What was the biggest unanticipated downside of your ER?

For me I'd say it's the feeling like I should be doing something. I thought that I wanted to do programming once I retired, but now having been retired for 2 years, I haven't even finished the course I started taking online. But every day I have a nagging sense of guilt that I *should* be working on it. Also, I don't keep up with the house chores as well as I'd like to, and am not exercising as much as I think I should, which make me feel guilty as well. I think I need to learn to let go of the "shoulds".
 
For me, the only downside is that I had to cut back my stock AA to be less aggressive without the earned income. When the market tanks, I can "buy low" only by rebalancing, not with fresh money. I love making money, whether by working or by investing.

An earlier poster mentioned having to pay mucho for health insurance. I had to buy insurance for several years prior to stopping contracting work, so it was not a new burden.

PS. The OP asked about unanticipated downside. Well, the reduced income is not unanticipated then.
 
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Like the others posting, I'm very happy with my decision. The things I miss that I hadn't expected to: the automatic and easy fellowship of colleagues, the identity and recognition that came with a big job in a well-known company (ah ego ego), the comfort of knowing a replenishing paycheck was just a few weeks away if I made a big purchase or a bonus was a few months away if the market fell ... and the silliest of all but it is there: turning left at the airplane door and going to the soft seats instead of turning right! As mentioned by others health insurance can be an expensive hassle. But none of the downsides is anywhere near as important as the upsides
 
I asked myself the same question before I pulled the trigger. Basically, what is the risk?

But I also asked another question: Do I want to keep working, only to regret not retiring sooner?

That seemed like the greater risk.
 
Sunset said:
I'm no longer saving the world, and that means a lot less admiration and congratulations per week.

There is the loss of work acquaintances, even though they were not quite friends, the daily interaction was close to friendship.

No new money flowing in, that you can sink into something because if it fails completely it doesn't affect what you already have stashed. Now I'm just re-allocating the stash, so a mistaken investment is more painful.
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Definitely can relate.
 
Finding a community of people who are experiencing the same thing is a challenge; this is obviously a start. Hi everyone.
 
Dd852 said:
... and the silliest of all but it is there: turning left at the airplane door and going to the soft seats instead of turning right!
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Yeah, there's that! It can still be purchased (and I do on long-hauls) but it was nicer when Megacorp paid for it even when there were strings attached, like sitting jet-lagged through boring PowerPoint presentations. I also miss racking up loyalty points and elite status via business travel. I can live with that. As with Business Class airfare, many of the perks of loyalty can be bought for a single trip.
 
I retired about a year ago, and the only unexpected downside for me is that I used to have a rhythm where I would sit down every paycheck and make sure all of my bills were paid until the next payday.

Now without paydays, there is nothing to remind me to do this, so I sort of randomly sit down every week or so and make sure everything is paid for the next little bit. This is working but the ad hoc nature of the process bothers me a little.
 
SecondCor521 said:
I retired about a year ago, and the only unexpected downside for me is that I used to have a rhythm where I would sit down every paycheck and make sure all of my bills were paid until the next payday.

Now without paydays, there is nothing to remind me to do this, so I sort of randomly sit down every week or so and make sure everything is paid for the next little bit. This is working but the ad hoc nature of the process bothers me a little.
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I like doing weekly tasks every Saturday morning, right after making coffee. Works for me. Besides, it helps me in my efforts to recall what day of the week it is. :)
 
Income Tax! I had a rental for many years that I could do a lot of write-offs, but the year after I sold it I got hammered!
 
Being able to obtain dependable full coverage health insurance/healthcare at a halfway reasonable price is the main reason we cannot retire. No amount of money can make up for being uninsured or underinsured IMO. If something does not fix the healthcare/health insurance problems in the US in the next couple of years, we will start looking at retiring to another country. (Hope this was not seen as political)
 
Dreaming of Freedom said:
Being able to obtain dependable full coverage health insurance/healthcare at a halfway reasonable price is the main reason we cannot retire. No amount of money can make up for being uninsured or underinsured IMO. If something does not fix the healthcare/health insurance problems in the US in the next couple of years, we will start looking at retiring to another country. (Hope this was not seen as political)
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If you retire, at least for 2017, you can engineer your income to get a good ACA subsidy. My rate is $2.96/mn for a bronze plan.
 
My DH always thought he'd play a lot of golf when he retired. It turned out that once he retired, golf somehow became less fun. He is playing a lot of tennis now, but that's not as time consuming and during the week, he's mostly stuck playing with the old guys instead of the guys who are closer to his age.

I don't get as much stuff done as I anticipated and I didn't expect my joints to give out as fast as they did. I feel kind of guilty about not working sometimes.

The health insurance thing is scary. We waited to retire until after the USSC decision and we thought we were okay at that point. Having it taken away is frightening. Fortunately, we can afford to relocate, but it's all just so unnecessary.
 
W2R said:
I like doing weekly tasks every Saturday morning, right after making coffee. Works for me. Besides, it helps me in my efforts to recall what day of the week it is. :)
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Yeah, but how do you tell that it's Saturday? :)

(And don't tell me that you know it's Saturday because that's when you pay bills... :facepalm: )
 
AllDone said:
My DH always thought he'd play a lot of golf when he retired. It turned out that once he retired, golf somehow became less fun. He is playing a lot of tennis now, but that's not as time consuming and during the week, he's mostly stuck playing with the old guys instead of the guys who are closer to his age.

I don't get as much stuff done as I anticipated and I didn't expect my joints to give out as fast as they did. I feel kind of guilty about not working sometimes.

The health insurance thing is scary. We waited to retire until after the USSC decision and we thought we were okay at that point. Having it taken away is frightening. Fortunately, we can afford to relocate, but it's all just so unnecessary.
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Are you thinking about relocating to another state or another country for health insurance if needed? I would consider moving to a different state if I could definitely get a decent health insurance policy for only a somewhat outrageous amount of money.
 
We're in California, so we're likely to be okay, if O'care gets messed up, but that assumes that the Gov can herd the legislature in the right direction -- which he's usually pretty good at. MA will revert to R'care, but the weather situation there isn't too appealing to people from SoCal. We had been talking about moving to Spain to live for a few years for a while and that idea has become a lot more real too.
 
Haven't really found one other than I wish I'd retired a couple years sooner!
 
Ronstar said:
I can't think of a downside other than having to get up early Monday mornings just to take out the garbage to the street. Not really unanticipated, just that before ER I never would have thought this to be a PITA. But now it is.
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ha! I took my trash out this evening "early" for the first time ever. Don't think I'll miss the 7am haul to the curb!
 
I didn't realize how much I needed to stay busy and how easily bored I become. I had stressful jobs and engaged in retail therapy and that is no longer fun. maybe I need my attention span stretched.
I sure do not miss having to drive places in the snow, now I just say I will have to reschedule
 
Biggest unexpected downside in retirement. That's easy.

Effects of aging after 60. Am surprised to see (or I should say, feel) the effects of the past five+ years.
 
Car-Guy said:
Effects of aging after 60. Am surprised to see (or I should say, feel) the effects of the past five+ years.
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Comes on fast, dunnit?
 
Don't know if it's the biggest but, it IS one I thought of immediately.

My golf handicap has not decreased as much as I'd hoped. I even took a set of lessons in the first year of FIRE; it went down a bit at first, then went back up to where it was. :facepalm:

I know you probably think I'm kidding but, I'm not. Achieving a low single digit handicap is one of my buck list goals. :banghead:
 
Unfortunately.....these days I seem to have the will power of a 4 year old.....so I tend to graze eat during the day. I've packed on some weight even though I still exercise about the same. Working kept me busy most of the day and I didn't eat as much. Of course....getting older has had something to do with it....as well as beer/candy/ice cream/cheese...all the essentials.
 
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