If you retire in “Q4,” it can kill you.  That is using “Doom Loop language.”

Think about it.

Most people don’t like “doing nothing” and the aren’t very good at it.

Those two attributes put you in the fourth quadrant (Q4) of the Doom Loop where you are unhappy and miserable.

Significant evidence points to the fact that retirement–particularly early retirement–can lead to premature death, or, at best, a significant decline in personal health.

In 2005, a study of Shell Oil employees showed that individuals who retire at age 55 and live to be at least 65 die sooner than people who retire at age 65.  After age 65, the early retirees have a 37% higher risk of death than their counterparts who retired at 65.  Moreover, the study showed that people who retire at age 55 are 89% more likely to die in the 10 years after retirement than those who retire at 65.

There is a lot more to retirement than just financial security.

Make sure you have something you like to do . . . and you don’t necessarily have to be good at it.

In other words, retire somewhere in Q1 or Q2 or a combination thereof.

Think about it!

~ CCJ