PS: for me, retirement is to retire from ny current job functions and responsabilities and to pursue other interests because I reached financial independance, i.e. I am no more dependant on a steay pay cheque from a corporate work contract. It is not to retire from Life. In fact, I will be taking some classes to get a certification in accounting, so that I can help people or non-profit organizations with the finances. It will take a few years to make the shift, and it will be gradual until I retire from my current job.

By the way: Great post, great comments. Cheers!

if you hang out for any amount of time on one of the early retirement sites, you’ll see that people have different ideas and *strong* opinions about what retirement is and isn’t. for example, some believe you aren’t retired if you still work. which i think is ridiculous.

retirement means to me the same thing it means to your sister-in-law’s boyfriend .. the financial freedom to do whatever i want. and that includes working if i feel like it, whether i’m paid or not.

Really, zombies do not come remove your brain the day you retire and put in a new one requiring you to involve yourself in activities you hate all day. Really!

I worked (job, then business) then, at 49, I stopped.

Now, I ‘work’ on projects – because I want to.

Now, I travel a lot – because I want to.

Now, I write my blog – because I want to teach others what I have learned about money.

Tomorrow, if I decide that I no longer want to do any/all of the above, I simply STOP …

… because I am retired. The minute I HAVE to do any of these things, because I cannot (financially) afford NOT to, then I am NO LONGER RETIRED.

Simple

My partner and I are working towards retirement. We’re both 40. I work for myself. He works for a company. We hope to have enough saved so that he can retire by the time he’s 50. I like to work, so I don’t intend on retiring until I’m in my 60′s somewhere. I also work by phone with many of my clients, so I can work anywhere.

So we’re learning how to sail, and we’re going to get a boat and sail all over the place, and I’m going to keep working “remotely”. He can do whatever he wants with his time, and I can do what I want with mine, which is my work.

Bridget

If you don’t “have” to work based purely on the “math,” and maintain your current lifestyle easily off of the interest but for some reason (paranoia, fear), you keep working at a job you hate, that is not “choosing to work,” in my opinion. Those people are definitely NOT retired. But if you love your job and don’t need the money, you’re retired to me whether you work or not. (i.e The people I’m talking about could live off of a very, very low interest or dividends using current assets (not a complicated, overly risky or complicated investment “plan” that only works if everything goes right – if then.))

On the other end, if you COULD work, but CHOOSE NOT TO, instead claiming you’re “retired,” but in reality you “have” to work to live your life (without getting into crazy debt), you’re not retired to me.

There’s my short answer…

Easing into it, I am starting back to school in the fall, to prepare for a new career which I will be able to pursue part time while traveling. We are also considering getting a conversion van, so we can travel without going broke. Planning for the third life is becoming as exciting as planning for our wedding, all those years ago!

Basically collecting unemployment checks (aka “Social Security”) and having all the time I wanted mirrored what retirement might be like decades down the road.

To me, it was a self-reflecting time. I was not sure how to productively use all of my time, and to be honest, I was usually bored. My wife still had her full time job so it was just me and my dog every day. To give me something to do, I walked my neighbor’s dog every weekday and did some house projects.

I believe there are lots of people who can’t wait to retire and not work, but the question really becomes besides work, what is your real purpose? What will you do with your time?

Some people might have a difficult time answering theses questions, I know I did. Lots will say well I will start a garden, travel, visit family. This will certainly take up some time, but I am not sure these folks realize just how MUCH time you will have.

I was 26 when I had to think of these questions and I still do not know the answer.

I have a job now that takes 10 hours of my weekdays away. What would I be doing with this time if not working? Hmmmm

Kind of hard to work towards a goal if it is not clearly defined.

I was about to say that you’re right in the current economy, which makes retirement a very sketchy matter indeed. However, on reflection it strikes me that “mirage” has been the operative term for a lot longer than we think.

My father, a merchant mariner, retired in 1962, thinking he was set for life. He’d reached his lifelong savings goal at 53, after 36 years of very hard work, assiduous saving, and stringent frugality.

Within a year or two he went back to sea, not (I think) because he wanted to but because he felt he needed more money…and, I suspect, because life on land was less idyllic than he anticipated. When a health problem forced him to quit again, he did OK in retirement until double-digit inflation struck during the 1970s. That decade’s inflation effectively robbed him of his life savings, so that by the time it was over he had way too little to live on comfortably. Even though he remarried, after my mother died, and the new wife had a teacher’s pension as well as Social Security, together they didn’t have enough to live well.

I intend to keep on working part-time until I can’t dodder into the classroom anymore. Not because I want to, but because I don’t believe any amount of savings, short of eight or ten million dollars, is likely to retain its value long enough to support one through an extended period of old age.

My mom is basically done with her business and wants to be retired already, my step-dad is already retired so she just wants to join him. JD has said that he saves, so I don’t think that he will have to go back to the box business should something happen to GRS, since he has savings then he should be just fine.

Also if a person saves more than they spend throughout good economic times, then they can do very well during lean economic times. I think its possible to save more than 10% of ones paycheck. Its all about controlling spending and avoiding all debt.

Besides writing is like any other profession, writers can find work writing about something else.

Tyler K- I disagree with you. I’m 27 and I learned you don’t have to do things you don’t want to do. I don’t have to work, I could be on welfare but I’m not, I CHOOSE to work. I don’t spend time with distant relatives. Why should I? It never made me happy to spend time with people that I wasn’t close to. I’m nice to everyone but I only spend time with my closest cousins and aunties and uncles.

I go to the DMV because I like driving my car and its not something that makes me miserable. In fact nothing in this world tells you that you need to drive, you could easily take the bus or a bike. That is a choice, not an obligation. When I got into debt that was a choice too. I got out of debt because I wanted it badly enough and have No debt anymore.

I’m saving for retirement because I want to make sure my basic needs and basic wants get covered. I don’t buy a lot of stuff anymore and that is a choice. I have chosen to be a minimalist after getting out of debt. I chose to move from the very active West Coast to a quiet mid-west state because there are jobs here and the cost of living is more affordable. Life is about choices. Life doesn’t have to be about despair.

A lot of obligations that you mention don’t have to be obligations if you don’t want them to be.

Its funny that you published a post about retirement, because I just paid off all my debt so I’m thinking about my next financial goals in life. I want to finish my bachelor’s degree, I’m 27, but I also want to focus on retirement and traveling. I’ve become very frustrated at a lot of retirement advice out there.

There is so much advice out there, a lot of the experts don’t even agree with each other. Some say to save $1 million. Someone else comes in and says “that’s not enough, you need at least $4 million.” Some finance journalists say that Americans are saving too much and need to live it up a little.

Bob’s advice seems to be written for people who didn’t really think about retirement until their later years. There are some people who won’t be able to retire because of poor financial choices early in life and it seems that he is trying to reach those people with that book.

I’m not trying to be rude or anything, but I didn’t really care for Bob’s book while its very well written because I really don’t like the idea of working part-time as a senior. I really don’t.

And you know a lot of finance journalists are starting to realize that a lot of people won’t be able to retire completely so they’re telling them that full-retirement is out of the reach. But I really don’t want to work until old age.

It seems that if people want to retire well they have to live below their means throughout their lives even in their 20s and 30s, buy only as much house as they need even with a family and not any more, and to avoid debt. It also helps if you go against the norm and choose a state with low cost of living.

That way when they get older they don’t have to worry about downsizing and having a shock to their lifestyle. They can just carry on because they always lived below their means so retiring isn’t going to be such a shock to their pocketbook. I know because my parents are doing this and no they’re not miserable. They are happy.

Then there are the people who irritate me and blame Obama, Bush, Clinton, Mccain, their governor, some other politician, the social security administration, etc. for reducing their retirement savings, etc.

I really hate this because its not a politician’s job to coddle Americans. I mean really, unless someone is mentally disabled or have some disease like dementia, its really our job to take care of ourselves. To me retirement means having enough money for my needs, wants and some luxuries without working for a paycheck. Although to me a luxury is traveling and not shopping for leisure.

Also what is up with financial journalists that tell you to save $4 million for retirement. Seriously. Aside from the basic needs and wants and some luxuries, where else would I use that money on? I don’t intend on using it on mansions, yachts or shopping at Chanel.

Even if I were a multimillionaire, buying stuff gets old (I know I used to be in debt) and you need something more interesting to do in life besides own stuff. I think some people fear retirement because it means the end of an era, but people are not their jobs.

Sometimes I cringe when people say they love their job and don’t want to retire. I think its important to have skills so that you can go anywhere in the world and do whatever you did before even if you are retired.

It seems that people fear retirement because it means that they’re not valuable anymore, that what they did can’t be done somewhere else in the world and that’s not true. You can always use what you learned as a career somewhere else in life.

A write can always write, a nurse can always get licensed somewhere else, an accountant can help others with their money even after they retired from their accounting job at a corporation.

Some people choose to do nothing in retirement and others like being active. I think its different for everyone, anyway thanks for letting me vent.

My roadmap to get there: be debt free specifically the mortgage, have enough dividend stocks that will pay the expenses and the part time job for extra spending money and to keep the benefits.

I’m still a long, long way from retirement, but that’s definitely something I’d like to remember in 40 years or so.

We’ve always lived well beneath our means, so there was no change in lifestyle when we retired. We just save a lot less money now.

My wife is a retired teacher, but she finds opportunities to “teach”. I’m a salesman. I’ve kept my hand in sales. We just don’t spend fifty hours a week at these endeavors anymore.

They work because they have to, or because they didn’t plan enough or save enough or whatever other reason there may be.

Is it because we talk more than we act? Maybe it’s because it takes hard work and discipline to get ourselves in position to “retire” when we want, how we want.

Or, perhaps we get so caught up in the American Dream and chasing our neighbors and coworkers lifestyles that we miss the point…

That True Wealth is not about commas or net worth -it’s about the quality of relationships, pursuing your passions and living life with purpose!

Great post J.D.!

I would like to pursue a path that you or Paul would follow. I don’t think being retired sitting on a porch swinging is for me!

It would be much better to be as mentally as sharp as you can, for as long as you can. And add value to society in the process!

Thanks for a great story, someday soon, I too would like to go on such a hiking trip! Sounds incredible!

I love my work, but I do it so I can get to that point where I don’t have to. I support myself, so it is up to me, I save and save so I can retire and stay at home.

To retire from someplace is to simply withdraw from a group and do something else or start drawing a pension. Either way, it’s an event.

Retirement is a state of being. I know plenty of folks who only spend a few months in this before they find more work to retire from.