What age people on ER actually retired

What age did you leave PRIMARY work

  • Before 50

    Votes: 87 15.1%

  • 50-55

    Votes: 174 30.1%

  • 56-60

    Votes: 234 40.5%

  • 61-65

    Votes: 71 12.3%

  • 65+

    Votes: 12 2.1%
  • Total voters
    578
FLSUnFIRE said:
I always considered under 50 early (really, the low 40s). My anchor points were the Terhorsts and John Greaney and my original goal was to reach FI by 40 which was amended to 50 when I got married and consciously increased spending/lifestyle for our joint life but divorced at 42 and sprinted to the finish line at 47 as I unwound those expenses (mostly the cash-sucking huge house).

50's is getting into the full retirement zone with potential for 30 year career and many in military and law enforcement can get an immediate annuity and health after 20 years. If they are frugal and/or saved during their career they should have easily attained at least a lean FI and be work optional. I'm 50 now and no one blinks when I tell them I'm retired. If I mention I did it at 47 it might raise an eyebrow but doesn't get much reaction and it seems like people accept 50 as "old" ^
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^This is us. FI at 45 when I hit 20 in the military. At the time DW was a few months behind me in her career but only 39 years old. Kids were Finishing up HS. Ended up doing 23 in military and DW did 21. She went government. I went contractor. In 9.5 years, I worked maybe 8.5 total with 1.5 at 32 hrs/wk. Mid-February will be 2 years fully retired. I say fully but I officiate sports. Baseball and volleyball. Don't need the cash but I gross about 15-18K. Net after expenses/deductions maybe 2-3K. DW will retire from government just prior to her 55 birthday. 14+ years govvy so another COLA pension for her at 62.

I've always thought FI was more important than RE (ER). You can't really RE(ER) unless you are FI.

There was(is) a regular poster on here who retired at 70. Always thought is was strange for someone who retired at 70 to be a regular on an ER board. Doubt many would defend 70 as ER. But we welcome everyone which is awesome. As long as they don't start another when to take SS thread. :ROFLMAO:
 
The FIRE group here always seems much older than the FIRE group on Reddit. I get that's because many people here FIRE'd young and then stuck around into their older years. But the vibe here is more AARP than RE.
 
Errollyn said:
The FIRE group here always seems much older than the FIRE group on Reddit. I get that's because many people here FIRE'd young and then stuck around into their older years. But the vibe here is more AARP than RE.
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From my observation the population here contains a lot more doers/done-ers whereas most other groups are weighted more heavily to the aspirational end of the spectrum. Since TMF went bonkers I was not active on any online groups for a number of years until I started lurking and eventually joining here. I used to lurk on MMM, ERE, and Reddit some as well but found much less value than on this board (and the early days of TMF). I always valued the experiences of those that ERed ahead of me as both educational and inspirational.
 
My plan was to be able to retire at 55, and I missed it by 3 months!
 
FLSUnFIRE said:
From my observation the population here contains a lot more doers/done-ers whereas most other groups are weighted more heavily to the aspirational end of the spectrum. Since TMF went bonkers I was not active on any online groups for a number of years until I started lurking and eventually joining here. I used to lurk on MMM, ERE, and Reddit some as well but found much less value than on this board (and the early days of TMF). I always valued the experiences of those that ERed ahead of me as both educational and inspirational.
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Agree - the value of this board is that people who have "been there, done that" stick around and continue to educate those of us who are following in their footsteps. So glad to have found this forum and benefit from all the wisdom shared here!
 
I left Megacorp at 47, but had a pleasant pt job (teaching knitting) for 4 or 5 years after that. Hard for me to believe but it has been a bit over 17 years since I left full-time employment.
 
I stopped working at 63 but my workplace did not have a use it or lose policy for annual leave, and I had accumulated 2 years of unused leave. As a result, I continued to collect a paycheck and get health insurance until I turned 65, at which point I transitioned seamlessly into Medicare. My workplace added a use it or lose it policy after I left because of me, but I got grandfathered in under the old rules.
 
Gallaher said:
57
Should have could have retired five years sooner.
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I could’ve retired as much as 6 years earlier, but I shoulda worked another 5 years to pad the nest egg. DW worked 7 years longer than I expected because she liked her last job assignment.
 
Errollyn said:
The FIRE group here always seems much older than the FIRE group on Reddit. I get that's because many people here FIRE'd young and then stuck around into their older years. But the vibe here is more AARP than RE.
Click to expand...
We were whipper-snappers back in the day. Looks like I've been posting here for 14 years. Time flies.
 
Happily said goodbye at 58. DH kept on for 3 more years until he qualified for retiree medical. I had wanted him to leave earlier but he made the right call.

The medical coverage was heaven-sent with his many unforeseen and $$$ health issues post retirement, both before Medicare and as our secondary to Medicare.
 
Pension from megacorp at 49. Finally packed it in at 60.:needed extra nest egg owing to needed divorce at 52. Entered BTD in 2020.
 
This may give some relative insight into ER.org. It's almost 10 years old so possibly some movement since then.

Edited to add there is an error for age 50-54 listed twice with different values.

 
Ha, I felt like I was too late to the party but there are twice as many that retired after 85 than me....
 
Retired forever at 48.

After that, Scott Burns had a column on FireCalc and Cap'N Bill's website, E-R.org.

Read it for a few months, there were very few people on it then, but had lots of posts from the year before. Seems the Motley Fool bail-out crew had been here and moved on.

When I decided to register, I couldn't! Something had gone wrong, registration wasn't working, don't know for how long it was like that. Couldn't contact Dory 36 (AKA C'NB), no way to let him know. I found a user who had his/her email exposed, emailed that person to ask if they could relay the problem to Dory 36. They did, problem was fixed, so early 2003 I could post here. Sadly, that person who helped me out is long long gone.
 
Telly said:
Retired forever at 48.

After that, Scott Burns had a column on FireCalc and Cap'N Bill's website, E-R.org.

Read it for a few months, there were very few people on it then, but had lots of posts from the year before. Seems the Motley Fool bail-out crew had been here and moved on.

When I decided to register, I couldn't! Something had gone wrong, registration wasn't working, don't know for how long it was like that. Couldn't contact Dory 36 (AKA C'NB), no way to let him know. I found a user who had his/her email exposed, emailed that person to ask if they could relay the problem to Dory 36. They did, problem was fixed, so early 2003 I could post here. Sadly, that person who helped me out is long long gone.
Click to expand...
Can you elaborate on the Motley Fool bail-out crew? I think I missed that.
 
Motley Fool had an early retirement discussion board back in the 90's. I was on it, but mostly just lurked. When they decided to start charging for participation in their discussion boards, I and many others left. I saw many of them on John Greaney's Retire Early Home Page and eventually here, where I lurked for a couple of years before joining. There are still a few of the Motley Fool group who are active members here.
 
The early days of TMF were great but the ERHP boards eventually split due to political divides and even then most of the talk ended up being political and I left long before they were discontinued. (Again, shout out to the Mods here! Thank you, thank you, thank you) TMF eventually went "wise" which was sad and I haven't been to the site in years. I still have a few friends IRL and FB from those days. I can't even recall my username off the top of my head this morning (but I do remember my TMF password).
 
I retired from the state at 58. 7 months later I was working part time teaching at the University hence my username. I also worked part time testing worker’s compensation clients. I taught for 8 years until they got rid of all the adjuncts.

Of the 12 years in retirement I have only not worked 3. I still do the testing for one counselor. I used to test for 5 counselors but that was too much. The woman I work for was worried I was going to quit now that I will be getting my full SS but I told her I love doing the testing and have no plans to quit. I schedule my own clients so I have full control of my schedule.
 
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