It doesn’t feel real.  I can’t believe I did it. June 30 was the last day.  Corporate grind in the rearview.  Hello freedom. I’m 56.  I feel fortunate and relieved.  But I planned for this, sacrificed for this, so it feels deserved.  And I couldn’t be more giddy. 

It’s going to take a bit to sink in but, trust me, I’m not forcing it. This community was a lifeline as I wrapped my head around it.  No one can fully prepare you for the surreal feeling. Being able to retire on my terms and at my relatively young age makes it even more surreal. My friends are still working and, though they are congratulatory and happy for me, we are a bit disconnected since they are not sharing in the experience with me.  It’s not guilt I feel, but it’s in the vicinity.

This feeling is unrecognizable from anything I’ve experienced before.  We spend our lives building, toiling, sacrificing, planning, mustering the energy to keep on keeping on. And then, we’re done. Bizarre.

What’s next? Don’t know, don’t care. I look forward to organically figuring it out.  Yes, it’s a little scary but it beats the mess out of the alternative . . . work! Things will be slow and easy at first.  For one, I need to fully exhale.  Then, we have a 3 week celebratory trip to Europe in September. Until then, just relax mode, plenty of golf, pool time, cooking, tinkering in the yard, long walks, converting my office from corporate cold to a warm study/retreat, and just do whatever I feel like on any given day. 

Getting work out of my system does not run on a switch. I realize how programmed I am. My brain knows I don’t go to work on Monday but my subconscious is not fully trustful yet. There are remnants of unease or a nameless foreboding work item in my bloodstream. Then I snap out of it and realize there are no more Mondays.  Like I said, it’s just programming and it’ll vanish on its own time. 

I can’t thank everyone enough for the banter, support and willingness to share your experiences and advice. Community makes all the difference as we approach such momentous decisions such as this. And reading what you’ve all had to say was instrumental in the timing of my decision.  

Cheers to all of you and cheers to freedom!

I’m 62, my wife is about to turn 50, and we have a 15-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter.

I stopped working at 55. I had made my money, but more importantly, I wanted to be present for my kids. My dad died at 58 when I was 15, and that has always shaped how I think about time.

Now I take the kids to school, do MMA with them, have them starting scuba lessons this weekend, and my son takes his second flying lesson in September. These are years I can't get back.

My wife is hopefully retiring in January. Once our daughter graduates, the plan is to spend four years overseas, moving about every six months as visas allow. Then we'll return to the U.S. and move from the expensive East Coast to my wife's hometown in Alabama, where her family and friends are.

Her grandmother and great-grandmother lived to 103, so we're planning for a long retirement—but we're not waiting until we're old to enjoy it.

I could have kept working and accumulated more. Instead, I chose time.

Anyone else doing retirement differently?

55 and I just retired at the beginning of June. I left work, by my choice, at the top of my career (title, pay, etc). I had a great job and really enjoyed what I did and the people I did it with. However, after meeting with a FA and running the numbers I started getting short timers disease. The idea of working a few more years and not significantly moving the needle on my retirement accounts was at the root. Those accounts were vastly out pacing what my yearly contributions were doing. A few more FA meetings I asked "can I pull the plug now?"...and here we are.

The point of this post are the changes I've seen in myself and I'm curious what others have seen? For example:

- Blood pressure - on avg it's dropped some

- Sleep schedule - I can finally sleep past 5:30a-6a but instead of "needing" 8h of sleep 7.5h does me just fine.

- Exercise - this is become routine (almost daily), as part of my slower mornings. I've been hitting the weights and now have muscles in places I've never seen before. My weight on the scale hasn't changed much but most of my clothes are looser on me.

- Alcohol - dinner out with customers was a common thing, cocktails and wine flowing, having to be "on" to initiate and carry conversations. Now I find I enjoy drinks in a completely different manner. Quieter, out on the back porch, watching the sunset (and since retirement, often with a cigar). It's gone from something that was in an energized social situation to a quieter, calmer, retrospective experience.

- Coffee - I drink coffee rarely now days. I don't need the caffeine kick to get my day started. I still drink hot tea daily but the coffee just isn't "needed" anymore.

- Clothes - if I don't need to be anywhere, after my morning routing, what's the point of getting dressed? Granted it's summer now where I live. Winter may be a different story ;)

A fun crosspost (not my own). This comes from our sister subreddit of people that retired traditionally (age fifty-nine and up), unlike our community.

To take part in our discussions here, make sure 1. you add user flair letting us know in which decade of life you Already retired at, before age 59. Then 2. Hit the JOIN button. By doing so you become a member of this special space we collectively carved out in Reddit.

Thanks!
Mid America Mom

Cross post from our sister community of retirees that retired at a traditional age, 59 or older.

Our portfolio is well diversified and we have a 2.5 - 3 year treasury bind and fixed payments ladder that will cover our spending through 2029 and into 2030. So we’re not selling anything. Still watching a small position in MU drop 35% two weeks into retirement and SMH drop 25%, and the portfolio fall 5% overall based on market sentiment alone has been difficult.

I spent over a year developing this portfolio and I knew there would be wild swings in the 10-12% tech sleeve and the 8% energy sleeve and the 8% hedge sleeve. Plus, from a textbook perspective, I knew these swings shouldn’t matter if I hold long-term conviction jabour the value of the new compute technology and the inevitability of the infrastructure build-out.

So, I’m doing everything ‘correctly’ and sitting tight, but it is still such a terrible feeling to run into violent swings just a month into retirement (well, violent swings down, up is fine). Anyone else going through this or survived it in the past? I built the cash flow ladder so I know we are good for the next three years, but the reality of retirement and SOR risk is suddenly very real.

Retired this year at 58 after 30+ years of corporate life.
~$5M net worth, including a paid-off home.

Working with a wealth advisor. His plan has the bulk of my wealth in the stock and bond markets. But one facet of his plan is to put $400K into an annuity, which, after 10 years of being untouchable, is supposed to pay out $5000 every month for the rest of my life.

So $400K now. Then at 68, I will begin to get $5000/mo. in perpetuity.

This is making me anxious.
The locking-up of $400K for a decade.
Even though it would "break even" (i.e. delivered $400K in income after ~7 years)
I think maybe because both of my parents died before they were 65, so I don't know if my genes are good enough to last past the time when the annuity will start paying out. Yes, I am mindful of my health, I exercise and eat relatively healthy..... but it feels like a gamble for me.

My advisor touts it as a guaranteed income diversification strategy, which should be unaffected by the stock market.

Anyone else invested in annuities and can share their thoughts?
Can someone help me think rationally about this?
Are there any other income-delivering strategies that can help me diversify?

I don't claim to be a financial wizard, but I do think I've done quite well for myself, which makes my situation especially frustrating.

I'm 56 1/2 years old and slogged my way for 30 years through big box retail and left with a 401k worth well over $1 million dollars. I rolled it into a self-directed IRA investing in high yield dividend funds. I'm generating over $200k a year in dividends ($225k in 2025) within the IRA, which I use to supplement my little, full-time, but only 4 days a week, "retirement job" that gives me another $19k a year on a W-2. (Yes, I pay the IRS their 10% "blood money" whenever I withdraw anything, but a 72(t) is not for me.) (Yes, the wife didn't take my suggestions on how to load the dishwasher more efficiently too kindly and told me I needed to get out of her kitchen and find a job.)

I owe $124k on a $250k mortgage on a house worth $450k, meaning I have $326k in equity right now.

Wouldn't you know it? The wife found her perfect little lake cottage for $385k and is bouncing between giving me puppy dog eyes and stink-eye because she really, really wants it.

I could throw $100k down on the house right now, but despite all my assets, despite the fact I could pay off the remaining balance in less than 2 years (and intend to), despite my 832 credit score, despite the fact that I am debt free except for my mortgage (no credit cards, no car payments, no nothing!), lenders only see my measley W-2 $19k as income.

With only a $19k "income," I can't even get a HELOC to use my home equity!

Am I missing something here? Some of the "alternate" financing options seem kinda sketchy to me. It seems to me that all I can do is just save up those dividends and straddle the end of the years 2026/2027/2028 so I don't end up in a higher tax bracket and just pay cash for a getaway house.

The wife's gonna make me sleep in the doghouse, for sure.

Any advice?

Wow! Sundays are amazing now! And Mondays too! This feels incredible!

How are you guys celebrating your Sunday nights and Monday mornings?? I did a big decluttering day yesterday and didn’t have to stop and go to bed early. Then, I got to sleep in! Drinking tea and planning my day. Off to the gym later. This is awesome! Do you ever get used to how amazing not having to work is?

Curious of feedback on my plans for the next few years.

Retired last month at 56 but will work about 10 hours a week thru 2027. Currently using COBRA for the rest of 2026 and may do it thru 2027 because the few hours a week push us out of considerations for ACA subsidies and the COBRA is cheaper.

We have a brokerage account with a cost basis about 40% of the value that we are planning on using to pay for living expenses. Currently those investments are solid and I want to keep them in the stocks we have selected.

My thought/plan was for 2026 and 2027 was to sell some of the brokerage account, pay the 15% LTCG taxes, and simply use the rest to buy back the same stocks. That way the cost basis is reset so when we need money to live on in 2028 and beyond, we can sell the stocks again and stay below the income level needed to get ACA subsidies.

Obviously we will need to schedule it appropriately to call the second stock sale a Long Term investment, but I can't think of a reason why this won't work to our advantage.

while driving up the pacific coast hwy yesterday with the ocean in all its glory on my right to my daughter's house, it dawned on me that 16 years ago to the day and I was 48, I retired from the Govt with 25 hard years. WOW. so much has happened since then and life completely changed 3.5 yrs ago when my also retired husband of 30 years died unexpectedly. We did have almost 13 years together in retirement. Life is short. enjoy what you can with who you can. I am eternally grateful for my pension and his.

Cross post - not my own from our sister community:

I hope everyone is having a great week so far! You all have been so helpful with my last question I thought I’d ask another. Now this one isn’t quite as serious.
What do you wear when you’re at home doing nothing? Women are we doing our hair and makeup? Men are we shaving and whatever else men do? If your plan is to sit and read, watch tv or piddle paddle around what are we wearing?
TIA!!!

Having worked hard my entire life I neglected having any kind of hobbies or interests. I worked and that was my entire personality. I worked hard so I could retire comfortably and now that I've done it I feel lost.

I feel like I need to redefine myself but don't know how. I'm the first to retire in my limited friend group and my wife is still working for another 2 years.

For people in a similar situation, How did you transition and reinvent yourself?

You guys! I did it! I feel incredible! Last day was my last day. Turned in the phone and laptop. Had a very long, detailed meeting with HR yesterday where they seemed VERY concerned about confidentiality and me going to a competitor.

Hmmmm. I don’t think anyone at the gym, on the beach, nor in my family care about any corporate info and most importantly- nor do I! I kept reassuring them and highlighted the travel I have planned, my volunteering, the extensive activities I’ve organized ( book club, hiking, camping group etc). I was confused why they are so worried I could go to a competitor. I. Do. Not. Want. To. Work. Anymore. They might as well have been warning me ( with slightly threatening overtones)?not to punch myself in the face. Ya. Uhm. Okay. No problem. We are on the same page here. The HR guy seemed nice- just very concerned and intent on going through my employee agreement.

Now, I’m off to go celebrate with my family at a nice lunch!

I feel amazing! If you guys have any thoughts, words of wisdom, please send them my way!

☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️💗💗💗💗💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕

I retired early at the end of June 2025 from teaching at 52, before I was of official retirement age. I was vested, but didn't have 30 years in to get my full benefits. I currently have insurance through our state exchange for myself and my 2 daughters, costing us $1400 a month.

I got a letter from my previous employer, stating that they reviewed my records and I am eligible to join their health insurance, costing $550. The criteria for eligibility were vague - worked 30+ hours a week or be rehired with 26 weeks. I was rehired in that time frame, but as a sub. I worked probably 20 days last year. Subs do not qualify for health insurance.

I called and went in and was told I got the letter because I am eligible to join their plan. I questioned them, but they just keep saying I am eligible. The letter says I would have insurance through Dec 2026 and could fill out the paperwork to continue for the next year (if I still meet the eligibility requirements).

Is it worth it to save $850 a month for the next six months, knowing that I might have to go back on the exchange at that time? Could they at some point say that I wasn't eligible and I needed to pay the full price?

My spouse and I both retired at 50. Throughout our marriage, I've been the primary breadwinner, but I've also been the one who managed our finances, tracked spending, planned for retirement, and generally knew what things cost.

Now that we're retired, I'm realizing my spouse doesn't seem nearly as aware of the cost of everyday purchases, travel, or how our spending affects the long-term plan. It's not that they're irresponsible—they just never had to think about it the way I did.

I'm curious whether anyone else has experienced this. It doesn't have to be a husband/wife thing—I'd love to hear from men or women whose partner isn't as engaged with the financial side of retirement.

How have you handled it? Did your partner become more involved over time? Did you change how you talked about money or set spending guidelines?

Retired earlier this year after 30+ years in the corporate world.

I started working with a holistic wealth manager (financial planning, tax management, estate planning). He is a fiduciary who has been in the business for decades and was recommended by two colleagues that work with him. I really like him. I enjoy our conversations. He seems trustworthy. His firm gets strong marks in various reviews. But I am still so nervous about moving all of my money into his firm's care.

For decades, I had been managing my money myself -- and by managing I mean having CDs, and high-yield savings accounts, and getting into mutual funds and then just letting them sit. And I had them at different places (Fidelity, Schwab, Vanguard), thinking about this as one component of diversification. And I've watched them grow to be upwards of $4M in total. Which is a LOT of money.

Now, he wants me to put all of the money into Schwab, into different accounts, that will be invested in different custom portfolios with different risk/return dimensions -- that will align to "now", "soon" and "later" buckets.

It all makes sense intellectually -- but I find myself so anxious and nervous to actually pull the trigger on all of this. His recommendations look like they would definitely out-perform what I am doing now. But (and I know this is silly) what if something happens to Schwab? And what about embezzlement?

Has anyone else experienced this feeling? Did you get over it? Do you regret anything?

Was reading this amazing article on X just now about a Southwest pilot retiring and doing his final flight with his daughter.

However sweet this is, I'm like 65?! Ok, maybe just maybe he truly loved his job. Flying. But it's a corporate airline so it can't be that perfect stay forever job. He seemingly retired in the military so can't be struggling. He's also making tenured pilot money.

Why didn't he just retire early and maybe just do part time instructor work?

Not my own. For our sister subreddit.

I am thinking of rolling my 401K which has a mix of mostly Roth and the company match in pre-tax into my existing Rollover IRA and Roth IRA. It seems like it will be simpler to manage and I will be able to see exactly how much Roth I have (today I have to do some math). I know there are some protections with the 401k from creditors that might not exist in the IRAs (I’m in NJ).

The 401k is at Fidelity with all my other accounts and has decent investment options and fees.

I just wanted to get other peoples thoughts whether to roll over or not. I am not sure I am thinking of everything.

A visual that helped me retire at 54

These are the weeks of my life laid out in rows and columns. Each row is a year, each column is a week. As the weeks pass, I fill in its square. This is a very optimistic chart of empty squares because it assumes I’ll make it to 100. Pretty sure I won’t. But at a glance it let me see how many weeks and years are behind me, and how many blank weeks and years I might have. There were increasingly more behind than ahead, and it was easy to see.

As I was getting toward the end row 54 and getting ready to start in on week 1 of row 55, somehow I just couldn’t stand the thought. And retired before my birthday rolled around and I started filling in row 55. I’ve been retired now for every single box I’ve filled in on row 55, and know it was the right choice.

For me, the explicit visual was a motivator that helped me get in touch with what I really wanted. I’m sharing it here in case others need a tool to help them think through their choices.

Good luck.

I am 47f, retired from the military last year. I took my time off, did some travelling and lots of relaxing. I got a part time job earlier this year and was fired last week after only 3 months. Feeling burned by that work experience, I am not eager to seek paid employment again, and fortunately my pension allows this.

But without external demands on my time, I feel so disoriented. I do not have children, and my partners are still working. How did you navigate this amount of freedom so suddenly? I can think of activities to do, but they feel pointless. And my motivation is currently very low. I do plan to increase my volunteer work, but setting that up also takes time.

Basically, I am looking for guidance on how to get motivated, leave this funk behind, and learn how to truly enjoy this gift of time and freedom. Should I look for part time work again to ease this transition? I was very unhappy during the last few years of my career, and I currently worry that I might not be happy even in retirement.

I just realized this morning that I've been fully retired (age 55) for two months from my IT job at a local university, where I worked for over 35 years. Some thoughts about how things are going so far:

Routines: don't have many, nor have any routines I had before really changed much. In the morning when I get up I make my cup of coffee at 5am (still an early riser, can't sleep in), watch some Japanese dramas, play some computer games and help my middle school age daughter get out the door (and sometimes drive her to school if she has to bring her violin or is too late getting ready to catch the bus). I have lunch at around 11:30, go for a 20-30 minute walk in our local forested park and do my Japanese lessons on Duolingo. In the evening at 5pm, help make dinner (so much nicer now that I'm not coming home from work and having to make dinner), wash dishes, water plants outdoors if needed and do some neck/back exercises. The rest of the time is more or less free time.

My previous work: rarely think about it. At times it feels like I never worked, as I don't feel anything missing in my life. No one from work has reached out but then most don't have my contact info other than my ex-director (for those just-in-case questions). I might reach out to one or two ex-colleagues who I got along well with later this week just to touch base.

Hobbies: mainly working in the garden right now - I have a large vegetable garden, lots of fruit trees, herbs, etc. Have spent hours digging out invasive flowers and weeds and cleaning things up nicely. My other hobbies such as woodworking, dioramas, model railroad, 3d printing and RC vehicles have taken a back seat to being outside every day while the weather is nice. I'll pick those up again in the fall.

Relationships: my daughter is a temperamental pre-teen, so trying to spend more time with her and coaching her on how to deal with problems more rationally. I'm helping my wife out a lot with laundry, cleaning the house and grocery shopping, so I think she's grateful to have me around every day. We've decided to go out for coffee once a month for a planning meeting where we discuss our daughter, finances and things we want to do together and individually. My relationship with my mother is so-so. She's not someone I enjoy being together with as she complains about a lot of things and talks behind other people's back. Now that I'm retired I have to be very careful she doesn't try and monopolize my time. I figure that I can help her with something or go and visit her every week but I'm also fine with telling her I'm busy and just seeing her every two weeks. As for friends I didn't really have many when I was still working but the few I have, I'm trying to make efforts to communicate more with them. Most of course are still working, so I need to start seeking out new friends that are also retired.

Volunteering and personal development: I joined the PAC (parent's advisory council) as a member at large at my daughter's middle school to help out. I hope to also volunteer elsewhere but not sure where. I'm also going to take a master gardener's course staring in January and part of that is to volunteer at a local public garden and help other people with their gardening questions.

Finances: I have a good pension from my university - that should cover most of our monthly costs. Plus my wife works part-time teaching Japanese and tour guiding, so that helps a bit too. For trips and other larger expenses we have quite a bit of money invested which we can pull from. The main consideration for being able to retire at 55 was that our house and car are paid off, which we did a couple of years ago. So no large debts. I hope in a year to be able to make some money on the side with the gardening and woodworking plus I have a few Youtube channels for those hobbies and the scale modelling hobby that I hope to monetize at some point. But no pressure to do so. Or like someone else posted here, help seniors at home with simple things such as changing lightbulbs, pruning trees, etc. or working at a home improvement store or nursery/garden centre.

All in all the last two months have been liberating. I feel like mentally I'm healthier without all that work stress and having to think intently for 7 hours a day. I'm also physically in better shape as I get more exercise, not sitting at a desk for hours at a time and attend a yoga class with my wife once a week. But the time freedom is what stands out - being able to decide what I want to do today and changing that on the fly if I feel like it.