Anyone "retire" in their 30's or early 40's?
 

Not necesarily to lazy days at the golf course, but maybe quit your day job to homestead, travel ect, without having to rely on farm income to pay the bills. If so, how did you do it? Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently? What are you doing now?

I am 29 and retired. To be honest, I hate it.

How did I retire at 28? I started a business when I was 23 and sold it when I was 28. I don't plan on being retired for long. My life has a purpose and that purpose is to help others so at some point I will likely be working in an effort to fulfill my life purpose.

I can't say that I would have done anything differently. I value the fact that I can do what I want without money being a factor.

Yup. Pretty much late twenties......... very long story.
If I hadn't just happened to have made some wise decisions regarding debt, lifestyle, location and "career"choice, it would have been tough.

Looking back, I'd have geared toward this from the beginning, rather than looking to pursue typical goals and fit in with the mainstream in any fashion..... and, looking back, I guess I rather did. :)

My only thought on retiring that young is old age. What is your plan to support yourself when you can no longer work the homestead? I'm not questioning you so please don't think that. This is just something I would consider.

I was put out to pasture at 37. Sold the farm and didn't know if I would live. Had it made but so boring. Took 2 years to get well enough to find something to do. Looking back I should have stayed retired and done something I really enjoyed. I gave 16 years away doing what I thought was helping my hometown and was thrown away at 55. Sure made me think about what really matters. Me and mine. So I am off to new things and really enjoy what is left of my life....James

Personally, I'm looking very much forward to the challenges of being "old".
That and, we weren't meant to force all of our youthful energies into seeing to it that we live to be a hundred in some well-funded nursing home.
When the time comes, give me a tree to lean up against and a pleasant autumn day.....

Sir, sometimes your phrasing just strikes me to the core. Thank you for that.

Someone once asked the Dalai Lama what surprises him most. This was his response:

“Man, because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then he dies having never really lived.”

Dolly never said truerer words.

Why, I thought everyone in here had retired in their twenties, I mean since its so easy to do, why would ANYONE want to keep on working, nevermind the reason,some ole stinky or smelly, or low paying or with an overbearing boss, nevermind about the spouse, when they could be enjoying every day as carefree as a lark. Dosent matter if the farm pays or not, just the fun and enjoyment of haveing the time to throw the money at it makes it all worth while. As the song Jingle Bells says in the third verse (yes Verginia, there ARE 3 verses to Jingle Bells,) Even with later versions 6. Get started being retarded while your young enough to enjoy it, like we all did.

I could easily now tell you how to do it, but since it took me 40yrs to learn it, im not about to give it away.

Ah come on, lets hear it.

:rolleyes: I retired at 55 with Union Pension I just can't imagine retiring any younger.I did have Jobs that allowed me to travel and have time to enjoy myself.

My Son is upset because he had plans on retiring at 38,I can't see it he is making High Six figures,has nice place,nice vehicles and mostly works from home.

big rockpile

Ummm, IIRC, that was the way the Gestapo allowed Hitler's psychic to commit suicide.

........... what on earth are you talking about?

I got severed from my career at the age of 41 and due to the bad job outlook then I chose to use my severence package to seed my path of redirection.

Looking back I might have balanced my investments a bit heavier in lower risk funds than I did if I had seen this current bust as more of a possibility, but thats now water under the bridge and coins tossed into the well.

I wouldn't change any steps of my path since I took the way less traveled. I enjoy the current mixture of self employ I pursue and am confident that the asset loss I have endured as anyone else I will recover from or become acclimated to as I plan the next steps in my chosen life path that is fit to me as I am today and tomorrow to come.

Long story short: I "retired" at 39. I'm now 42 and back to work full time.

I say "retired" in quotes 'cause ... well ... I'm no longer retired. Without going into too many details, I returned to work *not* because we needed any money. Hell I haven't spent a dime of the money I earned over the last year and a half. I returned to work to return to sanity.

I don't condone it at all, but I full well *understand* the significantly increased rates of suicide shortly after retirement. I lasted exactly one year and three months to the day in "retirement". I couldn't stand it. Not one bit. It was slowly, but very surely driving me absolutely insane.

How did I do it? Sold a software business that was built up over 13 years. Sold my half to the business partner I sold it to. He still runs it with 12 employees. I cashed out and moved on. Paid off the house and bought a metric crap-ton of physical gold in 2008. Doubled my take from the sale with the increase in gold. Wife and I own 14 rentals (several already paid off, the rest to be paid off in the next 6 or 7 years) and we own a convenience store and deli that throw off regular cash.

After living 20+ years as a ridiculous workaholic, having all that free time was driving me crazy. A full time contract now - at 40 ish hours a week is only half of what I used to work, so it's like I'm semi-retired and working part-time now.

I retired at 41 years old, Delaware State Police had a mandatory 20 year pension, which has since been changed, . I went in the landscaping business, seeding lawns for developers and some mowing, kept me outside , also built 5 pole barns and did carpenter work in the winter...still like to keep busy at 71....

I am retired...LOL.

Okay I am do not work outside the home as I take care of my MIL who has Alzheimer's.

Americans are a funny group,it appears their life goal is to die working.

Retired at 39 from the Navy. Have continued to work since. I have been able to do what I wanted to since then. If an employer makes me mad I just move on. I don't have to have their so called benefits, I have actually been able to negotiate a higher salary in most cases due to not needing the bennies.

i retired ar 42 with disability and im board.

DH45 hopes to retire in Jan 2013 with his union pension. He'll still work sunup to sundown here on the farm. He can't wait and neither can I. We did it by avoiding debt, selling our house in a small city at the top of the bubble and buying a farm in nowhere without a mortgage. It's not perfect, but it's 240 acres that's ours as long as we can pay the taxes. We've been building up a beef herd for the last 5 years to help replace his retirement income. I'll work as long as I can as an RN, though I hope after 20 years of pounding the floors to be able to transition to teaching (assuming our world continues to spin in it's present orbit).

I retired at 47 with a pension from the Postal service. I work with my husband now in the company that he and I started together 22 years ago. The best advise I can give is to keep your debt to a minimum. When I retired, our house had been paid for about 6 years earlier. No credit card debt either.

I don't know if I could just not work. I think working in some form keeps your mind and body active, and healthier.

Retired from the Navy at age 37, after serving 20 years.

Going to be finishing up my bachelors in Multimedia Design & Development come this Feb.

geesh, if there is someone who could help me quit my job, i'd love it. that dali quote will be printing off my computer soon, that is gold. thank you for that.

i'm 44, and i work at a hunting lodge, putting in 54 hours in the last 6 days for example. it only lasts 2.5 months, but...

my job is killing me. its a short term job, but its horrible. i feel as if i am giving away myself. i have old men making dirty looks at me, suggestive tones. or simply being selfish and making huge messes that i have to clean up, and leave nothing for tips which is what is the real 'pay' i count on.

i miss out on tons of family stuff, and the weather at this time is perfect, and i need to to planting bulbs, and other gardening things for my family. making cheese and things for winter use too. prepping for winter in general. but no, i'm 'wiping noses' of very spoiled rich men who irritate the living daylights out of me. some of them are nice, yes, but the whole of it just is against my very fiber. the waste, the noise, the drinking, the watching of 'dancing girls' and making plenty of comments, jokes etc. about them. the whole of it.

i do not plan to sit and watch tv all day, i like spending my time on 'useful' things like growing our food, baking from scratch, keeping our house clean, plus making soap and doing my artwork, which has started to pick up again, yeah! i just want to live my most authentic self, and this ain't it. it gags me. so any of you have ideas how to just say no more, please don't keep it to yourself!!

Retired at 34, but plan on going back to work in a few years. Basically a ten year hiatus to be around as my boys grew up. Built up and the sold my businesses on a ten year buy-out.
I use my hobby as additional income (which geos straight into a seperate mattress as it is not necessary presently, but nice to have aside.
We live simply; no cable for 7 years, old computers, old cars, old house (well, 1860...we're restoring it...LOL), seldom vacation,but garden, have chickens...we love it, but as some have mentioned, boredom occassionally sets in. I mean, really, how many old cars can you restore before it becomes work?...wink wink.
Matt

DH and I both retired from the Navy at 45/46. We have never been busier!!! LOL We need to retire from retireing!!

But we do have a lot of interests and they keep us going.

Alice in Virginia

I opted for 'early retirement' at 50 and began breeding horses. I've worked harder since retirement than I ever did when I was working full time and I've never been happier.

I'm 70 now and the last 5 years or so I've had to start 'downsizing' because of age and physical limitations, but I still do breed horses, I'm still able to do what I need to do, with fewer animals and I hope to be able to continue, within reason, for more years.

It is what I wanted to do all my life, actually, was just never able to do it until I did retire. Did it limit my retirement income? Yes. Would I go back and work another 10 years for the additional retirement income for the increased security? No.

I retired a year and a half ago from the Army at the age of 49 and the Mrs retired at the same time from a state job at the age of 47 and we have never been busier. I do plan on going back to some sort of job in the future but I am in no hurry.

I cant understand how people can be bored not punching a clock or working for someone else. I make some money working farm jobs, I make some money writing grants and through some other writing projects, we volunteer in several capacities, we travel, we have multiple projects around our farm and our lives are just so rich.

I highly recommend retirement for anyone fortunate enough to be able to. My folks worked all their lives to be able to retire in comfort then health problems and age preclude them from doing a lot of the things they dreamed about. I would rather have less money but be able to enjoy life than work until I am in my 70s so I have lots of money. You only live one life and for me...I am making the most of it.

Disability retired from US Navy as a Commander with 24 1/2 yrs at the ripe old age of 45. I am 62 now and just started drawing Social Security. Hard to believe I have been retired for over 17 years already. On the down side all 17 of those years has been fighting severe disabilities - 30% from Navy and 100% from VA.

32 and I recently stopped working. DH is working, I am taking care of the household. Is that considered retired?

I retired at 63, with a decent Retirement income friom my employer as well as my Soc. Sec. DFSW is a "bit younger" so she is still working. And her passion is Art. She paints fine art oil paintings.
Thus I putter round the house, doing the laundry & cooking. I love to cook. I have many Hobbies. Homebrewing is my favorite. And, it involves cooking. I also still play guitar & do folksinging. I feed the wild birds all year round. And I enjoy shooting.
Oh, and I spent way too much time at this 'puter keyboard.
We're comfortable.

Not really retired maybe, but we are in our early 50's and living a completely different life than we used to live a few years ago. The economy put a big bump in the road and gave us a rude awakening which caused my husband to change careers and me to become self employed. Now I work from home, and my husband does work he enjoys for a local landowner and together we garden, can, farm and are happier than we ever were when we were chasing big dollars day in and day out. Are we retired? No, but we are living in a manner that we feel we can continue to manage on our own for the rest of our lives.

The day we paid off the bank and the farm was clear of debt my husband quit his day job which was gardening five days a week for a rich insurance guy. I had a small second hand store and closed it too. We were 49 and 50 ,raising a grandson and sold enough off the farm to pay expenses such as taxes, phone and lights.That is sort of retired I guess as we had no one telling us when to get up and work except the goats and chickens!We lived without any steady income for another 15 years until 65yr and got the Old Age Pension. The money enables us to help others as we continue our same lifestyle. Money and accumulating things has never been our priority. Our priority is living a full, happy, fulfilling life with as less stress as possible and being free to do what we want.

I forgot to add that we are very busy and never bored. My husband teaches gardening at siminars in the winter and farms summers. He is also part of a men's Christian group.I am involved with two mental illness groups to help others. Also I am involved with the Salvation Army and their charities. Still have time to can, freeze and cook, clean house, visit the sick and occasionally visit friends. Life is busy and we love it!

If you enjoy what you do, you will never work a day in your life. > Thanks Marc