Bingo. Though “what will people think” applies a lot more broadly, especially for early retirees. Most people under the age of 60, and especially under 50, don’t want to acknowledge publicly that they can afford not to work. They want to continue pretending to be “normal” and “middle class.” Search any retirement forum and you’ll find discussions of what to tell people when you pull the trigger - and it almost never involves admitting you’re retiring. It’s usually some version of pretending to be self-employed, or temporarily unemployed. To your point, it’s a lot more about optics than a true identity crisis in many cases.
What stands out to me is how little of retirement anxiety is actually about the numbers themselves and how much is about the structure surrounding the decision. When pressure drops, the math suddenly feels easier to trust.
Curious whether you see people needing a different framework more than different projections?
Jordan, great article full of insight, wisdom, and experience. It hits me right between the eyes at this moment in time. I need to step back, wind down, pivot. Fears of not enough money (math) and not enough purpose/structure exert an unexpected magnetic pull/push on me to grit my teeth and keep my feet in the fire that I have wanted to leave for so long. We need to talk. Let’s find a time.
Most decisions in life come down to a leap of faith. Who we choose to marry, what career or job we pick, the market will always go up and to the right. Logic gets us to the alter, but emotion makes the final decision for us. Faith is hard. I give early retirees a lot of credit for their faith
Bingo. Though “what will people think” applies a lot more broadly, especially for early retirees. Most people under the age of 60, and especially under 50, don’t want to acknowledge publicly that they can afford not to work. They want to continue pretending to be “normal” and “middle class.” Search any retirement forum and you’ll find discussions of what to tell people when you pull the trigger - and it almost never involves admitting you’re retiring. It’s usually some version of pretending to be self-employed, or temporarily unemployed. To your point, it’s a lot more about optics than a true identity crisis in many cases.
Really insightful breakdown.
What stands out to me is how little of retirement anxiety is actually about the numbers themselves and how much is about the structure surrounding the decision. When pressure drops, the math suddenly feels easier to trust.
Curious whether you see people needing a different framework more than different projections?
Jordan, great article full of insight, wisdom, and experience. It hits me right between the eyes at this moment in time. I need to step back, wind down, pivot. Fears of not enough money (math) and not enough purpose/structure exert an unexpected magnetic pull/push on me to grit my teeth and keep my feet in the fire that I have wanted to leave for so long. We need to talk. Let’s find a time.
Most decisions in life come down to a leap of faith. Who we choose to marry, what career or job we pick, the market will always go up and to the right. Logic gets us to the alter, but emotion makes the final decision for us. Faith is hard. I give early retirees a lot of credit for their faith