Lifestyle

She Retired Early at 63 to Get Off Someone Else’s Time Clock. Then the Cost of Living Jumped: “I Cannot Travel the Way I Used to Anymore”

By Curtis Jones · November 4, 2026

Sharon had been working since she was a teenager when she decided, at 63, that she was done. More than a year later, she sat down in front of her camera to ask herself a hard question: was taking early retirement a mistake?

Sharon, who runs the YouTube channel Agelessrestyling (@agelessrestyling) and usually talks about fashion and travel, shared her answer in a video posted Nov. 3. She said she was formerly a “corporate accounting controller” and liked the company she worked for.

The reason she left had little to do with the job itself. “I’ve been working since I was 16 years old,” she said, and she no longer wanted to be on someone else’s schedule. “I wanted to be on my own time clock.” Retiring also let her help her daughter, who moved in with her, and spend time with her grandson, and it freed her to travel, which she loves.

She walks through her decision in her video on YouTube.

Then prices caught her off guard. “I was not expecting the cost of living to jump like it did,” she said, describing how a few things from the grocery store came to $200. “How is this $200? This was $100 last year.”

Sharon was clear that she can still pay her bills and is not struggling the way some people are. What changed was her plans. She said she was slow to adjust her spending after her paycheck stopped, and that she can no longer take several trips to Europe a year the way she once did. “I cannot travel the way I used to anymore,” she said, adding that it breaks her heart because travel was one of the things she looked forward to in retirement. She also wants to keep a reserve for whatever comes next.

Official numbers show prices are still climbing, though not evenly. In the 12 months ending in September, the Consumer Price Index rose 3.7%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Food at home was up 1.8% over that year, food away from home 3.5% and energy 20.4%, led by a 34.2% jump in gasoline. Airline fares rose 22.4%, which matters to anyone whose retirement plans include flying.

Sharon said she even “thought about going back to work” for two years. But because she claimed Social Security early, earning more could cut into her benefit. “I can take my full retirement at 67,” she said. The Social Security Administration confirms that full retirement age is 67 for people born in 1960 and later. For people under that age all year, the agency withholds $1 for every $2 earned above $24,480 in 2026, and earnings no longer reduce benefits starting the month a person reaches full retirement age.

A few points for anyone weighing an early exit:

Budget for the change. Sharon’s lesson was that adjusting her spending right away would have been easier than catching up later.

Know the earnings limit. If you claim before full retirement age and may go back to work, check how the annual limit applies to you.

Keep a cushion. Sharon said she keeps money set aside for the unexpected.

In the end, her answer to her own question was no. “For me, it was the best decision,” she said, because she was not happy going into the office.

This article is for general information and is not financial or legal advice. This article was produced with the assistance of AI and fact-checked against the sources cited by LightWave Reports.