retiring early or retiring later

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Something I've been contemplating a lot more lately is would it have been wrong to have saved less earlier and retired later? We're not retired, but we are in a financial position to do so because a lot of things went right. But more than that we according to chatgpt and gemini and something i've considered is that we also saved a lot for a long time. And now many of our peers are doing well after 25 - 30 years of investing. They will be a great position to retired at 60-65. But they will have saved less and spent more along the way. They were less frugal earlier and just working but the journey might have been more luxurious until now.

I actually had a coworker tell me that she and her husband never maxed out their 401k, didn't save enough for college but they made it to a super comfortable retirement at 65. And I think a lot of people do that. it's exactly the math of Mr Money Mustache of 15% work 40 years and retire comfortably. Not too much to impede life. But the way to retire early is to shovel a lot away early and keep on compounding investments.

So a friend was teling me they were in that camp. They've enjoyed life and they feel very secure and comfortable at almost 50. Planning on retiring between 60-65. Got a paid for home and a couple million in the bank. College saved somewhat. But they will need to cash flow some. And she said when i talk about retirement and being secure now, it's an outlier. That most people aren't at that point at our age. But we didn't live excessively lean but lean for our income.

And I can see how if we had saved 15 for retirement and 5% for taxable or something we'd be really secure at 50 but not quite able to retire and fund college. but doing more at a higher rate meant that there were a few sacrifices along the way, which I didn't think were sacrifices but looking back I can see how things add up. Not changing homes, not driving nicer cars, not staying in nicer hotels or flying better flights earlier.

And i wonder if it would have been better to have enjoyed the journey more? And saved less? Or did we do it right? My thought reflecting back is that hindsight is 20/20 and maybe if someone had told me to ease up on the brakes i would have. But I'm not sure it's in me to ease up. Even now DH looked at me and said we could stop saving for retirement. We're diverting like 30-40% of his salary and I'm like I don't know what I would do with it. And he said ok. So we did. It's just some habits are hard to break.

And the truth is that i am really trying to spend more because I don't want to die the richest man in the graveyard. But if somenoe had told me 10 years ago where we would be today i'd have rolled my eyes and said yeah right.

[bjl584]

Lots of debate on this online.
Most people who are diligent with saving and investing seem to overshoot, and they could probably retire a lot sooner than they thought they could.

There is something to be said for having freedom to do what you want while you are still relatively young and healthy.
Having a pile of money and spending my retirement years in and out of doctors' offices doesn't appeal to me.
I'd rather have my time and freedom while I can enjoy it, even if it means having a little less money.
The trick is to save in non-retirement accounts that I can access before 59 1/2

[Tabs]

Prior to officially retiring early, it took me a solid 6 months of transitioning into retirement. That is, I was technically still working, but mentally, I had already checked out. During this time, I had also moved from where I was living because it was close to work, downsizing to somewhere else that is more affordable, and I thought I would be happier.

While I don’t know how other people retire, mine anyway didn’t happen overnight. A lot of behind the scene things were actively happening, including experimenting with monthly budgets that ran strictly off of my investments, while I socked away my paychecks in another account. If anything didn’t look right, I would just continue working. So far though, everything is still working, and that was two years ago.

[kork13]

I've definitely had this argument with myself many times, and discussed it in detail with many of you here. I firmly fall on the side of "retire early while you still have time to enjoy it." But that philosophy has been backed & prepared for with heavy investment & dedicated focus.

For most of my career I've maxed all of my retirement accounts. However, over the last 5 years or so, I've slowly reduced the amount that I've been putting into retirement, while instead directing alot more money into taxable investments, or just straight cash savings. I'm preparing for the potential that I retire very early (or semi-retire) within the next handful of years. I turn 40 this summer, and by mid-2028, I'll be solidly FIRE-capable with nearly $3M of investments + at least $8k/mo pension income between DW & I.

My inclination is to either become a SAHD for my kids as my oldest enters high school ... Or otherwise pursue passion projects and/or a work-optional type job that I enjoy. I have definitely burned a great deal of my youth & happiness & opportunity in building our strong financial position ... A military career is rough on family, and I've spent WAY too much time of months or years separated from my family. There have been very definite costs, so I want to give my family as much of myself that I can post-military.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I've definitely had this argument with myself many times, and discussed it in detail with many of you here. I firmly fall on the side of "retire early while you still have time to enjoy it." But that philosophy has been backed & prepared for with heavy investment & dedicated focus.

For most of my career I've maxed all of my retirement accounts. However, over the last 5 years or so, I've slowly reduced the amount that I've been putting into retirement, while instead directing alot more money into taxable investments, or just straight cash savings. I'm preparing for the potential that I retire very early (or semi-retire) within the next handful of years. I turn 40 this summer, and by mid-2028, I'll be solidly FIRE-capable with nearly $3M of investments + at least $8k/mo pension income between DW & I.

My inclination is to either become a SAHD for my kids as my oldest enters high school ... Or otherwise pursue passion projects and/or a work-optional type job that I enjoy. I have definitely burned a great deal of my youth & happiness & opportunity in building our strong financial position ... A military career is rough on family, and I've spent WAY too much time of months or years separated from my family. There have been very definite costs, so I want to give my family as much of myself that I can post-military.

that's an interesting perspective because you did spend more time away from the family. But bjl the people who don't save as much get to enjoy it when they are young. They are enjoying it more along the way. Drive a nicer car. Take nicer trips. They aren't in the dr offices and when they retire maybe they are but before they got there they did one trip a year or maybe 4 trips year instead of 1. But the person who retired early did 1 to their 4. Or maybe both people did 4 but the person who saved more didn't do as much luxury.

It's not that you reacch 65 having saved less. You do but then at the same time you spent more along the journey to enjoy it.

I'm questioning now if we were a bit nuts being so stringent. We've always maxed out our retirement and more savings. Just couldn't increase our living for a long, long time. It's compounded insanely and now I'm a little stunned to be honest. it was not at all what i projected. but part of it that we are working longer than planned (45). And more aggressive investments and savings have been put us ahead of a prediction. And now I feel like I spend but I don't think i'm making a dent. That and we also can't seem to stop saving it's a habit.

When DH looked at me and said should we scale back our savings? I said I don't know. I was actually uncomfortable with the idea. So we decided we'd just do the max and relax and try to spend the rest. It's been a lesson in spending.

[riverwed070707]

I think I could write a book chapter responding to this but I'll try to be reasonable

1) I cannot fathom working another 25 years in the corporate world so for me, a traditional retirement plan was never an option. I've known this since I landed my first internship at 21. People wasting away in that place, trying to pretend a new car makes them happy or that the 2 weeks of vacation they've banked - 1 of which is spent on doctors visits and a couple long weekends at home - is enough to rejuvenate from the grind is not my idea of an ideal lifestyle. I don't think anyone reaches FI and thinks "man I wish I had bought a fancier car or a bigger house instead".

2) We know with certainty the most ideal path to FI is to start saving early. Of course you can debate the maximize savings vs moderate savings approach but the reality is the easiest path to success is to grind while we're young and avoid lifestyle creep as your income grows. Set healthy financial habits early. IMO the ultimate goal here is having the *choice* to quit working when you're ready (or in a lot of cases burnt out). I see the problem you've outlined as a success in that you have that choice now.

3) I think a lot of the decision to retire early hinges on what retirement looks like for you. If it's staying in the same home you've always been in and being the center of family gatherings for your grown children and leaning into a local community, a slower retirement approach could make sense. If your retirement dream is travel and hobbies and adventure, there is a strong case to be made for getting there as soon as possible. Health and unknown futures and all that. Certainly a case can be made for freeing up time to spend with your kids when they're young and I think a balance is important, but the reality is when kids are young, we tend to be drawn to a more rooted lifestyle. Kids need stability. A lot of people want a familiar school and a home in a good district, so it makes sense to spend those years socking away money for your dream retirement while spending enough to still enjoy the journey.

4) We've been around this forum together for a long time. Surely you don't feel like you've not spent enough creating a lifetime of memories with your family. I know you travel well and you've saved to give your kids a good start into adulthood which is important to you. Is there something else at the root of this question? My gut says maybe something along the lines of just mourning the passing of time or preparing for a big transition with the kids. I think its super normal to feel reflective during times like that, and the optimist in me wants to simply encourage you to think about what you want the next 5 years to look like and how you can create meaningful experiences in the next phase. Divert those extra funds you don't need to put toward retirement into what's on the horizon instead of dwelling on how you might have done it differently along the way <3 If you're still feeling like you're going to die the richest in the graveyard, start gifting more! Find a cause that lights a passion fire and change people's lives. If that doesn't create a life well lived, I don't know what will.

[kork13]

I'm questioning now if we were a bit nuts being so stringent. We've always maxed out our retirement and more savings. Just couldn't increase our living for a long, long time. It's compounded insanely and now I'm a little stunned to be honest. it was not at all what i projected. but part of it that we are working longer than planned (45). And more aggressive investments and savings have been put us ahead of a prediction. And now I feel like I spend but I don't think i'm making a dent. That and we also can't seem to stop saving it's a habit. When DH looked at me and said should we scale back our savings? I said I don't know. I was actually uncomfortable with the idea. So we decided we'd just do the max and relax and try to spend the rest. It's been a lesson in spending.

LivingAlmostLarge That's the point I was trying to make ... Although your numbers are fantastically bigger than mine, I see us in a very similar position. I/we undeniably sacrificed alot of enjoyment/entertainment over the first 20 years of our working lives, because we consistently saved/invested no less than 30% gross (generally 40-45%, as high as 55%), even before our income cracked 6 digits.

My point is that the sacrifices early on are going to enable the high degree of flexibility & enjoyment that we'll soon have available to us. We (I, really -- my wife is far more comfortable with spending) are likewise struggling with reducing the pace of our savings/investments. We're doing at least somewhat better with spending, especially for travel ... But what's really happening right now, at least, is that I'm saving heavier in cash, then as our spending exceeds what otherwise remains from our monthly income, I'm pulling cash from savings to cover the higher spending .... That withdrawal probably happens once every month or three (mostly depending on what travel we're doing).

In the end, I'd say don't try to judge yourself against everyone else. Do what you/your family are comfortable & happy with.