I'm pretty healthy – maybe a little sedentary but shaped like a 44-year-old Greek god.  I don't smoke or drink, so I figure there's a good chance that I'll live to be 90.  I'm making my financial plans out to 100, just to be safe.  That means I have another 56 years of life left to work with.  I figure I have enough money saved to cover 38 of those years.  That's if my money earns just enough to keep up with inflation.  I feel pretty confident that I can achieve higher returns, and I might even get Social Security, so I'm pretty sure I won't run out of money before I run out of life.  In fact, I am quite confident that I could retire today and still have more money when I die than I do right now.  So, why do I keep going to work every day?

Honestly, I don't have a good answer, and that's why I am not retired.  If I could get my thoughts and emotions clear on the topic, I think I could make the leap into the next chapter of my life.  Here's what has me unsettled.

My plans for retirement

My biggest reason to stop working would be to travel the world.  My idea of traveling is to spend large amounts of time (several months at a time) living in new places all over the world.  There are several locations on my list where I could live on even less than I currently spend.  These places include some relaxing and easy countries like Croatia, Spain, and Costa Rica.  I am also interested in some more adventurous and difficult places like Russia, Vietnam, and Columbia.  The biggest challenge with this type of travel is my kids.  Don't' get me wrong; I think it would be a huge educational and developmental opportunity for my kids to show up in one of these countries and attend the local schools, being forced to learn the language.  Unfortunately, the real benefits of an experience like that would probably come mostly after the first year – after they pick up enough language to thrive.  My idea of going somewhere new every few months doesn't work so well for education.  At this point, staying in one place is probably best for my kids.  My youngest is in 3rd grade, so 9 years from now this problem will no longer exist.

Healthcare

I'll admit that I am intimidated by the current healthcare situation in America.  I have had no reason to see a doctor in the last 23 years, but the other members of my family do tend to consume some medical care, the cost of which is reduced by the health insurance I get from work.  I figure that this insurance would cost around $15k per year.  Of course, my cost would be much smaller on the Obamacare exchange, assuming an annual income of around $50k or less.  Ultimately, my discomfort with wading into the healthcare markets is just another reason to keep working.

Family Legacy

My wife grew up spending two weeks every summer at her family's beach house.  The house was originally purchased for four figures by her great grandmother.  My kids are the fifth generation that has loved this house and made life-long memories there.  Over the generations, most of the heirs to this house have sold their interests at intervals when the fecundity of the rising generations created too much demand for the limiated space and time the house can provide.  My family loves to take at least one of our vacations each year at the house.  It is the vacation that I look forward to most.  My wife and I would be sad to be the generation that couldn't afford to hold onto the house.  Passing this legacy on to my kids and grandkids would cost the equivalent of an entire financial independence for a family like mine.  In other words, I could afford to buy the house and maintain my financial independence if my investments doubled in value – so maybe another seven years.  I'm not sure that I would ever want to blow that kind of money on a house.  Nor do I like the idea of leaving a legacy of things.  However, by continuing to work this does become an option.

Education

My parents wrote the check for my first semester in college – about $1k.  They probably paid for my room and board too.  I think the grand total was about $3500.  I paid for the rest of my BS and MBA myself.  My wife had all of her first-year college expenses covered by her parents, but then I married her and assumed all of her expenses.  Fortunately, she performed so well during her freshman year that the university increased her half-tuition academic scholarship to full-tuition for the remaining three years.

I worked hard to put myself and my wife through school, but I think that was a valuable part of my preparations to join the adult world.  I know the experience helped me get job interviews and provided me with the material for good responses to the questions in those interviews, ultimately resulting in a good job upon graduation.  I want my kids to make similar investments in their own education.  At the same time, I realize that college costs more now than it did twenty years ago.  Most of the higher cost is not accompanied by higher value or better opportunity for graduates.  I have a very cost/benefit-based view of college.  If I do help my kids pay for college, it will be as an investment in their never needing to move back home.  I will not be funding a major for which they are unable to clearly articulate a positive financial benefit or at a school where high costs are not justified by a high potential for healthy returns on the investment.  I have been very clear about this with my kids.  My oldest has already made great efforts to reduce the number of years that she will need to spend in college.  She wants to be a surgeon and already knows that while I may help with undergraduate expenses, she is on her own for graduate work.

All this is just to say that continuing to work will allow me to help my kids with their educations and to acquire the tools to achieve financial independence the same way I did.  Still, I believe that my guidance in how to approach college and what not to waste education money on will be more valuable than any actual money they receive from me.

Social Concerns

I care very little what most people think of me.  I don't need their affirmation.  I don't care if my cars are older than average.  I don't care if you think my clothes are last season.  I don't even pretend to understand what makes a $100 pair of jeans better than my $14 Costco jeans.  I can't tell the difference between a $50 haircut and a $12 cut from Great Clips, or a free cut free from my wife.  However, if I am completely honest with myself, I am just a little concerned that with decades of extra time to think, I may develop some sense of awareness of what other people think of me.

The people I am most concerned about are actually my family.  My father-in-law has a much higher net worth than I do, yet he continues to work, even though he is well into his 70's.  I guess I have always cared what he thinks of how well I am providing for his daughter and grandkids.

I do enjoy watching my money grow.

There are a lot of positive aspects of my job, not the least of which is a salary that enables me to rapidly grow my retirement stash.  My retirement grows fatter with every day that I postpone it.  I am very happy with my lifestyle.  I can easily think of things I would like to have or to do, but there is nothing I don't already have that I REALLY want.  Still, I am a little concerned about running out of money because of unforeseeable events or because I discover new things (more likely experiences) to want later on.  I don't want to feel limited in the life I am able to live by my ability to spend.  It is easy to just keep working and watching my nest egg grow, rather than cracking it.  In just the first quarter of this year, I added $300k to my retirement stash.  That means I can withdraw an additional $12k every year during retirement – based on the 4% rule.  That increase alone is nearly a third of my annual spending.  As time passes and my safe withdrawal increases by thousand more, it will be harder to argue that I still need a bigger nest egg.

In conclusion

I didn't hear about FIRE until I was already financially independent.  I didn't begin with a goal to retire early.  I started saving and investing, because I believed that my money could earn more than I could and because I wanted to have options.  I actually did far better financially than I ever imagined I would.  Honestly, I am still surprised that financial independence came so quickly.

The pace of my mental and emotional preparation to retire has not matched the pace of my financial preparation.  The realization that I don't actually need to work is a relatively recent idea.  Seventeen years at the same company has firmly established some life habits that are difficult to change.  It may take some time to re-imagine my life without work.  Luckily time will also make a retired lifestyle fatter financially and easier for some aspects of family life.

Join the conversation

Does anyone else struggle with mental/financial lag in preparation for retirement?

Other than finances, what do you need to resolve before you retire?

What else should I be considering as I plan my exit strategy?