Retirement Timing and Your Options

Retirement timing isn’t set in stone. There is no one “right” retirement age. Just as each individual is different, so is the right timing for retirement. In fact, you could simply decide to retire from what you’re currently doing and start something else.

How do you know when you’re ready for retirement? It depends. Is your current job driving you crazy? Maybe it’s time to retire to something new.

Is your health suffering? Maybe it’s time to take advantage of that early retirement the company is offering, or change to something that’s a better fit for your health requirements—perhaps to start your own home-based business.

Do you have enough resources to live on your investments and pension? Go for it. You only live once and life is short.

Are you comfortable with your job and don’t mind going there everyday? You might want to opt for a regular retirement timing at age 65.

Love what you’re doing and can’t imagine leaving it? Then don’t. Your company has a mandatory retirement age? Fine, become a consultant in the field you’re passionate about or a mentor for people less experienced in your field.

Let’s take a look at each of the options: early and regular retirement, and never retiring.

Early Retirement

Is early retirement really feasible for the average person? I believe it is. In fact, I did it at the ripe age of 38. Now I work from home and take care of my family. I was working at a comfortable government job with great benefits and a salary of $54K; then, I got pregnant with our first child. I fully intended to go back to my job until I realized that that meant our child would be in daycare for about 10 hours a day. Hmmm, that just didn’t work for me so the old job just had to go. I retired from that position and started a freelance proofreading business—and no, I had no special degree and my new career wasn’t related to what I used to do. I just made a choice to make it work. We had to reduce our expenses a little, and I don’t make a full-time income, but it has worked well for us.

I’m convinced that the key to early retirement is desire to do something different, to think outside the box, to make it work no matter what. Another essential is being debt free. Without debt hanging over your head, your options open up. Is it possible to become debt-free (and yes, that means the old mortgage is gone, too!)? Absolutely!

Regular Retirement

This is the route the majority of Americans have traditionally chosen. As the boomers approach retirment, however, I think the percentage of people making this choice will decline substantially. Why? Lots of reasons.

Never Retire

Now there are a fortunate few who already work at a job that they’re passionate about. I’ve even met a few of these people myself over the years. One person, in particular, I remember because he literally worked almost until the day he died. Even though he knew he had terminal cancer, he couldn’t imagine anything better than to continue to go to work and to make a contribution to his field. He literally loved what he did and got complete satisfaction from spending his final days doing what he had always done. When his friends and family encouraged him to retire (he was in his 70s) and enjoy whatever time he still had, he refused. He was convinced that he would die sooner if he quit doing what he loved.

If you are lucky enough to be doing work that you love, there is no reason to quit or retire. Even if your company has a set retirement age, brainstorm ways that you can keep doing what you love—either as a consultant or as a mentor.

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