When I talk to people about early retirement I still hear the same fears I used to get years ago when I retired early for the first time. Here is a list of six real fears of early retirees or anyone who passionately is on the road to early retirement. It is unscientifically compiled based on my concerns and concerns from other early retirement focused folks I have spoken with. I want to note that I find it more important to simply list the fears instead of worrying about which is number 1 or 6. So the placement is arbitrary.

Early Retiree Fear # 1 – Seeing a Big Social Security benefit cut.

Yes, there will be a lower Social Security benefit by retiring early. Early retirees aren’t paying into it until old age and thus earlier lower earning years will be used in the final benefit calculation. More scary is what our government does to address their projected Social Security shortfalls that they predict by 2033. Right now they say if they do nothing to secure Social Security they will have to reduce everyone’s benefits by 25% to 29%. Will anything ever be done to shore it up? Will some new up and comer propose a new greatest deal ever seen or just screw everybody? At this time the political majority wants to basically gut Social Security.

I do plan on Social Security being there to help carry my retirement in my old age. I might be financially OK if Social Security disappeared. But I sure paid a hell of a lot of money into it for well over 35 years so I am counting on something being there. I do count on some amount of Social Security but do not expect it to be at 100% of what I see in their estimates today. This fear is too far into the future and nobody can guess what will happen.

This fear is one that I mark as one I can’t control so I just let fear go and fight for Social Security any way I can. With votes, protest, and much more if necessary. I am closely watching this issue. As politicians like to hide their nasty business from us I do follow the National Retiree Legislative Network and AARP. I do have a ‘Plan B’ for carrying my retirement on my own if the worst happens to my Social Security but it will be tougher.

Early Retiree Fear # 2 – Once you retire, nobody will hire you if you want to return to the workforce.

This is a well documented and real fear for retirees. It’s one I am always asked about as I am living the “retire early and often” lifestyle. With my retirement being fully funded, I only pursue opportunities I am truly passionate about. This fear could be also called –what if I run out of money and nobody will hire me. Ok, I get that. The way I look at it is I still have the same skills I had when I retired. Brushing up on the skills I want to use is always an option.

Retiring early and young means valuing my time more than money. My thought is I can always find something to do that I can be hired for as long as I stay healthy, confident, energetic, and enthusiastic. I also recognize that may not be enough in a repeat of recession like in 2008 when both portfolios and jobs tanked. Portfolio management to ride out recessions is the only real way to overcome this fear.

Early Retiree Fear # 3-  The unimaginable cost increases in Health Insurance and/or Healthcare.

This is a fear that is very real. You can only control so much and the rest is out of your hands. I can cut back on many things in my budget but Health Insurance and medical care is a must. I had to include an accelerated health insurance increase estimate for my early retirement budget. There comes a point where if it becomes too high, we will have to adjust to a higher deductible policy. Today my medical insurance premium is the largest monthly expense in my budget. It is more than what my home mortgage used to be.

I have set aside a portion of my portfolio to support our medical insurance premiums until we become medicare eligible. I will be closely monitoring our friends in the political majority as some seem bent on screwing this up too.

Early Retiree Fear # 4-  Growing sick of living on a budget that ends up feeling like a deprived life.

Dropping out of Corporate America and retiring young and early sounds awesome but it comes with living a smart frugal and balanced life. This was not one of my fears but that of some others I have talked with. For some there is a fear that it will get pretty old living this way. I explain that I am living the same smart frugal life I lived when I was working and my budget never gets in my way to do things I want to  do. Besides, even if money did get tight, I am Leisure Freak Tommy living the “retire early and often” lifestyle . I plan on always being open to opportunities that I can be passionate about.

Even if I never take another position or business opportunity again, I have my budget and finances planned to handle the lifestyle I love to live. My smart frugal and balanced life never leaves me feeling deprived. I think this fear can be easily mitigated by living a happiness focused life.

Early Retiree Fear # 5-  Becoming bored.

I never considered this as an issue for myself but I have talked to people who suffer from it. Early retirement happiness isn’t about what you are retiring from but what you are retiring to. Know what your passion and happiness focused retirement looks like. Plan for it, define it, do it. There is no room for boredom if you have given this the thought it deserves.

If you haven’t given this any thought, then you aren’t really ready to retire. Look at this as important as the financial side of early retirement. The retirement transition can take an effort so take the time to work through it. I see this as a fear most people can resolve.

Early Retiree Fear # 6-  Losing all your work related friends and social interactions.

I will admit that many people I was friends with at work were no longer available to me after I retired. Our bond of corporate slavery was gone. The real friends stayed in my life, the others were more work acquaintances than true friends. To fix my depleted social circle I had to make new friends. I made it a priority and accomplished it with a plan. It started by picking a spot where I could go daily. In my case a local and independent coffee shop. Once folks decided this Leisure Freak stranger didn’t have two heads or was a psychopath, I started to make many friends in my town.

It could be at your library, church, gym, volunteer organization, etc. Where ever you feel comfortable making yourself open to other people can become your social outlet. Make social interaction a priority in your “what you are retiring to plan”. This should be a priority for your non-financial aspects of early retirement planning. I see this as another fear that can be overcome with a plan and a little effort to resolve it.

If you have these six real fears of early retirees or some others, hopefully you take the time to think them through and make a plan before you retire to ensure you are one of the happy early retirees.

So do you agree with my list of six real fears of early retirees or do you have others fears that should be added?