Podcast...Retire at 59 - Host *gasps*! WDYT?

[Deleted]

I am listening to a podcast recommended on here (which is fantastic - "Jill on Money"), and a caller on the "When can I retire?" show, Sally, shared with Jill that she's 59 and planning to retire.  Jill gasps, "That's fantastic, that's so early!!!"  

I share this because I am curious to hear your perspectives, what "decade" do you switch from "regular retirement" to  "retiring early"?

Ex: Jill's reaction seems to indicate that 50's is early, so I'd guess that she thinks 60s and above is "regular".

(I'm not doing a poll because I like to hear he explanation why you've anchored on a certain decade as early!!!)

PS: Her podcast is really interesting, as I said above, and I enjoyed the following discussion that the caller forced, which was all about making the switch from focusing on working & saving FOR retirement (the accumulation phase)...and is now switching to the retirement phase (money access and utilization).  Jill's observation is that once people get the accumulation phase down, it's easy and they really struggle to making the switch to retirement, which is more about appropriate money access.

Saturday morning money ramblings!!!!

[doobeedoo]

I think retiring in your 50s is, indeed, early. Given that many (most?) people aim for 65, if they are able to or interested in retiring at all, I think any plan that knocks off 10 or even 7 or 5 years off is considered early. Also, Social Security. For me, age 67 is when I can collect, so I guess that would be the optimum target age.

I had never considered, nor heard of, people retiring in their 30s or 40s before you brought it up on this board. Even the wealthiest people I know, who could easily stop working and live only on their earnings, still work with no plans to stop. So, yeah, I think retiring in the 50s is early. Anything prior to that is extremely early, IMO.

[doobeedoo]

I should have added the caveat--I know a lot of people do not factor Social Security earnings into the retirement projections/calculations. And that's smart. That said, I think the fact that the government has a "prescribed" earliest retirement age before one can collect has an impact on people. Like, you can drive at 16, vote at 18, drink when you're 21 and retire at 65. But I have always felt you should, if you possibly can, empower yourself financially so that you can retire earlier, if needed or desired. Neither of my parents worked FT until retirement for different but very unplanned reasons. Had they not socked away a decent nest egg, it would have been certain disaster.

[moolarkey]

To me, the usual age for retirement is 65. I really do plan to retire at 63, I know waiting to 65 means a bigger SS payment each month but I just really want to be done with working. I reiterated this to H early this past week. Later in the week he asked what I was going to do after I retired.

My response was why do I have to "do" anything. I can find lots of things to fill up my time. What I want is to not have to remember all the things I have to remember for my job now (very technical, constantly changing), I want to live by my schedule and not someone else's schedule. From about June 1 until after Labor Day I would probably live on our boat. We have a 32' boat about 2 hours from here. We typically launch early April and have her lifted out the first week of November.

I've spent a fair amount of time recently checking on our balances, looking at what cash outflow I think we'll have to estimate whether this will work. I do not want us to use more than 4% of our retirement funds per year and currently this looks like it will work with some money left over each month. This wouldn't allow for fabulous world tour trips, etc so for someone that wants that, that won't happen on our retirement. But yes, I am concerned with how we start to access the accumulated money.

H told me some time ago he plans to work forever but since I reinforced to him that I mean it, I'm out at 63, I think he's rethinking it and that's why he asked me what I plan to do. I think he's starting to think about retiring. I think he'll work to 65 which would be 1 year after I retire.

I hope other post on this thread as it is of interest to me too.

[scout8]

50's or earlier is early to me. I know you are aiming for 40's. In my mind that is super early.

We are aiming for mid 50's. My dad retired at 57. I have a goal to retire before he did. I call it the "Beat (Dad's first name) plan".

[moolarkey]

BTW, it looks like Jill on Money has more than one of these episodes:
www.jillonmoney.com/radio-show-123-when-can-you-retire/
www.jillonmoney.com/radio-show-149-can-retire/

[Deleted]

Dec 20, 2014 8:35:06 GMT -5 moolarkey said:

My response was why do I have to "do" anything. I can find lots of things to fill up my time. What I want is to not have to remember all the things I have to remember for my job now (very technical, constantly changing), I want to live by my schedule and not someone else's schedule. From about June 1 until after Labor Day I would probably live on our boat. We have a 32' boat about 2 hours from here. We typically launch early April and have her lifted out the first week of November.

Moo, your perspective is so interesting & the fact that your H is thinking about his work life as a more "forever" thing is really different.

The quote above is one of the things "we" discuss a lot on the Early Retirement forums, because many people get incredulous reactions from their relatives / friends when they say they want to retire - WHAT WILL YOU DO!? My POV is so different from that - I struggle today to fit in all my damn hobbies & interests, such that some hobbies are nearly completely ignored :...(

In particular, you said something that really rings true with me: live by my schedule and not someone else's schedule.

M-F, 9-5 (or in reality 7:30 - 6 much of the time)....good lord that is way too much time!

[Deleted]

Dec 20, 2014 8:37:13 GMT -5 scout8 said:

My dad retired at 57. I have a goal to retire before he did. I call it the "Beat (Dad's first name) plan".

I LOVE that you named your plan, that is so awesome

[Deleted]

IDK if I'd call 59 early, but it's maybe average to early. My mom retired at 55 and that's early. My dad is thinking 57 and I think his company considers that early retirement (they even give a pension!).

I doubt at this point I'll retire until my late 60s, but I honestly don't know. I'm relatively on track, or was before I lost my job at least. Actually, since I'm currently making shit money I might be ahead if you base my progress on my income But I think on track means "on track to retire late 60's". I haven't run the numbers because I think it will just depress me, I'm just doing the best I can to save and don't have any illusions of being able to retire sooner. But a lot can happen in the next 35 years so who knows.

[shortstax]

In my mind, <55 is early (because I still think that's young), 55-65 is normal range, and 65+ is something I never want to experience

[mellymel]

My Dad retired at 48. He passed away at 57. Life is short. I'm planning to retire early. We sacrifice now to live a good life later, but balance it in case later never comes. I know this sounds morbid but I will be soooo pissed if I die young and never get to enjoy retirement.

[moolarkey]

I also have a lot of hobbies, some community service type things I already do but others I'd like to do. Being retired would allow me to do all of these things.

My mom was involved in a lot of community thing and had lots of hobbies, when she retired it let her do even more things. She told me often she didn't know how she worked all those years, she was so busy she wouldn't have time to work. That's what I want retirement to be. Doing things that interest me but also having time to do nothing if I chose to.

[LoveTrains]

I think for some jobs that came with a pension for our parent's generation - like the old feds pension (not the one that people our age qualify for), and other types of jobs like state workers, etc - that 55 was reasonable for retirement. They could get a full pension at age 55 after 20 or 25 years on the job.

For people of our generation, retirement seems to be to be more like 65-70 years old. I would consider "early retirement" for people of our age to be in the 50s or earlier, regular retirement when you are in your 60s, and a late retirement if you are working into your 70s or 80s.

[my3bears]

My mom "retired" at 48 but then consulted as a self-employed person and does the books for my dad's business to this day (she is 60s).

My dad (also 60s) is calling himself "semi-retired" from the company he owns, which basically means he works 20-30 hours a week and goes on 2 business trips a year instead of 50-70+ hours a week and trips every month.

FIL truly retired, no work at all, in his early 60s. But he was so burned out from 12+ hour days and extensive international travel. He may do some part time work after he relaxes for a bit! MIL tutors part time in her 60s.

My grandmom worked until she was kind of forced out in her 80s when her health started declining slightly. To be fair, she looks and acts much younger than she is so no one realized how old she was at her office.

DH's grandparents are in their 80s and still work!

So to answer your question, anything in or before 50s seems early, 60s seem average, and 70s are later than average. I don't think 59 is gasp-worthy at all if the person has a solid plan!

I hope to retire when I am 58 and DH is 62. If we stay in this house (plan for now) the house will be paid off by then easily. We both have health issues so that's a major factor in retiring early-ish.

[bostonmichelle]

I think average is 65-67 since that is when most people can collect full social security. Early to me is anything in the 50's or even early 60's. Anything in 30's or 40's is extremely early in my opinion.

I know my parents had planned on working until 66ish or whenever they can collect full social security, but my mom passed away and my dad lost his job all within 4 months (unrelated) when my dad was 57. I'm very lucky that he had socked away a lot of money in and outside of retirement so he could downshift a few gears and figure out his "new" life. I think of my dad now as semi retired, mainly because he did a 180* on his career (went from pharmacist to real estate broker/post office worker) and works a lot fewer hours and definitely enjoys the work more. He now plans on working as both as long as he can physically do so. I definitely want to mirror what he did financially as it put him in a place to downshift and take care of himself.

Personally, I'm shooting for retirement at age 60 so if there is something tragic to happen in my life or I get sick then I will have a bit of a cushion.

[savan]

I used to think 55 was the normal age to retire because that is when my dad retired. I realize now that was a bit early. I shudder at the thought of us both working until 65 though. While my mom was diagnosed with cancer just 4 months after my dad retired and passed away a couple of years later, my dad has been traveling the world for 12 years now. I want to be him when I grow up.

[h]

Anything in the 50s seems really early to me. Pre-65 seems fairly early. 65-70+ seems normal.

My dad is 69 and still practicing medicine full-time (and then some). He claims he has no plans to retire any time soon, and recently told me he really hopes to work another 10 years. My step-father is 66 and still practices medicine more or less full-time (he no longer takes weekend call and sometimes takes Friday afternoons off). My FIL is 66 and still practices law full-time (as in he still bills like 2800 hours a year). The vast majority of their 65-70 yo friends are still working. I am sure the fact that all the (male) adults in that age range that I know still work impacts my view of what's normal.

[kaylie]

Anything before 60 is "early" in my mind, but 50s isn't crazy early. If you're younger than 50 and retired I might register that as being notably young.

Is it bad that I haven't thought out how old I want to be when I retire? H and I just save as much as we can and I guess we'll see when we have "enough".

[mlvmd]

I think I have a skewed view on reality because I am eligible to retire at 57 and DH at 48. DH's pension would be more than adequate at that point and at 57 I would have more than enough as well.

To me 40 is early, but I realize that is far from a reality for most.

[kathybela]

This is a really interesting topic - I turned 60 this year and plan to retire at 65 and have struggled with that decision. I've talked to my son & dil about moving to their city (about 45 minutes away) to help with their kids as my grandson has special needs and they could use the help with school drop-off and pickup and more support in general.

My problem is that I've been at my job for 37 years (crazy, right?) and am having a hard time facing not going to work every day and hope that changes now that I've made the decision and given my boss the final retirement date. My job is quite complex and they need time to make decisions on whether or not to outsource parts of my job, etc.

Early retirement has never been an option that was even on my radar so retirement before the age of 65 is a foreign concept to me and I'm slightly jealous of those that have the opportunity to do so. For many years my husband and I struggled to make ends meet and had no money left over for retirement savings. It's only been the last 15 or so years that it's been possible and sadly a good portion of what I have is life insurance money from my husband.

@shoegal is an inspiration and I wish her knowledge had been available to me 30 years ago because I would definitely be in a different position if that had been the case

[soso]

Many people I know who are otherwise financially stable are struggling with insurance needs so I consider anything less than Medicare qualifying age early. My co worker who retired in her 50s just made the decision to drop her insurance since the premium is $13500 a year plus a high deductible of $6500. Nuts.

[konapoppy]

I do think 50s is still early because of access to various funds (SS, some pensions, etc.). My parents retired early and were the first to do so of their friends. They each had some "false starts" and retired, then went back to work.

With more people living to their 90s, it can be scary to pull yourself out of the job market early. A lot of my parents' friends basically has to keep working after 2008, even if they wanted to retire, because of the market and longer life expectancy.

[tacosforlife]

I'm glad someone else mentioned Medicare. Unless you have a job that provides health insurance after retirement (like my mom's teacher retirement) to be early because healthcare is such a massive cost.

My mom retired at 53, but like LoveTrains mentioned, she gets a pension plus healthcare (note: she will not collect SS, though). But she wasn't really financially ready to retire so she took a year off, did something else for 9 years, and retired again at 64. The first time was early. The second time wasn't.

[scout8]

Dec 20, 2014 10:12:51 GMT -5 soso said:

Many people I know who are otherwise financially stable are struggling with insurance needs so I consider anything less than Medicare qualifying age early. My co worker who retired in her 50s just made the decision to drop her insurance since the premium is $13500 a year plus a high deductible of $6500. Nuts.

IMO, she couldn't afford to retire in her 50's if she can't afford insurance. I hate our healthcare system and it sucks that this is a factor, but for now this is what we have. If something bad happens, she will run through her savings so fast. 

[Pom]

Dec 20, 2014 9:02:02 GMT -5 mellymel said:

My Dad retired at 48. He passed away at 57. Life is short. I'm planning to retire early. We sacrifice now to live a good life later, but balance it in case later never comes. I know this sounds morbid but I will be soooo pissed if I die young and never get to enjoy retirement.

This is where I am.  My dad passed away at 58.  He was a farmer and died "with his boots on".  He loved his land and cattle and I'm glad. My parents also took some long trips and I am grateful they did. It was somewhat balanced and I'm glad he didn't wait.

Mr. Pom and I have gone through stretches of time when we worked crazy hours, sacrificed and we are now better off for it.  Mr. Pom's schedule for the past year and a half is one we both agree we'd call "semi-retired".  It's almost unreal and it's been amazing. If our family situation would settle down, we could really enjoy some extended travel.  As it is, we pretty much do as we please and I often go on work trips with Mr. P. and it's great (read: paid by company).  Mr. Pom probably won't retire early at this rate.  We also got a somewhat late start on retirement, but we accept that.  I'd say we live a pretty awesomely balanced life now, heavy on the personal time.  It could change, but we are going to ride this wave as long as we can.

To answer the original question, early 50's is early to me.  Those retiring before that are my heroes. 

[Pom]

Dec 20, 2014 9:17:03 GMT -5 milsaroo said:

Dec 20, 2014 8:28:52 GMT -5 doobeedoo said:

I should have added the caveat--I know a lot of people do not factor Social Security earnings into the retirement projections/calculations. And that's smart.

Thank you! I've casually said that I'm not counting on SS when I reach retirement and people think it's crazy. I defend myself by saying if I plan without it then it will be just extra income/fun money if it is there, but I don't like feeling that my thoughts are abnormal.

Not abnormal by MM standards, but probably still rare among most Americans.

[babsbunny]

55 was stuck in my head because my company has/had a pension (it's being frozen in a few years) that could be collected at 55 so I think of anything earlier as early. But I don't gasp at any age because everyone's situation is different.

My MIL had the same worries about leaving her job since she was a high contributor but she's loving doing volunteer work now and being able to simply take off time whenever she wants. FIL is a professor who may never retire (he does not want to travel the world).

DH and I will both enjoy creating our own schedules. He's really into running now and only runs in the morning so it will be more enjoyable if he doesn't have to fit in runs with a long work day. I personally need more hobbies (outside of travel) and I think I can come up with some, plus I think I'd be a good volunteer because I don't mind doing some repeatative tasks (like stuffing envelops).

Speaking of the money utilization phase... DH and I track every dollar we spend and now have 8 years of data to analyze. This makes the calculation of how much will we spend a ton easier. We can see our fixed expenses vs our travel and fun expenses (no kids to factor in). Whenever people talk to me about retirement, I ask them two things: do they know what they spend their money on now and have they figured out health care.

[Deleted]

kathybela, first thank you for the kind words!

Second, you bring up a really great point around the shift people face as they think about retiring (or frankly, even changing jobs) - when you've been in a role for a significant period of time. I'm doing a very, very early exploration on a new role & the idea of not working in my same firm, with the same folks...it's just weird!

One of the appealing things about retirement (which you also mentioned, KB) is the chance to be with family more. I miss my family & don't get to spend as much time with them as I would like. That would be tremendous and more possible without a "regular" job.

[crashgizmo]

Both of my parents are 63 and have no retirement plans. My mom would like to, but I don't think they can afford their lifestyle if she does.

I consider retiring before 50 early, and anything between 50-65 normal, which I know goes against the grain a bit. Most of my exposure to retirement planning has been here and on the MMM forums, so that probably skews my thoughts a bit.

Our plan is for DH to retire at 60 and stay on my insurance (we are 9 years apart). My line of work is very conducive to travel and a semi-retired lifestyle, so I'll keep working until DH is 65 and can get medicare. Currently I don't have major medical problems (DH has several medications, etc) so we are saving in an HSA investment account to cover my insurance needs so I can retire at 56 with DH. Of course, many of these factors could cause the plan to change, so time will tell.

[sillygoosegirl]

Dec 20, 2014 9:19:40 GMT -5 @songforyou said:

I'd deem anything before 62 as "early" and I'd find anything before 55 gasp-worthy lol.

Me too. 62 is when you can get Medicare and qualify for reduced SS payout, which is why I chose it.