Don't Retire Early!

[nereo]

Wait... let me get this straight.  a VP at Hartford funds can see how a potential 40 year retirement would work, but can't understand how a 50 year retirement would work?  Hint - it's the same damn thing.  If your money lasts 40 years, odds are it'll last 50+.

Have you seen the fees on their funds?  Nope, you probably can't retire for 50 years using their funds.  However your advisor probably could.

Yeah, their fees are horrible, and you probably couldn't retire for 50 years using a 4% WR.  But it doesn't change the premise I outlined above.  If your funds last you for 40 years, odds are they will last you 50+ years.  Why?  Because with any retirement fund there's two likely outcomes - it goes to "$0" within ~30 years, or it starts growing way beyond your initial investment. 

Take a look at fireCALC/fireSIM - under any given WR, eliminate those that fail after 40 years, and the ones that remain overwhelmingly have grown beyond the initial investment.

[Squirrel away]

I think it's interesting that often I hear people saying early retirement is foolish because you would be doing the same thing every day and would get bored.  Instead you should go to work, so you can... do the same thing every day, but with the added bonus of potentially inflexible hours, higher stress, no income security, less flexibility for relocation and perhaps repetitive motion injuries.

Exactly.:)

[SU]

I think it's interesting that often I hear people saying early retirement is foolish because you would be doing the same thing every day and would get bored.  Instead you should go to work, so you can... do the same thing every day, but with the added bonus of potentially inflexible hours, higher stress, no income security, less flexibility for relocation and perhaps repetitive motion injuries.

+1

Seems more like a failure to distinguish between endogenous and exogenous stimuli.

If your RE life is missing drama, you can always hang out on the MMM forum. I propose a role play thread for people who miss having a crazy boss, uninspired co-workers and byzantine admin rules.

[blackswan]

It is tragic how many Americans define themselves so completely by either their occupation or income and spending levels that they literally cannot fathom existing without employment. Truly sad. 

[codyandrew77]

This article makes my head hurt. It also reminds of this scene from The Wolf of Wall Street...