Wanted to be retired since high school

[firenow]

hello all,

new guy here. 37 yr old looking to retire as soon as possible. i have absolutely hated the idea of working and studying since childhood. I neither liked all that going to school nor the working life after. I did it all out of fear of survival out of fear of society. my idea of a best life is like henry david thoreau who moved away from society into living in a forest in a wooden house spending his days reading, fishing and philosophizing

I am a single person earning for a family and that makes it even harder to retire. But retirement has been my most fav topic when i talk to any of my friends or family.

So far I saved about 330K in cash and 100k in 401k accounts. I am in the bay area, make about 230k and save like 40k in cash and 27k in 401k annually. Right now it is about 70k per year but in the future with a pending promotion and some salary growth I will be able to save more. I hope I can retire on 1.5 mill in 10 years or with a 2 mill in 15 years if everything goes well. right now i absolutely hate monday mornings and going to work (nothing wrong with my work) so doing it for next 15 years will be hard. i might even retire early from a FTE once I make 1 mill and then do contract jobs for 7 months a year

it is good to meet like minded people and talk about my most favorite topic ever

- Sam

 

[W2R]

Welcome, Sam.

When I retired, I realized that after all those years I had FINALLY found my niche in life, so to speak. There were some aspects of school and work that I enjoyed, but naturally there were other aspects that I didn't care for.

Since retirement, I have never been happier. I love being able to decide what to do with my time.

 

[Whisper66]

Welcome. 10-15 yrs is a looong time to be spending not enjoying a job. Maybe consider a different line of work and enjoy life more while you are building your nest egg?

 

[steveark]

I think you are a smart guy. I worked until 60 and loved it until I didn't. Then I retired. The point is, when you both have enough and have had enough. That's the time to leave. In my case, like you, I work some contract to stay sharp. And life is amazing! I think you are good to go!

 

[evilanne]

Welcome masceratian!

You state you have saved 330K in cash, is there a reason why you aren't investing your money?

 

[brucethebroker]

Welcome. 10-15 yrs is a looong time to be spending not enjoying a job. Maybe consider a different line of work and enjoy life more while you are building your nest egg?

+1.

Your growth over the next dozen years, or so, if you invest for an average rate in the market, will increase your wealth even without your continued annual contributions. With that in mind, consider a job you might enjoy more even if the pay is less (you can live on less if not saving as much).

Consider part time work, or self employment/contract work. If you focus on just making your payments each month, there should be plenty of options.

Really nice job of saving so far, BTW.

 

[DrRoy]

You state you have saved 330K in cash, is there a reason why you aren't investing your money?

+1 Cash pays nothing these days. You should have your $ invested in something better.

 

[joeea]

my idea of a best life is like henry david thoreau who moved away from society into living in a forest in a wooden house spending his days reading, fishing and philosophizing

If you really wanted to live like Thoreau you could retire today.

 

[Maenad]

If you're grossing 230k and paying Uncle Sam 25% of that, minus 70k annual savings, you're living on, what, about 100k? Even with a 4% WR, you'll need more like 2.5mil to retire, and if a large portion is in cash, getting eaten away by inflation, even more.

If you're serious about ER, you're going to have to step up your game.

 

[pb4uski]

Since you're so focused on retiring, you should plot out your plan in Quicken's Lifetime Planner to see how realistic it is and then use Quicken to monitor your progress against your plan. A goal without a plan is just a dream.

 

[Amethyst]

Like you, I dreaded spending my life working for somebody else, although I pretty much ended up doing it anyway because I did not want to live in a hut in the wilderness. I do enjoy studying, though.

Best wishes for achieving your early retirement dreams. You have saved an impressive amount at a young age.

Amethyst

hello all,

new guy here. 37 yr old looking to retire as soon as possible. i have absolutely hated the idea of working and studying since childhood. I neither liked all that going to school nor the working life after. I did it all out of fear of survival out of fear of society. my idea of a best life is like henry david thoreau who moved away from society into living in a forest in a wooden house spending his days reading, fishing and philosophizing

I am a single person earning for a family and that makes it even harder to retire. But retirement has been my most fav topic when i talk to any of my friends or family.

So far I saved about 330K in cash and 100k in 401k accounts. I am in the bay area, make about 230k and save like 40k in cash and 27k in 401k annually. Right now it is about 70k per year but in the future with a pending promotion and some salary growth I will be able to save more. I hope I can retire on 1.5 mill in 10 years or with a 2 mill in 15 years if everything goes well. right now i absolutely hate monday mornings and going to work (nothing wrong with my work) so doing it for next 15 years will be hard. i might even retire early from a FTE once I make 1 mill and then do contract jobs for 7 months a year

it is good to meet like minded people and talk about my most favorite topic ever

- Sam

 

[brokrken]

Just curious why have you been saving so much after tax money and not saving in retirement accounts. You mention that you have $100k in 401k, so based on your savings rate ($27k) you have only been contributing for 4 years. What were you doing before then?


I also agree with DrRoy and evilanne, you'll have a tough time getting there with the bulk of your assets in cash. You'll need growth that only equities can bring.

 

[firenow]

Thanks guys for all your warm welcome wishes. I have to admit I haven't been wise and proactive about investing. Started 401k only about 3.5 years back and haven't invested my cash savings well.

I will start to be more careful and wise about investing going forward. It is a good suggestion about finding something I like. I work in IT industry and I like coding; The things that I don't like are 1) the office politics 2) the fact that I "have to" go to work rather than it being a choice. I could switch to something like uber driving where I can decide each day if I want to goto work or not but it doesn't pay well and can make the process of retirement longer. Contract work in IT pays fine but not as much as I am getting now.

Once I get closer to the 1 mill mark, may be I will experiment a bit with taking mini-retirements and switching to contract jobs.

 

[firenow]

If you really wanted to live like Thoreau you could retire today.

I would love to, except for the family part makes it harder

 

[slv1]

the math behind it.

There is nice calculator on mrmoneymustache.com

Basically, if you save 50% of your after tax income you can retire in about 16 to 17 years.

If you save 65% of your after tax income you can retire in about 10 years.

4% per year adjusted for inflation and adjusted spending for the economy as needed.
Living on the 35 or 50% that was left over after the after tax savings rate.

to if you make 170K after taxes and save about 110K and live off of 60k, you can retire on 60 K per year for the rest of your life in about 10 years. Since you have already saved some money, my guess is you can do it sooner.

With that said I'm myself am in that position but still gun shy about doing it. But most likely will in the next year or so.

 

[joeea]

I would love to, except for the family part makes it harder

I guess I have no idea what "I am a single person earning for a family" means.

 

[Fedup]

Me neither.

 

[brokrken]

I guess I have no idea what "I am a single person earning for a family" means.

I think he means he is the sole breadwinner.

 

[joeea]

I think he means he is the sole breadwinner.

That makes sense. I thought he was single. But if he's the breadwinner and still has wanted to be retired his whole life, that's rather sad, IMHO.

For me, I was more than happy to work hard to make a good life for my family and wait my turn to retire.

To each his/her own I guess.

 

[SAtoUS]

Welcome mate... not sure if u know about Financial Samurai too:

Financial Samurai - Honorable Personal Finance

Great info there about being free from da man.

Also, you HAVE to put that cash of yours to work ASAP.

 

[steadystate]

It seems unusual to have always hated working and studying, then end up in a very high paying job (230k). What's your profession?

I liked my job for many years and ended up at the same income. But then my shape changed to more squarish ... and I don't fit in the round peg-hole anymore!!

 

[Fedup]

I think he means he is the sole breadwinner.

He's probably single with a family. Not married. But it's confusing though.

 

[Fedup]

It seems unusual to have always hated working and studying, then end up in a very high paying job (230k). What's your profession?

I liked my job for many years and ended up at the same income. But then my shape changed to more squarish ... and I don't fit in the round peg-hole anymore!!

I'm always the odd shape, not square, not round, but I had to work just in case. Sure enough there were two times, the just in case did com true.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

Thanks guys for all your warm welcome wishes. I have to admit I haven't been wise and proactive about investing. Started 401k only about 3.5 years back and haven't invested my cash savings well.

I will start to be more careful and wise about investing going forward. It is a good suggestion about finding something I like. I work in IT industry and I like coding; The things that I don't like are 1) the office politics 2) the fact that I "have to" go to work rather than it being a choice. I could switch to something like uber driving where I can decide each day if I want to goto work or not but it doesn't pay well and can make the process of retirement longer. Contract work in IT pays fine but not as much as I am getting now.

Once I get closer to the 1 mill mark, may be I will experiment a bit with taking mini-retirements and switching to contract jobs.

i think you answered your own question. Become an uber driver,

 

[Out of Steam]

I have a similar memory of a part time supermarket job during the summer while in college, and thinking that it was about the right number of hours to work (25-29 hours a week) in life.