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How many of you regret retiring?

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9K views 210 replies 97 participants last post by  GA 
#1 ·
I'm already 61 years old. I truly wanna fish all the time. Unless the world implodes, I think I have enough $$. My wife just retired. Institutional administration is just driving me crazy...

On the flip side...

I'm only 61 years old. I have a darn good job with great immediate colleagues. My schedule is very flexible. Making money is good.

The see-saw of these issues is tilting rapidly toward the top list. "Graybeards" out there (men and women): how many of you left your job for early retirement and then regretted it?

Any and all perspectives are welcome.
 
#202 ·
company retirement plans. The company I retired from no longer have one, its just their contribution to the employees 401K now.
Less than 3% of the workforce has a defined benefit pension plan now, everyone has gone to 401Ks. 401s are ok if you have the income to contribute enough money.
 
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#204 · (Edited)
I retired last year on May 1st at 61 after kicking the can down the road a couple of times and have no regrets, I was DONE. My wife didn't want me to retire ( can kicking), but I put my foot down. I started working at 14 and I'd had enough. My wife is 4 years younger than me and is still working a job with good bene's, has some time to put in to build her pension, though I told her she can retire anytime she wants. I took a "job" working @ the church 5-10hrs a week as a handy man, rug shampooer, light bulb changer, get a bid to fix it guy, which is fine but I told them I don't want a schedule or anyone telling me I have too, "I wasn't lookin for a job when I got this one". It gives me walkin around money, but I don't know how long I'll last. I don't fish near as much as I thought I would, but I golf a lot more, and I'm good with that, I got time. A couple post on this thread made me think of my dad who died at 50, and a friend of mine who had a good pension, no debt and kept working for just one more year. When he finally did retire, in 6 months he was dead from a heart attack. That was one of my fears, that I would be that guy, and never fully enjoy the fruits of my labor. Start saving you're money so you can retire and enjoy life.
 
#206 ·
I regret retiring. I was forced into retirement 5 years ago due to medical reasons. My plan was to continue to work until 66 or 67. I’m 66 now. My main reasons to continue to work were to firm up our financial situation. I started late saving for retirement and I didn’t mind working. In fact I enjoyed it. My work was challenging and I looked forward to meeting that challenge.

I was fortunate that I did have some money stashed away in investments and other savings as my medical expenses topped $25,000.00 in the first year. This was my out of pocket costs even with decent insurance. The next 4 years kept eating into retirement savings but we managed to avoid bankruptcy and saved our home, so far.

My issue is I have beat the odds and have lived about 5 years longer than I was supposed to. Of course that longer life cost us our retirement as the medical industry chews through money like my dog eats steak. One moment it’s there, the next it is gone.
 
#209 ·
I regret retiring. I was forced into retirement 5 years ago due to medical reasons. My plan was to continue to work until 66 or 67. I'm 66 now. My main reasons to continue to work were to firm up our financial situation. I started late saving for retirement and I didn't mind working. In fact I enjoyed it. My work was challenging and I looked forward to meeting that challenge.

I was fortunate that I did have some money stashed away in investments and other savings as my medical expenses topped $25,000.00 in the first year. This was my out of pocket costs even with decent insurance. The next 4 years kept eating into retirement savings but we managed to avoid bankruptcy and saved our home, so far.

My issue is I have beat the odds and have lived about 5 years longer than I was supposed to. Of course that longer life cost us our retirement as the medical industry chews through money like my dog eats steak. One moment it's there, the next it is gone.
sounds familiar...I had a minor medical set back with zero insurance ($29,000)...didn't even have Apple Care or the ACA then just before actually. this was 4-5 years ago ...but I suppose write good letters and was forgiven the 2 hospital operations...(yeah financial hardship write off) . This was on the heels of a divorce the stubborn hang onto the house crap...unemployed again and ate 3/4 of my retirement acct's...I was an unfortunate dummy... Anyway I figure I will keep working part time until the school office has to call an ambulance and I get rolled out on a stretcher...ha!...This is just my dark sense of humor...I am having fun...and getting exercise...and limping a bit! Ha!
 
#207 ·
The medical cost are a real wild card, especially in the five years before medicare kicks in.

I had managed to get by with fairly low cost/high deductable insurance for years, but as I turned 60 I found I had both soaring premiums and some expensive procedures. The ACA (Obamacare) offered relief, but it required altering my investments. I cashed out of several things and got rid of most of my income or dividend producing holdings. Berkshire Hathaway is great for this mode because they pay no dividend, and responsibly reinvest internal income.

I then was in a low enough income bracket to get health insurance at a good rate. The ACA has no concern of net worth, just annual income. I have been sitting on a non-productive cash hoard for several years, but the very steep increase in insurance cost vs income has made it worthwhile. Medicare will kick in before I need to liquidate any major capital gains, and then I will rebalance to a mixture of income/ capital gains investments.

It is a bit embarassingto be fairly well off, and qualify for low income health insurance, but I tell myself part of the ACA was to help the self employed with retirement. It takes some serious planning though.
 
#210 ·
I retired at 50! That’s what I told people, anyway. It seemed better than admitting I was unemployed. I quit my job so I wouldn’t have to shoot my old boss, avoiding all the problems that would have entailed. It was a great year of fishing, snowboarding, surfing, and sailboarding.

One morning, I gave the girl a ride to high school. She was complaining that she had to go to school while I got to snowboard all the time.
“Why would you say that?” I asked, looking wounded.
“Because you have your snowboarding pants on!”
“Pay attention in school today. See you tonight!”
 
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