Retired Early, Get Strange Looks When I Tell Others I'm Retired (55, acquaintance)

[elchevere]

Greetings:

Was fortunate to be in a position to retire early and comfortably at age 59.5 by choice and in great physical shape. Early on in my retirement a year or two ago when people asked what I do for a living and I replied that I am retired I got strange looks from some--as if I was lazy and/or unemployed by choice.

When asked today, I recently began telling people I'm an Equity Day Trader (I do manage a portion of my retirement portfolio, besides having it professionally managed) and Consultant (I've been approached by a couple of companies who have occasional opportunities from others willing to pay for an hour or two phone conversation with me based on my Consumer Packaged Goods and Technology background)...either way, it sounds like I'm still a productive member of society even though I am happily retired.

[BOBNCHI]

You look too young is one reason. But I found when I retired at 57 others in the same age range ask the question are a bit taken aback, the likely reason....... they were a bit envious.

[flyingsaucermom]

That doesn’t sound particularly early.

Also you can still be a productive member of society even if you aren’t on payroll.

[Dave_n_Tenn]

We'll need a picture of that 'strange look' so we can judge for ourselves.

All I ever got was high fives... and people saying "livin' the dream'.

[elchevere]

yeah, that was my guess...they (some older, some younger) claimed they weren't judging me but many--not all--of them probably wish they were in my position.

Originally Posted by BOBNCHI

You look too young is one reason. But I found when I retired at 57 others in the same age range ask the question are a bit taken aback, the likely reason....... they were a bit envious.

[ysr_racer]

Same thing happenes to us, we're in our 50s, and retired.

[grampaTom]

When strangers ask me what I do I tell them I'm a pimp. I look a lot like Radar O'Reilly and the looks on their faces is priceless.

[GuyInSD]

Well I retired almost exactly a month ago, at the ripe age of 56 and 1 month; the nearly universal reaction I get from acquaintances (who don't know how old I am) is somewhere between surprise and incredulousness - quickly followed by "how old are you?!!??"

I assume a large part of the reason for this is that I still look as if I'm in my early 40s (before Microsoft pulled the plug on how-old.net sometime in the past year, I'd regularly upload recent pictures of myself to check, and the results were in-line with what my friends and acquaintances guess my age to be).

After that, though, the reaction is pretty much congratulations and sometimes a tinge of jealousy/wishfulness to be able to do the same.

[ansible90]

Originally Posted by elchevere

Greetings:

Was fortunate to be in a position to retire early and comfortably at age 59.5 by choice and in great physical shape. Early on in my retirement a year or two ago when people asked what I do for a living and I replied that I am retired I got strange looks from some--as if I was lazy and/or unemployed by choice.

When asked today, I recently began telling people I'm an Equity Day Trader (I do manage a portion of my retirement portfolio, besides having it professionally managed) and Consultant (I've been approached by a couple of companies who have occasional opportunities from others willing to pay for an hour or two phone conversation with me based on my Consumer Packaged Goods and Technology background)...either way, it sounds like I'm still a productive member of society even though I am happily retired.

Originally Posted by flyingsaucermom

That doesn’t sound particularly early.

Also you can still be a productive member of society even if you aren’t on payroll.

Once one is retired, why would anyone expect to be a productive member of society? I produced plenty during my working years, and I saved so I could live an unproductive life in retirement. Very happy being unproductive for 11 years.

[upnorthretiree]

I retired at 55 and can’t remember anyone having any notable reactions. But part of that probably was retiring from the federal government in the dc metro area. At the time, lots of employees my age were in the old retirement system, as was I, and in an area flooded with civil service employees, retirement at 55 was nothing unusual. Then a few months after retiring, I moved into my retirement home quite a distance from DC, and knowing nobody there, there was nobody to wonder much about my age or circumstances. By the time I got to know people better, I was a bit older, and the basic details of my retirement didn’t really come up much. I have had lots of conversations with other retirees living here about many of the topics we discuss on this forum, which we can ponder and discuss for hours, and which is sort of fun.