I am a long time lurker on this board, and I appreciate all the valuable information and interesting discussions that take place here.

I am curious if there is any consensus on what constitutes "early retirement"? Is it retirement before the social security full retirement age? (In my case that is 67 since I was born after 1960). Is it earlier than the earliest date that you can qualify for social security retirement benefits? (I think that is 62 for most people, if not everyone) Is it earlier than 60? Is it even younger?

JustCurious, welcome to the forum.

No, I've never seen a definitive cutoff age for defining ER, although I think you would have a tough time arguing 67 or older qualifies. I think it's much like defining at what age you are a "sr. citizen"...you are if you think you are.

__________________
Numbers is hard

I was going to say "death" but I guess 67 and social security make much more sense.

If it's earlier than my "cubicle mate" or my neighbor's retirement, then it's ER for me (I beat them )

- Ron

I would define early retirement as being "before a normal age."

So for a non-government worker, normal would mean no earlier than age 62.

For a government worker, it could mean no earlier than age 55.

In my self-employed world, it means as soon as possible.

__________________
No man is free who is not master of himself. --- Epictetus
Enjoy Yourself (It's Later Than You Think). --- Guy Lombardo

Yeah, ASAP...

In my case, not too early...

__________________
Have Funds, Will Retire

...not doing anything of true substance...

In my lawfirm, normal age is in your 70s. Or 80s. Or for the founder's son, in his 90s. If someone left at 65 that would be early.

__________________
.


No more lawyer stuff, no more political stuff, so no more CYA

Actually, last time I looked the average age of retirement in the Federal Gvmt was around 63 and rising. 55 with 30 years service is the age at which regular workers under the old civil service retirement system could retire without a reduction in their annuity.

__________________
Idleness is fatal only to the mediocre -- Albert Camus

I figure "early" is anytime before you become eligible for whatever government or company benefits could be had by waiting a few more years. So that's early 60s for Social Security. In the company I retired from, had I waited several more years, I'd have gotten cheap health insurance until age 65.


I'd define "very early" retirement to be while you are still supporting kids who are not yet out of college.

__________________
Often uninformed, seldom undecided.

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. Mark Twain

Third Friday after President's Day of your sixtieth year, if falling on a solstice -- in non-leap years.

I would define ER as having made, at some point, the conscious choice to take the steps necessary to retire sooner than your peer group, perhaps due to your involvement on these boards.

If you were on a path to retire at 65, but because of your enlightenment from this board you took the steps necessary to pull it off at 60, i'd say you retired early.

Its never too late to retire early.

Azanon

Purely my own metrics:

ER = 55 or so. Coming from the corporate world where there are usually plans that you can (or could, in years past) "Early Retire" at 55 with full benefits by meeting certain criteria.

EER (Early Early Retire) - Before age 50.

IHY (I Hate You) - Before age 40

GMAFBYDHACATWIGTHTY - Before age 30
(Give Me A Frigging Break, You Don't Have A Clue As To What Is Going To Happen To You!)

__________________
-- Telly, the D-I-Y guy --
Two fools dancing on the hands of time

That's an easy one. ER happens precisely at age 58yrs, 6mo, 3days!
Three months, two weeks, three days to go!

__________________

I beat you by 7 days (age 58yrs, 5mo, 27days).

Now all you have to do is outlive me by a week or more and you win!

__________________
Numbers is hard

I'm, gonna beat you both. I will be 52yrs, 8mo, and 1 day. But, I have 5 months 20 days to go. It's gonna be a longggggggggg 5 months too.

__________________
Retired 3/31/2007@52
Investing style: Full time wuss.

Based upon the initial replies, there does not appear to be a consensus on this issue. I find that interesting because this board is set up to discuss "FIRE", and there seems to be a consensus on how to define "FI" but not "RE", and yet people use the term as if it is a commonly understood term.

For "FI", the consensus seems to be that you reach financial independence when you have saved enough money so that you can maintain your lifestyle without working, in other words, by drawing a SWR to support your lifestyle. Obviously, that magic number is different for everyone, but at least there seems to be consensus on how to define when you have reached "FI", whereas the definition of "RE" appears to vary from person to person.

My two cents are that if you retire before age 60, you have retired early. Otherwise, you have not.

I believe that anyone retiring before age 65 is retiring early. Many programs are aimed at that age such as seniors discounts. Another way I look at it is when your expected retirement years number 30 or more.

When I fire'd, my years in retirement were estimated at 38 based upon my life expectancy at the time. I consider the estimate of life expectancy to be equally important as the Firecalc estimate.

My planning also consumes the principal during those 38 years, although so far the principal has grown by 10%/yr after expenses (4 yrs) so I guess I can live forever.

__________________
For the fun of it...Keith

Aw, let's not quibble, RE. On 2/1/07 I'll raise a glass to your health.
Live long & prosper!

Play with some numbers, DOG. Somewhere else I posted about the perception of one's time left; at some point x years yields to yyweeks yields to zzz days. When you get that short, subtract any use-or-lose time coming to you, weekends & holidays, & you're counting down actual workdays left. Tick,tick,tick.....ticky-boo!

__________________

As well it should! RE is a very personal thing and the specific age varies with circumstances. But the principles of LBYM and investing apply whether you're a 20-something with a high paying job and no plans for a family who wants to retire by 40 or a 50-something scrambling to top off the nest egg in order to retire by 62.

Wouldn't it be easier to define what it means to not RE? Then we can assume everyone else did RE.

Or you can use some general age bands. Pre-55 = RE. Post-65 = not RE. 55 - 65 = depending on your circumstances.

The group I'm most interested in are those that never really retire into at least a minimum acceptable lifestyle due to whatever circumstances. They're either working or retired and living at a standard they are very dissatisfied with. Don't want to go there. Want to understand how to avoid that. As long as I stay out of there, I've met most of my objectives!

I considered myself to be FI in my early 50's and finally pulled the plug and Retired in my late 50's. For me, that seemed to be RE.

__________________
"I wasn't born blue blood. I was born blue-collar." John Wort Hannam

I'd go with 60 or younger to be ER.................

__________________
Consult with your own advisor or representative. My thoughts should not be construed as investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results (love that one).......:)


This Thread is USELESS without pics.........:)