The idea of an early retirement is particularly appealing for the fact that it enters you into a point of life where you have all the three basic requirements to enjoy it – Time, Health and Money. It’s far enough down the road that you’ve earned enough money and it’s not so far that your body has started to give up. For many people, it is an escape from their dull and monotonous corporate lives and follow their passions, do a quirky job they love, live their life on the edge, embark upon social and humanitarian services and take similar risks they’d never have dared of earlier or were unable to, due to the lack of the above three mentioned requisites. For others, it’s a time they could give to their loved ones and focus on their family building and have a nurturing social life. Let’s check out about Retirement Income Guide.
However, like all things in life, Early Retirement isn’t all white. Before you make such a decision, here are 8 myths and facts you need to know:
- “I will have all the time in the world to travel!” – Well, busting this myth requires no rocket scientist. It is evident that when you retire early, you will have to save up all of your earnings for a longer period of time. Post retirement, a regular pay is a sketchy deal for most, and pension plans alone will not suffice the travel extravangza that you might be thinking. So yes, any vacations that you’d plan would require a lot of thought into its budget.
- “My expenditure would reduce a lot!” – Assuming that an individual does not fall for this trap at its face value and plans his/her budget accordingly to reduce all unnecessary expenses, it is eventual that most or nearly all will face medical issues down the line. Medicines and healthcare in general add a lot to the budget and effectively increases the expenditure. To remedy that, you can find a health and life insurance, which still sucks the money from your wallets.
- “I can focus on my health” – one can feel that they’d get more time to exercise and eat healthy, however studies have indicated that people who generally don’t find anything good to do after retirement see a gradual decrease in their overall health due to lack of mental and physical mobility.
- “My Children would be my greatest financial aid!” – This would be a tremendous pressure on them in case you opt for an early retirement. For most parents in their 40s in India, their children have either started or will be going to college. A retirement in 50s would indicate your children saving up for you in a time which is their prime in career building.
- “I will be happy and can enjoy life” – the realisation that you now miss your work and a lack of routine or a purpose in life leads to disastrous boredom and an eventual ineffectiveness of the mind. This can push people into depression or deprive them of some necessary mental and emotional stability.
- “I have earned enough money to sustain myself for the rest of my life” – no other thought can be as detrimental in case of early retirement as this one. As said earlier, not only the medical expenses increase, but it has been observed that with time, lifestyle in general becomes more and more expensive. The more time passes by, the costlier it gets to live.
- “I will never turn back to the corporate world/I will never return to my job.” – This again is supported by countless examples that people either want to get back to their older work life or actually do return to it.
These mentioned points are key for any individual thinking for an early retirement. These problems must be taken with utmost certainty of happening in the post retirement plans.