10 Reasons You May Want to Retire Early

Picking the right time to retire is one of the most important parts of the equation, second only to building the right savings plan. Leave work too early, and you could outrun your savings; wait too long, and you could outwork your good health. Part of this decision is what “early” means to you. Will you retire at 62 or 50? Will you take Social Security at retirement or wait? Are you just retiring from your career, or will you stop working altogether? Your answers to these questions will define if, and how, you can plan an early retirement. While retiring early can have its considerations, here are 10 reasons you may want to consider it.

A financial advisor can help you put together a retirement plan focused on retiring early.

The first reason to retire early is also the most obvious: more time not working.

Ideally, your retirement will be an opportunity to enjoy the things in life you look forward to most. Hobbies, travel, reading, cooking, education, movies, romance… you’ll have time for it all. It is, to borrow the phrase, a life of Saturdays.

And the earlier you retire, the earlier it’s Friday night. You get to enjoy that life sooner, and you get to keep enjoying that life longer. It’s a powerful reason to retire as early as financially possible. 

One of the unfortunate realities of age is… age. Retirement is an opportunity to enjoy our hobbies after a lifetime of hard work, but it inevitably comes toward the end. Eventually, every retiree will age and their health will start to fail.

The earlier you retire, the more time you have to enjoy your passions in good health. You’ll have more years to freely and athletically travel, to enjoy good food without a strict diet, to fish without risk or pain, and to generally have the retirement you want. Old age will come eventually. An early retirement will let you get a jump on it.

Retirement doesn’t necessarily mean an end to work. It just means wrapping up your career and transitioning away from finance-forward work. This can create the opportunity to pursue other jobs and passions. Have you ever wanted to teach? Open your own business? Cook professionally? There are plenty of careers out there that might not have met your family or financial needs during your working life, but could be personally fulfilling opportunities in retirement.

The catch is that you’ll need time. There’s some work, like part-time positions and odd jobs, that you can pick up for a little while here and there. But bigger jobs will need a bigger commitment. If you retire early, you’ll have more time to pursue those work passions, possibly even with enough time to launch an entire second career, if you choose.

As life spans steadily increase, many retirees have their own parents and other aging family members to consider. This issue can become increasingly critical as you approach retirement age.

Retiring early might give you the chance to spend more time taking care of family members who need you. Whether parents, siblings or someone else, you can take care of them based on their needs and schedule, rather than having to put medical concerns off for work. You can also spend more time with them, taking care of your family members while you’re still in good health.

On the other hand, maybe you have family that doesn’t need you anymore.

If you have children, they have probably defined most of your personal and financial adult life. While this is a wonderful thing, it also limits your options. But with your children grown and out of the house, you have many more options. You can travel more widely, or even consider taking a job overseas. You can take a lower-paying job without needing to pay or save for dependents. And you can manage your schedule based entirely on your own needs.

Early retirement can let you take advantage of all of these newly expanded options.

You might choose to retire early for entirely financial reasons. The great risk of early retirement is that you might outlive your savings. So an excellent reason to consider early retirement is if you are confident that won’t happen.

If you’re considering early retirement, set a new series of goals for your portfolio(s). What will you need saved in order to retire at 62? Or 59? Or whatever age you have in mind? If you’re shooting even younger, how will you build taxed portfolios in parallel with tax-advantaged ones? 

You can estimate these numbers with a financial advisor. And if you’ve met that goal, then now might be a perfect time to retire for no other reason than because you can.

This is a very situational one.

You can begin to collect Social Security as early as age 62. However, if you do, you will collect reduced benefits for the rest of your life. Under most circumstances. this is a bad idea. Usually, you’re best off waiting to collect benefits until age 70, if possible. (This is true even if you retire early.) But there’s an exception to this rule.

Early retirement and Social Security might make sense if you need or have use for this money. For example, if you have a particularly valuable investment opportunity or need Social Security to pay urgent bills, then an early retirement for Social Security might be useful.

This is a subset of a fully-funded retirement.

Many people wait on retirement because they need to collect Social Security. They might otherwise have funded their portfolios and finished with their careers, but Social Security benefits are an essential part of their retirement plans. This can delay retirement until age 67 or even 70. 

On the other hand, you might not need those benefits. If your retirement account is fully funded and you don’t need Social Security benefits to pay for a comfortable lifestyle, then there’s no need to wait for the official retirement age. You can start planning your going away party right now.

You might also simply want out of your job. 

Many working professionals work very long hours, with particularly stressful jobs. You might have a high-stress white collar job, like being a lawyer or a doctor. Or you might have a physically taxing job, like working as a contractor or in natural resources. Whatever the reason, early retirement can often be an opportunity to leave a job that is taking its toll on your mentally and/or physically.

Because the sooner you step back, the sooner you’ll start to feel better.

Finally, you might have something specific you want to do.

Many retirees have specific plans for their retirement. They have a charity they want to support, a trip they want to take, or even just household projects they want to do. Many other people have plans with a spouse or loved ones. You and your spouse might have big plans for the lifestyle you want to build in retirement, say, and are eager to get on with it.

Regardless of exactly what your plans are, or with whom, early retirement is a chance to get started. The earlier you retire the sooner you can start living your dreams, and the longer you can enjoy that lifestyle.

Just make sure you can afford it.

Retiring early can be risky if you aren’t fully prepared. But if you do have the savings and a good plan, the above 10 reasons to retire early may encourage you to put your plan into action.

• Our comprehensive guide to early retirement can help you make this a priority, if early retirement is what you want to plan for.
• A financial advisor can help you build a comprehensive retirement plan. Finding a financial advisor doesn’t have to be hard. SmartAsset’s free tool matches you with up to three vetted financial advisors who serve your area, and you can have a free introductory call with your advisor matches to decide which one you feel is right for you. If you’re ready to find an advisor who can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now.

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