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Additional Posts in FIRE Financial Independence Retire Early
Mentor
Sooo AMC.. who’s in?
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65 was the original age to receive full social security. While that has been pushed later, I still consider 65 to be normal retirement. So anything before that is early. My goal is by 55 though.
This is how I feel as well. I look at 65 as the retirement age because that was the age for so long.
50-55 is RE for me. Many firms have a 55-60 eligible or forced retirement age.
Fantastic - congratulations! Enjoy life!
Literally "any time earlier than you would have naturally thought".
Anything else isnt useful at best and gatekeeping at worst. FIRE tools are universally useful, and if it helps someone enjoy retirement at 75 when they thought they'd have to work at 80, then I call that a successful early retirement.
I’ll be curious to see what others think, but I’d say anything before 62 since that’s the earliest you can claim social security.
I've always thought of anyone retiring before 60 to be retiring early. I've known people who retired a decade earlier than that, and they usually had some plan to be engaged in business part-time, or involved with a charity or passion project. As the wealth gap increases and some people are amassing considerable wealth early on, it's possible we'll see society's ideas about retirement change and more people will be retiring earlier.
Subject Expert
The median retirement age is 62.
Only 25% of Americans retire by 55 and less than 10% retire by 50.
So whatever the boundary on "early" is, it must live somewhere in that range. :)
45👀 so I still have a good body and strength to explore the universe
Mentor
The oldest age I’d consider early retirement would be anything prior to FRA as determined by SSA… so 67 for most…
Never really thought about a putting a number on the oldest RE per say.
Logically, anything prior to be able to claim SS should likely be considered early. I would also say any age prior to being able to pull from your 401k/tIRA/Roth is early.
If I HAD to set a number... I would probably just say that 61 is my oldest "retire early" number, since MOST are going to have to figure out income sources until at least 62.
65 is really what I would consider full retire age since you can get SS and medicare.
62 you can start SS so you have an income, but you still need to sort healthcare for 62-65.
Prior to 62, you need to sort out a way to have enough income. And since MOST people don't have enough saved in retirement, SS is a very important thing for many, many people.
Now with this all said.
For my current specific scenario/plan, 62 is the absolute oldest I will retire. Mostly we need to sort out the healthcare costs/plan, but my target retirement is going to be 55-58... we are 50yo now.
I "forced" my mom into retirement at 65, so she could be our paid childcare/nanny... and she considered that early based on not getting full retirement from SS.
It's relative.
In my 30's, I wanted to work until my mid 70's.
In my 40's, that evolved, and I wanted to work until mid 60's.
In my early 50's, I wanted to work until my early 60's
In my late 50's, I decided I was done.
I think we all realize the older we get, how fast time moves, and how short life really is. Better find your joy quickly!
55
I’d consider <60 RE for the avg population. But if someone told me they’re aiming for FIRE, that feels much more intentional and my mental number is lower (<50)
Coach
I’d say 60 or younger. Of the people I know / work with, if not fireing, they usually go past 65. Some of them go as long as they possibly can.
I would consider 59.5 the benchmark age for realistic, non FIRE early retirement. Any earlier than that, you are paying 10% withdrawal penalties from tax advantaged accounts. As for FIRE early retirement, the youngest person I ever met was just 29 and retiring BEFORE his parents.
55 or under is RE to me.