Semi retirement guilt You opinion

[winnietrey]

For those of you who are older and wiser, and have been there done that. What say you, have we made the right choice?

Here is the deal, I am 58 dw 60, like you we have worked hard our whole life. We have been in business 35 years. And though we both like the people, we are starting to burn out on the business part

So what we are doing, is cutting down to 3 and a half days a week, and taking about 7 weeks off plus all the holidays.

Becuase I,(we), want to go see and do now. Vacation , ride bikes, do hobbies, while we still can.

Retirement money, will be fine I believe. If we never save another dime at 66, we will be in the 60k plus range, with paid for house, cars, etc and no debt. (plenty for our life style)

Although if we worked harder, from now till we retire, we would of course have more money.

So The guilty part, is it just feels weird, to have so much time off.

For you older and wiser folks, if you could roll back the clock, would you do what we are doing? or push it hard right till retirement?

[stetwood]

OP restated that they had about 10x the 60K annual income at 66. You are debt free. This means that income at 66 will include SS, which may or may not be around. If you max out SS at $2533/month you will need at least 400K in savings to maintain your standard of living.

Can you live by having your savings sliced in half? That happened to many, including us during the 2008 debacle. Can you live without tapping the principle under a 50% loss.

[SuzzeeeQ2012]

Forgot to add. We have grandchildren, and retiring gave us the opportunity to spend a whole lot of time spoiling them rotten 🙂


that's the downside of traveling for me. I missed Christmas. Next year we're doing it differently and flying home. Will get tickets around June some time so they're affordable.

[RangerJay]

Depending on your own makeup "semi-retirement" is a great way to transition yourself - and adds to the nest egg as you do it.

We both took early retirement 10 and 13 years ago - couldn't possibly think of going back - but - I had a bit of a tough time making the transition - the guilt you talk about is very real - I was lucky enough to get hired back for similar work on a 1/2 time basis for 4 years - worked out of my home on a schedule of my own choosing - it took that entire 4 years for me to wean myself of the need to be in-the-loop and involved in my chosen career. Once weaned it was clear sailing.

Now fully retired both of us have developed a strong need to "give back" - my wife has become one of the pillars in our church community - and I am a strong volunteer with a major charity.

Today I'd say we have achieved (for us) the perfect retirement - we spend a couple of months a year travelling, are able to spend very quality time with family, continue to contribute to our community in very enjoyable ways, each also have a hobby that we love, we have a great dog that keeps us involved in outdoor activities and we still have our health. What else is there?

Sounds to me like you are on the right track for you.


Jay

[FunnyCamper]

OP if you want to slow down, do just that.
If in a bit down the road full early retirement is calling your name, take the steps to do just that 🙂


experiment any way you want with your life. that is the beauty of it. YOU CAN do whatever you want and fit things into your life as needed.

We are very hard workers in our family. The bit of guilt you might feel is because you are a worker also. Kinda wired into you. One works hard, not retire early right? 🙂 Heehee. Believe me once you start to change the mindset a bit, that free time starts to feel wonderful and the hard working doesn't take center stage anymore. At it is that way for us.

[ol_Bombero-JC]

azdryheat wrote:
Retired at 54. No regrets. Busier now than when employed.

Ditto. (well maybe not the busier now, LOL!)

Retired at 55. (72 now).

Guilty? You gotta be kidding..:R

Couldn't have asked for a better occupation - and if I wanted to work after retiring - I wouldn't have retired.

Would do the same all over again - including saying adios.

Soooo - whatever works for *your* situation.
If your ducks are in a row - go for it.

(Yikes! - - Still can't get over "guilty"..:?..)

~

[loulou57]

Do what makes you both happy. We don't know what tomorrow will bring.
Enjoy!

[tatest]

I retired at 58, DW semi-retired at 57 (she worked part time when not traveling). Though not debt free (two homes with mortgages) we had enough earnings on savings to live and travel, travel we did. DW's incurable cancer was discovered at age 62, she just made it past age 65. We got in a few years of doing what we wanted to do, even working around the medical treatments. I was burnt out on my job, she liked hers but liked travelling too.

I have friends of same age who could not imagine early retirement, or retirement at all. One lost his wife and health working toward retirement age. One worked to age 68 doing what he loved, just recently died doing the job. Left a younger widow.

If you are burnt out doing what you are doing, I say stop now, do what you want to do. Adjust your lifestyle to your income. We did well on about half of what our retirement savings earned each year, served well weathering the depression cutting the capital 40%. i think you can always adjust your lifestyle to a reasonable retirement income. I know a lot of people living well on social security, you just have to be in the right place with the right expectations.

If you can cut loose from jobs you would rather not do, and have a dream of what you would rather do, DO IT. You cannotknow how much time you have left, and buying more time seldom works, no matter how much money you have to throw at it.

[Stanmawyer]

An epitaph you never will see on a gravestone: I WISH I HAD SPENT MORE TIME WORKING, AND LESS TIME ENJOYING LIFE WITH MY FAMILY

I retired at 52, then immediately took an assignment in Johannesburg, South Africa for one year.

After that, boredom drove me to sea as a ship's captain. I now have over 7,000 hours as master in command on the open ocean.

Following that, I discovered I have a particularly nasty form of melanoma, which requires periodic chemotherapy and is somewhat painful, moreover it causes me to have bouts of severe depression. Inasmuch as I detest self-pity (which the chemo caused me to feel) I sought a way to take my mind off myself. To do this, I donated every day of my time and a considerable amount of money to my local Humane Society for a full consecutive 365 days. I cleared land, built fences for dog runs, made 100s of trips to vets, trained new arrivals, rescued mistreated dogs of all ages and personally found homes for 20 or so dogs.

Last June, we bought our coach and now will attack our "bucket list" of RV accessible destinations...we are now enjoying our first winter away from the snows and cold weather of Maryland as we bask under the palms in Naples, FL

[Nutinelse2do]

OP, if we had that kind of money to spend a year, we would have been gone long ago.

I am 47 and DH is 53. We have been working our bottoms off and living well below our means for a very long time to have a portion of that to spend yearly.

We are gone the end of this year. Our plan is to sell our home and everything in it, and hit the road. We have been Rving for over 20 years and finally figured out our perfect retirement set up.

We both have very bad neck and back issues related to our jobs. In fact, our neurosurgeon told both of us we are one accident away from having severe spinal damage.

Everyone tells us we are way too young to retire, and say we will never have enough money to last. Well, maybe so, but we are going to have a darn good time while both of our bodies are still capable.

Life is not about working until you are 70 and keeling over the next week from a heart attack.

Our doctors have told us we will be much healthier after the daily stress, both mentally and physically are gone.

There are a lot of people that love their jobs. More power to em, but not these kids!

Never feel guilty for doing what you want. You have created a successfull business and worked for a very long time. Now is YOUR time to enjoy!

[bukhrn]

GO NOW !!!!!
Sorry for shouting, but I've watched too many friends never get to make the decision, several passed away in their 50's, some fun eh.

[lizzie]

Just a few months before my planned retirement at 55, I was offered an amazing job in another state. I agreed to go for one year. It turned out to be 10 years and I retired again at 65. I had some wonderful opportunities and experiences during those 10 years. Retirement is great and I love it but I wouldn't have missed that last job for the world. Everyone has to do what feels right for them. llizzie

[Jim_Shoe]

If you retire early there is one potential situation: The bad part is that you'll no longer know what day it is. The good part is that you no longer care! 🙂

[rockhillmanor]

IMHO get out now!!

You mention you have a business. Find some one you trust and let 'them' run the business for you and hit the road.

The worst that can happen is you are not happy with them running the business and have to sell it or the best part being just hit the road and let the checks keep coming in it as long as possible until you hit 62 and then grab what ever SS offers you and enjoy the road! :C

[2gypsies1]

We retired (got 'downsized') at 52, sold the house and everything in it and took off full-timing. That was 19 years ago. Have not regretted a thing. If you're active you'll find lots to keep you occupied. We also began volunteering for national and state parks which is very fulfilling. There's nothing to feel guilty about if you're financially able to do it.

[Escargot]

I'd opt to go with your semi-retirement plan, realize it may take a few weeks to adjust, and then see if the quality of your life, attitude, and adventures assuage your guilt. Semi-retirement may also give you the insight and experience to see if you're really ready to fully finally retire.

Be of good cheer, whatever you decide! 🙂