If you retired early

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I retired at 51 (former fed), but then I turned around and started working as a contractor for the federal government. I enjoy it because the work I do is intellectually stimulating, but I don’t have to manage people or work a punishing schedule anymore. I plan to work as a contractor until I’m 62, then I will either go part-time or do something entirely different.

The key is to stay mentally engaged, intellectually stimulated, and then exercise, socialize, and eat right. All of these will keep you mentally and physically fit and hopefully lead to a long life.

You are not retired so your answer is irrelevant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's your age, OP? Early retirement mean different things to different people.

48 Me. 50 DH.

What do you do for health insurance?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:everyone I know who retired early died early as well.

Oh, ok. That anecdote should give us all pause. Not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:everyone I know who retired early died early as well.

Well thank God they didn't waste their short lives doing their dumb jobs then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I retired before 40. I play tennis, volunteer, learned mahjong. I still have kids in HS so I don't have freedom to travel and take day trips yet. Some of my volunteer activities take 10 hours a week or more.

LOL you didn't "retire." You're a stay at home parent. You're just as tied down as anyone with a job.

Next?

[Anonymous]

I was forced into retirement at 57 (DOGE), so it wasn’t really a choice but I do like it. Like other PPs, exercise, read a lot, cook, home projects, took back cleaning the house instead of hiring cleaners, and basically all things house management so my husband can enjoy his weekends. It’s so oddly gender-normative for us now and I hate to admit how easy our lives are. We can afford it so that stress isn’t there. I do miss working and the contributions I made to my field, but not much of that field is left after DOGE.

[Anonymous]

Considering that I currently work 50 hours a week, I also spend about 10 hours a week helping my child with ADHD on homework, and another 10 to 15 hours driving the kids around, and I’m not sure how many hours I spend on housework and cooking, if I were to retire early, it would reduce my workload from being on 24/7 to just managing the house and kids. Maybe a 50 hour a week workload instead of 100 hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I retired early - at 40. I am 60 now.
-Kids were young so a lot of my time went in guiding them and their academic and EC life.
- I invested and played the stock market of two countries and it has done well.
- I have invested time and energy in my family and relatives. I have cultivated a huge circle.
- We travel a lot. DH and I have several hobbies that we spend time on.
- Home improvements and yard improvements also take our time and we also entertain a lot.
- Exercise, daily life, yoga, healthy eating etc.
- We don't have pets. We have two adult kids who have launched well. We are empty nesters. DH is gearing for retirement but I encourage him to continue working because he enjoys his work a lot.

Maybe this is semantics, but I don't consider it "retiring" when you had young kids, and your spouse still worked and continues to work 20 years later. You just quit.

More charitably, you became a SAHM when your kids were young, but after that, you just didn't work. Which is great, good for you . . . but it isn't retirement.

I had the same thought. Being a SAHM is not retirement..it's depending on the spouse to be a breadwinner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:everyone I know who retired early died early as well.

Thank goodness. I know I'm going to die early so why work to the very end. I will retire early as well and add to the statistic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I retired early - at 40. I am 60 now.
-Kids were young so a lot of my time went in guiding them and their academic and EC life.
- I invested and played the stock market of two countries and it has done well.
- I have invested time and energy in my family and relatives. I have cultivated a huge circle.
- We travel a lot. DH and I have several hobbies that we spend time on.
- Home improvements and yard improvements also take our time and we also entertain a lot.
- Exercise, daily life, yoga, healthy eating etc.
- We don't have pets. We have two adult kids who have launched well. We are empty nesters. DH is gearing for retirement but I encourage him to continue working because he enjoys his work a lot.

Maybe this is semantics, but I don't consider it "retiring" when you had young kids, and your spouse still worked and continues to work 20 years later. You just quit.

More charitably, you became a SAHM when your kids were young, but after that, you just didn't work. Which is great, good for you . . . but it isn't retirement.

I had the same thought. Being a SAHM is not retirement..it's depending on the spouse to be a breadwinner.

NP- for me it would be because I contributed to all the retirement funds, 529s, and have an extra property with rental income. So I still would feel like I'm winning bread. I would just rely on them for the health care coverage until Medicare kicks in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's your age, OP? Early retirement mean different things to different people.

48 Me. 50 DH.

What do you do for health insurance?

Well, we currently both work. But if we could retire early, our option would be to buy insurance on the open market until Medicare kicks in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I retired early - at 40. I am 60 now.
-Kids were young so a lot of my time went in guiding them and their academic and EC life.
- I invested and played the stock market of two countries and it has done well.
- I have invested time and energy in my family and relatives. I have cultivated a huge circle.
- We travel a lot. DH and I have several hobbies that we spend time on.
- Home improvements and yard improvements also take our time and we also entertain a lot.
- Exercise, daily life, yoga, healthy eating etc.
- We don't have pets. We have two adult kids who have launched well. We are empty nesters. DH is gearing for retirement but I encourage him to continue working because he enjoys his work a lot.

Maybe this is semantics, but I don't consider it "retiring" when you had young kids, and your spouse still worked and continues to work 20 years later. You just quit.

More charitably, you became a SAHM when your kids were young, but after that, you just didn't work. Which is great, good for you . . . but it isn't retirement.

I had the same thought. Being a SAHM is not retirement..it's depending on the spouse to be a breadwinner.

NP- for me it would be because I contributed to all the retirement funds, 529s, and have an extra property with rental income. So I still would feel like I'm winning bread. I would just rely on them for the health care coverage until Medicare kicks in.

This is me, too. I could stop contributing to my retirement fund today, and it would provide more than enough income starting at age 60, assuming 5% real returns. Kids' 529 plans are in good shape - I'd like to put in another $50k for my youngest who talks about going to medical school. I have $50k in net rental income per year from separate property. I will someday inherit an unknown amount from my parents, enough that I won't have to worry about leaving a legacy for my kids, because it'll effectively come from their grandparents via a trust that is set up to give me an income and give them the remainder. So why keep working? I'm planning to be done by age 50, and that's just to give myself a bigger buffer. Once I'm 50, I'm going to finish parenting and then once my youngest is off to college I'm going to travel a lot, like 50% of the year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I retired at 57. I do whatever I feel like. I exercise a lot. I read. I’ve traveled a good amount. I’ve spent a lot of time helping out my elderly mom. I have been doing a lot of home projects, tackling the deferred maintenance that I didn’t have time or energy to deal with when I was working. Some days I binge watch shows. Some days I go exploring - to museums, parks, trails. I have volunteered. I go to cultural events like film festivals, art shows, special events at embassies, walking tours. There are so many things to do in DC that even as a retiree I don’t get to all of the things on my wishlist. I balance activities with downtime depending on my energy level. It’s wonderful.

I retired at 60. Pretty much same.

[Anonymous]

I’m experiencing a quasi-retirement right now at 53 and it’s been great! I’m not sure if it will last but as of now I’m:

Helping my elderly parents who live in a different state
Learning easy household repair stuff
Taking on any/all tasks &!errands so that spouse doesn’t have to
Enjoying tons of time doing sports & hobbies
Learning new hobbies
Taking weekend trips with friends

I really want to head to a Spanish speaking country for a month to imptove my Spanish but spouse is still working and stressed & I don’t want to add to their load.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:everyone I know who retired early died early as well.

The early retirees who didn’t have a plan or social outlets were bored AF.