If You Retire Early…Are You Crazy?

Sunday, Sept. 16, 2007

Vancouver, Canada

In my former life I was a certified public accountant, an audit partner in KPMG. I worked hard to move up the ladder. Finally, I started making the big bucks. I met with big people about big deals that involved big money. I loved it.

But I retired anyway, at age 35.

Beginning at age 31 or so I had this nagging thought that I wanted to do more with my life. I wanted to travel, stay out late, have more time to read, play music, and enjoy being with my wife Vicki. I wanted to linger at the café, something I never seemed to have time for when I worked. And I was beginning to feel stale in my job. The next move up was years away. I seemed to trudge, rather than skip along the way.

Perhaps most important: I wanted meaning in my life…not in my job.

Vicki and I ran the numbers--we knew we had enough money. But the hardest part for me--and for most of us, I think--was the soul searching, the thought that we're gratuitously throwing over what we worked so hard to achieve. I worried that very early retirement might be a big mistake.

I decided to go to a head shrinker. I wound up going to two. The first, a psychiatrist, listened carefully to my story. He finally told me he didn't know whether I was making the right decision or not, but said I was going about it the right way. He didn't want to see me anymore. After a couple of weeks I decided to try again, this time with a Freudian therapist. After an hour or so, she told me it would take two or three years, at least once a week, just to define my problem. I said I had to decide by Monday. She said she couldn't help me; she didn't even bother to charge me for the advice. And she, too, said she didn't want to see me anymore.

My advice to you now: take care of yourself during the decision making process. Retire when you feel strong about your life and your career. (When you get fired is usually a lousy time to start a retirement.) Take your time, run the numbers, talk it over, and then repeat. Make sure your spouse is on board, that you're going into early retirement with your eyes open. If you're run down, wait until you feel better before acting.

I remember those early days of decision…days of anguish over giving up a good job. Taking that step was hard, perhaps the hardest thing I've ever done. As I look back, it seems silly--retirement has been such a joyful, special life for us. How could I have been so unsure of myself? How could I have been so attached to my old life?

I've been retired for 23 years; I'm now 58. I even get a pension from my old firm, a small monthly stipend that kicked in at age 55. People I meet no longer look surprised when I tell them I'm retired--unless of course I tell them for how long.

Paul Terhorst

Roving "Retire Early" Editor, International Living