Pucky Freak
Well-known member
I’m considering retiring early to hunt more, and I’m curious to hear from others who have done it, considered it, or are planning on doing it. I know it’s still a long ways off, and a hundred things can change between now and then, but I’d like to have a start of a plan now rather than just stumble upon it and wish I’d planned some things out differently 15 years prior, etc.
There are a lot of factors involved, so I’ll list them below by topic, with some notes with hypothetical retirement ages of 50, 55, 60, and 65. Please comment on any oversights or misunderstandings I might have.
Here’s my situation - I’m 37 and I’m eligible for what is essentially an LE retirement at 48. My wife stays at home with our kids ages 3, 1, 1. We live well below our means and save/invest more aggressively then most.
Boredom
It seems that most retirees end up returning to work in some capacity within a year of retirement. This is difficult for me to wrap my head around as I have about fifty hobbies I like to do if I had more time, I’m a homebody, I don’t need to work to have a social life or feel like I’m doing something important, etc.
50 - still have kids at home, so unlikely to be bored, etc
55-65 - I figure I can always volunteer more, conservation, donate expertise related to my profession, etc, if I need to have a workplace-like activity.
Hunt financing vs youth/health
I’m enjoy small game hunting, and inexpensive big game hunting, but there are a few hunts I want to do that run a bit more (guided moose, caribou drop hunt, etc) so available funds to hunt is somewhat of a factor
50 - I’m likely to still be in great health. However, I’d really need to plan the higher dollar hunts carefully. If I stay at my job I’ll have 5 vacation weeks/year, but if I left I’d still need an income stream to bridge until age 55, as all my retirement funds are currently tied up in tax-advantaged shelters that I can’t withdraw early. I could open a brokerage account, but it seems risky to put any funds in there until my tax-advantaged contributions are maxed out, which as of today they’re not. My line of work is not conducive to being gone 3 months of the year during hunting season, so to have an income from seasonal work, I’d likely have to switch industries and take a pay cut on the order of 50%. Plus even with all the extra time available from leaving a full time job, I’ll still have kids at home so it’s not like I’ll be out hunting all the time anyways.
55 - If I keep taking care of my body, I have a very good chance of still being able to hunt hard on DIY trips in the mountains, etc. If I someday catch the bug to do a lot of higher dollar hunts I’d have to be selective on what I could do.
60 - My worry is I’ll regret having worked too many years and run myself out of health before I had the opportunity to hunt as much as I wanted to.
65 - I’d be able to go on just about any hunt I could imagine, but who knows if I’d have the health to do so or even still be alive. Retiring at this age seems less appealing than at 50.
Healthcare
50 - I’d have to buy insurance on the open market, join my wife’s employers’ plan IF she had even returned to full time work, or join a health sharing plan. All are riskier and more expensive than my current plan.
55 - Under current laws my kids can stay on my insurance plan until they’re 26. That seems a nice gift and one way to help them get established as adults, etc, but that’s a lot easier to do with my work-sponsored plan than an alternative.
60 - At this point bridging 5 years until Medicare would not be a significant financial burden due to accumulated wealth
65 - Medicare eligible
...
I’ve talked it over with my wife and retiring at 50 seems a bit of a pipe dream, unless something significant changes in our situation, and I’m not sure I’d really want to make any crazy changes anyways. I think 55 is fairly realistic goal as long as I plan carefully for it.
There are a lot of factors involved, so I’ll list them below by topic, with some notes with hypothetical retirement ages of 50, 55, 60, and 65. Please comment on any oversights or misunderstandings I might have.
Here’s my situation - I’m 37 and I’m eligible for what is essentially an LE retirement at 48. My wife stays at home with our kids ages 3, 1, 1. We live well below our means and save/invest more aggressively then most.
Boredom
It seems that most retirees end up returning to work in some capacity within a year of retirement. This is difficult for me to wrap my head around as I have about fifty hobbies I like to do if I had more time, I’m a homebody, I don’t need to work to have a social life or feel like I’m doing something important, etc.
50 - still have kids at home, so unlikely to be bored, etc
55-65 - I figure I can always volunteer more, conservation, donate expertise related to my profession, etc, if I need to have a workplace-like activity.
Hunt financing vs youth/health
I’m enjoy small game hunting, and inexpensive big game hunting, but there are a few hunts I want to do that run a bit more (guided moose, caribou drop hunt, etc) so available funds to hunt is somewhat of a factor
50 - I’m likely to still be in great health. However, I’d really need to plan the higher dollar hunts carefully. If I stay at my job I’ll have 5 vacation weeks/year, but if I left I’d still need an income stream to bridge until age 55, as all my retirement funds are currently tied up in tax-advantaged shelters that I can’t withdraw early. I could open a brokerage account, but it seems risky to put any funds in there until my tax-advantaged contributions are maxed out, which as of today they’re not. My line of work is not conducive to being gone 3 months of the year during hunting season, so to have an income from seasonal work, I’d likely have to switch industries and take a pay cut on the order of 50%. Plus even with all the extra time available from leaving a full time job, I’ll still have kids at home so it’s not like I’ll be out hunting all the time anyways.
55 - If I keep taking care of my body, I have a very good chance of still being able to hunt hard on DIY trips in the mountains, etc. If I someday catch the bug to do a lot of higher dollar hunts I’d have to be selective on what I could do.
60 - My worry is I’ll regret having worked too many years and run myself out of health before I had the opportunity to hunt as much as I wanted to.
65 - I’d be able to go on just about any hunt I could imagine, but who knows if I’d have the health to do so or even still be alive. Retiring at this age seems less appealing than at 50.
Healthcare
50 - I’d have to buy insurance on the open market, join my wife’s employers’ plan IF she had even returned to full time work, or join a health sharing plan. All are riskier and more expensive than my current plan.
55 - Under current laws my kids can stay on my insurance plan until they’re 26. That seems a nice gift and one way to help them get established as adults, etc, but that’s a lot easier to do with my work-sponsored plan than an alternative.
60 - At this point bridging 5 years until Medicare would not be a significant financial burden due to accumulated wealth
65 - Medicare eligible
...
I’ve talked it over with my wife and retiring at 50 seems a bit of a pipe dream, unless something significant changes in our situation, and I’m not sure I’d really want to make any crazy changes anyways. I think 55 is fairly realistic goal as long as I plan carefully for it.
