What Was Your Retirement T=0?

[Tekward]

With a respectful nod to Audreyh1 and her 25 years retired, how does everyone define their retirement start date? I suspect it is very subjective.

IMHO i started retirement when I controlled my schedule, so no full time employment. That's >10 years.

But if retirement starts when pay checks stop, then I'm not yet retired based on occasional consulting income.

I don't expect a universal answer but I'm interested in the consensus.

 

[Dtail]

My vote is the end of paid work. Many conceptually disagree with this thought. So for example my expenses are 50k and my consulting income is 50k, are we really going to say that we are retired?
It sounds good to say except that you are still working.........

 

[38Chevy454]

My retirement started when I stopped paid work. And when i had sufficient savings.

 

[martyp]

I chose a retirement date and informed HR and my supervisors. However, I had vacation time to burn and continued to be paid my full salary. I left in mid December but my official retirement and the start of my pension was March 1st. I say that my retirement started after my last day in December.

 

[Gumby]

My last day of actual work was Friday, May 31, 2019. Since we got paid 3 weeks in arrears, I got my final paycheck on Friday, June 21, 2019. I got my first pension check on Friday, June 28, 2019. I got my first social security check on Wednesday, March 17, 2021.

I consider my T=0 to be June 1, 2019. I have done zero work for pay since I woke up that morning.

 

[youbet]

My vote is the end of paid work. Many conceptually disagree with this thought. So for example my expenses are 50k and my consulting income is 50k, are we really going to say that we are retired?
It sounds good to say except that you are still working.........

Fully agree.

 

[CO-guy]

My vote was "End of full time employment," but I think it's a combination of that and FIRE confidence.

 

[SecondCor521]

My separation date was February 19, 2016, so that's my T=0.

But for a variety of reasons I took a 12 week personal leave of absence immediately before that and gave my 2 week notice after 10 weeks of leave. I think my last day in the office was sometime in November. During the leave I still had insurance, options were still vested, I accrued PTO, and I could use the office gym. So it sort of eased me into it.

I still get inflows from various things, but I don't need them and could live on my FIRE stash if those sources dried up.

 

[RetiredHappy]

Definitely end of paid work. Sold our business and closing was on 2/28/2016. I was 53 and the option was to be done or take a year off and look for the next stint. Our business was my second career and we had enough to be retired. A year later, I decided that I wasn't going to get into another paid job, because I was enjoying retirement so much that I could not fathom being tied to a work schedule.

 

[rk911]

My last date of full-time employmemt was Friday, August 11, 2005. On Saturday, August 12th we left for a 10-week RV trip thru WI, MI, MN and SD. During that trip I received the first direct-deposits from my two pensions. I've had three part+time jobs since...a volunteer docent at our local historical museum, a school crossing guard and a judge of election. Through all of that I have considered myself retired as of August 11, 2005.

 

[marinauser]

For me, retirement began when I gave up my partnership in the business. I was contracted to provide any clean-up for as long as I wanted and was paid out for my work collected after the end date over the course of two years. I worked maybe 200 hours that first "retired" year and declined after that pretty rapidly to maybe 10 hours by year five, Ten years after retirement, I still field a call once or twice a year and pass any work along to those still in the business. If I wanted to do some work, I could and would get paid but I have no interest in seeking out such work and doubt that I will in the future.

 

[Teacher Terry]

I voted it’s complicated. I retired from my full time job 12 years ago. However, I have either taught one college class every semester or consulted part time for all but 3 years. I consider myself retired.

 

[skyking1]

I'm tapering off. I checked both 1 and 2, I can and will work 50 hours a month for a length of time that is To Be Determined.
I am away helping a friend with his cabin build for 2+ weeks now and I called in, nothing happening so I will stay until Thursday. It is a pretty slack gig.

 

[brett]

Complicated....a number of moving parts over the previous six-eight months.

All of a sudden the stars aligned. Personal, financial, career.

Four or five weeks later it all came together and I walked. It felt so liberating. It still does after 13 or so years.

My spouse was surprised to the point where she did not really believe that I would actually do it.

But I did, and we have never looked back.

I was one of the lucky ones. I loved my job, good colleagues, had a great employer for 25 plus years that treated me well, paid me well, and offered me opportunity. I walked away feeling very good about it all.

 

[LateToFIRE]

Whelp, I said "It's complicated". I've been FI for some time now, but continued to work, both for fiscal paranoia as well as enjoyment. I left my job early this year, but on the way out received a year end bonus for 2023 sufficient to fund core expenses for this year. Between that and some other lumpy income, as far as the IRS is concerned it's going to very much look like I was gainfully employed for 2024 (and I will be egregiously taxed accordingly).

Plus, I'm not sure what my employment status will look like over the next couple years, but given ageism in the job market, that was probably my last megacorp gig. Still there could be some consulting opportunities that could return me to work in some way, shape, or form. But, would the pay be worth the hassle - the jury is still out and dust won't really clear for awhile. Right now my "job" is to consolidate and simplify our investment portfolio, and do same with our housing situation, both big time-consuming tasks that feel a lot like work.

So, it's definitely complicated. I'd say I'm still a couple years away from the scenario where I could put my feet up and spend an afternoon lounging next to the pool without a care in the world ;-). And you know what, that's not really me, anyhow. I get bored too easily.

 

[Ronstar]

I voted end of paid work, My end of full time employment was a couple of years earlier, having worked 1-2 days a week prior to retirement. But working 1-2 days a week is not retired IMO.

 

[FLSUnFIRE]

Multiple votes allowed.... just not more than two so I just stuck with it's complicated. I'd consider someone retired if they are not dependent on earned income and any paid work they do is primarily done for reasons other than compensation and is prioritized lower than leisure and enjoying life. AARP is actively trying to recruit me now, perhaps that should be a poll option!

 

[Andre1969]

I voted #6, "Reaching a nest egg goal/FIRE confidence," but I'm applying that to myself. I'm 54, still working. Logically, I know I'm most likely financially independent, so I've hit the "FI" part of it. But, emotionally, stuck in OMY (One More Year) syndrome. I figure once I get my emotional side in synch with my logical side, I'll have that confidence, and retire.

To me, if you retired from a full-time job, and only do the part time consulting as more of a hobby, I'd call it retired. Now if that "part time" ended up turning into mostly full-time, and you depended on that income, I'd call it "still working."

I had a supervisor back in the 90's who had retired from the Air Force, and gone back to work full time as a government contractor. I never thought of him as "retired," even though technically, he had retired from the Air Force and was getting a pension. I don't know if he would have been able to support his lifestyle on just an Air Force pension. I don't know how long he had been in the Air Force, but he was around 53 when I started working with him, so I have a feeling his USAF pension probably wasn't that big.

I've also known a few people who were under the old CSRS retirement system for the US government, who retired and then went back to work as a contractor. I never really thought of them as "retired" either. At least, not until they hung up the contractor job, too. Some of them had cut back to part time contracting work, so maybe I'd think of them as "semi-retired."

 

[Andre1969]

So, it's definitely complicated. I'd say I'm still a couple years away from the scenario where I could put my feet up and spend an afternoon lounging next to the pool without a care in the world ;-). And you know what, that's not really me, anyhow. I get bored too easily.

I used to fantasize about the day when I could do just that, lounge in and around the pool all day, without a care in the world. But, I've managed to do that while working, so that particular scenario has lost a bit of its magic for me. Unless we're having a party or cookout, I don't think I'm ever in the pool for more than 20-30 minutes at a time.

 

[Koolau]

I turned in my papers to retire but had vacation to use up. So, I was still officially with Megacorp until Sept 30 the year I retired. I was told that I could change my mind anytime up until then.

I had a call-in number for messages. At 11:58PM before my official retirement date, I started calling that number and hearing my name when the phone connected. I called until the message came up (best I recall) "This number is no longer valid." THAT was when I knew I was retired. YMMV

 

[Mark1]

Last day in the office (turned in computer): 4/11/2016. (This was retirement day to me.)
Moved out of state: 5/1/2016
Last payroll check: 5/31/2016
Started pension: 1/1/2017.
Last day of wages (discounted mega-corp stock purchase): 1/2/2017
Sold stock and purchased ROTH IRA with "earned income" money: Jan 2017

It's not complicated to me. Once I didn't have to worry about phone calls in the middle of the night, I knew I was retired.

 

[MarieIG]

My last "official" day of work was December 31, 2021 a Friday but I actually "worked" on January 1st and 2nd 2022.. The time between me giving notice and leaving was not a vacation, I worked like a maniac to finish as many "projects" as I could. However I went into the office on January 1st and 2nd (I was not paid to do that) to complete certain items, to organize files, type exit memos, and file (which I also typically would not do) out of consideration for those who would be inheriting my files and for my support staff. I probably got about five hours sleep, and Monday DH and I left for Minnesota, driving through a blizzard along the way, as DDIL, went into labor (false alarm). Baby arrived two weeks later . . .

My work friends were a bit surprised that I retired when I did because I was such a "workaholic" but I haven't missed the stress.

 

[marko]

Ha! Two years!

The company that acquired us wanted to get rid of me but didn't want to pay my seven figure contract. The idiots decided that if they relocated me to the Paris office that I'd quit instead, letting them off the hook.

What they didn't know was that we had lived there for many years and couldn't wait to get back. After two years of a no-show job (extremely light duty...average one or two days a week) they came to their senses and paid the contract and let me go. Two great years of retirement "practice" sitting on Parisian sidewalks drinking wine all day.

 

[Surewhitey]

We are FI, I'm coasting for the past 6 years doing things I enjoy and learning along the way. DW went to 4 days (her way of winding down on her terms).

Not exactly RE, but darn close. DW is setting the terms until "comfortable". Her not w*rking half the year now (after PTO, sick, weekends and Fridays) is forcing more vacations for sure.

 

[audreyh1]

With a respectful nod to Audreyh1 and her 25 years retired, how does everyone define their retirement start date? I suspect it is very subjective.

IMHO i started retirement when I controlled my schedule, so no full time employment. That's >10 years.

But if retirement starts when pay checks stop, then I'm not yet retired based on occasional consulting income.

I don't expect a universal answer but I'm interested in the consensus.

Numbers 5 and 6 indicate financial independence which is different than retirement which IMO is stopping paid work.