Is Early Retirement a Right Choice?

[prabha_friend]

To learn a lot and to lead a Peaceful life...

Please share your thoughts...

 

[AccessBlaster]

To learn a lot and to lead a Peaceful life...

Please share your thoughts...

Focus on the peaceful life NOW don't wait.

Congrats to you and best of luck in the new year.

 

[Pat Hartman]

There are too many variables to consider and none have been supplied. You have to start with money. Do you have enough in savings or a pension to support you in a comfortable style until at least your middle 80's, maybe older if your ancestors lived longer. What are you going to do to keep yourself engaged if you retire? Do you have hobbies, golf, bridge that both engage your body and your mind? Do you have a network of friends and family? etc,

I've been "retired" for 20 + years but to me that just means I don't have a day job. I still have clients I do occasional projects for. Sometimes that might even require going into an office at least a couple of days a week for a couple of months. I don't let work interfere with my bridge dates though I love what I do which is why I spend so much time here so I am probably never going to stop working until people stop asking to hire me. I am not looking and have not actively looked for a job since I "retired". They seem to find me. Last year, I took an assignment as an "expert witness" in a civil court case. Who knew

 

[The_Doc_Man]

For me, early retirement was the wrong choice for insurance and income reasons. I took longer than normal to retire but the benefit was (a) I was able to get some medical things done under a really good corporate policy and (b) my government retirement checks were larger because, in essence, I put extra into the system. However, now that I'm retired, I don't regret the extra time because of the good things that DID happen. So in my case, the direct answer was "Early retirement was not best for me." Pat's comment is therefore quite accurate.

 

[ColinEssex]

I dont know where you live, but it's likely you will receive a (what the UK call) state pension every week. Assuming you have been employed, you should have paid into a works pension. How long you have done that for has a bearing on how much you get. You may also be entitled to other government benefits. You may also have been contributing to a private pension company. Your age will also determine how much benefit or pension you get. I paid into the works and state pension funds for 40 something years, so am entitled to the max amounts.
As for time, it is generally true that when you retire, you are busier than when working. I think Pat summed that up quite well.
Col

 

[The_Doc_Man]

<<<gasp>>> Quick, call a doctor.... I'm about to faint. Colin just agreed with Pat

 

[Isaac]

Access blaster is right. remember, the future will never actually come. Each day you wake up, all you'll realize you have is Now.
Enjoy the Now - train, retrain, and re-retrain yourself as often as it takes (which is sometimes as often as our circumstances Change), to ENJOY YOUR present life.

Otherwise, retire as soon as you feel you will enjoy it more than non-retirement - and if you're able to, without being a financial drain on others

 

[KitaYama]

Enjoy the Now

Not being worried for future may cause a hard tomorrow.
I know several people who put all they had on today, but their tomorrow turned out to be a nightmare. You never know what you'll be faced when you wake up the next day. So for me, I think, one must be ready for unexpected events.

I love my job and I'm good at what I do. To me, it would be a nightmare to wake up one day and have nothing to do. Taking a walk, stroll in the city, play card games, watch TV and sleep to do the same thing tomorrow. No, retirement is the last choice for me. I think I will be working until the day I die.

We have a saying One hundred people, one hundred colors. (you can guess what it does mean)
I don't want to negate what others replied. It's only the way I am.

 

[conception_native_0123]

I think I will be working until the day I die.

i've heard countless numbers of people say the same thing.

 

[KitaYama]

i've heard countless numbers of people say the same thing.

I know at least 5 persons who actually were.

 

[Pat Hartman]

I think I will be working until the day I die.

There is a very real difference between working because you love what you do and think it is more fun than playing bridge rather than because you have to. Working when you're 65 because you have to is no fun. So, I agree, you need to look ahead and stop keeping up with the Joneses now. My husband and I worked IT and as you all know, that tends to pay very well. That allowed us to live a comfortable middle-class lifestyle on a single salary. We never went into debt and we took some great vacations and bought some nice stuff but we didn't buy a new car every other year the way our friends did. Nor did we buy million dollar houses and sailboats. That let me "retire" in my early 50's. But retirement for me was not having to have a day job. I took the projects I liked and didn't let them tie me down. Although, one "short" project I signed up for had me working 60 hour weeks for 6 months. I never took a single day off for the first two months! Talk about s*** show. That was exhausting. Even today, if a new client finds me with an interesting project, sign me up My husband liked having a day job as well as loving what he did so he worked every day until he died at 65. That's what Isaac is talking about. Open your eyes. Stop to see the beauty around you. Talk to strangers. Spend time doing the things you like to do.

Just FYI, bridge takes an evening to learn the mechanics (if you're a card player - not poker) but a lifetime to master. For companionship and intellectual challenge, there is no better game and I've been a games player all my life. I've played bridge in about a third of the states, Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, Australia, Nevis, Kuwait, and at sea on cruises. I can go into any town in the US and around the world and if I call ahead, I have an immediate circle of friends who will welcome me with open arms who will probably come to my hotel to pick me up

 

[KitaYama]

@Pat Hartman I hardly see you as retired. You've just changed your job from being employed for a company to being employed for yourself with a little bit more free time for yourself in the between. I really respect people like you who enjoy what they do.
I'm surrounded by people who keep talking about how they would be relieved the day they get retired.
I simply think they hate their job. If you like something, being separated from it wouldn't be that easy. There's a good chance my eyes would be in tears if someday I'm forced to stop doing what I do.

I think we are in the same boat. Except you like bridge, and I like play station

 

[Pat Hartman]

Being with people is important. Play station is a solo activity even if you have people you meet online like here. I've been playing a lot of bridge online since COVID shut down the clubs. Online bridge is technically better because after the game you can go over the game records and replay every bid and every card for every hand. When you play at a club or tournament, you can get a "hand record" which is a printout of all the hands you played that day but you have to rely on your and your partner's memory to go over the bidding and play. With BBO, there are no arguments. The bidding and play is there for all to see for a couple of weeks.

I know for some people, watching others play bridge would be like watching paint dry but there are games you can watch a couple of times a day at www.bridgebase.com You can join for free. They have teaching tools and solo play options so you can practice your declarer play.

 

[Isaac]

Not being worried for future may cause a hard tomorrow.
I know several people who put all they had on today, but their tomorrow turned out to be a nightmare. You never know what you'll be faced when you wake up the next day. So for me, I think, one must be ready for unexpected events.

Oh yes definitely. Financially speaking, plan shrewdly. Emotionally speaking, assume the future will never come, and all you have is Today.

i've heard countless numbers of people say the same thing

I have thought that in the past, but that was before I got half-way down the path of Computer burn-out.
I now cannot imagine doing what feels like a fake job in a fake world, sitting down all day jabbing little plastic black boxes with my fingers and reveling in the occasional moment I get up to look out the window at the real world. That is just the way I feel anyway.

I'm actually looking forward to retirement - but not in a "wake up, play golf, watch Jeopardy, sleep, repeat" way - I want to do something actually useful in the world - mentoring, ministry, like that - so I can't wait until I'm 65. Then again, I'm training myself to enjoy the moment too. I suppose it all sounds contradictory but it makes sense somewhere in my head.

 

[Isaac]

Being with people is important. Play station is a solo activity even if you have people you meet online like here. I've been playing a lot of bridge online since COVID shut down the clubs. Online bridge is technically better because after the game you can go over the game records and replay every bid and every card for every hand. When you play at a club or tournament, you can get a "hand record" which is a printout of all the hands you played that day but you have to rely on your and your partner's memory to go over the bidding and play. With BBO, there are no arguments. The bidding and play is there for all to see for a couple of weeks.

I know for some people, watching others play bridge would be like watching paint dry but there are games you can watch a couple of times a day at www.bridgebase.com You can join for free. They have teaching tools and solo play options so you can practice your declarer play.

That's so true. I've been bad at that in the first half of my life, and intend to drastically improve it in the 2nd half.
Need to be around more people. I'm an extreme introvert, so it's hard for me, but I've also accepted that it's "OK" and just a fact that I feel "full" socially, for days or a even 1-2 weeks, with a fraction of the social event that others do--what's a problem, and what I'm determined to change, is when I fail to even obtain that fraction. Then isolation becomes negative.

Pat, I've tucked away all the things you've said about Bridge in my mind. There are many things I intend to try over the 2nd half of my lifetime. This time, they will all be healthy safe things! At the moment I'm taking the drawing lessons that @Jon recommended and last night I enjoyed learning how to draw a sphere with a hole in it, and stuff shooting out of it. My wife was impressed (with my progress).

After all, I have to sprinkle in something to my after-work hours other than making love to my wife and watching Frasier.
Not that I intend to do any less of the first until I'm at least 75!

 

[Jon]

I know for some people, watching others play bridge would be like watching paint dry but there are games you can watch a couple of times a day at www.bridgebase.com You can join for free. They have teaching tools and solo play options so you can practice your declarer play.

Pat, its the same with chess. For most people, it makes them sleepy. For me, I watch and play tons of it!

 

[Jon]

At the moment I'm taking the drawing lessons that @Jon recommended and last night I enjoyed learning how to draw a sphere with a hole in it, and stuff shooting out of it. My wife was impressed (with my progress).

After all, I have to sprinkle in something to my after-work hours other than making love to my wife and watching Frasier.
Not that I intend to do any less of the first until I'm at least 75!

Hey @Isaac, did you do better than you thought you would? Curious over how you are finding it.

I loved watching Frasier. I've seen repeats of it so many times too. Excellent show.

 

[Isaac]

Hey @Isaac, did you do better than you thought you would? Curious over how you are finding it.

I loved watching Frasier. I've seen repeats of it so many times too. Excellent show.

Yes, Frasier is such an amazing treasure of the perfect combination of entertainment, intelligence, and stuff I can relate to.

Honestly, I wouldn't say I did "better" than I expected, only because I believed it was going to be great (I believed you and the author who begins the book with a lot of convincing). I am quite happy with it! I am mostly copying the author so far, but I can feel myself understanding the simple things he is teaching which is exactly what I hoped/wanted. I really hope this translates into Painting some day, I assume much of it will.

 

[Jon]

Yes, Frasier is such an amazing treasure of the perfect combination of entertainment, intelligence, and stuff I can relate to.

Honestly, I wouldn't say I did "better" than I expected, only because I believed it was going to be great (I believed you and the author who begins the book with a lot of convincing). I am quite happy with it! I am mostly copying the author so far, but I can feel myself understanding the simple things he is teaching which is exactly what I hoped/wanted. I really hope this translates into Painting some day, I assume much of it will.

Pleased it is going well. I found drawing much simpler than I thought it would be. Hey ho!

 

[conception_native_0123]

I want to do something actually useful in the world - mentoring, ministry, like that

I hope you do! I know some people that are heavily involved with their churches after retirement. good luck with it!