[USER]

Can easily retire, but scared to give up my gig! Help!

[Andrea]

You’ve got the money—but you never know about the time. Do it.

[Jen]

Retired at 50, we hashed our plan at 45 to be out by 50 and it was perfect timing.

Having time is better than having unnecessary money (in excess of our generous spending estimations)

Learning that my value (as a person) isn’t tied to my earning has been empowering.

[Min]

I retired 2.5 years ago at 46. I was also in a highly compensated position and in peak money years. However, I was burned out of the long hours/frequent work travel, tired of the corporate bureaucracy, wanted to spend more time with my friends & family (I have a toddler and my parents are both aging) and I wanted to vacation travel more.

I love the flexibility and freedom. We live in Denver and spend our full summers in Alaska at our riverfront cabin. FIRE if your numbers make sense! You only live once and should live life with no regrets!

[Richard]

If your job allows, perhaps cut your hours as a way to slowly start. A guy did that at my job and dropped from 40hrs to 20hrs (4 10’s) and will drop the last 20 in 3 years.

[Amy]

I retired a few days before turning 51 (which was in early May). I tried at 47 but was too chicken to do it. A big factor was not having kids in the house. Now I’m traveling all the time. It’s fun. Definitely my go-go-go-go years.

[Kevin]

Retired a year ago at 40. Also was killing it at work money wise….but very happy that I left the rat race. Do it if the numbers make sense! You only live once!

[Ram]

It doesn’t have to be binary. I quit my high stress, high pay job at 45. Took a 2 month sabbatical and switched to a part-time consulting gig. I enjoyed the transition into a semi-retirement mode.

[Nanci]

To help alleviate my fears of retiring early, I had to make sure I had 4 things in place. 1. I had to be debt free 2. I had to have low monthly expenses. 3. I had to have multiple income sources 4. I had to have a healthy savings and investment portfolio.

Having those 4 things in place gives me built in contingency plans if something happen like stock market crash, or some other catastrophic event. Once my criteria had been met, I pulled the plug with no regrets or no fears.

Every one’s criteria will be different but those were my four. I don’t have anyone to lean on financially because I’m single and child free so it was important for me to have all 4 before I had the confidence to retire early without any fears.

[Author]

Posts