Motivation for early retirement

TARDIS

I'm in my 40s so just starting my retirement planning journey, but reading this forum has got me thinking. The reasons people are planning for or taking early retirement are quite varied. Some I see, possibly wrongly, as negative, pushing them into ER, such as escaping a stressful job or due to external factors the individual has little control over eg redundancy, health etc. Others seem to be more positive, pulling them that direction, such as wanting time for new things, another degree, travel, voluntary work related to their personal passion, to write an ER blog!

I was wondering what effect your motivation for ER has on your experience of it? Do those "pushed" into it enjoy it any less or perhaps more because of what they have "escaped"?

OldBeanz

I think you have to first of all look at where you stand in the job world. Some people enjoy their job and would do it if they did not get paid so entertainers or people who meet their mates at work. I enjoyed my job but at the end of the day it was the pay packet which was the main reason for turning up. For my generation of cousins, in laws and siblings (say about 20 people) of the two people who would have continued in their job forever because they loved it, one retired the earliest and the other retired latest (although the two youngest, not yet retired, have limited pensions so that might be interesting).
What does happen as you get older is your ability to shrug off stress and your ability to swallow corporate bull. Seeing a re-design of organisational processes to those of 20 years before is in some ways more amusing than anything. Your willingness to put up with either is seriously reduced when you are financially able to retire. As soon as I knew my date the stress levels dropped and my interest and my managers interest in me disappeared.

Eric_the_half_a_bee

I don't want to retire early. I do want the financial independence to choose what work I do, and how much of it I do, purely on the basis of enjoyment and fulfilment, rather than on the basis of money.

ermine

TARDIS wrote: »

The reasons people are planning for or taking early retirement are quite varied. Some I see, possibly wrongly, as negative, pushing them into ER, such as escaping a stressful job or due to external factors the individual has little control over eg redundancy, health etc.

The reasons are as varied as the number of people. I retired early for a negative reason, which is broadly that work was becoming more crap. Don't knock negative reasons, though. You run from a burning house for a negative reason too...

After a couple of years out I learned a truth I wouldn't have grasped another way. The negative reason masked a much bigger but more diffuse positive reason. None of us are getting any younger and it's a big wide world out there beyond the office walls. I have been out for five years and I'd still be working now for another three years before reaching normal retirement age for my company. All in all by the time I am 60, if I am fortunate enough to get there that's eight years of my time that I lived on my own terms rather than The Man's.

It would have been a terrible waste of more than 10% of my three score years and ten if that crisis hadn't arrived to teach me that freedom is a prize worth making a tough journey to reach for it. I wouldn't have it any other way

bostonerimus

I left university back in 1986 with 3k in my bank account.....being frugal, no fees and a London weighted grant made that possible. I got my first job at age 25 and began saving, putting as much as I could into my employer's pension plan and investing in some low cost mutual funds which gave me a good financial foundation. I decided to retire early a few years into my last job because it would give me a DB pension and health care (I'm in the US) after ten years employment. I'd have the financial security to leave and do whatever I wanted and so that's what I did when I hit 10 years service at age 53

chiefie

So many of my work colleagues died quite young still in work. My dad was diagnosed with Parkinson's one month after working for the same firm for 43 years. My brother died at 62. And I'm getting tired of the stresses of everyday work life although 99% of the people I really enjoy working with. I think I know how much is enough to finish on, although I expect I will do something after a break as I may well get a little bored and find I wasn't ready to step away completely. So motivation is I want things on my terms for once ��

crv1963

Couple of things are my motivation- DB Pension allowing retirement at 55, but not quite enough to live as comfortably as we currently do so a realistic target is 60/62.


A number of friends colleagues dying young 55-60 years old and a personal experience of heart attack (thankfully fully recovered) have confirmed to me that I want to be able to enjoy myself and that I will work to live not live to work from here on until I retire!

justme111

Tardis , one could love the job but logically thinking one would love life more. Life does not consist of a job so when one has enough money the way one sees the job changes . Illnesses and deaths of other close people change one's outlook quite a bit as well. I have loved my job and after a forced year off and some stessful events related to it I still love it. I just realise how vulnerable my position is, the downsides of the job which is not a job itself but management and political sides have hurt me already and I am more concentrated on making hay while the sun shines and having freedom of leaving if I do not manage to create better working environment than I was before. If I had the money I would have left and looked for another position from the comfort of my home without pressure.
added - I am mid forties.

justme111

crv1963 wrote: »

Couple of things are my motivation- DB Pension allowing retirement at 55, but not quite enough to live as comfortably as we currently do so a realistic target is 60/62.


A number of friends colleagues dying young 55-60 years old and a personal experience of heart attack (thankfully fully recovered) have confirmed to me that I want to be able to enjoy myself and that I will work to live not live to work from here on until I retire!

so you entering an age in which a number of colleagues died but plan to work for 6 more years when ypu can collect your full DB pension and call it an early retirement. It looks to me like you are doing precisely the opposite of what you advocating.

DELLBOY_2

My plan is to retire into a part time job which involves one of my hobbies in about 2 years max .
My reasons are im self employed and really need to spend heavilly if i want to continue in something ive lost heart with .I have invested in some property which is let out and intend to buy one more when i downsize early next year which will in total take care of my living expenses . The realisation that im not getting any younger and a diagnosis of cancer a few years back is whats given me the wake up call .

p00hsticks

Mine was a bit of one and a bit of the other.
As my OH is a number of years older than me, I had always planned to retire early so that we could enjoy some quality time together before he got too old.

But an enforced change in work circumstances meant that I finished a couple of years earlier.