A practical, 5-step checklist for early retirement. Savings, health insurance, risk protection, taxes, and lifestyle planning—plus a 10-minute readiness quiz.
Kids are sometimes why people want to retire early or shift to part-time work, so they can spend more time while their kids are still at home.
Is that part of what you’re thinking about?
A few additional things to consider when planning to retire earlier with kids:
- If your kids are still living at home, their expenses are your expenses. That needs to be reflected in your cash-flow planning (Step 1).
- Many parents want to have college largely funded before retiring. Regular contributions to a 529 plan can help, but timing matters. College costs often hit right when early retirees are newly out of the workforce, which can push you toward a lower withdrawal rate, a larger cash buffer, or some light income during those years.
- You may also want to leave a bequest to your children. That’s optional, of course, but it does affect how much you need to save and how conservatively you plan.
“You have something to retire to and a community to share it with.”
I see everything through a lens of meaning, so I was excited by this bullet point… I thought it might be referring to both Transcendent Purpose and Authentic Belonging, two of our sources of meaning.
But the detailed description was fairly tactical about when to travel and how to structure an average day.
So I’ll just ask: how important do you think purpose is in retirement?
+1000 Dirk. I think purpose is important at every age of life. Retirement is just the time when you have no choice but to confront it because you don't have a bunch of things that take your attention all day.
I think about the social connection and community part of this quite often. Now that I'm in my middle ages, I have seen how easy it is to lose touch and drift apart from people. This year, I have a personal goal to prioritize spending time with people I care. I'm forcing myself to answer the phone when people call and make time to get together even if it means I have to put some work down or skip a workout or whatever - because it's just so important that we maintain that social connection.
I enjoyed hearing about how you prioritized your mini-retirement. Way to go!
Thank you, appreciate the note! It was some work to make happen, but so worth it!
Do you have kids? How would that change this calculus?
Hi Sumanth, great question.
Kids are sometimes why people want to retire early or shift to part-time work, so they can spend more time while their kids are still at home.
Is that part of what you’re thinking about?
A few additional things to consider when planning to retire earlier with kids:
- If your kids are still living at home, their expenses are your expenses. That needs to be reflected in your cash-flow planning (Step 1).
- Many parents want to have college largely funded before retiring. Regular contributions to a 529 plan can help, but timing matters. College costs often hit right when early retirees are newly out of the workforce, which can push you toward a lower withdrawal rate, a larger cash buffer, or some light income during those years.
- You may also want to leave a bequest to your children. That’s optional, of course, but it does affect how much you need to save and how conservatively you plan.
“You have something to retire to and a community to share it with.”
I see everything through a lens of meaning, so I was excited by this bullet point… I thought it might be referring to both Transcendent Purpose and Authentic Belonging, two of our sources of meaning.
But the detailed description was fairly tactical about when to travel and how to structure an average day.
So I’ll just ask: how important do you think purpose is in retirement?
+1000 Dirk. I think purpose is important at every age of life. Retirement is just the time when you have no choice but to confront it because you don't have a bunch of things that take your attention all day.
I think about the social connection and community part of this quite often. Now that I'm in my middle ages, I have seen how easy it is to lose touch and drift apart from people. This year, I have a personal goal to prioritize spending time with people I care. I'm forcing myself to answer the phone when people call and make time to get together even if it means I have to put some work down or skip a workout or whatever - because it's just so important that we maintain that social connection.