Ready For Retirement
Ready For Retirement
Retiring at 54: Why Darren Says It Feels Surreal | Retirement Reality
In this episode of Retirement Reality, Darren shares what it’s really like to walk away from work at 54 and why it still feels surreal. After decades of saving, hitting his number, and paying off the house, a company reorg gave him the push he needed to finally make the leap.
He talks about how it feels to go from structure to freedom overnight, what surprised him about early retirement, and why he refuses to see it as a “forever” decision. For Darren, this season isn’t about stopping life — it’s about living it on his own terms.
The conversation dives into what so many retirees quietly wrestle with: the emotional side of letting go, the fear of spending after years of saving, and the question of who you are without a job title. It’s honest, grounded, and a reminder that retirement isn’t an ending, it’s just a different kind of beginning.
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Darren is not a client of Root Financial Partners, LLC and received no compensation for participating in this video. His statements reflect his own opinions and experience and are not indicative of any specific client’s experience and are not a guarantee of results. No cash or non-cash compensation was provided, and no material conflicts are known.
Advisory services are offered through Root Financial Partners, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. This content is intended for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered personalized investment, tax, or legal advice. Viewing this content does not create an advisory relationship. We do not provide tax preparation or legal services. Always consult an investment, tax or legal professional regarding your specific situation.
The strategies, case studies, and examples discussed may not be suitable for everyone. They are hypothetical and for illustrative and educational purposes only. They do not reflect actual client results and are not guarantees of future performance. All investments involve risk, including the potential loss of principal.
Comments reflect the views of individual users and do not necessarily represent the views of Root Financial. They are not verified, may not be accurate, and should not be considered testimonials or endorsements
Participation in the Retirement Planning Academy or Early Retirement Academy does not create an advisory relationship with Root Financial. These programs are educational in nature and are not a substitute for personalized financial advice. Advisory services are offered only under a written agreement with Root Financial.
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Let's assume your last day work was on a Friday. You have the weekend. We've always had weekends. There's nothing different about that. But Monday rolls around, the first Monday of no work. What did you do?
SPEAKER_00:One thing I always like, I would walk into work. And when I walk to work, I always, if it was a beautiful day out, I'd be like, I just want to keep walking. Like I want to like spend the day exploring and like going out and do things. So I think during that first week, I did a lot of walking. And during the day, you know, like I would walk around outside like with like a huge, like a dumb smile on my face. I was like just so happy and like couldn't believe it. Like this is basically what I'm gonna be doing now. I'm just gonna like whenever I want, I can just go out, walk around, go anywhere, do anything.
SPEAKER_01:For decades, retirement was just a theoretical number until one day it wasn't. Darren hit his target retirement number, he paid off his mortgage, and then he waited for the right moment. A company reorg that opened up a window for him to retire. Eight months later, he's in phase one. Walks on Tuesday afternoons, health first, and a life full of small joys. But what's interesting about Darren is he's proof that you don't need a grand passion just to get started. In today's episode, we dig into healthcare worries, solo trips when friends aren't free during the week, and a very helpful reframing of the word retirement in the first place. Enjoy today's episode with Darren. Darren, thank you for joining me on today's episode of Retirement Reality. I would love to hear from you. If you could describe your retirement in just one word, what would that be?
SPEAKER_00:Uh yeah, I guess I would probably say it's kind of surreal. Um yeah, it's true. I find it very, very like after all these years of planning, just surreal to be able to actually do it. Surreal.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, how long have you been retired? Uh eight months.
SPEAKER_00:Eight months. So eight months. So it's still pretty still pretty fresh. I'd say I'm in the in the honeymoon phase. I'm kind of just yeah, figuring out how it goes. And so, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So let's let's dive into that. You've been retired for eight months, and sure, retirement eight months in could look different potentially than retirement three years in, five years in, ten years in. But surreal. What was surreal about retirement to you?
SPEAKER_00:Uh yeah, I guess, you know, like, you know, I had worked for 30 years and I had been saving for much of those many of those years for decades. And kind of over the years, you just kind of watch this number go up and down until they go up. And it's this theoretical number that you're just kind of looking at. It's very abstract. I always treated my investments as like I could only put in, I couldn't take out. So I was like, it was kind of like I didn't touch it once it was there. So I never saw it as a as kind of real thing. It was just a number. And yeah, then one day the number says uh you don't need to work anymore. And then you know, like, oh wow, okay. This theoretical money now is something that's actually became very tangible. And then one day, you know, when I finally uh pulled the trigger, then, you know, then my life is just completely different all of a sudden because of this like magic number that was I had just been watching for all this time. So yeah, it was just very like, you know, I had a the plan was always there. I was you know thinking about it, but then one day the plan became reality. I'm like, oh, okay, well, that just kind of happened. So kind of like surprising.
SPEAKER_01:I won't ask you what the specific number was, but did you have a number in your mind where you said once I hit this number, that's my trigger to operate.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I did. And I was working with a financial advisor for some time as well. So I before I started working with a financial advisor, I had a number. And then as the years passed, that number kind of just changed a little bit as you know the world changed and as uh uh and my gut feedback on the financial advisor. But yeah, I always kind of had like always had pretty much like a number that I was shooting for, whether that's sometimes a change, but I always had a number.
SPEAKER_01:When you hit that number, the day you hit that number, either because a 401k contribution went in or you had a bonus that you put in, or the market took it to hit that number, did you feel significantly different than before, or did it feel like maybe I need a little bit more?
SPEAKER_00:I think probably the big thing for me was that yeah, the number was looking good. I had a mortgage and I kind of felt like I didn't want to retire with a mortgage. So that was a big like kind of thing on my back. I was like, I want to figure out a way to get rid of the mortgage. It doesn't take from my investments. I don't want to retire with a mortgage. And uh so I think that was probably the biggest switch the day I was able to get rid of that mortgage. That was like a huge weight off my back. I'm like, okay, now uh I've done that. Was my last financial goal that I had, which was not having to deal with that. And uh, that was the day that I could really, really felt like very confident that I was ready to go.
SPEAKER_01:So you you hit your number, you paid off your mortgage. How long between doing those two things did it take for you to actually stop working?
SPEAKER_00:Uh about four years, actually. Yeah. Well once I once I paid off the mortgage, I was like, I can go anytime now. So that was kind of nice, kind of that, you know, having that independence for the at work because I didn't begin to feel quite as tied to it as I did, but you know, I still felt stressed with everything. But I did like my job. And uh so I kind of just kind of kept working for another four years because I liked it and I was enjoying it and kind of just waited for the right moment to to where it was I felt it was like the best time for me to go. So and that and that like I said, that could have been any time, but it ended up being like four years.
SPEAKER_01:I'm curious to know what that moment was because I I think for a lot of people that's a similar experience where they have maybe a number, they have these financial check boxes. It might be paying off a mortgage, it might be putting a child through school, it might be whatever it is, and they hit it, but that doesn't necessarily it feels good, but doesn't launch them into retirement. It tends to be something else that actually is the impetus to make that decision. What happened four years after you hit those numbers that prompted you to retire?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Yeah, I guess one thing I'd say, you know, I've heard people say things like, you know, you shouldn't retire away from something, you should retire towards something. And I felt like I didn't have either. Like I wasn't, I like my job, I didn't want to leave it. I didn't have a big, like other than kind of, you know, a lot of various little things I want to do. I didn't have like a huge passion that I was trying to go to. So I was kind of like, well, I'll stick around at work while I'm enjoying it, uh, or while things are are kind of going well. And then we had uh a re-org and I got moved into a different division. And I kind of saw basically a good time for me to, I was kind of looking for the best time to leave that would cause the less uh uh uh disruption to my teammates and stuff. So when we did this re-org, I moved to a different team and I like handed off all my work to somebody else that I was starting to pick up new work, but I wasn't really embedded that deep into that work yet. So I saw there was a window there where I felt like if I leave now, uh, first of all, you know, if I go to this new team, I probably am signing up to be there for a little while because I don't want to go to a new team and then like leave any, you know, half a year or whatever. And I've also handed off my old stuff. So it was this like nice window where I uh I felt it was like not gonna be disruptive. And also coincidentally, that was right around my like exact 30-year uh working time. So I felt like everything lined up. It was like it was 30 years, it was like at the end of the year, so it was coming into the new year. I was changing teams, I'd handed everything off. I was like, this like just feels like the time to do it. So everything just kind of like aligned.
SPEAKER_01:In retrospect, so you know, it at the time everything aligned, a regorg was happening, you hit your 30 years, you had already hit your numbers that you wanted to hit. Knowing what you know now, being eight months into retirement, was that the right time? Do you wish you had retired sooner? Is there any part of you that wishes you had stayed on? How are you feeling today?
SPEAKER_00:I actually feel like it was pretty perfect. Uh like, you know, uh yeah, since I didn't have uh anything like I was really going towards, I didn't feel like a retiring sooner would have like uh helped me too much more. I think it would have been maybe nice. But I guess the probably the main thing is that the working extra four years that I did um, you know, was four years less that I have to support myself in retirement and four years more income that I made. So that like also cushioned things a little bit. It also gave me like padded my numbers a little of where I felt even more confident. Um, and yeah, so I think just because of that situation, uh I felt like it was kind of like the perfect timing.
SPEAKER_01:You you mentioned before you said uh a lot of people, they have a passion, they want to retire too. There's something that they really want to do that works, maybe preventing them from doing. And and correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like there wasn't necessarily something, one specific thing that you couldn't wait to do once you stopped working. So what has like has it been an adjustment? Has it been hard to adjust to the new reality?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I think uh a surprise that I found is that I like settled into uh not working very easily. Uh like uh I I talked to many people before I, you know, stopped working. Uh and you know, many people are like, oh, it's gonna be so different, and it is very different, and you know, you're gonna have to, you know, you know, you could be bored. You know, my dad, he retired and then kept going back to work. And you know, you you see that kind of happened. Uh so like I didn't know it was like uncharted territory. I'm like, I don't know what's gonna happen. I was telling people that, like, I don't know, in a month I could be bored and I'll be like coming back, trying to come back to work or looking for another job or three months or six months. And yeah, probably that was the biggest surprise was that uh for me, I mean, everybody's very different. I have, you know, my the way I work, the way I like approach things, and I just like loved it. I was just immediately like waking up every day without anything that you have to do specifically. And I didn't have one big thing I wanted to do, but I'd like I have like lots of little things. So I've like always like I always have things that that kind of keep me busy. And none of them are like important or earth-shattering. They're just like things I like to do and things I have on my list of things to do for years. And now I just kind of work my way through them and and like yeah, just kind of do whatever I feel like on the day.
SPEAKER_01:A list of things that you've had on your list for years. Well, how how did that is was this a physical list that you kept that these are things I want to do, or was it more of a mental list of more of a mental list, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Like for example, like I had many video games I wanted to play. So I have been sort of starting to play video games, books I wanted to read. I had like all sorts of projects around the house that I wanted to do. Um actually, probably my number one uh you know thing I started doing when I uh when I stopped working was basically to focus more on fitness, like health and fitness. So working out more. I had, you know, in the in the past few years, with work being kind of busy, I had allowed uh myself to like not, you know, do as much health, like exercise as much. So I basically really that was like probably my number one goal when I stopped was to like get into regular exercise routines, uh, eat better. And like now my job essentially is you know to be as healthy as I can be. That's like my number one job. And then so that that kind of was my main focus and then doing all those kind of other things as well.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. I'm I'm curious, Darren, what the last eight months has been like. So I'm let's let's assume your last day of work was on a Friday. You have the weekend, we've always had weekends, there's nothing different about that, but Monday rolls around, the first Monday of no work. What did you do?
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Well, yes. Uh for me, it was I think Monday was a holiday, so I made a mistake. I should have resigned on the Monday and then got the pay for that last day. So if Monday was, I didn't consider that my first day because that was actually like a long weekend. Um, but yeah, I think the first day, yeah, I just I yeah, I probably got up and just like one thing I always like, I would walk into work. And when I walk to work, I always, if it was a beautiful day out, I'd be like, I just want to keep walking. Like I want to like spend the day exploring and like going out and do things. So I think you know, in that first week, I did a lot of walking and during the day, you know, like being able to go like go around and like take a take a big long walk on like a Tuesday afternoon or a Wednesday afternoon when it's like nice out. And instead of being like stuck at an office, I was like, I think for that first month or two, I would walk around outside like with like a huge, like a dumb smile on my face. I was like just so happy and like couldn't believe it. Like this is basically what I'm gonna be doing. Yeah, I'm just gonna like whenever I want, I can just go out, walk around, go anywhere, do anything. Uh so yeah, I think probably just getting out a a lot more in that first uh while and I still do that a lot a lot. But that was like a big one. It was like, okay, now I like I can just do anything during the day. I don't, I'm not in the office like nine to five all the time. And if it's a beautiful day, I'm not looking out a window wishing I was outside.
SPEAKER_01:Does your day-to-day look the same today? So so first Tuesday after retiring, you're just walking and you're smiling the whole time because it's just so new. You're eight months now, eight months in now. Are you still waking up and walking? What does the routine look like today that it maybe didn't look like day one?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, it's probably like pretty similar. I think I kind of feel like it, you know, I'm still like maybe this will be like I I imagine probably as I am not retired for longer, I'll be going through phases. This is, I feel like still I've been at that first phase of like I kind of do the same things. Like I get up, I usually uh, you know, do some exercise in the morning, work on the computer. I've got lots of like, you know, like uh computer projects, like programming projects and things that I kind of work on, and then you know, have some lunch and then go for a walk. And yeah, so I kind of like so often, yeah, and go for a walk. And yeah, maybe I'll go see a movie in the afternoon, uh, stuff like that. So I think it hasn't changed significantly. I think maybe it's become I I'm definitely very like routine-oriented. So I kind of follow kind of the same routine, kind of every day or variations of routines on certain days and stuff. So yeah, I feel like it hasn't actually evolved significantly, but I do feel like probably there, you know, will be a time when, you know, basically maybe I go to some other phase where maybe I change some other thing, some of the ways I'm operating.
SPEAKER_01:If you can rewind uh 12 months ago, so you weren't yet retired, you're about four months out. Is what life looks like today what you imagined it would look like going into retirement, or did you have a different vision for what the day-to-day might look like?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I think probably the biggest thing that hasn't really come uh to further the way I thought it would was travel. Like I do travel uh like usually once a month, I'll travel somewhere like in North America or or you know, something kind of small. But uh yeah, before I before I left my job, I was like, I'm gonna do all the travel, I'm gonna go to Europe for a month, and I'm gonna like go here or go there. They had really big travel plans. So I was I would have envisioned I would be like living somewhere or like staying somewhere overseas for like a couple months. And I haven't really done that yet. And I that's kind of still on the plan. That's when I talk about the phases. Maybe the next phase I'm doing more traveling. But I've been happy just because I've really enjoyed uh kind of decompressing from work, doing all the things around kind of where I live in my in my home and in the city that I kind of had wanted to do over over the past many years. I'm kind of just like enjoying that and not like pressuring myself to go and like jump into doing a bunch of travel just yet. Um and you know, that'll come. But right now I'm I'm yeah, more and just like kind of doing you know stuff around around locally.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. How old were you when you retired, Darren? Uh 54. How many of your friends or people that you worked with are retired, given that you're retired at a young age?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, uh maybe two. I'm not that many. Yeah, I know maybe two people directly that uh kind of my peers that that have retired.
SPEAKER_01:Has that been a challenge, being retired, having all the free time in the world, but a lot of your peers are still working?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, it definitely means like the weekdays and the weekends are different because weekdays everybody's kind of working. So, you know, you kind of are on your own a lot, which is which I'm fine with. I like just uh you know being with my thoughts. Uh but yeah, it's definitely harder to find people to do things with. And like, you know, if I go on trips, I will, you know, I can go in the middle of the week, I can go anytime, but not everybody can can do that. People want to do things over the weekend. So yeah, so it does mean kind of weekdays and weekends. I sort of have kind of like different some different activities because it's you know, uh, you know, there's more people available to hang out on weekends. Uh so yeah, it's been a little bit of a challenge, but like I say, it doesn't really bother me. I don't mind uh doing things on my own. I'm pretty happy doing that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. I want to go back to what you said at the very beginning about surreal being the word that you would describe retirement. Is surreal to you more of the the life that you get to live and how happy you are, or is it just surreal this fact that you spent 30 years building up this portfolio planning for this moment, and now that moment's arrived, and it just is hard to fully grasp that.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I think I think it's just yeah, the you know, I guess more more about the my life. Like now, my you know, the uh plan that was so theoretical for so long now is basically this, and like this is what my life could be like forever if I want it to be. Uh so it's very nice, and I can craft my life to be whatever I want, whatever I want it to be now. Uh, you know, I have the freedom to to kind of do whatever I want. Uh so yeah, I think that's kind of like just the uh yeah, just feeling very lucky and like privileged that I'm able to was able to retire so early and uh now just kind of do what I want.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. I know you mentioned that there's the re-org, and that's what was the final thing that pushed you into retirement, but you enjoyed work. Is there any aspect of you that misses work or misses the structure or misses co-workers or misses any aspect of that previous job?
SPEAKER_00:Uh yeah, I think um not as much as I would have thought. I would have thought maybe I missed a whole like a bunch of things about like have you know seeing people every day, being in the workplace, uh, because I did go into the office and I liked going into the office seeing people, but uh I still uh do meet up with my co-workers. I go back into the office actually like once once a month usually to see them. Uh so yeah, probably the biggest thing is like not being able to see my coworkers as often because I did I did like my coworkers. But other than that, nothing, nothing really. I you know, like I did like my job and I felt it was, you know, I I like the type of work I did, but like I didn't feel like uh, you know, it wasn't fulfilling in a way that feel like I'm missing some some you know, some piece of my life of the actual work that I was doing. So yeah, so not that much actually. Surprisingly, that is a surprise too.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Um, one of the things that you said earlier was it sounded like you talked to a lot of people before actually retiring and they gave you feedback of, oh, are you gonna be bored or oh, are you gonna miss a structure? Oh, are did you feel like you got how how accurate was a lot of the advice that you felt like you got from friends or coworkers or whoever you were speaking to?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Uh I think probably because I got a not a lot, but a couple warnings of people like, oh, you know, you know, it's it's gonna you're gonna be bored, or you know, uh, or like you could be bored, or didn't, you know, like people that were hesitant. Like so.
SPEAKER_01:And were these retired people, Darren? Were these people who'd already retired or people starting?
SPEAKER_00:A mix. A mix, yeah. I think one, I think one retired person said something along those lines, and and other non-retired people, like triple people said, you know, are raised those kind of sentiments as well. So yeah, I think there would, yeah. So I think that kind of was a pretty uh common piece piece of potential feedback, which is why I was concerned about it. Uh, but I think, like I say, for me personally, that hasn't been a problem. I I certainly could see that being a problem for some people, but for me, uh that I was like, you know, and I also felt like if that's gonna be the case, the sooner I find out about it, the better. Right. And the only way to really I didn't know if that's gonna be the a problem is to just jump into it. So I'm like, I'm young now. If I did uh start getting super bored, I could just go back to work or I could, you know, find some other thing uh to do. And so I'd rather know now that I need to like readjust myself because at some point I'm gonna have to stop working. At some point I'm gonna have to uh be prepared for this. So you know, might as well figure it out now.
SPEAKER_01:Well, that that I think you're starting to answer my next question is how did you emotionally prepare for that? I mean, you know this moment's gonna be surreal. You know you've been planning for this moment for 30 years. There's aspects of your job that you truly did enjoy. You have friends or colleagues giving you feedback that you're gonna be bored, don't do it. I would imagine you're too young, you've got so you've got good earnings years in front of you. How much more could you do? How did you emotionally prepare yourself to say, you know what, I'm just gonna do it when it sounds like there's maybe a good number of voices and rational reasons not to do it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. I wouldn't say a lot of people saying it, but they're definitely that kind of feedback. Uh, but yeah, I think mainly I I think emotionally, or I guess because of this window, this like good timing for me to leave at work, I just really felt like that was that was kind of giving me like calmness or like confidence that it was the right thing to do because I'm like, if I don't do it now, it's it's I'm gonna miss the window and I'm gonna I'll regret it. Like I, you know, I I uh you know, I didn't know I was actually gonna like resign until like the day I booked the man the meeting with my manager, I was like, you know, I was always like, I'm 90% sure, I'm 90% sure, but I was like, I just pulling the actually pulling the trigger is like really difficult. Uh so you know, it's obviously a big decision to make. So yeah, I was kind of like, until I actually booked the meeting and sat down and told my manager I wasn't actually sure I was gonna do it, but I really had a feeling that uh if I didn't do it and take advantage of this opportunity in and I would be kicking myself in two months or three months. Uh so yeah, I kind of felt like just everything was aligned enough that made me feel confident that it was the right decision to make and and you know take the risk. How did your manager take the news? Uh good. Yeah, she was really good about it. Yeah, she was, of course, disappointed, but uh that I was leaving. But uh yeah, was like, you know, very supportive about, you know, basically the, you know, me not being having to work and stuff. So yeah, it was quite good. They did ask me to stay a little bit longer than I had anticipated, but since I didn't really have any specific place to be, I like stuck around a little a little longer than I than I had expected. But that was great because I had lots of time to say goodbye to people and to wrap things up uh even more and stuff.
SPEAKER_01:You know, one thing that um what was interesting to me as I started working with clients in this phase of life is there's the fear of retirement that people have. But then once they make the decision to do that, there's a real fear of letting your boss down or letting your team down or letting your company down that a lot of people feel. Did you feel any of that? Of oh, what are they am I letting them down? How did how did you wrestle with those emotions?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that was tough. I, you know, really in my third-year career, I only had two jobs. So I only ever resigned from two jobs. So I wasn't like very good at it or wasn't very used to of having to resign. So I was very nervous about it. And you know, I was moving to this new project that was kind of a high profile, like important project. Now I and my manager was really relying on me to like work on that project. So I knew that would have been that was like not ideal. So I was like, yeah, I was quite nervous coming into it. Uh, but you know, uh at the end of the day, I knew it was, knew it was the right thing to do. And then, like I said, you know, she was very supportive and like, you know, it went, it went quite well. It was uh it was, you know, she just helped help me a lot through it to make sure that it was as smooth as possible.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. I think this is an important theme to pick up, even as people are listening, is you had these fears, you had these concerns, you had these unknowns, whether it's about retirement, whether it's about the finances, whether it's about how do you let them know. But there is a sense of what I'm hearing is if not now, when type of a thing, or I can always go back if this doesn't work out. I can always make you can't get these years back though if you don't do that.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And the other thing was I had I actually had a red line in the sand, which was 55. I said they will not work past 55. Uh like so, regardless of how things are like timing at work or other things, I'm like, I just have to stop at some point. Uh, you know, like yeah, it's you know, I since I hit all my financial goals, what is keeping me going? You know, and it's inertia just that's gonna keep me going. And at some point, you you really have no idea how long you're gonna have your health, you're gonna have, you know, things can change so quickly. So I'm like, uh, you know, if there's no reason for me to financially be working, uh, then, you know, I should I really owe it to myself to like take the uh take the jump and do it. And then yeah, like I say, if it doesn't work out, I could always consider going back and then I have to figure out what the future looks like from there. Um, but yeah, but like I said, 55 was really the hard deadline. I'm like, I'm not gonna go back to 55. Uh so even if I hadn't quit earlier this year, I would have I would have uh quit uh you know later in the year.
SPEAKER_01:How much I I've talked to several people who that probably not too dissimilar from you, but have hit their number. They have enough. They run the projections, the projections look good, the Monte Carlo looks good, the stress test looks good. But there's something about retiring in their 50s that doesn't feel right because Social Security is not kicking in, or they don't yet have Medicare. And it doesn't matter how much we model out the fact that your investments can support this, you can get other medical coverage. There's still this mental block of it. It's hard to know that your investments are what you're fully living off of. Did you experience any of that, or did hitting your number give you the reassurance that you were good regardless?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, definitely that is a concern. I mean, you know, yeah, you don't have a paycheck covered every week or month at every time now you have to pay for healthcare. That's like a big, a big change. Uh I think probably like I had mentioned earlier with the mortgage, once I get rid of the mortgage, the mortgage is you know, a big monthly payment, and I'm like, well, once I get rid of the mortgage, that money that I would have been putting towards the mortgage now essentially will easily cover my healthcare costs or my like insurance health insurance. So I'm kind of like, I don't want to have too big these, you know, like I don't want to add another expense. But if I can get rid of the mortgage expense, then basically uh I feel more comfortable with like having this increased expense with healthcare. Um but yeah, definitely that's that's a that's a a bit of a it's you know a tough one having to all of a sudden pay for pay for healthcare.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Um changing gears a little bit, Darren, I find that sometimes when people retire, they they're so used to the day-to-day, the busyness, they have deadlines, they have jobs, high stress. There's not a lot of time to just even explore the really bigger questions of life. Who am I? What do I like doing? Is there they almost don't know who they are by the time they actually retire. Have you learned anything about yourself that surprised you in these past eight months of not having that corporate job anymore?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I guess yeah, I I don't think any huge surprises. I think I kind of uh it kind of turned out the way I kind of expected, which is a surprise in of itself, because I wasn't sure it was gonna was gonna turn out uh kind of well where I was like enjoying it so much. Yeah. I think maybe one thing is that I uh even though I, like I said, I'm generally pretty routine oriented. So I always do have like a list of things I want to do every day. And I still find myself like rushing around to do like I have this thing to do it, I have this thing to do. And so I kind of make this like false stress for myself or some of these like false deadlines. So I also have to like stop myself and go, like, what are you doing? Like you're you don't need to be stressed by things. Like, don't like schedule two things to do, and there are three things to do in a day, like spread it out through the week. Don't you know, meet somebody for lunch and you have to get a haircut and then you're gonna go see a movie, and like I don't need to do three things a day, I can just do one thing a day. So I felt like yeah, I feel like maybe one thing is I kind of am trying to like like subconsciously introduce more stress kind of back to my life, and I have to like purposely go like, why are you doing that? You know, just relax. Uh, there's no you don't need to be rushing around all the time. Um uh yeah, just enjoy it and not not not you know, not not cause yourself uh unnecessary grief.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, love it. Um going back to what I said a little bit before, one thing that strikes me about you is you've you have felt all the same fears and concerns and maybe the anxieties that people leave in this position feel, but you went ahead and did it anyways. Is there a piece of advice you would give to the audience or something you would tell them, whether it's how to emotionally prepare, how to financially prepare, how to psychologically prepare? What advice would you give people who are sitting maybe in your shoes 12 months ago and knowing financially I can do this? I like work, I don't love it, but I don't know if I can bring myself to actually do the scary thing and tell my boss I'm gonna go retire.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I guess I'd say like, you know, it's not I, you know, I don't, I don't even really like like to use the retirement, uh, the word retirement. I genuinely tried to say stop working. And when I left my work, I didn't tell people I was retiring. I told people I was taking a year off, uh, which was potentially true. I didn't know if I was only gonna take a year off. So, you know, to me, I even do see a possibility of the future where I might uh work again in some capacity, like I uh like part-time or contract work or something like that, if I felt if an opportunity came along and I felt like I wanted to do it. Um so yeah, so I feel like, you know, it is a big step to make, but uh I think the sooner you do you if you can do it, you kind of owe it to yourself to do it. And then don't consider it the end of the line. You do have, you know, you have there's still lots of opportunity to work and things you can do. Um so uh yeah, so I think you know, for me, uh I I felt the soonest sooner I could do it the better. And you know, but you you can always readjust later if you need to, as long as you have done the due diligence of your finances. So if like you truly don't need to work again, then you kind of owe it to yourself, I think, to take the opportunity and do it.
SPEAKER_01:I I'm serious. I I think there's more wisdom to what you just said, even that I'm realizing for the first time in some ways, that the way we frame things really matters. And if this is framed as retirement, there's a certain amount of both finality to that that can be very scary. And there's this level of Darren's like retirement carries this connotation of I'm I'm done, I'm not working hard anymore, I'm just I'm retiring and you know, just lounge off in this life of nothingness now. But you're pursuing your health like you've never pursued. You're doing these things that you've never been. So there's this sense that you can still maintain this life full of vigor and excitement and adventure. It just is different than what life looked like before. So I think that what I'm hearing you say is the way you frame it is really important. I think there's actually a chargement of wisdom in that that this isn't our final. This is not setting anything in stone. And this isn't saying it's the end of the line for you. This is the beginning of a brand new adventure that can be filled with far more joy and structure and community and all the above if you approach it the right way and if you make the commitment to doing it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. I think, you know, yeah, retirement's a nice shorthand because people understand it when you say it, but like uh and it's complicated to be seg well, you know, adding a lot of uh, you know, qualifiers to things. But yeah, I I'm like, you know, who knows what, like I say, I'm in phase one, who knows what phase two or phase three looks like. And, you know, now I'm young enough that I can, you know, I still have other things that I could do. So I feel, you know, while you've got your health, uh, you know, you know, do it and then just figure it out.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Um, Darren, thank you very much for all this. If if you could tell the audience any final words, any final words of wisdom of why they should retire earlier. I'm using that word retire. I know we said just don't use it, but it's why they should potentially consider leaving their current employers early. What kind of words of wisdom would you give them?
SPEAKER_00:Uh yeah, yeah. I guess uh, like I said, I'd probably recommend, you know, doing it as soon as you can, but always make sure you're doing your due diligence. And, you know, so I guess uh weigh the pros and cons. Like there's a practical side of it. If you work longer and you save more money, you're gonna be more comfortable versus, you know, so you have to find that balance for yourself of like how, you know, when uh you know, when I was like looking at at uh retiring. I also looked at like you know moving to lower cost uh places of living or you're moving overseas to lower cost places like I looked at kind of all the spectrum of what is available to you. So yeah so I think basically it's up to you yourself to like understand your comfort comfort level when you feel like you can retire. And to me, once you feel confident you could retire in the manner that you feel uh you know financially uh that fits your lifestyle, you kind of owe it to yourself to do it. Uh so I would I would encourage I would encourage people encourage people to do it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Well very good Darren thank you so much. Thank you for joining me on this episode of Retirement Reality. Appreciate you sharing uh how the last eight months have gone and best of luck for everything ahead. Great yeah thank you for having me
