negotiations every year to get more for less when it was always less for less. Ever dwindling onshore support for more and more offshore.
The BS, the reporting, the budget fights. Running on stuff that needed upgrading, spending a month putting together a business case that had to be redone 17x for your boss, then, getting told, no money, again. Business partners who never wanted to compromise on scope, schedule, or budget and then never showed up to help test, and invented workarounds in production which you found out about 3 years later when you updated code and found broke their stupid workaround that they never told you about and now they've escalated to high levels before even telling you...

I mean if none of that is making you shudder, go back!

https://www.jasonfeifer.com/episode/covid-nostalgia-is-good/


One of my favorite podcasts... anyway, I think the psychology discussed in this episode falls right into "missing" w*rk and the rose colored glasses.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Retirement isn’t what I fully expected and dreamed about. We have more money than expected but less health to enjoy and do what we really want. Of our 5 big passions and hobbies that we’ve enjoyed for years, we can only do 2 at a level that would make me happy. Running out of health and time. Should have retired 5-10 years sooner! We’ve been trying to morph our interests to account for health challenges. Think travel by RV instead of single track mountain biking. Glad I did what I could enjoy when broke and working. I’m grieving the loss; no amount of money can buy it back.

Thank you for sharing this. I think it's very important for folks to consider this when suffering from OMY syndrome. Tomorrow is not guaranteed and neither is good health.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Less than 55 is too young to retire. I don’t think you can really appreciate retirement at such an age. Yes, you have the finances to give up work for a period of time. Some will make it and others find they are drawn back to the treadmill of MC & work.

Sorry, I have to disagree with you. I tried to go back to w*rk after retiring at 40. It sucked, royally. So I stopped doing that. Life is much better.

One of my favorite lines from the movie and was actually a huge inspiration to my FIRE journey kickoff in 1999. As a matter of fact it was Milton who first used the acronym

Best line of that movie and one I use often:

Michael, I did nothing. I did absolutely nothing, and it was everything I thought it could be.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

If you want to work, work. If you want to retire, retire. Do whatever you want.

I often wonder if you were a writer for SNL. Specifically the "Deep Thoughts With Jack Handy" bits.

 

[watchman3135]

Sorry, I have to disagree with you. I tried to go back to w*rk after retiring at 40. It sucked, royally. So I stopped doing that. Life is much better.



Best line of that movie and one I use often:

LOL! Yes that was a good one. When this movie came out in 1999, not only did I think it was funny and well made, it hit home deep on so many levels with me on how I really felt about the established 9-5 grind. The movie's undertone was a real wakeup call for me to get serious about being able to leave my job well before 67...but not to do anything illegal to put my cornhole in any danger of course

So not only do I thank Jack Bogle and Bob Brinker, I will also add Mike Judge for being able to leave my job at 53.

 

[DawgSavr]

I think we often have rose-colored-glasses on when looking in the rear view mirror.

There were things I liked about my job. Solving problems, implementing cool stuff, collaborating with cool people. But the things I didn't like come with it, especially in IT:

On call. Weekend Installs. Joining late night bridge calls for outages. Reporting to Upper Seniors on why there was that outage. Super early morning or late night calls with the offshore team. Vendor contract negotiations. Management who wanted re-negotiations every year to get more for less when it was always less for less. Ever dwindling onshore support for more and more offshore.
The BS, the reporting, the budget fights. Running on stuff that needed upgrading, spending a month putting together a business case that had to be redone 17x for your boss, then, getting told, no money, again. Business partners who never wanted to compromise on scope, schedule, or budget and then never showed up to help test, and invented workarounds in production which you found out about 3 years later when you updated code and found broke their stupid workaround that they never told you about and now they've escalated to high levels before even telling you...

I mean if none of that is making you shudder, go back!

This really hit home. I'm that guy!

I will be 58 in a month and have been in an IT role since my first job in banking running a Unisys A4 Mainframe and Telex-Unix Based ATM systems as an operator and then moving into the PC Network boom with the rollout of Gateway computers and Novell Netware 3.x. I took the IT Management lobotomy early in my career after 2 years in the working world as a supervisor and then progressing through the ranks as manager, then director, then VP/Executive Officer over the course of almost 36 years, mainly in Technical Operations over Data Center, Network and Middleware Systems. I still do some late nights, not as many as my staff, but I figure as a good leader, I need to be in the trenches with them. An example, 2 weeks ago, we had a weekend business recovery test across 40 systems, I had a manager that just had a new baby and another that was ill with Covid, so I was already down a couple of people. I pulled the night shift/early weekend for management oversight so that the remaining manager pulling the day shift could spend time with his dad who was ill and help him during the evenings & night. Long story short, I'm done! I have stayed in good shape working out every morning but those all nighters and weekends are getting tougher to recover from. "Time to spend more time doing more enjoyable activities and experiences". Financials are well in order. Time for me to move over and let those growing in their respective careers take over. In fact, some fresh ideas wouldn't be a bad thing!

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

LOL! Yes that was a good one. When this movie came out in 1999, not only did I think it was funny and well made, it hit home deep on so many levels with me on how I really felt about the established 9-5 grind. The movie's undertone was a real wakeup call for me to get serious about being able to leave my job well before 67...but not to do anything illegal to put my cornhole in any danger of course

So not only do I thank Jack Bogle and Bob Brinker, I will also add Mike Judge for being able to leave my job at 53.

It amazes me that the creator of Beavis and Butthead could be so brilliant. Sometimes I think we are watching "Idiocracy" happen right before our eyes.

 

[wannabefire]

Retirement isn’t what I fully expected and dreamed about. We have more money than expected but less health to enjoy and do what we really want. Of our 5 big passions and hobbies that we’ve enjoyed for years, we can only do 2 at a level that would make me happy. Running out of health and time. Should have retired 5-10 years sooner! We’ve been trying to morph our interests to account for health challenges. Think travel by RV instead of single track mountain biking. Glad I did what I could enjoy when broke and working. I’m grieving the loss; no amount of money can buy it back.

This really strikes a chord with me. At 50 and 53, we are likely in the position to stop working, but my wife is not ready. I don't think I can quit before she does, but these comments make me want to try harder to persuade her.

I consider ourselves quite healthy right now, but realize that it will only get worse from here...

Thanks for the post!

 

[NoEZmoney]

I am a short timer with less than a year 'til I pop smoke and bail on a job that has lost it's luster. My career is on glide path but I don't phone it in. Through the years I've changed companies mostly b/c of bosses and better pay. It seemed with each departure, I'd hear from former colleagues how much the old bosses missed me. Nevermind they wouldn't increase dept budget or offer a bonus to keep me and other old timers around. They live and die on thinking they'll get younger folks cheaper, it happens but they usually leave after a year or so.
I know I'll be missed when I leave for the last time but I won't be missing them.

 

[Gumby]

I have no illusions about people missing me. It's been over two years now, and I'm sure that in the unlikely event my name ever comes up, the most common remark will be "who?"

 

[scottpush]

I have gotten bored like you but there's no way I'm stepping back into the soul killing job I had. Maybe good I had that job. Uh uh. No way. I'm going thru my hobbies and planning on adding more. Maybe volunteer. Maybe travel more. Maybe get a gf. Anything but un-FIREing

 

[Markola]

Retirement isn’t what I fully expected and dreamed about. We have more money than expected but less health to enjoy and do what we really want. Of our 5 big passions and hobbies that we’ve enjoyed for years, we can only do 2 at a level that would make me happy. Running out of health and time. Should have retired 5-10 years sooner! We’ve been trying to morph our interests to account for health challenges. Think travel by RV instead of single track mountain biking. Glad I did what I could enjoy when broke and working. I’m grieving the loss; no amount of money can buy it back.

I’m sorry and hope you find some new interests compatible with your health situation. Your post is meaningful to me, as someone who FIREd, or at least semi-FIREd, at 54 a few years earlier than planned but with a little less than expected when we thought we wanted to w*rk til 59. Projections say we’ll be fine but I do count on spending declining as we age, as many retirees experience, and someday our safety chute is growing home equity. That’s OK! At present, we’re relatively healthy and spending.

 

[watchman3135]

I have gotten bored like you but there's no way I'm stepping back into the soul killing job I had. Maybe good I had that job. Uh uh. No way. I'm going thru my hobbies and planning on adding more. Maybe volunteer. Maybe travel more. Maybe get a gf. Anything but un-FIREing

I recently took up watchmaking and enjoy it very much.

 

[Skitso999]

eBay for a job!

Better hobbies might help but I don’t think many here are surprised if taking an extended break results in some desire to return to work. I assume many of us have a contingency plan to continue working if necessary in some fashion (parttime, hobby job, etc).

I have the same fears regarding early retirement. I've already been retired once, but went back to work for the "perfect job" and now I want OUT again! Now I'm worried that I'll feel totally shiftless and lost...

BUT, one of the big things I've always wanted to do is sell some of my eBay-acquired stuff, back on eBay! I don't want to give it away and I don't want to sell it too cheap. eBay sales would be like a little job for me and give me something worthwhile to do. Would that be a solution for you?

The big secret to eBay these days is to start out with a low minimum bid. No one is doing that, and those that do are able to sell quickly.

 

[DrRoy]

Retirement isn’t what I fully expected and dreamed about. We have more money than expected but less health to enjoy and do what we really want. Of our 5 big passions and hobbies that we’ve enjoyed for years, we can only do 2 at a level that would make me happy. Running out of health and time. Should have retired 5-10 years sooner! We’ve been trying to morph our interests to account for health challenges. Think travel by RV instead of single track mountain biking. Glad I did what I could enjoy when broke and working. I’m grieving the loss; no amount of money can buy it back.

This is such an important message. We hope that we got the balance right. This is from the backcountry of Yosemite. It was a 4 mile hike in, 1600 vertical ft. to nearly 11,000 ft. Probable won't be up to it in 5-10 more years.