Anyone retired? If you are, how old were you when you stopped workin ?

Not yet. I'm 68 and still work part-time while collecting SS. It's a good deal for me, but I suspect in a year or two I'll have had enough. We'll see

I retired at 54 (I'm 60 now). I was able to thanks to good financial advice from my late father and the toxic work environment is what led me to do so.

Retired from full-time work at 50. Still do on-call work for a few hours a week.

50 was the perfect age for me to pack it in work-wise. Had a gutful of the corporate work environment, still young/curious enoug to enjoy life.

Worked in entertainment and was able to pack it in at 62. Never expected to bail out early, but it really is an ageist career. I went from being hot and respected (professionally) in my 30s, to “move along grandpa” in my 50s - even though my skill set hadn’t diminished. OTOH the lifeline of SSDI and investments (not touched yet) gives us breathing room.

Federal employee. Retired @58 with a great pension, Could have left a few years earlier.

I retired at 61, about the right age for me. I thought I might work one more year but work was fast turning from pleasant to a chore, so it seemed the time.

Had money been no consideration, I would have bowed out of work by 30 (if I had ever taken it up.)

Its easy to find interesting projects and things to do with my time. I've never measured my worth bu my work or considered a state of busyness as a measure of virtue, so saying goodbye to work was very easy.

I would have retired mid-50s if financial prospects for the coming years had been more certain.

Yes, 51. But I recently went back to work part-time in a very different field. It doesn't pay well but it's enjoyable b/c I love the people and I'm doing something positive for the world.

Retired in 2007 at 54 after 33 years with the company I started working for just out of college. And for years people told me I was a fool for staying with the same company for so long.

I retired from FT work at 58 on an $800/month pension. I sold my home (that I still owed money on) and bought a serviceable trailer on 1/2 acre of land here in the Ocala National Forest with the proceeds, and I own my place/car/motorcycles outright. I then found a PT job that enabled me to (barely) keep my head above water until I turned 62 and started to collect SS.

Even so, I'm really poor, especially considering my education (don't get your degrees in political science, kids!), but I know I made the right decision to retire when I did. At 54, I'd gone back to working for the state govt. (this time as as a statistician) to get a pension and my supervisors were 30-something math majors who had no idea how advanced my statistical skill set was (gentlemen, calculating means and percentages is not "doing statistics"!) and treated me like I was senile. I gave up a much higher pension by leaving with only the required total of ten years to get away from them. Still, I did manage to get my "big boss" fired for falsifying data. So there's that.

I retired at 52 and I’m now 63. Never regretted it for a single minute.

I retired at 55 with a good pension. It’s been almost two years and haven’t regretted it. My husband and I saved a lot and dip into that when we need to. I was a teacher/librarian and it was the perfect time to get out with Covid and all the crazies wanting to ban books.

Retired at 55 and am now 66. The smartest decision I ever made. Money has never been an issue, so I don't need to worry.

Retired at 62, no regrets whatsoever.

I'm 68.

Left corporate life after 19 years of service by taking "the package" that my company offered to "right size."

Received 15 months of salary as severance in return for not suing for age discrimination.

Started my (meager) pension during the 2008 Depression II.

Took a few odd, short-term jobs periodically till I started my Social Security at full retirement age in 2021.

During my paycheck years, my philosophy was always "work to live" NOT "live to work."

I fucking LOVE retirement!

For those who have retired “early” and say they have no regrets, it’s impossible to know what your alternate present would look like if you had not retired, no matter how certain you are that you know, so how do you have zero regrets?

[quote]For those who have retired “early” and say they have no regrets, it’s impossible to know what your alternate present would look like if you had not retired, no matter how certain you are that you know, so how do you have zero regrets?

Not sure that it's so very impossible.

I could have predicted my continued salary and salary growth quite accurately. A conservative projection of increased savings and retirement accounts would have worked well enough. I could have predicted that, had I had to stay employed, I could have found a way to do that with my employer even if it meant some concessions (commuting, salary growth, etc.). I could not have predicted with the same degree of accuracy the extent of compromise I might have had to make to continue working, or how my attitude toward work might shift; nor the pressures that might mount to encourage me to leave.

As for any mental health aspects of staying employed or occupied, fuck that. I have no trouble finding meaningful things to do, much more meaningful than too many of my work. I get out more, see my friends and acquaintances much more often, read more, walk more, bike more, have the freedom to go places and make plans, have the freedom to help friends with their plans and projects. I travelled a lot before and more so now. I'm happier and healthier and more relaxed and have the time to be interested and involved in things other than work, the positive challenges of which were increasingly being displaced by accounting and time-keeping and tedious by the minute project management reporting and ever changing 'business directions' and buy-outs and dilution and dumbing-down of quality and dimension. The value placed on staying at work would absolutely have been a negative for me. It's exactly why I quit.

I'm retired at 58... my luck the housing market is wobbling. I don't miss the office and that was the old office, before all the nonsense of the last few years took root. I'd get bounced for my mouth anyway but I just can't imagine being at work. I do not miss the nonsense of not being with all those idiots.

[quote] I do not miss the nonsense of not being with all those idiots.

Lol, when I was a kid reading Mad Magazine’s “and the usual gang of idiots”, I always thought what a cool place to work! I guess the reality is something else…

I retired the day after my 50th bday, & jokingly act like a martyr because I worked the extra day (though I took my actual bday off). I initially thought I would want to go back part-time, but, nah.

I think my brain got rewired shortly after retiring, as I can’t imagine having to work under supervision or having to obey sometimes silly rules. I can’t fathom how I did for as long as I did.

I retired at age 50 with a small pension of 608 a month. I moved to SE Asia and actually was able to live on it until my Social Security kicked in. I am so happy to be out of the workplace. I never have to talk to people now if I don't want to.

I retired at 57. I took a medical retirement. I had some health problems and the work setting was getting really awful. I love my profession but management can make so much additional stress. I actually think I would have died if I didn’t leave.

I have a government pension and will take social security in a few years. If my husband passes before I do, I get half of his pension which is $3,200 plus life insurance so I’d be able to keep my house and live decently.

R15 How do I have zero regrets? I served others as a social worker for 30 years and raised two sons. Now, all of my time is my own. I just started back swimming at the gym after my two surgeries and plan to get back on my bike. I go to lunch and paint/draw with friends every Monday. I belong to a book club. I’ve always been a night person and now I actually get to be one. I spend lots of time with my dogs, birds and cats. I volunteer at the animal shelter. I have plenty of time to read books and watch sports. I feel like I’ve died and gone to heaven.

I'm Retired from reality, and that keeps me busy...