For Those Who Retired Early -- Why? (supplement, vacations, marriage)
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Yes way too fast for sure! I've been retired now for 20 yrs.
Retired at age 49 in 1997. I'll be 69 yrs old this coming Sep.
At least I still have a few more years to come maybe another
20 yrs, since I'm still in good health.
I was just fortunate to have an unusual retirement with the
U.S. government.
I served in the military 12 yrs, civil service 18 yrs combining
them together to get 30 yrs total time in service. Immediately
started to collect my civil service monthly pension at age 49,
then my military reserves pension at age 60 and lastly my social
security at age 62. My military health plan covers 75% of the
total cost of our medical bills (I pay no monthly premiums).
What helped was all the COLAs over the years and living in the
Philippines with their low cost of living. So, 19 yrs later, my wife
and I are still here and enjoying our retirement lifestyle.
Our mortgage is paid off and we are debt free. We never had
any children, which we were OK with it.
My pension had a little extra until age 62 making it roughly 77% of my wages after 401k deductions. It was like I was working for $7 an hour. The job was not fun anymore. Retired at 57 with cheap employer health care.
retired from fed govt at 55, that was 10 years ago. Wife retired 8 years ago. We moved to a beach community. We have about 130K retirement income per year, consider ourselves fortunate
Bad management, toxic work environment, and people were getting sick and dying. I left three years ago as my health was suffering. Morale was nonexistent. Last week one of my former colleagues committed suicide. Others have had heart attacks, and stress related illnesses. I was 56 when I left and had learned to live on what was left after maxing out my deferred comp account. Paid off the house the year before. I was ready to go. There was a great big neon sign in my head saying, "Go!" and I listened. My hubby suffered years of layoffs in the airline industry and finally moved to a non flying job and is catching up on all the lost retirements he might have had. So we are balancing each other out now, he is carrying the can with health insurance when I used to. He is now vested and cannot leave with nothing, but wants to keep working a few more years. I work very part time and am able to travel to help my family out. The declsion was easy as his work was finally stable, we have no kids (I firmly believe people need to think long term if they want children and I see that a lot of folks don't see past the bundle of joy stage), and we have no debt because we don't have or need toys. So it worked out. But I look back on what I was putting up with and I shudder. I would have done it regardless of circumstances but am glad I was in a position to plan.
It seems most of the folks retiring early(younger than 60) either have 1) A pension or 2) A work health care plan that will go with them until 65.
I have neither so it looks like I will be at the daily grind till at least 62.
62 isn't so awful...Sure there are a few who retire in their 50's but that's on CD - not such a high percentage in real life. Many of those retiring early aren't doing it so much because they'll be able to live in luxury as because they've figured a way to live super cheaply - not everyone wants to do that <shrug>
I want to be able to travel a bit and do some fun stuff so I consider 62 to be plenty early if I'm going to have enough money to do more than just sit at home!
Those of you who retired before 65, especially those of you with health issues: what did you use for health insurance after retiring?
No major health issues, but we switched to "exchange" (ACA) insurance through Kaiser when I "retired." Technically, with no pension and no ongoing benefits, retirement for me was the same as quitting. Could have done COBRA for a little more, and we DO use COBRA for dental insurance ($78 a month). Since COBRA is time-limited, we would have had to find something else anyway. I'll be eligible for Medicare in about 4 more years.
Early is relative, but I'd say anytime before 55 in the U.S.
45 is very early, <40 is extremely early!!
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