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If living responsibly and saving for retirement to the point of being able to retire earlier than anticipated makes a person a slacker, Then sign me UP!
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Online and real world. My mom worked so she constantly tells me to get a job. That caring for kids is not a job. And yes you pay daycare workers but that'e their job. i don't need to do their job. And when you stay at home you are relaxing.
I know my DH is worried his family and mine will say he is quite a pig for not working. That he isn't providing for the family. Not sure but if you work hard and spend more than you make it seems like you are more successful than the family member not workings but living.Comment
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I suppose you're just going to have to learn to ignore them, then.
Or get a job to please them.
Your decision.Comment
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Hmmm, so what is worse, being called a slacker via text message or something while you are walking on the beach in the Florida keys during a 75 degree day in January at 9am or not being called a slacker as you scrape the ice off your windshield at 4:30am so you can beat the traffic and keep your commute under an hour.
Hard choice...Comment
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I tend to agree with your hang up of retiring early. Its a big change. I think the question to ask is how are your children are managing financially, how well paid are you from your job(s) and if you like what you are doing as an occupation.
I retired at 43 in late 2006 sold my urban real estate before the credit crisis and moved to my low cost rural second home. My surviving parent objected but I didn't approve of his new spouse. And my sister's spouse whose AGI was 4 times what I made from a job that I hated and it started to negatively affect my portfolio thinks I am a slacker but I now clear 150K more than he does under the equal installment method in my Roth IRA since he pays a fortune in FICA taxes.
As for friends many will be jealous and in a few cases you will drift apart and at first it can be awkward but over time you will meet new friends with same interests.Comment
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Money represents your economic energy. It's really that simple. If you earned money fairly in the market and have amassed a sufficient quantity to survive for the rest of your natural lives, than this means you contributed sufficient to society as measured in the value of the money you have.
You shouldn't in anyway think less of yourselves for retiring early, be that at 20 or 40 or 50 or whenever "early" is to you, so long as you obtained the funds to do so fairly.
Good luck.
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JBinKC exactly. Sometimes it will go farther and less money if you move. And it's not necessarily a step back in happiness.Comment
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Raising children to be moral, happy, hard working contributors to society is one of the most important jobs a parent has and it certainly isn't the day care providers job!
Personally if you can afford to retire, do so when you want to and it isn't any of their business! Unless of course they will listen to you about when THEY can retire and kick back. In our society and economy I think people that would kick up a fuss about early retirement are just jealous. Kudos to you for living your life in such a way that you have managed your finances well. I suppose most of the naysayers are deep in debt or else love the sound of an alarm clock going off every morning - YUCK!Comment
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I know my family of savers. They would say that we hadn't planned well or aren't accounting for everything. They would make me more anxious. Like how I get a lot of talk about not working and sticking the kids in daycare. Especially my mom. I need to be an independent woman and have my own money because my DH can't tell me what to do if I have my own paycheck to spend freely. She's of the opinion that what everyone earns is theirs to do with as they choose. That without working a woman has no say in finances.
And most of my family feels that way too. And that if you aren't working even if daycare costs more than you aren't contributing to the income. The income needs to be as maximized as possible. Daycare is a transient cost which it is.
I don't know how to reconcile that. Or to reconcile the idea of just retiring early.Comment
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Living, sounds to me that they would only be satisfied if you sat down with them with specific numbers. Your financial retirement portfolio, projected expenses, estimated interest rates, etc...
If you show them the numbers you have and are projecting, provided they aren't too optimistic, they'd probably understand then.Comment
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