The Price I Pay For Retiring Early — The Problems I Have

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When My husband and I first started planning on our retirement. I was only 46 and he was 52. Though we were far from being financially independent, we just had to be smart with our money, after all, these funds had to last us for a while.

Once we announced our retirement plans to both family and friends. We were approached in private numerous times with the same statements and questions. This question would typically start off with the statement - You guys must be doing really well. Then it was followed by I wish I was in the position that you guys are in. Then came the question — What did you guys do and how much does it take to be able to retire early.

We never actually would give a clear answer to these questions. We both feel it’s not what you have that matters, it’s what you do with what you have that counts. For us it was simple. We chose to pursue a simpler lifestyle and went after it. The biggest difference is now we are on a limited budget and we can’t always do what we want to do when we want to do it. Before we enter retirement, this wasn’t a problem

Now that we are several years into our early retirement. I’m about to turn 50 and my husband is almost 55. Retirement is not what we both expected.