Would you retire early/Can retirement be boring?

I believe in planning for the future but not at the expense of enjoying your life now.

Almost everyone I’ve ever known who made it to retirement either died shortly thereafter, or are sick and miserable.

“But should we instead try to do what we love even when being young?”

Yes! The ideal is to enjoy each time of your life as it is happening. Plan for the future but don’t sacrifice today for a tomorrow that might not come or might be different from what you imagined.

To answer your question, yes, and yes, and retirement could be really boring if your not financially secure to enjoy it, that is why now in my fifties I sorta want to do both, work and enjoy life and my shift lets me do that with 4on and 4 off.
I would really hate to go back to working five days a week.

Retirement is challenging in many ways.

As one that retired early and is now close to 70, I would recommend it. My Dad told me to retire as early as possible and I followed his advice. Retirement is better if you are still young enough to enjoy it. I agree with @SQUEEKY2 in that you need to be financially stable but you don’t need to be rich. How much you need will depend on what you want to do. If you want to travel the world, that will be expensive. I traveled the world when I was working and don’t have much desire to do so anymore.

@Jaxk @SQUEEKY2 Do you all think that there is a such thing as being too early or young to retire then? What is the sweet spot for retirement? Also I plan on traveling while working as well so hopefully I have enough funds and vacation time for that!
@Pachy How so?
@cookieman @janbb What do you all think is the right balance for enjoying yourself while young but having a fulfilling retirement? Is there even such a balance? Also I agree with you jan about enjoying today because tomorrow is never promised.

Ideally, you should be enjoying your job and family life while you’re young and having enough money and good health still to achieve what you want in retirement. There is absolutely no one simple answer on any of these questions. If you have a job that you love and that doesn’t preclude enjoy family time or travel, you might want to work into your 70s. If your job is draining, you might want to retire younger. How much money you’ll need for retirement depends on your goals but for me personally, I seem, at least for now, to need about as much income as I had when I was younger excluding the major expenses such as paying for college for my kids.

I still go to my part time job because I enjoy the work and the people and it adds meaning and structure to my week. It can be easy to drift during retirement if you don’t have a passion for something.

While I have my health, I am travelling frequently and enjoying other activities.

If you are very concerned about the issue of how much to save and when you might retire, having a free consultation with a financial planner might give you some solid information. You do want to start saving some money early.

You sound like a thoughtful and caring person whioch will serve you well.

@RedKnight – Personally I don’t think you can retire too soon. The younger you are, the easier it is to find things to do. I still have my store but I can spend as much or as little time running it as I choose. After I retired I spent more time with my Dad than I ever could when I was working and If I had waited, I would have missed that opportunity. I get bored sometimes but it is because I don’t want to do anything rather than because I have nothing to do. I like it when I have that choice.

@janbb Thank you so much for your kind and insightful words! I will definitely take that advice and consult a financial planner in the future. I’ve started saving as much as I can in college, but once I start my full-time career later this year I plan to put the max amount(matched) into my 401K so hopefully that helps as well. My ears are also open for any other financial advice or money wisdom you would like to share. It also seems like retiring earlier may depend on how much I enjoy my job…which I really hope is something I do enjoy!
@Jaxk I think that’s great advice and I think having a choice of what you do is a major factor. I would say, like above, that for me it may depend on how much I actually enjoy my job or future job(s). If I enjoy it, then I wouldn’t mind working. If I end up being miserable, then I may just try to save ridiculously and retire very early like you suggested!

A good idea to live each day in enjoyment of somekind.
Example of living hard day to day trying to save for retirement:
A man I knew worked hard all of his life not taking holidays and spending kept to a minimum all in order to have this huge sum of money waiting in his Bank acct suppossidly.
Well he did have money, but did not expect his body to give out from all the stress of working and saving and worrying. He developed cancer and spent his savings to get his health back.
Unfortunealtly he lived in pain and within a couple of years after surgeries and his Cancer seemed to be gone. it returned a few months later in another part of his body.
He died last year only in early 50’s, leaving three children ( young adults) and a wife.
He used to be a healthy athletic person before he took away all that energy and poured into working MORE making MORE money!
It was the death of him.
Contentment in what one already has should had been good enough for most.
I am contented with what little I have and I have been busy with my life in terms of getting healthier and involved in writing and photographing, and researching Family History mysteries,and even writing, things that I never had the time to do when I was younger, and thought that I would never get to do. I am doing it now. Presently I am surrounded by deadbeats of seniors who ‘grumble” about aches and pains and compalin about their life journey, yet DO nothing to find more happiness in their existance.They have not come to the realization that they are in control of their life course.
I do not hang around these types of people ( not all are like that…thank God), as they seem to find negativity in everything!

@Inspired_2write I would say that’s definitely a story I will take to heart and includes some good wisdom/life lessons! That is what I would be afraid of. Doing nothing but work and saving and then not even being able to enjoy the fruits of labor. I think that you make a good point in being happy and content with life because tomorrow is not promised!