Retiring early means not having to work every day from 8 to 5 with an hour for lunch.  Or having to work every day from 7 to 5 with an hour for lunch.  Or having to work every day from 7 to 6 with an hour for lunch, just to pay your bills and give you and your family the life you and they deserve.  It means you are not working but the money still comes in every month.  It means you have everything taken care of financially and you’re not doing any manual labor to get it done.

When you think about it, it is really a dream come true.  You can go out and enjoy the day with your kids, or your wife, or the special person in your life and not have to worry about money.  For me retiring early meant I did not have to leave home and drive on the freeway in ice storms or through slush covered streets with people who did not know how to drive in the winter with snow and ice.

I got my inspiration, about retiring early, from two people.  The first was my cousin who was quite a bit older than I and retired after 20 years of working for the city planning department.  He was 42 and one weekend in October, he came over to our house and told us that he and his wife were leaving for Arizona.  My dad wanted to know how long he would be gone and he said, “We’ll be back in April.”

My dad could not believe it.  My cousin Tom was not that old.  How could he retire and move it Arizona for six months?  Well, Tom said, he retired from the city planning department.  He had purchased a fifth wheel (a type of camping trailer) with a pick up truck a few years ago and they were taking off to live where it was warm in the winter.

The second person I knew that retired early was a guy I worked with, when I was working at a local grocery store chain.  I was about 20, and was working the night shift stocking shelves.  This guy started working a month or two after I did and he already had seniority with the company.  He was 41 years old.  Come to find out he worked for the grocery chain before he went into the Navy, and when he got out of the Navy 20 years later, he went back.  He said he really liked working in that grocery store and that the people who were there at the time he worked there treated him really well.  He told everyone he would be back and here he was.

Being retired from the Navy after 20 years meant he had medical insurance, base privledges like cheap groceries, gasoline, liquor and lots of other things.  He also got ½ of his base pay for the rest of his life for he and his wife.  He was working at the grocery store to give him the extras in life; like a vacation home at the beach, college education for his girls, and a trip every summer to Europe.

That is when I decided I was going to retire as soon as I could.  I am not retired military so I didn’t retire at 40, and I didn’t work for the city or state so I didn’t retire at 45 either, but I did take early retirement.

Maybe I can help you take early retirement too.

Jeremiah John

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