retire early

a really conservative estimate says I may be ready to retire at age 51. An overly opptomistic projection says 31. As you might guess, a reasonable estimate says 40.

This is not full retirement, but it would allow me to replace my current spending with drawn funds. I would still be dependant upon some part time employment to provide or pay for health insurance, to allow me to add enough to keep up with any inflation, and to replenish any emergency expenses.

It seems like every time I consider the possibility of being able to retire “early,” circumstances tend to push the thought of retirement back a bit. It’s not that I don’t like working, it’s just that I work-to-live and can think of all kinds of things to do once I do take the retirement plunge. In other words, I don’t live to work.

That being said, I have to make sure I have enough retirement income to enjoy myself and stay above the poverty line. ;)

Too many recent stories have disturbed me, about people who have been retired for 5 years having to go back to work because their nest egg has been decimated by the recession. I don’t think I want to do that, so I would rather stay working for an extra year or two, so that I won’t have to wonder how I am going to pay my bills at the end of the month.

Please tell me fellow 43Thingers, what age would you consider to be “early retirement?” Freedom 55? Age 60? All of my older friends who have already retired seem to be having a great time and have far less stress now.

I have reached a milestone in our investment, thanks to the upward trending stocks. I’m so glad I started non retirement investing in early march. Turns out that was the perfect time. This year our main focus will be stocks, since there is such a crazy good sale going on. Next year we will probably reduce how much we are putting in a little so we can save more cash for real estate investment (land) or a rental home.

Having recently been laid off and my husband working on commission things have been a little questionable around here. I’m so thankful that a friend of mine turned us onto ACN. Now I can work from home and control my portion of our income. How awesome is that? I know that it’s going to take a couple of years for financial security to arrive. But it’s worth all the time and effort. Our children are now part of our team. If they work like we do, some of them will be retiring at 26. Holy cow, to have had this opportunity at their age.

Dunno if this is going to happen now, with the downturn in the global investment marketplace. I guess I’m fortunate that I don’t have a defined contribution plan, but I might have to delay my retirement later, if I don’t get my mortgage and other debts paid off.

I’ve heard some very sad stories about some people who have been retired for 5 years having to go back to work full-time recently! That must have been very difficult for them.

What bothers me about the workplace is that employers used to complain that employees weren’t loyal enough. With all that has been going on lately concerning layoffs and downsizing, it’s no wonder employees are no longer loyal to their employers! For some families, I’ve heard about both husband and wife being laid off within weeks of each other. Even for some firms that are doing well, financially, it’s been “fashionable” to lay off staff. Disgusting.

I am 24 and will be retiring not to soon yet. i will resign from my day job (which is not really a day job because oftentimes i work graveyard) I am excited at the prospect of working at home while doing the things I always wanted.

www.ginisangpatatas.blogspot.com

Assuming we can get all our debt paid off, I might be able to retire in a little over 5 years. That sounds very soon, but I would like to go places and enjoy myself while I’m young, rather than work a few extra years to attempt to save a few more dollars in the bank. I know a few work colleagues who stayed working a few years longer than they needed to and then didn’t get to enjoy their retirements for very long, as illness became a problem for them.

Every person I know who took early retirement has had a great time and didn’t look back. That’s for me! ;)

I just recently left my 9-5 job to spend more time with my family. And now I’m looking for ways on how to augment the lost income from my resignation. Right now, I’m busy with doing real estate marketing for different projects here in the Philippines. And I can really make use of other people’s kind heart and help in order to do that! Properties here are really very inexpensive as compared to other countries. Cost of Living is very reasonable as well. Which is why a lot of foreigners believe Philippines is a really nice place to retire in! I would really love to have mutually beneficial partnerships with people coming from all walks of life, from the four corners of the world. Can you help me? I would really be grateful for your wonderful refferals (know somebody who’s retiring soon?). Pls feel free to contact me anytime at thessa_salas@yahoo.com. I make sure that I only provide really investment-worthy options. Thanks mucho guys!

I am surprised by the number of people I meet who claim that they never want to retire, or can’t imagine what they would do if they were retired. I admit it, I don’t like having to work! I know it is possible to have a fulfilling job and compared to many mine is not bad, but often when I hear people claim that they don’t want to or don’t know what they’d do if they did retire I tend to think they must have no interests, or they are trying to fool themselves somehow :-)

Anyway, I have plans underway to retire early. I don’t have it 100%, but the fundamentals are there. About 2 years ago I started really contributing to the 401K, and if I keep it up at the current rate I should have roughly 1 million by the age of 59.5. Still, that is too late for my plans, so I have to work out how to retire earlier. My 1st sub-goal on that was to pay off my house. If I am reasonable and aggressive about it I can do that in 3 years, or maybe 3 years and a couple months. Also, I am noticing with my budget that once the house is paid off, each month of working is equal to 3 months of spending (yes, I am overpaying my mortgage so that it is 2/3rds of my income, which I can scale back if I hit some financial crisis).

So, some might say that even though I am doing the retirement savings correctly, it might be smarter to invest some of the money I am now using to pay on my house. My reasons for not doing that are: I hate debt! Investments are not absolutely guaranteed to make more sense than paying the mortgage, interest-wise. Once my house is paid for, any job that at least provides health insurance should be enough for me to live on. Just knowing you own a home completely is a very comforting idea to me.

The big question then will be what I do with my freed up money once I get the house paid for. Honestly, at this time I feel I am enough on the right track that I can afford to mull it over for a while. I’m not someone who needs expensive cars or a boat or some other silliness, and I have plenty of toys (Imagine how many toys you can buy to add up to a vehicle, or camper trailer or whatever other expensive items people get into!), so I don’t feel like I am scrimping too much.

Yeah, retire early. I have other dreams, but this one is a biggie.

I’ve retired once, after 20 years with my last company. But what I want to retire early…for good!

Of course I need to be financially able to retire for this goal to be worthwhile.

I’ve got my mind set on 5 years. My children will all be out of school and, perhaps, starting families by then.