A question that I have had to answer a few times now and then is, do I have any early retirement doubts? My answer is no, as I have planned and saved, and planned and tracked and planned and… you get the point. I will ask them to be more specific and sometimes they then explain their own thoughts, fears, and doubts.
- Running out of money.
- Getting Bored
- Reduced Social Security
- Over restrictive budget
Those are the main ones. I explain how you can plan for all of those things and if anything can’t be solved before you retire, then maybe your doubts are justified. You see, I think that for some people, early retirement is not ever going to be a good fit. You have to be somewhat of a risk-taker to contemplate taking this retire early journey.
If I was someone who absolutely had to have a guaranteed written process and step by step guide to do anything outside of mainstream, waiting until I was 62, 67, or 70 years old to retire, then I would have doubts too because no matter how hard and thorough we plan, there is always going to be unknowns that come up in early retirement. I have touched on all of these above “”doubts” on this site. However, when I get asked the same things a few times, I can’t help but to ask myself, why do people keep asking me about this?
Freak Thinking:
I take great pride in the “Freak” part of my being a Leisure Freak. I enthusiastically go after what I want and believe in disregarding the norms that are being constantly fed to the populace. A message always fed to world with a spoonful of fear to help it go down easier. If that doesn’t work, then maybe some divisiveness and guilt. I tend to question authority and to look outside the box. My belief in the system and models being pushed must be earned, not dictated by fear.
So do I have early retirement doubts? I have doubts about a lot of things and certainly some creep in about my early retirement strategy, investments, taking on another opportunity, etc. However, I would say that because of all the planning, tracking and everything else, I think my obsession with early retirement and all of the preparation to retire early makes it so there is far less instances of doubt in that respect than anything else that crosses through my life.
So here are the answers to the main early retirement doubts:
Running out of money –
Before you retire you must know your lifestyle-cost and whether you have enough to fund your retirement. So that should be well known. The unknowns are unexpected expenses like a medical issue or some other catastrophe that hits. Maybe another stock market meltdown. Even a meltdown can be mitigated with the right bucket investment strategy.
But that is also why I believe in the “retire early and often” lifestyle. At any time I feel an opportunity is what I am passionate about, I have no problem taking it. I foresee many times during my retirement where new money will be coming in. I have no doubts in this area because there should be ways to overcome them. At the same time I also keep in mind to never delay pulling the trigger on needed spending or lifestyle action to save my portfolio. I don’t want to jeopardize my old age retirement when I can no longer participate in the retire early and often lifestyle.
Getting Bored –
I set a schedule for the week that includes everything I want to do. Exercise, education, chores, projects, leisure, and socialization. I hold weekends sacred for family and friends. How can anyone get bored if you plan it all out? Sure it’s all a lose timeline, just the stuff I plan on getting to with room for spontaneity.
Reduced Social Security –
That is a long ways off and trading a couple of hundred dollars a month for being able to retire many years early and escaping cubical hell is an easy trade for me to accept. Nobody knows what Social Security is going to do in the future anyway. It seems to be always under political attack.
Over restrictive budget –
To get to early retirement I was already living a frugal lifestyle. I know what my lifestyle is without it feeling deprived so I see no big change in it. My life is leisure and happiness focused, not stuff focused. If I see a trend in my finances and decide to cut back on something for a while rather than seeking a new paying opportunity, then I wouldn’t think twice about that. I wouldn’t consider it an over restrictive budget or a deprived lifestyle budget. I am making that decision to fix what I perceive needs fixed in order to remain free. It is all definitely worth it and it is hard to explain to someone what this freedom is like. Never again being chained to a company or job that I do not want to be in.
How about you, do you have early retirement doubts or comments about how you overcome them?