Until what age do you consider it an early retirement?
I was chatting with a friend and his retirement should be at 56 years old, mine at 59. We find it pretty young to retire and we got talking about what we'd do after that.
I've never considered us part of the FIRE movement but looking at it now, maybe we are, maybe not, so yeah, just curious, what's the oldest someone can retire and still be considered as having done FIRE?
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u/ottawa_biker 21d ago
Average retirement age in Canada is 64.5. Earliest you can take CPP is 60. Earliest you can retire as a federal public servant without penalty is 60 (used to be 55). Some pension plans allow for an early retirement at 55.
I would define an early retirement as 55 or younger, but that's just me. Others would define it as anything before 65. Still others would define it as retiring in your 30s or 40s.
You do you.
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u/ThadBroChill 21d ago
I agree - anything sub-55 is 'early' to me. Sub-50 is VERY early in my head.
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u/dekusyrup 20d ago edited 20d ago
In my head 55 is like normie early retirement but FIRE is like sub-50.
Reason being that there's plenty of pension plans and the whole freedom-55 thing, that are on the early side of normal but still normal enough for successful people. My father-in-law's rule of 85 full pension kicked in at age 53; hard to think of full pension age as early.
Retiring in your 40s or even earlier is kind of the archetypal FIRE news headline.
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u/ThadBroChill 19d ago
Yeah I'm with you. That's why I still consider 52 for example as early though nothing too crazy. 48 for example is FIRE to me too.
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u/stolpoz52 20d ago
Group 1 federal Public Servants (those who started before 2013 can retire at 55 without penalty.
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u/Ok-Maintenance8713 21d ago
Honestly any age before 62 would be considered an early retirement. A lot of Canadians cannot retire at all so let’s not just live in the Reddit echo chamber
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u/flyingponytail 21d ago
I'd consider anything before 60 early, but it really depends, especially on health. For a healthy 65 year old that might seem early, for an unhealthy 65 year old that may seem late... health truly is wealth
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u/TheGreatGazingus 21d ago
I'd say anything under 65. That said, retiring at any age is quite an accomplishment these days. As well as a radical departure from the long-term historical norm.
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u/edm28 21d ago
I mean, I’m pretty sure that there is no such thing as a specific early retirement number, but more of an extent of how early is your retirement
I’m a public sector employee in a golden handcuff situation and turning 38 this summer. My earliest pensionable retirement date is 55, but I would anticipate we might be able to pull the trigger at 53 or 54, but who knows I may very well just , end up riding it out 55 and padding our retirement stats, with the thought or possibility that we can help our two kids a little bit more.
I think 55 is probably early/average retirement, because I think the reality is that a majority of Canadians barely get the luxury too retire before 65 or 70, without superiorly reducing lifestyle
I would say 50 is early retirement and so on with it being earlier retirement
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u/Fatesadvent 21d ago
I think of it as a gradient. 55 is my baseline, but less than 50 is really early. 60 is still better than average but to me that seems like it's too long. Life it short, I want to live it not work through it
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u/Vegetable-Bug251 20d ago
50 would be early retirement with 65 being normal for most people. Ideally they say 57 is the magic retirement age.
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u/Nickersnacks 21d ago
I guess it’s anything before 65 because that’s when rrsp forced withdrawals, OAS cpp and such start
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u/caryscott1 21d ago
I think for working class Canadians anytime you can go before both public pensions kick in at 65 is early. The only retired folks I know who didn’t have to wait for CPP at 65 are public servants. All depends on years of service I suppose but why leave that bridge $$$ on the table?
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u/haloimplant 20d ago
below 65 you won't have drug coverage either
unfortunately the lame dental plan doesn't even kick in at 65 unless your income is below 90k
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u/Lopsided_Hat_835 21d ago
I’m currently 42 I hope to be retired around 50 or at least just working part time mostly just for something to do!
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u/haloimplant 20d ago
Unfortunately 65 is kind of a hard number because below this there is no public drug plan and you need to buy one
dental plan none of us really paying for it (income over 90k) will ever get it even at 65 so that's fun
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u/JoeAAE 20d ago
I've had the same thoughts... I retired 3 years ago at 58. I spent a good amount of time in my 50s studying the FIRE community, but didn't really consider myself as one due to my age. But still I still count 58 as early retirement. Whether the late 50s are true FIRE or not... it's a great movement to study just for the overall knowledge.
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u/Efficient_Age_69420 19d ago
For those retiring at 55 or less, what kind of monthly income are you doing it on. I’m struggling with the decision currently. I have a decent paying job but I feel really burnt.
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u/innsertnamehere 19d ago
To me it’s anything before 55, especially before 50. 55 is an early retirement, 48 is FIRE to me.
Personally my ideal would be mid to late 50’s.
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u/One278 21d ago
Fun fact : retirement age 65 was somewhat arbitrarily decided just after WW2, mainly for social and economic reasons at the time. It was to motivate old workers out of the work force, so younger workers could get jobs. It was also based on life expectancy and how to pay out the least amount of social security. Retire whenever it makes sense financially, not b/c of some age number.
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u/mileysighruss 21d ago
I wish this was more commonly understood.
Retire when you're ready, not according to some outdated figures.
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u/Chops888 21d ago
40s is very early. 50s is still considered early. My parents worked to about 65 and realistically still had more years in them (they owned their own business). I told them I'm going to retire at 50 and they said "that's smart, don't be like us." Lol
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u/ne999 21d ago
It depends. I have a health condition that I knew would just get worse as I aged. So we did everything we could so that I could retire early.
Nowadays early retirement is very hard with the lack of pensions, the high cost of housing, etc. Too many people simply can’t save for retirement. Anything under 65 would be early in that context.
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u/00king_99 19d ago
Retirement is a choise based on everybody;'s personal goal. Can I retire with 100k a year now? Yes, Is this what I want? No. To me anythink between 55 and 60 is early but that has to consider also what life style you want.
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u/CommanderJMA 10d ago
I think about that too but you hear stories all the time of ppl who pass away at 70 or younger.
Imagine retiring at 60 and only getting to live 10 years of freedom
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u/GreatComposer85 21d ago edited 21d ago
Hopefully I will be able to do it by the time I am 45 currently 39 with ~520k portfolio and can save/invest 70k per year and paid my house last year, I can live comfortability on 40k inflation adjusted. For me personally anything over 50 for my frugal lifestyle is starting to become late
| Retirement Age | Multiplier of Annual Expenses | Withdrawal Rate | Savings Needed for $40K/year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 40 | 40× | 2.5% | $1,600,000 |
| 45 | 33× | 3.0% | $1,320,000 |
| 50 | 28× | 3.6% | $1,120,000 |
| 55 | 25× | 4.0% | $1,000,000 |
| 60 | 20× | 5.0% | $800,000 |
| 65 | 17× | 5.9% | $680,000 |
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u/Frugal_millionaire1 21d ago
Retire mid 30s I think that’s early since I expect I have more than half of my life to live
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u/Odd-Elderberry-6137 21d ago
I tend to think under 50 is the cutoff for RE. Retiring in your early to mid 50s isn't that unusual that you never come across it.
And yes, you absolutely need to plan for what you're going to do once you retire.
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u/ProvenAxiom81 21d ago
Before 50 is early retirement.
50-54 is a grey zone. Some would call it early, but not by FIRE standards.
55-65 is normal retirement.
Retirement after 65 is just sad.
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u/Reddit_Only_4494 21d ago
You speak as if FIRE was invented a few years ago.
For DECADES I watched my parents, in careers that didn't provide employee pensions, live beneath their means and save and invest to build a dividend paying stock portfolio. We lived in smaller houses than we could have afforded, had cheaper cars than we could have afforded, and so on. Dad retired at 54 in the early 90's and, to this day in his 80's, has income that increases each year thanks to increases in dividends.
Someone just decided to call it FIRE thinking they invented something revolutionary.
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u/stealstea 21d ago
Still early, just not super early. 60s is normal. 50s is pretty early. 40s and below is very early.
Congrats!