Did you retire early and regret it?

Question

David Brenihan · Accepted Answer

No but it's only been a couple of years. But my job was very stressful and covid was the last straw. I believe if I stayed in my job a heart attack would be my end. It still may be, but I'm exercising and being (somewhat) careful about what I eat. I should have stayed with my initial career or chose something different for my later career. I have learned many things over the years and if I need to earn money on the side, I can. One piece of advice I would give anyone is always have a can do attitude. Just because you don't know how to do something , doesn't mean you can't learn. If I hire someone to build or fix something, I help in any way I can. I ask questions. Most people like to explain what they are doing. Then the next time I can try to fix it myself. If I can't then call them to come and fix it. They will tell you what you did wrong.

Disclaimer: only work on dangerous stuff like gas piping/appliances or electrical if you are sure you can do it properly. Especially if you're working on other people's places or rental apartments. The liability if something happens can destroy you.

Tom Gimpel · Answer

Just after my company approached me about retiring early at age 60 (or taking a role I really didn’t want), a long term co-worker and friend suddenly passed away. He and I had travelled the world together for work. We had so many laughs, so many stories. I was crushed. At his funeral, I was equally shocked to learn that he was actually 2 years younger than I was - I had always thought he was older. Fortunately he had retired early a few years before, and chased his nomadic passions with his wife in an RV and on their Harleys. I was so happy that they got that time together. “Some day” is not guaranteed to anybody. I pulled the trigger and took the retirement offer.

As retirement neared, I had the same concern so many had: “How will I fill my days?” My 37 years in software and leadership had conditioned me to fill my schedule. An empty calendar was something to be dreaded and corrected - there had to be “something” that needed to be done. How would I fill all this free retirement time?

Then an older retired friend said something that changed my mind in an instant. He said, “Welcome to the Every-Day-Is-Saturday club”. Suddenly it hit me. “I don’t worry about filling up my Saturdays, right? Why would this be different?”

And it turns out - it’s not different. Just like Saturdays, sure there are chores, but those go by quickly and on my own schedule. Then the rest of my day, the rest of my time, and my thoughts, are my own. What a blessing that is!

So, I try to take advantage of my gift and do something every day. I go on long beach walks and take photos - reigniting a passion from my youth and even sparking a bit of a side business. I read - online and off - as much as I can. I try to get to the gym a few days a week - at any time or on any schedule I want - not “squeezing it in” at 7am. I’ll go fishing or kayaking - while listening to an audiobook (something I’ve grown to love). I’ll do small home repair projects - something else I enjoy. I’ll research strange or quirky things purely out of personal passion (such as my love for the Apollo program). I’ll dabble with new software technologies - not for work - but purely for fun. My wife and I travel - several trips this year alone - without a care for weekends or PTO days, and taking advantage of those months when school is in session - so we can do so among smaller crowds. We go to daytime baseball games when others are in the office. We go on weeknight dates without worrying about getting up for work the next day. We play games. We visit our kids. We watch sunsets. The one thing I try NOT to do, is put the TV on during the day. (I don’t need to get sucked into watching another episode of Friends for the 35th time - though it’s great show). I go to bed when I feel like it - be that 10pm or 2am. I wake when my body tells me to. And I have never - ever - slept better.

Retirement is Saturday… every day. There’s not much that’s not to like. Plan your finances early, and go enjoy it.

Aimee Bond · Answer

I retired at age 58 after working 35 years. Work was always the most important thing in my life and I often worked long hours as a senior financial analyst at McLaren. I decided to retire when I got the Flu in March 2020 and still had to work long hours that week due to the monthly close. I was miserable. I thought “This job is not worth my health.” I then retired in July 2020. This past year has been the best year of my life, even with the Covid restrictions. It has been peaceful and quiet. I have had time to read, watch my favorite shows, get together with friends for lunch (while wearing masks) and play with my 7 cats. I am able to spend more time with my 84 year old mother, and I am also re-learning spanish. That being said, I have nightmares almost every night and feel guilty for retiring early. I had wonderful bosses and coworkers and I still miss them very much. In some of my dreams, McLaren has called me back to work because they really need me. In the dreams, I think “Oh, I am so happy to be needed. I will work forever.” Then I wake up and realize they didn’t need me after all. I feel a little empty and sad upon wakening. When I retired, I never realized I would suffer from guilt and lack of purpose. However, I am still happy to not be dealing with work stress. I think Over Achievers and Type A personalities may have the hardest time in retirement. I am trying to just appreciate the simple things. I go for walks several times a week at the park and feed the birds. It fills me with a sense of calm and joy. Update: Thank you so much for the kind comments, wonderful advice and insights. Reading the comments makes me realize that I am not alone and that there are many kind, wise, wonderful people on this forum. This helps more than you know. One of my 7 cats (Sangria) was just diagnosed today with early stage Diabetes. We will put her on insulin and special food, but I am still a little worried. Reading your kind comments helps. Thank you for putting positive thoughts out there for Sangria. Update : 6 months later, Sangria is doing well with the diabetes. She is maintaining her weight and taking insulin 1.0ML morning and night. Love her so much. My nightmares have also diminished. I am now volunteering at a barn sanctuary and love working with the animals - especially the goats. I still love retirement, although I miss my coworkers. Update: A Kind friend and past coworker asked me to potentially work as a contracted employee for her in the finance field. I was so flattered but turned it down. Our friendship is more important to me and I value the peace and quiet that retirement brings. I will volunteer more at the Barn Sanctuary and try to find peace in friendships, volunteering and time spent with loved ones. Namaste. I wish everyone a peaceful, joyous holiday season.

S L Chong · Answer

I worked for 33 years and decided to retire early a couple of years ago at 57 because of my late dad’s health issues which needed extra time and care, besides my ex-employer driving my stress levels up the wall.

I was fortunate (or unfortunate) that I got laid off in 2016 and needed 5 months to find another job. In that time, I was forced to review my finances, downsize my expenses and have a taste of what long term retirement would feel like.

The first thing you discover is that your workplace friends are mostly co-workers and not really friends. They won’t be calling after you have left. The second thing is that once you are no longer in a position of power at work, all those folks who used to ask you out for lunch (to sell you something) won’t be calling again, although I was lucky to have built some good relationships and a couple of my vendor friends did try to help me find a job during that difficult time. I managed to get into a couple of jobs which paid less than the one I was retrenched from.

So when circumstances arose again, I took another good hard look at my finances and decided to retire early in late 2019. My wife was also retiring around that time and was entitled to a government pension (we are Malaysians). When putting all our resources together, we found that we were able to have a cash flow equivalent to 70% of our pre-retirement nett salary income. Since our 3 children were already working and were no longer dependent on us, we felt that this was something doable.

This is a critical point if you are considering to retire early. Without a sufficient and sustainable cashflow, you will be miserable. You will either have to reduce your lifestyle to a level too far below what you are used to, or run out of money. We managed to derive our cashflow mainly from the interest on our investments, without touching the principal, which is sustainable way of doing it. We also took on medical insurance as a means of protecting our nest egg, should a serious health condition arise.

For the first year of my early retirement, I did some IT consulting work part time and this eased me into full retirement this year. I now work on voluntary projects and unlike at the office, get to choose what I am happy to do and say no to what I would not like to get involved in. In a way, it’s a blessing I stopped working full time as the pandemic has been getting serious in Malaysia and I appreciate not having to go to work as there are many workplace Covid-19 clusters.

Besides voluntary work (mostly online, Zoom, etc), my wife and I enjoy walks in the park, watching movies at home, having meals, visiting cafes and doing any other thing we pretty much wish. We want to resume our travels again after the pandemic especially visiting our 2 children who live in Australia besides visiting other countries. I don’t miss the traffic jams on my commute to work nor the work stress and having to suck up to the boss. We do our grocery shopping on weekdays, when it’s not peak and it is a lot safer in the pandemic this way.

In fact, my IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) has improved so much, I’m completely off medication. Just once in a while, the old work issues come back in dreams (I think it’s a kind of PTSD having been in the trenches for 33 years) and what a relief when I wake up and realize it was all a dream of the past, with a situation I no longer have to solve :)

So do I regret retiring early? Not at all, though I wouldn’t say I should have done it earlier, I believe that things happen at the right time. Although each person’s situation is different, with the right financial planning, you will have the best time of your life. All the best if you are considering the option of retiring early.

Anonymous · Answer

I didn’t retire early - I retired on the absolute soonest day I was able, my 62nd birthday. However, I did so at my own peril. My social security and pension combined are pretty pathetic. Between my husband and I, our total income is about $4,160 a month, and after he’s gone I won’t get his entire social security. But you know what? … I have no regrets at all. I literally threw away my alarm clock, and come and go as I please. I may not be able to travel to Europe or Australia as I’ve always dreamed of, but that is a small price to pay for Freedom. I was born in 1961, so my assigned full retirement age is 67. No effin way! I may not be alive by then.

I am enjoying my alarm clock-free life very, very much.

David McNeil · Answer

I semi-retired at 53 and fully retired at 56. The only thing compelling about staying at work, unless you need the money, is keeping a sense of purpose, but defining oneself by career is so dissatisfying. It has been such a joy to repurpose in retirement, and now I define myself by experiences, and making a difference in the world. My daily purposes are to be kind, make a difference in someone’s life, see new places, stay fit, cook a new recipe, learn a new guitar lick. This is joy. Retirement gives me the opportunity to be genuine in my quest for purpose rather than defining myself by doing what is expected of me or what I’m paid for. RETIRE, and leave your career behind you. It is no longer who you are, and really never was. Learning to surf at 59 is who I am.

Fred DeSantis · Answer

I retired early at age sixty two but it was not until nearly four years later that I realized the true benefits of that decision. Once I retired I moved into a modular home I had on a piece of property I owned.

I have found that having retired early is preparing me for having a longer and happier retirement in three different ways.

Physical condition

Retiring at age sixty two I was still able to work on my property like building a deck and sheds putting up fencing and other jobs around the property. Believe me digging post holes is good exercise.

My Diet

Living in a small town out in the country you don’t have as many options for dining out and certainly few fast food options. I cook mostly all of my own meals so I have a tendency to eat healthier. I have lost thirty pounds over the last four years.

Spiritually

One of the first things I decided to do was to raise goats, more as a hobby than a large scale business. To see the birth of a new kid is truly amazing. To watch a mother goat tend to her kid’s is something to behold. Going outside a night and seeing all the stars is pretty awesome. Watching the seasons change as wildflowers grow in the early Spring to the turning of the leaves in Autumn gives you a sense of the wonders of nature.

Out here in the country you are pretty much on your own not totally but you get my drift. You begin to develop good habits. For one I have to get up early every day to feed the goats and my dog Sissy. When a fence or gate needs repaired you do it or it won’t get done. I used to drink beer every Friday or Saturday night, I can’t remember the last time I had a beer. Every day I try to do some work outside in addition to caring for the goats mostly it’s mowing and weed eating but it’s also home maintenance and other odds and ends.

I guess the point I am trying to make here is that retiring early while you still have the ability to experience all of the things I have covered here prepares you for growing into your seventies and later retirement it’s more of a gradual process not like say, returning from Vietnam where one day you’re in the jungle and the next your home. Anyhow those are my thoughts on retiring early

Doug Massey · Answer

1. I was a good student and worked hard, especially at math and science. I was born lucky -- good brain, parents who valued education, precious little athletic talent to distract me, ha ha.
2. Went to a decent, low-cost college (U of Maryland, as a state resident -- I didn't get into MIT, which actually saved me a ton of money in retrospect) and picked the highest-paying four-year degree that fit my skills (electrical engineering), graduating in 1992 with about $9000 in debt ($15k in 2016 dollars). Actually picked electrical over aerospace after my freshman year based completely on whether or not I had to take an 8am class that semester. :-)
3. Interviewed with about 30 companies during an economic downturn (especially in the DC area), managed to find a job at IBM in Vermont paying $34,500 ($59,000 in 2016 dollars) -- a median sort of starting salary for my degree.
4. Worked my butt off for 18 months while I was still being paid time-and-a-half for overtime at IBM and paid off the student loan completely. Started a 401k as soon as I was eligible, investing 6% to get a 3% match. Invested it in some large-cap fund. (Big props to my friend Andy, who was 9 years older and financially wiser and got me on a smart track, quickly). Bought IBM stock at a 15% discount and sold it periodically (rather than carrying a large number of shares in my employer). Never carried a credit card balance.
5. Didn't get much in the way of raises in the mid-90s and was only up to about $50k by 1998 or so -- IBM was suffering a bit. But I didn't develop expensive tastes (I bought a silly new car out of college, but other than that lived in inexpensive apartments or with girlfriends until buying a $103k condo in 1997 ($154k in 2016 dollars), which I would share with a girlfriend for most of my time there). Continued to work hard; by now I was a microchip designer and was as secure in my job as I could be.
6. Crucial moment: the dot-com boom started and IBM started jacking up salaries to keep their employees. I shot up to $95k by 2001 ($128k in 2016 dollars) -- but I didn't change my lifestyle in any serious way (one exception: joined a country club -- but I played a TON of golf and got my money's worth!). Every extra dollar that I earned went into investments, not into buying stuff -- first filling up my 401k, then opening a Roth (I would always be right around the limit for income to have a Roth), then starting in on a regular investment account with Vanguard. By now, I was out of managed funds and pumping money into index funds (S&P 500, Extended Stock Market, International, bond funds, REIT). 20% of my paycheck, then 30%, then 40% -- all while maintaining my same lifestyle. The next car was a 3-yr old Honda with 30k miles, not a new car.
7. The raises leveled off after the dot-com bust -- by 2013, I'd only gone up to $117k ($120k in 2016 dollars -- a pay cut compared to 2001!). But I continued to hold my expenses down, my investment percentage increased to 50%, then 60%. I still lived life -- taking vacations, eating out at restaurants, playing golf, etc. -- but I did so like someone who earned half my salary.
8. I should point out that my investments didn't actually perform that well -- most of the money I've set aside was done so *after* 2001, so it went through the Great Recession (though much of that has recovered, of course). I sold the condo for $222k ($263k) in 2006 for a nice profit, but I invested much of it into an REIT that took a big loss. I bought a nicer condo as well, for $320k ($380k), but sold it in 2013 for a loss of about $20k. But I never sold a company for millions or hit a jackpot or inherited a great sum or anything like that.
9. A rule of thumb I'd been watching for a while was something I invented: the FTI, or "F*&% This Index": it's your age times your net worth, divided by your yearly expenses. When that's over 1000, you're probably safe to tell your boss "F*&% This!" and quit. :-) By 2010, I topped that mark with expenses around $35k -- but I hung around for a few more years (despite growing more and more disenchanted with my career and employer). I knew I could get six month's severance if I were laid off, so I made it clear to my manager that this is what I wanted and I secured that lay-off in 2013 at age 41. By then my FTI was about 1450 and I felt quite safe. I'd also moved with my wife from Vermont to North Carolina, which reduced our housing, energy and tax expenses.
10. Now I'm living in a nice home that cost $315k in 2013 ($324k), with yearly expenses of about $42k (that includes expenses I share with my wife, of course). I now drive a Prius I bought used (I’ve put down a deposit for a Tesla Model 3, though!). I receive about $15k in dividends from my non-IRA investments and sell another $30k or so of my S&P 500 fund (paying about $3000 in taxes to do so). I'll follow this pattern for another 15 years, until I turn 59.5 and can start tapping the 401k and Roth. By then, my wife will also be retired and the tax on the 401k withdrawals will be minimal.
I now volunteer about 20-25 hours a week tutoring math to 5th and 6th graders -- something I would have done as a career, had it paid better -- and am ridiculously happy. :-) I *could* have continued working (either at IBM or somewhere else) and piling up money, as pretty much everyone else I know has done -- but I chose happiness and freedom instead. I guess there are people for whom that doesn't have to be a choice, but it was for me.

You might have noticed that I never mentioned children -- I chose very early in life (mid-20s) that I definitely didn't want kids. If I had, though, I think this would have just pushed the timeline back -- the additional expenses of parenthood would have probably meant working until I was 50 or so. But I know that I still would have been a live-beneath-my-means type of person (in particular, I would have made sure that my children knew that their parents were not going to be paying top dollar some private college, that they wouldn't be showered with gifts, etc.).

I'm now basically invested like the Vanguard Target Retirement 2030 fund. I also manually invest in separate Vanguard funds to match the retirement fund percentages myself, because it saves me an extra 0.05% per year in OER and because I am a dork. :-) . If the market were to make a downturn, I would not panic -- I still have *decades* to go. If it were a sustained, new paradigm of American economy of lower returns and growth, then my wife and I could easily lower our standard of living a bit (or I could pick up a part-time job at the school, instead of volunteering). We're good to go!

Anonymous · Answer

I did retire early at 55. I'm 72 now. I used to work in engineering but since retirement I work seasonally at a ski area teaching skiing. I had a pretty good life before retirement, just one job following graduate school for 30 years that paid well and was often very interesting. That job and a constant interest in investing instilled by my father led me to have the finances to actually retire early and do whatever I wanted to.

At this point in the narrative I want to point out that whenever I talk about my life, as the words get written, it seems to me like I'm saying that my good life is all due to me working hard and making good decisions on my own. That's not true. It's mostly due to other people guiding me and giving me chances to do what needs to be done. And then equal doses of work and luck on my part.

So retiring early has been great for me and my wife. She was able to retire when I did and also now works seasonally at the same ski area I work at.

A major thing happened to me about 12 years before I retired that affected how I viewed retirement. My then neighbors on either side of me retired withing a couple of years of each other. Neither had made any plans on what to do following and so they did nothing. After a year or so I became their object of interest and ire as they became grumpy (read mean and angry) old men. I could do no right and was the recipient of constant “guidance and criticism” on their part. They had nothing else to do but to gossip about me and make my life hard. We ended up selling and moving away (way too late) to get away from all that. But it did make clear to me that when I retired I better have a plan, I better have something to keep me busy. I learned from the worst people I have ever encounter in my life to keep busy.

Turns out in retirement it is hard to keep busy but I work at it. Out social life revolves around our winter jobs. Outside of that there is charity work (which I should do more of) and outdoor activities and reading and repairing every damn thing I own when it breaks.

So now, how about regrets. There are a few. They don't make me depressed and I don't really dwell on them but they are there. So, in no particular order here they are.

Not because of retirement but because of getting older we find that younger people are less interested in socializing with us. Turns out that as we age we find that most of the people around us are younger as most of the people that are older than us are dead! Who woulda thunk it? The regret was we were the same way a bit when we were younger, we didn't socialize as much as we should have with those 20 and 30 years older than us. We try to make up for that now by socializing with people that are older than us by 10 and 15 years and not giving up on them as they move to retirement homes, assisted living and then end stage care. We should have done more when we were young and we make up for it as best we can now.

I do not have a regret, not a single regret, about leaving my one job that I did for 30 years. It was not a job that I loved, but it was one that I could do well in and I liked it. Like any job there were ups and downs. There were times when I got to do cutting edge work, where the physics behind what I was doing was something that only me and a couple of others understood and could do. There were also time when I dealt with difficult bosses as well as people that reported to me, times when I was almost caught in layoffs. You know, just like any other job.

But, here's the thing. I often have dreams about that job. Actually just a single dream. It is that I have retired but have been asked to come back as a job shopper/consultant. That was common in engineering where I worked, lots of people “failed” retirement and came back as consultants and job shoppers. I could have as well but declined, I had other things to do and by no means needed the money. But I have this dream that I did come back and that I was paid well to do it but somehow I was never given anything to do. And in this dream I'm allowed to leave every winter to do my ski instructing job. It was a very unsettling dream and oddly it doesn't involve anyone I ever worked with. I didn't have them for the first few years of retirement, then I had them a lot for a few years, and now it's very infrequent. What's also odd to me about this dream is that a several other people had told me, early in my retirement, that they have pretty much this dream and I should expect it.

So maybe I have some sort of subconscious regret about retiring. Or maybe about not taking advantage of coming back and making a lot more money. I just don't know.

The last regret that I have, and it is ongoing, is that I should have done more to contribute to the world. We always gave to charities and people in need but it seems like I could have done more. I continue to do so but still, each time we do it it feels like I could have done more. After retirement this one regret is more in my thoughts.

And now the non-regrets. Yes, I should have played teams sports when young. I should have eaten better. I should have brushed my teeth more often, I should have flossed at bit. Used sunscreen? That wasn't a thing when I was young. Listened in school? Yep, should have done that for sure. And the list goes on and on. I could have done lots but I didn't. I don't dwell on any of this but I do laugh at my idiocy and try to learn from it. In a few years I will be laughing at what I did presently, but I'll also try to do better,

Walter Piescik · Answer

I retired 13 years ago at 48. I get this question all the time, and it drives me a little crazy.

Yes, there can be challenges in finding a sense of purpose and feeling part of something bigger than yourself.

But is your answer going to be “I cant figure out what to do with myself, so I will let my manager tell me how to spend my time in this life”?

Retire. Figure it out for yourself. Find YOUR own path. Play, compete, volunteer, mentor, dissipate…its up to you.

This is all assuming you can afford to retire to a lifestyle you are comfortable with. Plenty of people do the math wrong.

Sally Alter · Answer

I was a nurse for eleven years in Scotland and England and retired at 39 when I came to the States. I could not return to nursing in America because I was never in one place for long. My husband and I bought an RV and traveled around the country for the next five years, then spent another six months traveling around Europe.

We couldn’t return to England because we had a Labrador dog who would need to go into quarantine, so we returned to the States and retired in South Texas.

Sadly, my husband died of suicide and I have now been alone for 23 years. But I am not lonely and have my cat. Life is hectic now and I feel much better than I have ever felt in my whole life. I am 77.

I go to the gym three times a week and write books the rest of the time. I have now written 11 books (four on bipolar disorder.) At present, I am writing a novel. All my books are available on Amazon. My fiction book are under my pen name Dorothy Alter.

At first, when I was widowed, I was very lonely indeed and spent many unhappy hours wondering what to do with my life. But now I don’t feel lonely anymore and enjoy my life. I am also an artist and paint in all mediums. My favorite is pastel.

I watch YouTube videos for inspiration and Netflix for entertainment.

I am not rich and find it hard to get by sometimes, but you can manage if you have to.

So I have no regrets about retiring early. I relish my fortunate way of life.

Anonymous · Answer

Probably a bit too soon. I was in burn-out at my job and I could start collecting a pension at 58. My commute was an hour+ each way and I’d been doing it for 12 years. I was just tired. I did write some books after retirement which are freaking excellent, but nobody knows about them because marketing is not my strong point.

I should have hung in there longer especially since my husband (older than me by 7 years) ended up working longer. Of course, a good reason for that was a medical condition which started under his company-supplied health plan. He thought it might be a bad thing to change horses in mid-stream while he was under treatment. I don’t think he minded too much since he enjoyed his job and he had a short commute.

Anonymous · Answer

I’m 65. I haven’t worked much since I was 42. I don’t play well with assholes. And if I’m in a room with anyone else, there’s one asshole too many.

For some, there might be things to consider. For instance, Social Security has “recent work” requirements.

Work sucks. I tried it a few times and it sucked worse each time.

Employers try to maximize profit, which means hiring the least qualified people to make a profit spending the minimum they can get away with.

Supervisors and managers are usually untrained, uneducated, selfish twits with egos and power-trips. They spend probably most of their time trying to reinforce their emotional need for authority, and that includes making sure no one is seen to be smarter than they are.

The most popular supervisor I ever saw was so popular the bosses never noticed that the factory was not actually producing anything. Every item that missed schedule had a perfectly good excuse that couldn’t possibly be fixed—haha. That supervisor had a third grade education. That boss was a lawyer who never worked the law. His daddy bought him the factory to give his son a job.

The most “effective” manager I ever saw simply lied to everyone about the numbers. She was a fast and aggressive talker.

That whole system is fundamentally and fatally flawed.

For me, I served 20 years in the military, where there is CONSTANT training for everyone involved, and a whole huge chain of command to ensure each person is doing their job right. The military also has instant and meaningful feedback.

I quit (retired) after 20 years of active duty. Then I married and my wife—a medical doctor—worked very hard. I pretended to raise the kids.

I had a losing business for a couple of years.

Then I went to B-school and discovered during the very first accounting class why I never should have started that business.

After getting the MBA, I worked in a boat factory for a year. That was an eye-opening experience in the foolishness of non-union businesses.

I also worked in a union factory. That was an eye-opener in the foolishness of unions, and how the business easily ignores the union.

So mostly, I took care of the kids. I did work at VA for three years. But when my wife died, I quit to take care of the kids full time. Got them through college, into marriages and careers, and now they have mortgages of their own.

Between my military pension, social security survivor’s benefit, and VA compensation for the government killing my wife, I make enough to get by.

And there’s only one asshole in the room where I am now.

Mark Stevenson · Answer

No. I retired 6 months ago at 56. I am loving every minute of it. A lot of stories I heard about ‘you’ll get bored and want to do something’ hasn’t happened yet. I have a couple of friends who have retired and have never missed working. I think I am one of those. Between sleeping in, making bread, catching up with online news, Quora, Reddit, etc, doing my online French lessons, going to the gym 3 times a week and preparing dinner with my darling wife, the day is more than full and I haven’t even got back to online gaming which I had to stop 19 months ago when we went into Co-VID lockdown. My wife and I are looking to volunteer to drive people to hospital and I’m thinking of doing some relief primary teaching next year if I feel like it and only because I enjoy it.
Every day is like being on holiday or playing hookie (truant) - that feeling of having fun when you should be elsewhere doing something else less fun.
I can’t see that ever changing.

Bill Johnston · Answer

Not at all, because the alternative wasn’t very attractive.

I retired 18 months after my ninth heart surgery, which was an emergency five way bypass surgery precipitated by a full cardiac arrest during my eighth angioplasty. My chances of survival for three days from that were 50/50, with a 90% possibility of permanent brain damage. I did survive, and after three months started working again on a half time basis. Several weeks later I was back full time in my job as I continued my recovery. A year and a few months later, job stress was catching up and some adverse symptoms were showing.

At age 51, I pulled the pin and filed for a disability retirement. I’ve made some good decisions in my life, that decision was the best.

Nineteen years later I still celebrate that moment. I regret that I wasn’t able to build a better nest egg, but…I am alive.

Anonymous · Answer

I retired at 64. As an RN you are expected to work 3x harder than anyone else & work 10–12 hr. days . I was doing this with absolutely no help. My blood sugar became out of control & my health started going downhill. The stress was horrible, not wanting to make any medication mistakes. I finally had enough & retired. Now, I’m enjoying my time & just wish my husband who’s 64 would retire at 65. He said he won’t until he’s 70. I don’t know if we will be healthy enough in 6 yrs. to enjoy retirement together.

Doug Mullett · Answer

I retired early.

I found that since then (over twelve years), I’ve had little if any spare time.

With volunteer (service and other) work, family commitments, visiting friends and travelling, my time is occupied.

Since retiring, my health has improved, I’ve travelled overseas for long periods twice, done a 14 000 ft tandem parachute drop, written two books, got a motorcycle and licence, travelled extensively within Australia and through computers and the Internet, conversed with and gained knowledge from many people in many countries.

My only regret is that it was financially impossible for me to retire earlier.

Robin Tyson · Answer

Not a chance. I actually thought I had a nice relaxed life, teaching a few classes at the university. But it turned out, after I retired (at 60) that I was really very very stressed. I had what a chiropractor called ‘mouse shoulder’ - sitting for hours a day staring at a screen and marking assignments and papers (I had, in my last semester, five classes to teach). Goodness knows if I would even be alive if I kept up that level of stress. So now it’s sleep late, have tea and oats, listen to the radio in the bath, off to my home office to catch up on e-mails and work (I still do consultancies), then off to the beachfront to enjoy the view, have a beer and chat with friends, then in the evening a few hours playing my favourite songs on my piano. Plus, I often visit my mother in another country, so I can simply hop on a flight from here and, within two hours, be with her and spend some time doing wine tasing (she lives in the wine country). Life is good.

Daniel Manning · Answer

Yes. Even though I loved my job, I retired just before my 50th birthday to be a full time dad to my then 10 year old. My retirement income matched my take home work income so $ wasn’t the issue. I had several other reasons for retiring including a surprise health issue, taking care of horses my wife added to the mini ranch, pursuing my many hobbies, etc. My wife works full time. One month in, I realized working was my purpose in life as I started losing interest in everything else. I’ve been trying to adjust to retirement for two years now by juggling part time work with family time. I’m back working full time now but still hope to rewire my brain to move away from working as my happy place and retire again. It’s a hard transition for me, I don’t want to work until I drop.

Anonymous · Answer

My dad retired very early in life, he was 50 year old, after having a successful career in private companies as an accountant and a short tenure in public administration as county treasurer, he thought he had everything set, my brother and I were finishing college, he supposed to have enough savings to live comfortably the rest of his life with my mom… the truth is that he lived it with a lot of fear, by the time he made his decision, interest rates in mexico were high, like 8 or 9% annually, I bet he thought that he could live with the interests only and keep this savings untouched but that w

My dad retired very early in life, he was 50 year old, after having a successful career in private companies as an accountant and a short tenure in public administration as county treasurer, he thought he had everything set, my brother and I were finishing college, he supposed to have enough savings to live comfortably the rest of his life with my mom… the truth is that he lived it with a lot of fear, by the time he made his decision, interest rates in mexico were high, like 8 or 9% annually, I bet he thought that he could live with the interests only and keep this savings untouched but that was bad choice, for the next years Mexico entered to a macroeconomic stability with a controlled inflation from (1999 to 2016) inflation was 3% at most and interest rates were lower than that… My dad was never someone who liked luxuries but without a pension and any other income he started to live a very austere life, my mom started to work a little bit but was only to cover basic expenses, both dad and mom were never concerned for staying healthy, they both died without a private medical insurance so their illness transition in public hospital was tragic and sad, my mom passed out first, my dad could have decided to put a hand on his savings to have my mom get to a better hospital but to be honest I am not sure if he could have covered the bills, private hospitals here are really expensive and out of hand for the majority, later when he got ill he also could have decided to get a better medical service but he stayed austere , he had many illnesses, lot of them were chronic, the result of years neglect. I am not saying that being in a private hospital would have changed the outcome, what could change the outcome is to stay healthy as possible, do annual check ups after 50 or earlier if you already have some illness.