Anyone in the age group of 30-39?

[webbach]

The plan is to ER at 41, 45 at latest. I am currently 32, my wife just turned 30.

We currently have a nw of around $350k, including the sep and home equity. Gross income is 250-300k/year, so we can max out the sep at the cap (currently $42k/year). We are saving at a rate of 40-50% of our take-home, outside of the sep. We are timing the payoff of our mortgages (live in one house, rent out the city duplex) to coincide fairly closely to our er date.

The plan is to continue max contributions to the sep until er, at which point we will live off our savings which is in a brokerage account. We will let the sep grow until we start withdrawing at 59 1/2, at which point the ~500k contributed should grow to a fairly substantial sum.

We are fairly flexible with respect to retirement geography, but right now western New York looks most attractive.

 

[bow-tie]

...We currently have a nw of around $350k, including the sep and home equity. Gross income is 250-300k/year, so we can max out the sep at the cap (currently $42k/year). We are saving at a rate of 40-50% of our take-home, outside of the sep...

Hooey... with that kind of income and that kind of savings rate, seems to me you are well on your way to financial independence. And quickly. Well done.

...and you are more than welcome to send some of that my way if you find that it becomes too much to hande.

 

[Dilettante72]

Key is a) having a good income, b) investing early, c) spending less than you make and d) getting lucky once in a while....

a) Check
b) Check
c) Check
d) Check

I'm 34, NW 1.2M$ (Cdn), with no desire to have kids (although everyone tells me it might change) and a complex love life (more details here). Not sure if I want to completely RE yet, but I have not been working much for a while now and I love it.

 

[Nords]

I'm 34, NW 1.2M$ (Cdn), with no desire to have kids (although everyone tells me it might change) and a complex love life

If you think your love life is complex now, wait until you have kids!

 

[Arif]

If you think your love life is complex now, wait until you have kids!

Ahh don't let him get his hopes up! After kids there is no more sex. I can't even go to the bathroom by myself anymore. Some 4 yo wants to play hide and go seek while I am on the toilet.

Wouldn't change it one but, well maybe.......

 

[MikeK]

Holy crap. $2.3 million in your 30s It sounds more like (d) was the most important factor. LBYM doesn't get you that kind of money so quickly.

It was a bit of (a) through (d). I'd say (d) accounted for some but less than 25%. I will admit some luck in my wife working for the right high-tech start up (Cisco) during the late 90's and buying a house in the Bay Area. The remainder was made through hard work, frugal living and good investments.

I have friends that make more money than us and have little to show for it. They spend as much as they make. The problem is when something calamitous occurs in their life -- health problem, losing job or bad luck. Once you get in a hole it is difficult to dig out.

Mike

 

[yelnad]

Some 4 yo wants to play hide and go seek while I am on the toilet.

My dog does this. He's also 4 yo.

 

[shiny]

My dog does this. He's also 4 yo.

My dog does too, he's 15 though!

 

[Southpaw]

Hello. Wow, some of you are really kicking butt in your journey to ER. Congrats.

I'm 37YO, married, make $126K US per year, own a home worth $200K with no mortgage. I've got $205K socked in the 401K, and $110K or so in private investments, mostly mutual funds. I live in an upper mid-West college town associated with badgers, but I'm not sayin' which one. In retirement I plan on living pretty modestly. Not a lot of travel, maybe one class per semester at the U solely for intellectual fun. Still, a safe bet would be $3,500 per month, maybe more - and this includes all home upkeep over time and the used auto purchase once every ten years, blah blah blah.

I've got a ways to go before my private savings can get me to the point where I can live at leasdt a little while off the interest. If I were to retire in my late 40's or 50, I would want to leave the principal alone at least for a few years - until I got closer to being able to use the 401K $.

Again, congrats to all you super-early retirees.

 

[zebageba]

Hi,
First time poster, long time lurker.

I just turned 39. Wife is 33. We were just married in June. I've been working for the same company for 13 years. DW works for the state and is an ex-highschool teacher. No kids for now.

I save about 35-39% of what I make. I've managed to squirrel away 85k in my 401k and about 14k in roths on a pretty modest salary through those years, especially the first few. Another 47k in taxable mutual funds. This was and continues to be funded through stock option gains and monthly, after-tax contributions.

No debt except for house. DW will have a state pension if she stays for 10 years or longer. I hope to be living off my mutual funds at 50 and painting full time. The 401k and Roths will kick in at 60. That's my plan so far. Kids will change the equation I think, but luckily I've got a good head start.

Cheers to all that drank the cool-aid.

 

[Southpaw]

We've come a long way, but there's still so much left to go.

Oh well, gotta make it happen......

 

[daystar]

I'm 27 (not quite 30) and I have a net worth of $230K. I plan to retire from federal service between 48 and 62. I may take on additional jobs after that as I just don't know what I'd do without a regular job.

 

[piranha]

Our situation.

Wife (35) and I (33) teach in public schools. 3 kids (5, 4, and 1 month).

Only debt is $194,000 left on the mortgage (30 year fixed at 5.375% that we'll have paid off by the time I turn 47 if we keep adding extra to the principal at the current clip).

Approximate rainy day fund in bank (CD's and Money Market) totalling $40,000.

Both of our vehicles are getting older (99 Grand Cherokee and 00 Mercury Villager) so we need to have some same - liquid money just in case.

Approximate retirement investments (mutual funds in 403-b and Roths) totalling $200,000

Approximate non retirement investments (mutual funds and DTE stock) totalling $165,000

Approximate educational investments for kids (Coverdell IRA's and 529's) totalling $35,000

Currently, the wife and I are putting away 24 Grand a year total while she's on maternity leave...
12 Grand in 403-B accounts
4 Grand apiece in Roth accounts
2 Grand towards each of our older children's college accounts. We haven't started for the 1 month old yet... but need to soon.

For me... the plan to retire is at 48 years old. That's when I'll be eligible (as long as things remain how they are now) for a pension (45% of my salary at the time) with close to full benefits. Wife will not be eligible for a full pension until her mid 50's due to time off with kids. She laughs at me when I say I plan on retiring that early. My reply is always wait and see... wait and see.

I'm fairly confident that with 14.5 years to go, I should be able to pull it off. Heck... if we don't invest another dime and the market performs close to its historical average over the next 14.5 years, we should have well over 1 million dollars in investments. It's the cost of college that scares me the most. My parents paid for my college (and I'm eternally grateful for it), so I'd like to do the same for my kids and let them start out in the working world as debt free as possible.