Retirement Goal Age

[HKMike]

Hi,

New to the board.

I will be giving my notice in 3 weeks and will "punch out" a few months thereafter at age 42. Never thought it possible at such an "early" age, but a 7 year overseas posting has helped greatly. Worried and excited all at the same time.

[Helen]

Wow, I am really impressed with the young ages many have or are planning to retire at.

I'm in for about 7.5 more years. My partner and I will be 55 and 56. We can both bail with reduced pensions and full medical coverage.

According to my spreadsheet, we should hit the magic number at the age we can bail out, so it's looking pretty good. That's with a 5% rate of return which should be doable.

Our descretionary spending will be higher in retirement than it is now thanks to reduced taxes and no further need to save for retirement. Those are by far our biggest expenses. We will have about $25k per year to travel.

We also just achieved debt free status as we paid our mortgage off recently.

Even if I wanted to continue to work, achieving FI is a great goal to have. It's both challenging and quantifiable and can take years to achieve.

-helen

[maddythebeagle]

Hey HKMike:

Welcome to the board. Would you post your situtation on the "Hi, I am" board. I think everyone is interested in the details and how you did it and what your money plan is. Thanks. It sounds like part of it was some really high, short-term income from working overseas. I think that there are few here that have done that, too.

[HKMike]

Hi Maddy,

Thanks for the welcome.

Yes, once I have it all sorted, I will post what I've done on the other thread (oh what have I done!).

However, in short strokes, I have worked in Asia for the past 7 years and will stay out here. I'm European, so no WWT, which certainly has factored into the decision.

Mike

We started out living well below our means at an early age. Purchased first home right out of college. Currently in 2nd home,Have always maxed out 401k, Roths, 403b and also did dolllar cost averaging into DRIPS. Started own business for a year and made twice as much $, but had 2x more work, headaches than we needed. Went back to work for large co. with super bennies and retirement plan. Slow and steady, maxing out, no debt, besides mortgage (took 15 yr. vs 30) so we could retire early. We are in our mid 30's and have learned to live by paying ourselves first. Each year our lives get easier and easier. We currently make 3x more $ a day in our diversified stock, mutual fund plans than we earn in our good paying jobs. Purchased a fixer upper 5 years ago and made a tidy profit. Have always had a piece of land or fixer upper on the side. We aren't afraid to spend money on quality of life issues since we started saving so early, ie. beach home, country club, vacations, carsr, kids college taken care of via 529 plans. Dilligent planning will allow you to attain your goals and knowledge of finance is powerful. The principal of compounding is truly phenomenal. Teach somoene!

[tryan]

Out at 43 - next month. All real estate ... all the time. Except that I maxed-out my 401k for many years.

Should be fun ... hopefully I'll wish I left 10 years earlier.