Retiring Early: Planning Out Your Exit Strategy

Are you happy with your current job? In general, US employees are satisfied with their work life. According to a 2016 Pew Research Center study, about half (49%) of American workers say they are very satisfied with their current job. Yet, 30% of them are somewhat satisfied, and the remainder says they are slightly dissatisfied (9%) or very dissatisfied (6%). When individuals are not happy at work, this mindset impacts other aspects of their lives.With that said, some people have careers that absorbed them and make them unhappy.

When I wrote my new book, Mapping Out Life After Retirement, I hope to assist prospective and current retirees on how to have a more fulfilled life. Effective planning is one of the essential ingredients. This article discusses how individuals can retire early with the right kind of strategy. In most cases, prospective retirees are working on without a meaningful plan for retirement and lack a good exit strategy from their current employment.

Retiring early is a difficult task in today's financial requirements for living. In 2016, I retired from my career of 27 years at the age of 50 years old. Waiting for me was my abbreviated pension and my ideal job (started the same month that I retired). To retire early is indeed a blessing from God. However, I had planned my exit strategy for several years.

Yet, millions of Boomers may not be physically and mentally ready for retirement savings today to retire. This reality is troubling after working long hours, taking care of families, putting children through school, and even caring for their senior parents. In the Insured Retirement Institute (IRI) survey, "Boomers Expectations for Retirement 2016, there are some startling statistics that will clarify some of the challenges for a Baby Boomer retirement:

• The percentage of Baby Boomers who are satisfied with how their lives are going from an economic perspective has fallen to 43%, which is the lowest level since 2011.

• Boomers are less confident than they were five years ago about almost every aspect of retirement.

• Among the 55% of Boomers with retirement savings, 58% have saved $100,000 or more for retirement. When Boomers work with financial advisors, this increases to 78%.

• Only one in four Boomers expect significant income from an employer-provided pension.

• One in five Boomers are worried they will not have enough savings for necessary expenses.

As the statistics have shown you, there are many reasons why many Baby Boomers will not retire anytime soon due to the current economic conditions and their lack of serious planning. In this case, retiring early will take a different strategy to be successful. Thus, sitting down and mapping out a personal exit strategy for retirement is critical.

This situation means talking with wise advisors, family, and former co-workers who are retired. In many cases, most retirees are happy to discuss their experience with retiring, including their mistakes and pitfalls. Based on my own exit strategy I utilized in my retirement.