For those who retired early, even without a financial cushion (55, pension)

[MarshaBrady1968]

I have 2 careers simultaneously:

I am an insurance underwriter (desk job)
I am a fitness professional (my chosen path, my degree)

I do not hate being an underwriter, FWIW, I rather like it.
What I hate is sitting at a desk, and having to be handcuffed to the desk and the 8-5. There are UW jobs that offer something different, but not many, and you never know what BS you might have to put up with in exchange for the flexible schedule.

My goal is to retire at 55 (4 years from now) from my desk job, and do only my fitness job, plus possibly a retail gig or something non-sitting. I have zero retirement (used it to buy a house). My spouse has a lot of retirement money, but he is younger than me and will still be working/ ineligible for taking it.

Why am I so stupid, you ask? I feel like sitting is the new smoking and I am paying mentally and physically every single day. Health is my #1 priority, and this unhealthy sitting crap has become a non-starter the older I have gotten.

What is my plan, you ask?
1. I want to acquire an income property - this idea was posted on real estate thread, but only like one person responded, so I'd love more responses on this subject
2. I will still be working as stated: earning probably about $1500 month max
3. Reduce expenses- kids will be gone, only one in college, pay off cars, etc.
4. Hubby will be working for a while longer and I can be on his health insurance (if that will even be needed by then)

Did you retire from your main career at an early age and without any nest egg? How did it go?

[Bungalove]

I retired at age 56 without a real nest egg. I do, however, have an annuity from my TSP acccount and an OPM pension which had a bonus amount added to it until I reached the age of 62 (our retirements were deemed "adverse actions" because the command was disestablished). My husband was still working at that time, but shortly thereafter his cancer, which we thought had been cured, reappeared and he died within 5 months. He did not leave a big estate, but he had modified his retirement so that I do receive two annuities from his employer for life. I also received Social Security widow's benefits starting at age 60 until age 69. I had intended to hold off on my own SS benefits until age 70, but after I had my heart attack last year I decided not to wait another full year. So altogether I have a steady income stream that is very comfortable.

[oddstray]

Yes, sitting constantly for a long time is unhealthy. But there are things you can do to make sitting less of a problem. Desk exercises, regular stand-up breaks, short walks outside, etc.

You might want to look into those before you give up a lucrative source of income earlier than you otherwise would have done.

[ReachTheBeach]

You still have a working spouse and you will still be working part time. I think it is more than semantics to say that's not retired, but it's still just my opinion. I don't see the concerns about whether you have enough saved to stop working. Lots of couples have one primary bread winner.

[BBCjunkie]

I effectively retired (meaning that I had to leave work for two years due to a family obligation but decided at the end of that time to not go back to work) at age 54. At that time I did have a financial cushion/nest egg (meaning assets in cash and investments) that even people on this forum would probably consider to be adequate.

A decade later my nest egg is now a low-single-digit fraction of what it was at that time. Part of that was due to circumstances beyond my control (especially the implosion of the housing market and in my area in particular after Katrina and Sandy) but I will admit also partly due to decisions on my part that were made out of either complacency, ignorance, or misplaced priorities.

So in short, I'd say it did not work out particularly well, LOL.

But to paraphrase my mom: I made my bed and now I am lying in it. I accept that. It is what it is and there's no way to change the past. Sure there are plenty of people better off/better prepared for retirement than I am/was, but there are many more who are much worse. I have friends on both sides of that particular fence.

I do NOT regret that I retired early; I would do the same again in a heartbeat. What I do regret is making assumptions about certain things and people and not being as cautious with my nest egg as I should have been.

[StealthRabbit]

out of employment at age 49 (so far have survived 15 + yrs of 'FIRE') Not starving, but pretty skinny! @ HS weight (but not HS W-i-d-t-h ... did we REALLY have 22" waists?) Oh dear! Something happened Gravity?

No monetary 'cushion'
No HC (Pre ACA we had LOTS of $300 / month options... after ACA we had NONE)
No Pension
No nest-egg (a few leveraged investment properties)
Home Mortgage (will have forever... cheap money for leveraged assets earning 12% cash flows)
Single earner family (for entire life) No spousal SSA or salary
LOTS of inherited bills (parent's business)
32 yrs providing eldercare (disabled parent)
Kids got ZERO in college funds... we trained them to be 'self sufficient' by age 12, in-case they needed to care for us by age 18! (as I did for my parents). Not to worry, our kids each had $100k in assets by age 18, should they have needed college money, but... FT College is FREE in WA state (instead of having to sit in High School) if you pass a college entrance exam in 9 - 10 grade. Both kids were very disciplined stock traders (starting from age 12). They survived...

Retire early, retire often (Practice makes perfect)

[k7baixo]

Marsha, Marsha, Marsha.....how’s your husband doing with any savings? Is there any hope there?

[bobspez]

I did retire early but had a pension. Then went back to work for two years until 62 when I collected SS. The OP's plan seems to have several holes in it. First, if she is a fitness coach, what difference does it make how long she sits each day, if she is actively exercising in the evening and on days off? Second, $1500 a month is not going to finance a retirement. Third, what if your spouse is taken out of the picture through accident, illness, divorce, etc.?
The comment that "if health insurance is needed by then" is off the mark. Health insurance is always needed, even for those with Medicare.

My advice, keep your day job, build a nest egg, do the fitness for yourself and/or as a part time gig.

[SoCal_Native]

Originally Posted by MarshaBrady1968

I feel like sitting is the new smoking and I am paying mentally and physically every single day.

Health is my #1 priority

You can sit AND be healthy. They are not mutually exclusive. You can exercise at lunch or in the mornings or evenings. Millions of people do it.

[MarshaBrady1968]

Originally Posted by SoCal_Native

You can sit AND be healthy. They are not mutually exclusive. You can exercise at lunch or in the mornings or evenings. Millions of people do it.

I do exercise both before and after work. Not the same as just sitting and sandwiching that 9 hrs plus another hour of drive time = 10 hours of sitting.... not the same as two workouts PLUS cleaning house or waiting tables or anything changing positions and moving all day. Not really allowed to leave desk and walk around, but I do stand and do squats, lunges, yoga as much as possible. Anyway, the health forum is its own thing. I just wanted advice from people who retired early so thanks everyone!!!