Early Retirement is a bad idea!!
You did not like school, but you went for 12 years of your life. You breezed through your college but did not learn much. Depending on where you did your MBA you slogged or breezed through. Or you slogged for you CA membership.
Cut to a job. You enjoyed it. Then by 43 you did not hit the corner office. You realized that you cannot reach the corner office, and you now did not have any energy to launch a new business. At 44 you started having a fantasy. EARLY RETIREMENT.
So you want to retire at age 53?
You read Retire Rich – Invest Rs. 40 a day and were convinced that you know how much you need for retiring and you think you have the amount! Not true, think again. Use a white board, but think again and again.
There are many reasons why you should not retire early:
1. You cannot afford it: Simple if you do not have enough capital for you and your spouse to retire, you should not. Do not go by past returns etc. Put your portfolio through a stress test. Will you be able to take a 5 year hit on your equity portfolio, and a 10 year regime of ‘0’ interest rates? See what happened in the US over the past 10 years, and it is scary if you are a retiree. Retirement portfolios have to pass severe stress tests.
2. Children cost more: Your parents spent much lesser than you did (even as a %age of income). You have surely spent a couple of million rupees on their engineering and management education..and they are still paying the EMI..remember YOU are the guarantor. You thought that your children passing out of college or getting married was the end of your financial liability? No. The cruel markets are pushing children really hard, and they may come back to roost. Be ready with a few million rupees if not more. Just be ready, not saying it will happen. Some times it is your house! http://www.subramoney.com/2015/07/is-your-housing-cost-hurting-your-retirement/
3. Retiring at 53 so that you could enjoy 10-12 years and die at 65 was a good idea. However, the middle class today coolly lives into its 90s. So even if you retire at 65 chances are that you will live about 25 years in retirement. Believe me, it is a social bore. How much time can you really spend on reading the newspaper, watching television, etc. So there is no hurry to join this gang. Seriously.
4. I used to tell people that even assuming that you do not want to leave any money for your kids you should not dip into the CAPITAL before the age of 70. Now I am advising that this age should be made 75 years because of longevity, rising critical care, and inflation. See whether you can live on your INCOME permanently. That is the best solution to these 3 problems.
5. You were hoping for a part time job: Many people with an early retirement plan hope for a relaxed part time job. Sadly this may not happen. Even your building which needs a secretary wants to pay ONLY Rs. 5000 per month for your services. Your ego is hurt. Afterall in your current job you have a ctc of Rs. 35L pa. In a country where 80% of the population is under 30 years of age, there is very little chance that you will get a soul satisfying job for an older person to do.
6. Socially you will miss an office far, far quicker than you are willing to admit…http://www.subramoney.com/2015/08/get-realistic-about-retirement/
So if you think you want to retire soon, THINK AGAIN.
Ram
More truer words were never spoken.
Anil
Sir,
I think you changed your wordpress reading settings. I can no longer read your blog post in RSS feed. I could just see the first few lines and to read the entire post, I’ve to come to your website.
Could you please change your settings such that I could read the post in RSS reader?
subra
very unlikely that the change will be made!! sorry but you will have to come to the blog to read, you will get a link..
umang
True but depressiong.
Also note that many times it is or it will be a forced early retirements specially in IT and other such outsourcing industry.
Niraj
Hi Subra,
Awesome !
You bring me down to earth with one article. Retirement planning must include what you are going to do. e.g. cultivating a hobby (in one of your earlier posts you had mentioned this as well), being part of some social work/network etc.
Thanks for guiding us so greatly !
BTW I am 38 and planning to retire by 45 ! 🙂
Cheers,
Niraj.
lakshminarasimman
sir i forgot about retiring early dreams the moment by second child was born!
my only aim now is not to depend on the job for income but make my investments grow and keep me independent financially.
Krish
One good advantage of the stress test is that it would ensure early cardiac arrest so that one does not have to worry about retirement.
BRS
Hello Sir,
agree with @anil
many blogs may be blocked at work locations. RSS feeds are the only way to read. Too bad if it is not enabled.
Selva
Subra,
I am sharing two senior person stories as they relate to your post…
I came across this senior man who was working as a supervisor in a car wash garage when I went for a car wash last week. He said his age is 73(but looks much younger than that) and has been working there for a year and at the time of retirement he was a senior manager in a private company. He lives with his son. He said his son works as a program manager in a Software company here in Bangalore and his daughter settled in USA. His daughter-in-law has taken a break from teaching to attend to kids. He stated that in place like Bangalore, there is enough expense/needs for the money earned by all. So he will continue to work as he is still active…
Another senior person who is around 68 years of age . Lost job when he was 50 as the company went bankrupt. He did not do any work for several years as he could manage with some rental income and wife’s earning. I was a tenant in his house several years back!. But he has taken up cashier job in a shop for last 5 years and still going strong..
Giri
we no longer read your blog post in RSS feed.
you are becoming more of commercial day by day 🙂 even though you have lot of money. what you will carry while going 🙂 also you have only daughter.
let people appreciate your knowledge man.
you will realize how it will benefit you in future.
Sethuraman
Giri
when you get something free appreciate that. Look at your lack of gratitude and ‘advise’ – let subra decide whether he should give it free, for a price, or in a RSS feed. If you want, at least ask humbly. Not too many blogs even internationally allow browsing of 5 years archives. Be blessed.
Keep up the good work Subra sir, and yes like Uma says you need an edit policy ….
Ram
@Giri,
Very crude, rude and ungrateful comment, esp if you have benefited materially or spritually or cognitively from this blog. How dare you comment how one should make a living? How much are you paying for reading this blog? Why do you think you are entitled to get stuff free that too on your terms? You should be ashamed!
I am inconvenienced just as much, but he may have his reasons why the blog is structured this way. If you are not comfortable agreeing to the new terms, move on and thank him for whatever you have received so far.
Giri
@Ram,
I pity you. do not get emotional.
labnlol.org, is biggest blog in India, of course not in PF space. why he is providing reading using RSS feed. jagoinvestor.com, simpledollar.com, getrichslowly.org are also providing RSS feed reading. Of course Subra has his own reasons. what I am saying is, reading using RSS feed is easy than visiting blog for each article. if article is interested to read anyway we visit blog and read for better feeling.
coming to your comment about whether I am paying anything or not? – without people like you and me, this blog doesn’t exit. Google is paying for ads publishing here because we are visiting.
Using RSS feeds also he can publish ads to generate revenue. Apart from revenue there is no other reason I believe behind this decision. Again it is up to his decision as he is spending time to write articles.
if you take it positively, occasionally very few articles are worth read but most of his thoughts are repetitive.
finally one should accept positive criticism.
Ram
@Giri
I am not going to counter argue on your points or drag this further, but I will leave it with this
— Internet has a long memory and these comments will stay on almost forever. If and when you grow up (I don’t mean by age) revisit your comments and you will be surprised.
Good luck and thank you for pitying me.
anil
Subra Sir,
I think I have stitred up a hornet’s nest. I’m a simple average investor who has been reading your blog from the past one year and have understood the power of “n”. (no. Of years)
I don’t need to tell you but you’re the owner of the blog and you decide what’s right and what’s not.
Because of RSS feed, loyal readers like me keep reading and commenting on your blog.
Most of the websites give either or both the below options to follow :
– An email list
– An RSS feed
But, coming to website and checking out the updates is the last option.
RSS feed is preferred for most people as people fear that the emailID will be used elsewhere (spamming etc.) However, if email subscribers get something special , they don’t mind giving the emailID. An example is http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com
Everyone,
Chill. We are here for the common goal of learning and we should appreciate sharing rather than ordering 🙂 Very few people have expertise and those who do might not share the knowledge for paucity of time or effort.
And Subra sir has been doing great work like Seth Godin who write and share regularly.
Uma Kannan
Knowing Subra he will not react to Giri, Anil, Sethuram or Ram. Knowing Subra’s net worth he is indifferent to the visitors or the Google ads. By the way Jagoinvestor is a sales site – they need the traffic so that they can sell their services to them. Freefincal.com has a model of selling workshops, Subra also does workshops. However I do not think both of them make money doing these workshops for 1k or 2k per day.
And knowing Subra, the RSS feeds too will not happen. I am indifferent, I will continue to read on the web, and I am fine..and Giri, yes you will not be missed at all. I doubt whether Subra will even bother telling you to go take a walk 🙂
aniket
@Uma kannan
you have lot of patience to read on web 🙂
but can you please request Subra to continue RSS feeds. 🙂
Anshuk Jain
Giri, what did you mean by Subra sir only has a daughter? What difference does it make?
Santy
@Aniket,
If you read the articles of Subra, the one thing he advises is patience. If you don’t have that, then there is a bigger problem than RSS feed or web reading.
Some of the articles from 2010 are as relevant as they were back then. There is no hurry to read it as soon as it is published. You can come back when you have time (after 5 or 10 years) and it would still make sense.