Early Retirement: challenges & benefits

[WealthyDoc]

There was a new NYT article:
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/12/23/your-money/early-retirement.html?_r=0&referer=
They are not physicians but one at 5M in his forties so some of us can relate.

[VagabondMD]

Thanks for posting!

[The White Coat Investor]

I read that article. It makes retirement sound sucky! "I was lonely, so I got a dog." etc

Emphasizes the importance of retiring TO something.

[Sneezy]

Great point.

As I head into my 50s, I am consciously thinking about what I want to retire TO.

One of my goals this year is to start learning an instrument and to go on more hikes as both are activities I think I would pursue with more time

Also thinking about art classes as that is something (along with hiking) my wife and I can do together

[Antares]

I have a ton of things I want to do with more time. My concern is about how to avoid isolation as I age. I'd love to live in the mountains, but have no friends and family there. Am I really going to relocate at 65 and try to establish all new friends and social supports? On the other hand, I'm not especially fond of the urban or suburban environment in the northeast, but I have many people here that I love. I haven't found an acceptable answer yet.

[jfoxcpacfp]

The most important, proactive step everyone can take to enjoy retirement is to stay as healthy as possible: exercise, eat right, drink in moderation, abstain from tobacco, etc, etc, etc. Even a boring retirement is worse if you are in bad physical shape and your choices of what to do are limited by that.

But you guys all know that, right?

[uptoolate]

jfoxcpacfp wrote:

The most important, proactive step everyone can take to enjoy retirement is to stay as healthy as possible.

 

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I wonder if this is truly the most important step... definitely one wants to take care of their physical well-being but I wonder if mental well-being isn't at least as important.  As in having a wide support group of friends and family and diverse interests that keep one engaged.  I see some very healthy old people that seem to be just putting in time as they have nothing that engages them while some that are train wrecks but seem to lead very happy and full lives due to the extended circle that they have surrounded themselves with.  I suspect that by late-70s most people are not that physically active and it is the mental that makes the difference.

[Zaphod]

uptoolate wrote:

jfoxcpacfp wrote:

The most important, proactive step everyone can take to enjoy retirement is to stay as healthy as possible.

 

Click to expand…

I wonder if this is truly the most important step… definitely one wants to take care of their physical well-being but I wonder if mental well-being isn’t at least as important.  As in having a wide support group of friends and family and diverse interests that keep one engaged.  I see some very healthy old people that seem to be just putting in time as they have nothing that engages them while some that are train wrecks but seem to lead very happy and full lives due to the extended circle that they have surrounded themselves with.  I suspect that by late-70s most people are not that physically active and it is the mental that makes the difference.

Click to expand...

I think part of being healthy is being balanced. Its not an either or proposition.

There are plenty of 70+ people that are very physically active btw. A few years ago I was riding the Arizona State Hill Climb Championship up Mt. Graham and some 70+ participant came cruising past me (I was in great shape!). Pretty sure he was T doping, but still I have run into many a very active elderly people.

[PhysicianOnFIRE]

uptoolate wrote:

I wonder if this is truly the most important step… definitely one wants to take care of their physical well-being but I wonder if mental well-being isn’t at least as important.

Click to expand...

Good point, but I would consider mental health to fall under the umbrella of health. There's certainly more to health than being physically fit with clean coronaries.

[uptoolate]

Absolutely, mental health is definitely part of health but certainly not where the focus generally is.  And while there are definitely people who are active in their 70s there are fewer and fewer as the years go by and by the late-70s, most are usually fairly limited especially if they were never particularly active to begin with.  The press does certainly love those 90 year old marathoners though - we all love a feel good story.

[The White Coat Investor]

I've spent a lot of time thinking about this the last couple of years. What would I do if I were not working that I cannot do right now? I haven't been able to come up with anything. My activities are honestly more limited by having young children at home and older children in school than by my paid work.

I would encourage anyone who finds themselves really longing after retirement to try to incorporate a little "retirement" into their life right now. It might be simply a case of the grass seeming greener on the other side of the fence.

[Zaphod]

uptoolate wrote:

Absolutely, mental health is definitely part of health but certainly not where the focus generally is.  And while there are definitely people who are active in their 70s there are fewer and fewer as the years go by and by the late-70s, most are usually fairly limited especially if they were never particularly active to begin with.  The press does certainly love those 90 year old marathoners though – we all love a feel good story.

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Well, these things are habits. As I try to tell my patients, thats the most important thing we can do, slowly develop better habits. You cant really expect a long healthy life after you retire if you live poorly until then. You cant expect to be in amazing shape after you retire if you're a couch potato now. You should be trying to do as best you can, and every day, week, month, year do just a tiny bit better and let those good choices compound over time.

There are fewer and fewer people as you cross the ages period, thats natural. If you're active and live life well you should expect to continue to do so until you cant. I often have to remind myself that my grandmother is 91 and isnt who she used to be (mountain climber, etc...), but shes still out there at the national parks hiking and sight seeing and its very inspiring. We were at a state park this thanksgiving and I was just hoping I am half that capable near that age if I am lucky to make it.

Some of these things are self fulfilling prophecies.

[PhysicianOnFIRE]

The White Coat Investor wrote:

I would encourage anyone who finds themselves really longing after retirement to try to incorporate a little “retirement” into their life right now. It might be simply a case of the grass seeming greener on the other side of the fence.

Click to expand...

I think you're onto something here. I think my limiting factor right now is time, but it might be how I spend my time more than a lack of it. Darn these wonderful forums!

My current plan to "incorporate a little retirement" will be a sabbatical as a trial run, most likely starting in the summer of 2018. I'll be in a position to make it a permanent sabbatical if I have no desire to return to anesthesia. If I were to work again, it would most likely be on a part-time, outpatient basis.

[Bleu]

I could definitely see myself getting lonely or bored in retirement.  If someone did retire and needed to go back to work for whatever reason, at what point would it be difficult to re-enter anesthesia if one kept up with their CME's, license, etc.  For instance, how difficult would it be to obtain hospital privileges after being "retired" for 3 years?  For hospital privileges, if I remember correctly, the paperwork asked me to verify that I had done X number of central lines in the past year, X number of epidurals, etc.

Has anyone on this forum had difficulty returning to medicine after retiring?

 

 

[SValleyMD]

Credentialing committees are becoming more and more stringent (from what I've seen and heard) with prolonged sabbaticals. If I was in a surgical or procedure oriented specialty I would be a tad nervous that things wouldn't go through after 3 years out. But I'm sure there is a ton of variation seen with different hospital systems.