Yesterday, was my 62nd birthday. To celebrate, I went to see Elvis Costello and the Imposters at the Ryman Auditorium. It was a great show. But it also got me to thinking about retirement. I can officially start collecting social security now. And I think I just might within the next year or two.
I know many people think waiting until you’re 67 or even older is the best strategy for retirement. I say screw that. Then what? Die? Here are five reasons I think I’ll retire sooner than later, and it has to do with Elvis.
Life gets harder to navigate.
Now I’m going to sound old. But online tickets with an app that won’t load, downtown traffic, and 95 degrees in Nashville all suck. I was able to grudgingly deal with it all and expect I will be able to for some years to come. But I can’t imagine I’ll want to deal with bullshit once I hit, say 76.
So, if one wants a good 10-15 years to actually do shit when they are retired, earlier seems better to me. If I’m going go see Elvis, I want to enjoy myself.
It’s just as much money.
This applies to me. Your situation might be different. I did some calculations recently, and I’d essentially be making about the same annual income if I retire at 63 or 64 as I would if I keep working at my current full-time advising job.
So, why would I want to keep being constricted to being in certain times and places for 75% of my waking hours? Sure, I’ll have to do some budgeting, but so what? I’d have the freedom to live how I wanted within limitations. And believe me, working another 5-7 years would only make $500-$700 a month difference. That’s peanuts in the big picture.
I could live much cheaper.
I like to study real estate, living expenses, and cost of living. There are ways I could live for almost half the cost I’m living now. Even less if I’m willing to move overseas. The rent I’m paying just to keep my fairly low-salaried job is pretty much half of my current monthly income. That bites.
I could move back to Maine and live in my condo for less. I could even rent my second room out and pay half what I’m paying here.
Travel.
In my head, this is the catch-22, the thing that makes me hesitate to retire earlier than later. Here’s the argument. If I retire early and then go travel, I’ll use my retirement money too fast and then wind up broke by the time I’m 70.
Here are a few counter arguments.
- You only live once. If you get too old you won’t be able to travel anyway.
- There are ways and places one can travel that are way less expensive than others.
- I might not really want to travel extensively. I might be content just getting another dog and traveling around whatever region I choose to settle.
Work and creativity on the side.
Retiring from a full-time job doesn’t mean you don’t have to work at all. I’d be fine with continuing to work 15-20 hours a week, or teaching as an adjunct part of the year.
And then there’s creativity. Every time I go into Nashville I’m reminded that it’s highly unlikely that I’ll ever get my work noticed in any major way. Getting into the music business is a young person’s game, and even then I think the odds have greatly been reduced since the early rock & roll era. It’s just a different kind of world.
However, I’ll always create just because it’s what I do. I may move back away from songwriting and focus on photography and ambient music again, but I’ll keep creating even if only seven people pay attention.
So, I have some things to think about. My biggest setback is deciding exactly when and where I want to pull the cord to get off the bus. – dse
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