Retired by 50: Where are they now?

By Liz Pulliam Weston

The Great Recession has delayed retirement for many and sent some retirees back to work.

But the group of super-early retirees I profiled in "Retired by 50 -- what it really takes" are, for the most part, still thriving.

These families slashed their expenses and saved prodigiously to leave behind the 9-to-5 life decades ahead of their peers. Most did so while raising families and living in high-cost areas: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and suburban New Jersey.

Their retirements aren't traditional. Most still work, but typically in their own businesses where they call the shots and set the hours. Each family has adapted to the recession in its own ways, and most are confident their independent lifestyles will continue.

Brad and Janine Bolon

The Bolons saved enough to retire while raising four children in Southern California. Oh, yes, and they did it on one income: Brad's.

Janine home-schooled their kids while Brad worked a corporate job. Although his co-workers lived in sprawling houses in gated communities, the Bolons bought a 1,500-square-foot townhouse to keep their expenses down. After eight years in California, Brad quit his job, and the family moved to Cedar City, Utah.

Brad consulted for a local community college and started his own veterinary pathology business, analyzing slides sent to him from all over the country. Janine launched a part-time business teaching others her money-saving techniques.

Last year, the family moved again, to Longmont, Colo. Janine still home-schools the children, now ages 6 to 12, and Brad's business has continued to grow despite the recession.

"He keeps raising his rates," Janine said, "and he keeps getting more business."

The family's investments, which are heavily in stocks, got walloped by the crash last fall, although they've since recovered some lost ground. The Bolons are fairly unconcerned about the drop; they invested aggressively on purpose and they don't expect to tap the money for many years yet.

Janine believes that financially independent families like hers benefit from habits of thrift and sound planning, allowing them to better survive bad times.

"If they're self-made millionaires, the habits that got them where they are don't change," Bolon said. "It doesn't matter what happens in the economy. They're all going to be fine. It's the folks who are in debt who are hurting."

Fred Ecks and Ann Haebig

Fred Ecks' investment portfolio also took a big hit -- which might have been a big deal, because Ecks no longer works for money and relies on his investment income to live.

The good news is that his income hasn't changed much, because his stocks still pay about the same dividends and his bonds the same interest.

Video: Retirement savings and spending strategy

The fact that he lives so simply and inexpensively has allowed him to adapt easily even when his income varies.

"If you're short, it's by $100, not thousands," he said.

In fact, far from wrecking his finances, the recession provided an opportunity to move back to the state he loves, Colorado, where he and his girlfriend, Ann Haebig, are currently shopping for a home.

Ecks retired at the youngest age of any of my interviews: at 35, seven years after reading "Your Money or Your Life" and applying its principles with a vengeance. He saved 50% of his gross income working a variety of computer-related jobs and made a $100,000 profit buying and selling a condo in San Francisco.

He and Haebig then bought a houseboat for $3,100 and lived in a South San Francisco marina for a few years. As home prices started to tumble, the couple decided it was time to realize their dream of relocating to Boulder, Colo. What they're finding are plenty of great homes at much lower prices than a few years ago.

All in all, he said, "The recession has treated us pretty well," Ecks said.

Rob and Mary Bennett

The stock market crash didn't affect Rob and Mary Bennett at all. That's because Rob, who handles the family's investments, got out of stocks entirely in the mid-1990s.

That was a few years after Rob got laid off from his dream job as a journalist covering tax issues. The experience of being so financially vulnerable persuaded the couple to become financially independent as soon as possible.

Rob took a corporate job with an accounting firm covering the same tax issues for better pay. The couple began furiously paying down debt and saving for the future.

Rob retired at age 43, and in 2001 the family moved from the Washington, D.C., area to rural Virginia, where they live today.

Rob's investment Web site, Passionsaving.com, hasn't taken off the way he'd hoped. That's a problem, because the Bennetts had been counting on the extra income to help pay for the college educations of their two home-schooled sons, now 7 and 9.

"It's not like we don't have the money to get by day to day," Rob said. "But that's a dark cloud on the horizon."

So Rob is considering his options, including a possible return to the corporate world and a steady paycheck.

"I have to do something else at some point," Bennett said. "But I have no intention of doing that today."

Continued: Tom and Sandy Hennessey

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