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Nope. My plan always was when I hit my numbers, I would decide to leave. 10 years ago, it was going to be 2022. Then, thanks to this amazing bull run, some lucky investments, promotion etc, was then supposed to be 5/1/20, but now, a surprise VRP allows me to have the same numbers (better, actually) and my last day will be 5/30/19, with only 33 actual working days left. Time is short. I will be about 61 & 4 months then. Just found out my ex wife, married for 10 years, divorced 25 years, passed away a few months ago just shy of 63.
No one can decide when enough is enough except themselves.
Last edited by Perryinva; 04-11-2019 at 03:19 PM..
My brother who is still working in his late 50s is just so tired of the corporate rat race. We have had many interesting discussions about the pros and cons of early retirement. (Before age 60) He keeps telling me that while he hates his job if he can just hold out for 5 more years his assets will increase as he is putting about 50% of his income into the stock market and bond funds, plus get a larger pension. His plan was to put up with the corporate madness for five more years and retire at 64 years old.
IF he can hold out five more years, he will be able to live a much better life then with more money allowing him to do more things and move into a nicer home. (Plus go on nicer trips and eat at nicer restaurants, etc.) But I tell him that by then his health may be poor and he will have lost the five years of good health and years of leisure gained from early retirement.
Have you faced this dilemma and what did you do?
I decided to retire at age 53 about six years ago May 17. What made this possible is that I am able to purchase health insurance through my wife's employer. While the rates are NOT great, the coverage is excellent and I am able to avoid paying a huge amount of money for mediocre coverage through the healthcare exchange.
Holding out five years in a position that you hate is not good for your health. My first medical appointments AFTER retirement were the best that I had in over ten years. All of the ailments that had been plaguing me for ten years went into remission.
In all fairness, we did cut our lifestyle a bit by moving to a LCOL area not because we could not afford it but so that we were in a place where we could be more active year around
Now that I am not working, we find ourselves going out to dinner LESS as I have the time each day to prepare restaurant quality meals. (Finally, I get to use all that culinary training that I received over the years.)
My brother who is still working in his late 50s is just so tired of the corporate rat race. We have had many interesting discussions about the pros and cons of early retirement. (Before age 60) He keeps telling me that while he hates his job if he can just hold out for 5 more years his assets will increase as he is putting about 50% of his income into the stock market and bond funds, plus get a larger pension. His plan was to put up with the corporate madness for five more years and retire at 64 years old.
IF he can hold out five more years, he will be able to live a much better life then with more money allowing him to do more things and move into a nicer home. (Plus go on nicer trips and eat at nicer restaurants, etc.) But I tell him that by then his health may be poor and he will have lost the five years of good health and years of leisure gained from early retirement.
Have you faced this dilemma and what did you do?
No. I would not consider retiring before my FRA and my full pension. I like my job and really like my coworkers, and am in excellent health so definitely not an issue for me. My issue is simply TIME. I have too many other things I want to do now. I can deal with the remaining years left but I am surely looking forward to not having to go to work every day.
I know many "perfectly healthy" and fit people who died in their 40s and 50s. . . cancer. They sure did not have 5 years from diagnosis . . . one had barely 5 DAYS.
Location: Small community in the California Sierra Mountains
119 posts, read 120,908 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jrkliny
Where did you come up with this assumption, nonsense? He may have a good income and also expenses to match. I know I did. I lived in a high tax, high COLA. I sent a kid to Johns Hopkins and paid almost full tuition and expenses. Take a look at those costs before you jump to conclusions based on your own life.
I know many "perfectly healthy" and fit people who died in their 40s and 50s. . . cancer. They sure did not have 5 years from diagnosis . . . one had barely 5 DAYS.
And a diagnosis makes them....not healthy. Which changes the picture and would change responses.
OP's scenario is someone in good health. I cannot possibly imagine someone retiring early because they *might* become sick. That makes zero sense.
Did you decide to cut your income in retirement so you could retire early? Why or Why Not?
Yes, I did. Now 62, I retired 3 months before my 58th BD. My income is less than 1/4 what it was when I was working, but I never spent money then because I was always working! So my lifestyle hasn't changed so much except I have to be aware of how much I have in my cash savings. I plan to defer SS to age 70 and am living on SMAs that will supplement my SS to a decreasing degree, up to age 83. I have about 500K in cash and investments and own my condo outright. I don't see me buying another car (2007 w/25K miles - barely drive it). I will use public transport when the car dies or I feel it's too risky to continue driving.
I had health problems that were exacerbated by the stress of working. I developed insomnia and was just tired of being tired all the time. So I quit. I didn't know it would turn out this way, but if I had hung on just two more years, my stock options would have exploded (STMP). I missed out on between 500K and 1.5M depending if I would have been smart enough to flip them at the right time.
At any rate, no sour grapes; I'm happy, sleeping well, and in better health now. I couldn't imagine re-entering the corporate world. Part-time/low stress work I could see myself handling, but I'm not even looking for that. I'll be retired 5 years June 23.
Money isn't the end-all some make it out to be. You didn't mention how much your friend would get from SS. The fact that my SS payout would be more than enough to live on, helped make the decision to retire feel a lot more secure to me. I'll get $44.5K as of 2019 at age 70. It will increase with each annual COLA. I live on a LOT less than that now.
Last edited by mitchmiller9; 04-11-2019 at 10:03 PM..
My brother who is still working in his late 50s is just so tired of the corporate rat race. We have had many interesting discussions about the pros and cons of early retirement. (Before age 60) He keeps telling me that while he hates his job if he can just hold out for 5 more years his assets will increase as he is putting about 50% of his income into the stock market and bond funds, plus get a larger pension. His plan was to put up with the corporate madness for five more years and retire at 64 years old.
IF he can hold out five more years, he will be able to live a much better life then with more money allowing him to do more things and move into a nicer home. (Plus go on nicer trips and eat at nicer restaurants, etc.) But I tell him that by then his health may be poor and he will have lost the five years of good health and years of leisure gained from early retirement.
Have you faced this dilemma and what did you do?
Retired 3+ months ago a bit over 60. For sure I could have afforded more expensive things had I decided to continue working but I think I have enough and I wanted to focus on my health and family relationships.
One change I have had to get used to is no longer staying in 5 star hotels which I had grown accustomed to after staying about 3 weeks since retiring in 3 star hotels...not nearly as pleasant but that's the type of compromise I made.
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