Early retirement planning is usually all about money. Why don’t we give more weight to the fact that we are getting older every day? If we would be thinking of the aging process more and more would opt to stop working and retire early.
I retired early at 49, I’m 63 now, still retired and enjoying life. I am so glad I retired when I did rather than starting now. Why? I am not able to do all the things now that I could do 14 years ago. It is simple, I am 63 not 49 anymore.
I retired from commercial real estate brokerage. Because I had the Mercedes and tailored suits my peer group thought I was nuts when I said…I’m quitting, buying a sailboat, going to retire to the Caribbean. 14 years later we are still retired, although not on a boat any more, and the guys who said I couldn’t retire are…you guessed it, still working. PS…I don’t miss the Mercedes and tailored suits.
Early retirement planning does not take into account that the more you age the less you are going to enjoy retirement. Or maybe you know someone who hits his drives further, is quicker at the net, or runs faster now than he or she did 5 or 10 years ago. I would not look forward to going up the mast at 63.
What good would it do me to have the money I would have accumulated by now but not the health I had when I was 49?
Look at it this way. I am a golfer, with a ton of bucks and retiring right now I could join a fancy club for an outrageous initiation fee. 14 years ago I left the country club (have not had my shoes shined since) and enjoy playing very nice semi private courses with an average cost of $30 a round. I’ll take door number 2 thank you.
I have experiences from our foreign and domestic travels that are priceless. There is no way I could duplicate those experiences if we were just now retiring. Why? I am 63 not 49…why is this so hard to grasp. I was more physically able at 49 than I am now at 63.
Early retirement planning should focus more on age and less on the large brokerage account. But you won’t hear this from your financial planner. Why?…If you retire early, he or she will lose a client.
Nike has it right…Just do it…it’s the best example of successful early retirement planning. Enjoy.