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Poll: Are you planning an early retirement?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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Jan 27, 2017

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Are you planning an early retirement?".

This poll was originally submitted by NancyLynn. View the poll results »



 
Ricki Farn
Ricki Farn
Germany
Local time: 10:05
English to German
No (whether I could or not) Jan 27, 2017

One of my main reasons for going freelance was that I did not want to end up counting the days until retirement like some prisoner in a movie (scratching tally marks on the wall).

If I get bored or annoyed with my job, I might change my customer base, text type, content specialization or something, but not retire altogether. You can have my ergonomic keyboard as soon as my hands tremble so much that you can easily pull it out from under them, and not one day earlier!

(H
... See more
One of my main reasons for going freelance was that I did not want to end up counting the days until retirement like some prisoner in a movie (scratching tally marks on the wall).

If I get bored or annoyed with my job, I might change my customer base, text type, content specialization or something, but not retire altogether. You can have my ergonomic keyboard as soon as my hands tremble so much that you can easily pull it out from under them, and not one day earlier!

(Heh. I didn't know that this was originally an NRA slogan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_my_cold,_dead_hands )
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Muriel Vasconcellos
Muriel Vasconcellos  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 02:05
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
No - already long past retirement age Jan 27, 2017

I'm still working long past when I had planned to. My clients keep sending me work, and as long as I can do it, I believes that it staves off old age (and keeps my dog well fed).

 
EvaVer (X)
EvaVer (X)  Identity Verified
Local time: 10:05
Czech to French
+ ...
I did when I was younger Jan 27, 2017

and worked hard to be able to. Now I am 55, which is my planned retirement age (my legal retirement age is 64 and a few months), and could afford to (provided I spend my retirement modestly) but it is not so simple. I have a large number of clients, many of whom depend on me (everyone can be replaced, I know, but I translate some special language pairs and subjects where it seems difficult), and I am now so used to work all the time that frankly I don't know what I would do. I try at least to re... See more
and worked hard to be able to. Now I am 55, which is my planned retirement age (my legal retirement age is 64 and a few months), and could afford to (provided I spend my retirement modestly) but it is not so simple. I have a large number of clients, many of whom depend on me (everyone can be replaced, I know, but I translate some special language pairs and subjects where it seems difficult), and I am now so used to work all the time that frankly I don't know what I would do. I try at least to reduce my workload by being more picky, and I stopped interpreting a year ago, thus getting rid of the part of my business that was a burden. But just now, I really cannot see how I will be able to stop within the next 10 years.Collapse


 
Elizabeth Tamblin
Elizabeth Tamblin  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:05
French to English
No Jan 27, 2017

If I survive to retirement age, I will have to keep on doing some kind of work. I don't really have anything else that I like doing (a bit sad, I know).

 
Ana Vozone
Ana Vozone  Identity Verified
Local time: 09:05
Member (2010)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
I would if I could Jan 27, 2017

retire at the regular age, but I doubt that my pension will be enough to provide for my financial needs, so I suppose I will have to continue to work for as long as I can. I do not even know how much my pension will be, and those who should know (Social Security) do not know either...

 
Michael Wetzel
Michael Wetzel  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 10:05
German to English
At the age of 39, I intend to retire as soon as possible (maybe at 60 or so). Jan 27, 2017

I wouldn't completely give up working for money until I'm 67 (or whatever the age of retirement has crept up to by the time I get there). It's important that I earn a certain (minimal) amount of money per year (currently between one and two months' earnings) in order to maintain my public health insurance and avoid penalties on my public retirement benefits.

And the specific age depends on how the price of our condominium develops (and our options for profitably and appropriately do
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I wouldn't completely give up working for money until I'm 67 (or whatever the age of retirement has crept up to by the time I get there). It's important that I earn a certain (minimal) amount of money per year (currently between one and two months' earnings) in order to maintain my public health insurance and avoid penalties on my public retirement benefits.

And the specific age depends on how the price of our condominium develops (and our options for profitably and appropriately downsizing), how much we are able to save and invest, and how long it takes for our children to convince us of their financial self-sufficiency.

And I don't intend to stop working, I just intend to stop working for money. I hope I would do things that I enjoy (including translating) as a full-time "job" and also travel more, get to exhibitions more often, get more exercise and spend more time outdoors in general, do more for my personal well-being, and also spend more time enjoying pastimes that have no intrinsic value.

At the same time, I have no idea what I will feel like in 20 years or after one or two years of living in a state that currently sounds so utopic.
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Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 09:05
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
No Jan 27, 2017

I started freelancing when I retired from my in-house position, so I’m well beyond retiring age. If genes have to be blamed, my father worked as a consultant until the day he died (at 93) and my mother (she is 103) says that the worst decision she ever took was to stop working at 95… Even if I won the lottery, I'll keep on working as I'm a great believer in keeping the brain working as you get older.

 
Catherine De Crignis
Catherine De Crignis  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 10:05
Member (2012)
English to French
+ ...
) - ; Jan 27, 2017

Rather unamusing for a Friday laugh...
Vaguely hoping to be able to slow down before it's too late. "Early retirement" was never a part of my generation's vocabulary.


 
Gianluca Marras
Gianluca Marras  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 10:05
English to Italian
sorry can't stop laughing Jan 27, 2017

Well...
let's put it this way:
In Italy the future is not so bright in this sense... so if anyone in Italy thinks his/her pension will be enough to live he/she is gonna have a very bad surprise.
So thinking about early retirement sounds a bit unrealistic


 
Christopher Schröder
Christopher Schröder
United Kingdom
Member (2011)
Swedish to English
+ ...
Yes Jan 27, 2017

I've set aside about a third of my earnings throughout my working life and I plan to enjoy that little nest egg before I'm too old and decrepit to do so.

I haven't worked full-time since my 30s, and I'll probably wind down to a couple of days at 50 and stop completely by 60.

Life is for living.


 
Anton Konashenok
Anton Konashenok  Identity Verified
Czech Republic
Local time: 10:05
French to English
+ ...
No way! Jan 27, 2017

I don't plan to retire, ever. I may change a career, though.

 
Michael Harris
Michael Harris  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 10:05
Member (2006)
German to English
Other Jan 27, 2017

Chris S wrote:

I've set aside about a third of my earnings throughout my working life and I plan to enjoy that little nest egg before I'm too old and decrepit to do so.

I haven't worked full-time since my 30s, and I'll probably wind down to a couple of days at 50 and stop completely by 60.

Life is for living.


If I can afford it then yes, but otherwise agree with you there Chris. Another 9 years and my mortgage is gone and I will start enjoying myself thn anyway.


 
DZiW (X)
DZiW (X)
Ukraine
English to Russian
+ ...
Life is always deadly fatal Jan 27, 2017

Old and useless...If such a retirement implies 'not doing anything useful', then I'd rather not, because for me it's very similar to "Are you planning an early retirement from life?" Not even close)

If it is about a retirement from very translation, then I'm about to further diversify my income via several opportunities, including home based ones, which are less saturated and have little to nothing to do with translation.


 
Alexander Kondorsky
Alexander Kondorsky  Identity Verified
Russian Federation
Local time: 12:05
English to Russian
+ ...
What's retirement for a freelancer? Jan 27, 2017

I figure out, becoming a freelance translator is already kind of retirement. After all, you stay home or elsewhere as long as you wish and set your work hours by your own choice.

 
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Poll: Are you planning an early retirement?






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