If you can't buy time, should you retire as early as possible?

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Retirement is not final. Retire when you are debt free and financially able to support yourself/partner beyond wanting to stop working in your current profession.

You can always restart new careers or whatever in retirement.
 
Originally Posted by doitmyself
Originally Posted by grampi
I feel sorry for people like this. They don't have enough in their lives to keep themselves occupied without work. That's just sad...


Makes sense since you stated above "Then again, I've never had a job that I loved either, so maybe that's why." Goodness, I couldn't imagine spending 20, 30, or more years of my life waking up every morning not excited to go to work. Talk about things to be sad about.


I wake up Monday excited for week and Friday ready for weekend! I feel sad for people who don't enjoy their jobs given the amount time put into it.
 
Originally Posted by doitmyself
Originally Posted by grampi
I feel sorry for people like this. They don't have enough in their lives to keep themselves occupied without work. That's just sad...


Makes sense since you stated above "Then again, I've never had a job that I loved either, so maybe that's why." Goodness, I couldn't imagine spending 20, 30, or more years of my life waking up every morning not excited to go to work. Talk about things to be sad about.


I guess, but people like us, our jobs provide the things we DO care about, and we'd rather have jobs that suck and afford/do things we enjoy, than have jobs we like, and miss out on the good parts of life because of the time/lack of money our job afforded us, because no-matter how you slice it, all a job is, is someone bribing you with money to do stuff. Otherwise, YOU would pay THEM to be ALLOWED to do it.

Originally Posted by madRiver
Originally Posted by doitmyself
Originally Posted by grampi
I feel sorry for people like this. They don't have enough in their lives to keep themselves occupied without work. That's just sad...


Makes sense since you stated above "Then again, I've never had a job that I loved either, so maybe that's why." Goodness, I couldn't imagine spending 20, 30, or more years of my life waking up every morning not excited to go to work. Talk about things to be sad about.


I wake up Monday excited for week and Friday ready for weekend! I feel sad for people who don't enjoy their jobs given the amount time put into it.



That's great, but work is just suck, and you slog through it and do a good job so you can do the things you love in life. That is why jobs should pay enough for you to buy anything you want, and give you the time off to enjoy it, in my book. Otherwise? I'm out. Pure mercenary. Pay me, or we're done and I'll find someone who will. Yes, I am competent and have a solid resume and do excellent work, and care about what I do, and the quality of work I do, but in the end, if the compensation is not satisfactory, that's that. I have a life to live. I know people who turned their passions into work...they wish they hadn't.
 
Originally Posted by madRiver
Retirement is not final. Retire when you are debt free and financially able to support yourself/partner beyond wanting to stop working in your current profession.

You can always restart new careers or whatever in retirement.



But...why? That's like saying "once your babies are adults, if you pay them enough maybe they will take a dump in their pants and you can change their diddies again!"

/Disgust
 
I have done "work", like tree work; cutting and feeding a brush chipper all day while getting yelled at by the boss.
And I have been a computer programmer in Silicon Valley in an AC office with everyone raving about your work.
One is work; the other is not.
 
Originally Posted by doitmyself
Originally Posted by grampi
I feel sorry for people like this. They don't have enough in their lives to keep themselves occupied without work. That's just sad...


Makes sense since you stated above "Then again, I've never had a job that I loved either, so maybe that's why." Goodness, I couldn't imagine spending 20, 30, or more years of my life waking up every morning not excited to go to work. Talk about things to be sad about.


I liked my job at one time, never loved it, but it pays very well, it provides good benefits, and it will provide a good pension. After doing the same job for 15 years it just got old...people who can't find things to do in retirement other than working are puzzling to me...
 
Originally Posted by Ws6
Originally Posted by madRiver
Retirement is not final. Retire when you are debt free and financially able to support yourself/partner beyond wanting to stop working in your current profession.

[color:#FF0000]You can always restart new careers or whatever in retirement.[/color]



But...why? That's like saying "once your babies are adults, if you pay them enough maybe they will take a dump in their pants and you can change their diddies again!"

/Disgust



Yes-you can. But if you went ahead and filed for Social Security-you really can't....if you retire early (at 62). There are limits on what you can earn. I retired at 54 years old due to investments that were made (rental income). I did the math and filed for Social Security at 62 as well. Conversely-I had a very good friend retire at 65-and he passed away a year later.

Retire early as possible if you can-life is too short.
 
Last edited:
I was forced to retire early due to my health crashing.

For the 1.5 years before I quit, I was looking forward to going fishing again. In 3 years of retirement, I've been out 3 times. My health doesn't allow even that small effort.

Do all the things you want to do *now*. (Don't blow all your money to due them, be very frugal. Buy the best you can afford, and only buy it once.)

I was fortunate that I did all the things I wanted to do, while I could still do them. My parents lived *long*, active lives. I suspect younger generations won't.
 
Originally Posted by madRiver
Retirement is not final. You can always restart new careers or whatever in retirement.


That's a very good point. I do plan on retiring relatively soon. I may start a small, part time business doing something I love.


Originally Posted by bobdoo
I was forced to retire early due to my health crashing. For the 1.5 years before I quit, I was looking forward to going fishing again. In 3 years of retirement, I've been out 3 times. My health doesn't allow even that small effort. Do all the things you want to do *now*.


That's my advice too. Many people don't understand that not only are 25% of working men dead before age 65, but a good percentage of those alive have serious health issues that prevent an active lifestyle. Yesterday, I crashed hard (my energy) and while I had plans to clean some outdoor windows with hose-end windex (not a hard task, just spray and rinse) I could not even do that. I had to sit down on the couch. I never recovered. Today, I'm back at work and even then, I'm too exhausted to be very useful.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by grampi
Originally Posted by wtd
I retired early two years ago at age 50 and have not worked since and have no plans to do so. I am totally debt free so I don't have to work but it took a lot of hard work for years to make that happen. I agree that not everyone can afford to retire early or even wants to.

I have a friend who retired when I did from the same job and he started a new job a week later, not because he needed to but because he says he gets bored if he doesn't work. He plans to work until he dies. I don't understand it but hey, it's his life.


I feel sorry for people like this. They don't have enough in their lives to keep themselves occupied without work. That's just sad...

The bad thing is that my friend has many hobbies and things he likes to do outside of work and I recently told him I don't know how he could get bored with so many hobbies and interests. He is a very social person and I personally think it's the social interaction that he needs more than the job. He works security for one of the local colleges and I don't think he loves it so it's got to be something else keeping him there.
 
wtd He plans to work until he dies. [B said:
I don't understand it but hey, it's his life.[/B]
Click to expand...

Kudos that you at least get the most important aspect of this discussion. To each their own. Everyone marches to the beat of a different drum. Why assume the oft Bigot-like attitudes here of not accepting other's opinions and choices?
11.gif
 
Your question has many dimensions and the answer will vary greatly by individual.
Most of us could greatly reduce our expenditures to retire earlier, but we don't want to and if you're any good at a job you're experienced in, it's easy money anyway.
My personal take is that I find my job enjoyable most of the time and I'll compromise pension with age and retire in two years.
As they used to say, YMMV.
 
Originally Posted by fdcg27
Your question has many dimensions and the answer will vary greatly by individual.
Most of us could greatly reduce our expenditures to retire earlier, but we don't want to and if you're any good at a job you're experienced in, it's easy money anyway.
My personal take is that I find my job enjoyable most of the time and I'll compromise pension with age and retire in two years.
As they used to say, YMMV.

Umm...no, it's not. Some jobs yes, but to say that about all jobs? Nope. Not by a long shot. It's EASIER than when you were new, but it's in no way "easy".

As soon as I humanly can, without compromising lifestyle too much, I am absolutely going to retire.
 
Originally Posted by Ws6
Originally Posted by fdcg27
Your question has many dimensions and the answer will vary greatly by individual.
Most of us could greatly reduce our expenditures to retire earlier, but we don't want to and if you're any good at a job you're experienced in, it's easy money anyway.
My personal take is that I find my job enjoyable most of the time and I'll compromise pension with age and retire in two years.
As they used to say, YMMV.

Umm...no, it's not. Some jobs yes, but to say that about all jobs? Nope. Not by a long shot. It's EASIER than when you were new, but it's in no way "easy".

As soon as I humanly can, without compromising lifestyle too much, I am absolutely going to retire.


You both have good points. A job you're good at and enjoy is "easy" money from your own perspective, but that doesn't necessarily make the job "easy." I think my job is easy, but I talk to other people who work outside of where I do and they're amazed at the tolerances we hold and how quickly our machines can do it.

But yes, I also intend on retiring early.
 
Originally Posted by Skippy722
Originally Posted by Ws6
Originally Posted by fdcg27
Your question has many dimensions and the answer will vary greatly by individual.
Most of us could greatly reduce our expenditures to retire earlier, but we don't want to and if you're any good at a job you're experienced in, it's easy money anyway.
My personal take is that I find my job enjoyable most of the time and I'll compromise pension with age and retire in two years.
As they used to say, YMMV.

Umm...no, it's not. Some jobs yes, but to say that about all jobs? Nope. Not by a long shot. It's EASIER than when you were new, but it's in no way "easy".

As soon as I humanly can, without compromising lifestyle too much, I am absolutely going to retire.


You both have good points. A job you're good at and enjoy is "easy" money from your own perspective, but that doesn't necessarily make the job "easy." I think my job is easy, but I talk to other people who work outside of where I do and they're amazed at the tolerances we hold and how quickly our machines can do it.

But yes, I also intend on retiring early.


I'm very competent at my job and have a decade of experience (30% people burn out in less than 2 years in my field/environment, at the 5 year mark, if they don't, the PTSD rate is around 25-30%). Nothing about it is easy money. Nothing about it is fun. I can't wait to retire. I'd say more of what I think, but this site has a profanity filter.
 
You guys rock. My father didn't support my career decision 47 years ago. As I approach the age of retirement (maybe!) many of your comments affirm how important career choice is. I am humble and grateful for what I have.

It affirms (to me) that many aspects need to be considered other than salary. That was my war cry as a young optimistic teen growing up in what I considered the blue collar rat race of a steel mill town.

Easy money, fun, hard work? Challenging and rewarding (with regular doses of heartache) are more appropriate descriptors for me.

Thanks!
 
If you enjoy your job and are challenged, you are luckier than most people.
After making so many mistakes in life, I was lucky enough to end up in a great, rewarding position.

While I do not wanna retire, it is time.
I will miss it and hafta see how it goes.
 
Originally Posted by Skippy722
Originally Posted by Ws6
Originally Posted by fdcg27
Your question has many dimensions and the answer will vary greatly by individual.
Most of us could greatly reduce our expenditures to retire earlier, but we don't want to and if you're any good at a job you're experienced in, it's easy money anyway.
My personal take is that I find my job enjoyable most of the time and I'll compromise pension with age and retire in two years.
As they used to say, YMMV.

Umm...no, it's not. Some jobs yes, but to say that about all jobs? Nope. Not by a long shot. It's EASIER than when you were new, but it's in no way "easy".

As soon as I humanly can, without compromising lifestyle too much, I am absolutely going to retire.


You both have good points. A job you're good at and enjoy is "easy" money from your own perspective, but that doesn't necessarily make the job "easy." I think my job is easy, but I talk to other people who work outside of where I do and they're amazed at the tolerances we hold and how quickly our machines can do it.

But yes, I also intend on retiring early.


Depends what the job is. Some people hate landlording and can't figure out how'd they do it. I don't really have a problem with it and have been doing it for years. It's something that if you can do it, it can be done in retirement. I knew landlords in their 80's who still managed their own properties.
 
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