Would you retire now if you could?

[phantom]

I'm not sure what I'd do. Although I enjoy my work, I'm sure I could find plenty of ways to fill my time that I'd enjoy more. But, I'd hesitate to quit my job because the company I work for has been growing recently, and I'd really like to see where it can go. It's an exciting place to be right now, and I'd like to stick around for another few years to see where it might go. If I were working somewhere less exciting, or if I came across something just as exciting outside of work, and if I could afford to retire, I'd do it in a second.

[ua_guy]

My s/o and I would retire tomorrow if we thought we had enough money to afford our dreams.

Our careers were born from financial necessity and they represent a bargain of stress and routine in exchange for money, and that's something we'd gladly trade for an alternate existence. That existence is still taking shape in dreams, and the good news is that we both share similar dreams, and we're both motivated to see that they happen as soon as possible.

[KTP]

I would retire now and will retire next year.

10,000 things I want to do and sitting in 1.5 to 2 hours traffic each day commuting is certainly not one of them.

[breathemusic]

At only 28, i definitely wouldn't retire. Largely for fear of boredom, but I also enjoy my job. I don't know if I'd stay in it long term or not since it definitely has crazy periods where I'm putting in more than the 40 hours/wk but getting paid the same salary. I think at minimum I'd continue to work a few more years while I slowly built up other projects and decided if I wanted to change and do something else.

There are plenty of things I'd do in the mean time that would make continuing to work easier. I'd buy a house closer to work (way more expensive since that would put me in pricier neighborhoods of DC) and I'd stop taking public transportation to work, so those things combined would cost me more (this is assuming the ideal scenario where money wasn't an object, hence retiring so early) but I'd spend less time on the commute and have more free time for what I wanted.

[disneysteve]

Although I enjoy my work, I'm sure I could find plenty of ways to fill my time that I'd enjoy more.

That's a good way to put it.

[jackmiller]

sitting in 1.5 to 2 hours traffic each day commuting is certainly not one of them.

Amen to that!

[MonkeyMama]

10,000 things I want to do and sitting in 1.5 to 2 hours traffic each day commuting is certainly not one of them.

100% Agreed. I personally do not do traffic.

I feel I have spent a lot of time defending that I like my job, over the years. Online and offline. But let's just say that the long and the short of it is that my job doesn't really take up that much of my time. If it did, I could see my answer being totally different.

[disneysteve]

my job doesn't really take up that much of my time

That's great, though certainly not the case for most people. Personally, I'm at the office about 7:30am every day. Two days I leave at 5pm, two days at 4pm, and one day by 1pm. So it takes up a great deal of my time.

[Bob B.]

If I had something around $2.0 mil in the bank, I would quit working, and never look back.

I had a professor in college, about 20 years ago, and one day he asked if any of us would be here (in college) if we had a million dollars*. He said that if we answered No, we had no business being in college. His reasoning was that each one of us should choose only things in life that we truly love, and make us truly happy. Any time we made a choice, or a decision, we should ask ourselves if we would make the same choice or decision if we had a million dollars.

Like almost everyone else, I've made choices about my career and education that I probably wouldn't have if I had a million dollars. Like almost everyone else, I have bills, and a mortgage, and kids to feed, clothe, and educate. But at times I wonder how things would have turned out if I had followed this professor's mantra.

*please don't nit pick the amount of money the professor chose. He could have said five million or ten million or a hundred million or a billion. We were 19 and 20 years old, and to us, 20 years ago, a million seemed like an amount of money that would last our lifetime.

[ua_guy]

But let's just say that the long and the short of it is that my job doesn't really take up that much of my time. If it did, I could see my answer being totally different.

This is where I take issue with my own career and job choices.


Of my daily time...

8 hours daily goes to actually working at the office.
2 hours goes to commuting to get to and from the office, not counted as "work" time.
1 hour other is gobbled by miscellany, "getting ready" -clothing, food prep, etc.

At the very minimum, assuming I work only an 8 hour day, I'm 11-12 hours into a single day of work. In most salaried jobs, 8 hours is an unwritten bare minimum requirement, with most people putting in more...substantially more. Then, when I get home, my free time is robbed by residual stress, apathy, anger, discontentment from all the crap that goes on at work, which, let's face it, I often try to undo in less than healthy ways.

It's a bargain that I just don't see being fair or sustainable long-term. Perhaps if I did something I loved, but I don't. I'm also not supporting children or dependent family members so I'm really not tied to what I do at all, save for the fact that it affords me nice things and could catapult me to an early retirement if I played my cards right.

Sometimes I think about "retiring" (actually, just quitting) and figuring out next steps as they come.

[disneysteve]

His reasoning was that each one of us should choose only things in life that we truly love, and make us truly happy.

If I retired from my career because I had the financial means to do so, that doesn't necessarily mean I would never work again. If I did work, though, it would be doing something that I really enjoyed and did for that reason, not because I needed the money to pay the bills.

[parafly]

Personally, the answer really depends on the type of retirement being debated. If I only had enough funds to "scrape by" for my remaining years, then I would choose to continue working. If I had enough funds to live comfortably, travel, and pursue hobbies and activities without restriction, then I would undoubtedly choose to retire as soon as possible.

[sandrark]

Personally, the answer really depends on the type of retirement being debated. If I only had enough funds to "scrape by" for my remaining years, then I would choose to continue working. If I had enough funds to live comfortably, travel, and pursue hobbies and activities without restriction, then I would undoubtedly choose to retire as soon as possible.

This. But not for another 2 years, since I have to be 50+ for medical coverage in retirement.

My personal goal is another 9 years. Then I'll be 58, receive a pension that is 85% of my paycheck, have full healthcare coverage, and another substantial sum in savings. We'll be 3 years away from paying off the house, assuming no other income or inheritance.

In terms of my career - I like my job because I'm good at it, and I get lots of kudos. But it's not a "career." Once I'm 50, and can have that health care coverage, I would quit my job in a New York minute should I ever win the lottery.

Admittedly, we'd have to PLAY the lottery in order to win it, but there you are.

Our hope is to travel, to volunteer, to spend time boating and reading and working on DIY projects around the house. We may rent a LT vacation home in preparation for deciding if we want to move somewhere warm for our retirement years. But by not working, we gain an enormous amount of time and flexibility.

A friend had her retirement party today. She told me she had purchased a one way ticket to a tropical locale where she has family, because she has no need of a confirmed return date. She'll stay as long as she wants. THAT sounds awesome to me.

[sblatner]

Yes, totally would retire now. I like what I do but have been doing it for 14 years and want to do something else more fulfilling. Maybe volunteer or take a job that I don't have to depend on for income.

[~bs]

I'm relatively young, and am the type of person driven to do work, so no. if work was taken away as an option, I would become very lazy.