Young Dreamers, how early do you want to retire?

[Arif]

Although we're semi-re right now I plan to fully retire by 45. Our target net worth should be atleast $2 million in assets although I anticipate a large portion of that being real estate and rental income. Right now trying to balance our portfolio somewhat and invest more in non-real estate investments.

 

[Calgary_Girl]

As the nest egg itself.  I'm thinking about doing the first 20 years on about 250 to 300K and then using the second nest egg (RRSP) during 65 onwards.  I would estimate the total nest egg would be about 600K plus house.

I'm actually planning on a semi-retire phase at the start.  Not sure exactly how much work I'll do, but I would like to ease into the full time retire phase.  Also my withdraw rate will be really high (~9%), since I don't want to preserve the first part of the nest egg (250K) at all.  It should be almost or gone by 65.

CF

This is what hubby and I are planning on doing as well.  We're planning on using our investments to help us bridge the gap until we start drawing down our RRSP's (around 65 to let compounding work it's magic).  

 

[Nords]

If I had my choice I would probably say 40, but that was before we started house shopping
This last two weeks of looking for a home have made me realize that my ER plans are going to be delayed. Even with the market getting a little softer here, the prices of homes is still out of hand. At least we got an unsolicited offer on our condo, but seeing a $400K mortgage on the horizon is making me a little sick

How soon do you "need" that house?

The reason I'm asking is that many people tend to trade up when they can get the most for their sale. However that also tends to subject your next purchase to a top-dollar price. If you sell your condo 10% over market and then buy a bigger place at 10% over market, the bigger place's price rise is a lot more cash than the condo's price rise. You'd hate to score a good sale on your condo, put it all into a bigger place, and then see the market contract 15%.

OTOH if you time the "upgrade" when your condo is in the pits, the price of the new place will also very likely be in the pits. Trading up by taking a 10% bath on your condo is well worth it if your can buy the next home at a 10-15% discount.

And if you can afford to wait, then shopping the season between Thanksgiving & Valentine's Day is usually the buyer's market.

 

[saluki9]

How soon do you "need" that house?

The reason I'm asking is that many people tend to trade up when they can get the most for their sale. However that also tends to subject your next purchase to a top-dollar price. If you sell your condo 10% over market and then buy a bigger place at 10% over market, the bigger place's price rise is a lot more cash than the condo's price rise. You'd hate to score a good sale on your condo, put it all into a bigger place, and then see the market contract 15%.

OTOH if you time the "upgrade" when your condo is in the pits, the price of the new place will also very likely be in the pits. Trading up by taking a 10% bath on your condo is well worth it if your can buy the next home at a 10-15% discount.

And if you can afford to wait, then shopping the season between Thanksgiving & Valentine's Day is usually the buyer's market.

The problem we're really having is that we are having trouble deciding between "a house" and "the house" Like most people, I REALLY hate moving.

The price of a decent single family house (prob 2500Sqft, 40-y/o, and not updated) is around $650K. So we have to decide if we want to move from a condo, to a townhouse, and then hopefully a single family home in 5-8 years. The reason we're thinking now is that we like the developement we are in and there is a glut of the townhomes on the market now, and a shortage of condo units. We're thinking we could make that work to our advantage. The problem is that if we buy one of the townhomes we will have to stay in the county we are in which is a very high tax county. The property taxes on the 2000SQft condo would be about $8500 on a townhome we could get for probably $450K

 

[cons]

like many of the previous posters here, i'm planning/hoping/praying to ER @ 45. i'm eligible to retire from my fed govt position the year i turn 46. because my birthday is in late december, i will be eligible a week after i turn 45


with 20 years to go, and saving ~45k/yr (TSP, 2 ROTHs, and taxable) into retirement accounts + what we have currently saved up = we would wind up with ~2.5M in 20 years. this is a VERY conservative calculation and estimate as i have left the savings rate the same throught the 20 years (highly unlikely) and kept the interest rate at 6% (however, inflation has not been factored in). if i add my expected pension (~45k x 30 years = ~1.35M) it would look even better = 3.85M total 8)


DW has recently been talking about becoming a nurse. mainly because of the maternity care she received at the hospital when our daughter was born last year. the nurses helped her out tremendously and took great care of her and our daughter the three days they were there. she since has a lot of respect for their profession and feels like it would be a rewarding career for her. plus, there are many hospitals around our area, so finding a job, even part-time, would be pretty easy.

obviously i haven't talked her out of pursuing this 'adventure' of hers

If I had my choice I would probably say 40, but that was before we started house shopping

This last two weeks of looking for a home have made me realize that my ER plans are going to be delayed. Even with the market getting a little softer here, the prices of homes is still out of hand. At least we got an unsolicited offer on our condo, but seeing a $400K mortgage on the horizon is making me a little sick

I'd say 50 is a good bet for me now

i can definitely relate with your feelings regarding the big mortgage saluki9. we recently closed on our first home and our mortgage is going to be just over 400k. this is AFTER we put down 20%!! in a way i fell excited about the purchase of our first home, but i also have this sickening felling in my stomach. however, the house is only a few years old (built in 2002) and hopefully won't cause me any headaches with maintenance issues.

because of this extra debt, i may have to push back my ER by 5 years, which would be 50 for me as well. if it wasn't for the high mortage debt, i could've been able to shelter an extra 15k-20k in the taxable and make that original ER date more feasible

oh well, hopefully DW will start her 'career' within the next 5-7 years. i would ER @ 45 and she would ER 5 years later when i turn 50. just wishful thinking i guess..........


regards,
eddie

 

[chrisdut]

kaudrey:
I am also 37, and plan to retire at 52 with $1.5 million....wanna have a race ?

 

[FlowGirl]

Currently 31 and looking at retiring at age 43-45 when the spouse becomes eligible for his military pension (I'm hoping to God that he doesn't decide to stay past 20 ). 

With current savings rate and modest returns we plan to have 750K-1 mil in addition to his pension/medical.  However will only have home equity if we are extremely lucky over the next few years - not a huge concern since we've become more enamored of the idea of doing the perpetual traveler thing for a while after ER anyway.

 

[piranha]

Our situation.

Wife (35) and I (33) teach in public schools. 2 kids (5 and 4) with a third due in mid September.

Only debt is $197,000 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

Approximate retirement investments (mutual funds) totalling $185,000

Approximate non retirement investments (mutual funds and DTE stock) totalling $145,000

Approximate educational investments for kids (Coverdell IRA) totalling $30,000

Currently, the wife and I are putting away 36 Grand a year total...
12 Grand apiece in 403-B accounts
4 Grand apiece in Roth accounts
2 Grand towards each of our children's college.

For me... the plan to retire is at 48 years old. That's when I'll be eligible (hopefully) for a pension (45% of my salary at the time) with 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 would be extremely thrilled if we could keep socking away $ at the clip we currently are, but our expected arrival in September will prevent us from doing so. I'm still fairly confident that with 15 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 15 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.

 

[Nords]

... when the spouse becomes eligible for his military pension (I'm hoping to God that he doesn't decide to stay past 20 ).

Just keep him from getting an inflated ego and find more fun things for him to do outside of work than at it!

 

[Canadian FIRE]

This is what hubby and I are planning on doing as well. We're planning on using our investments to help us bridge the gap until we start drawing down our RRSP's (around 65 to let compounding work it's magic).

Calgary Girl,

It's a good plan. Not to mention you have the option of pulling CPP at 60 if the nest egg is drying up faster than you thought. Also living in Calgary your house should be worth $2 million by that time with the prices now a days.

I'm up in NE BC, so I'm in a huge housing boom. Houses don't last on the market for more than a week in my area of town right now.

Good luck and enjoy your time off with the kid!

CF

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

I plan to retire at 45.

Unfortunately, I am 58.

 

[newyorklady]

now. 30. semi retired anyway, fully in a few months. life is not short, it is long, if you are stuck in the rat race.

 

[GTM]

The ER age is self expanatory but what is the definition of
"How much do you plan having saved" mean

Some will say cash and investments only and exclude their home equity, exclude their pension, account or not account for taxes due to Uncle Sam.
so my translation of

"How much do you plan on having saved" is a dollar figure which

Turns everything one owns into cash minus the estimated taxes due on 401k and IRA.
(exception: stuff that would not be sold but passed down to family, ie wedding rings but not houses).

If one is a homeowner and the house is to be kept in retirement then the equity is part of the dollar figure.
If I have a pension then my monthly check times 25 is part of the figure.
Social Security does not count towards the figure. thats a freebee, maybe

Thats the way the Terhorst's figured it
(maybe not the reducton for 401k taxes but that is money we owe).

So if you figure it that way does it change your numbers?
Somone that thinks they only have $150,000 saved may have 1.2mm

 

[justin]

Terrorists?

I think most people include cash/investments/income producing assets (not primary residences).

 

[GTM]

Terrorists?   

I think most people include cash/investments/income producing assets (not primary residences).

Thanks modified the spelling

 

[newyorklady]

30 years old, with one million portfolio and another million in real estate (apartment in nyc plus another 200k i have stashed away to buy a home elsewhere). no debts. This is for me personally, not including spouse's assets. Figure why not retire right now? Don't like the rat race and can always sell or rent the properties down the road if need be. i am very frugal

 

[laurence]

newyorklady,

I would run, not walk away from work right now!

 

[Helen]

Newyorklady,

If you don't mind my asking, how did you aquire so much at such a young age ?

-helen

 

[trharris]

At this point in time, Dh and I are planning to retire in 8 years, when he is 50 and I am 49. I have no idea how much we will have, DH is doing most of the planning in that department.

 

[newyorklady]

Newyorklady,

If you don't mind my asking, how did you aquire so much at such a young age ?

-helen

hi helen,

started investing from an obscenely young age and got out before the dot-com bubble burst, at the advice of a trusted mentor, who unfortunately for me is now dead, so no more brilliant advice for me as I don't trust any financial advisor. The way I look at it, if my financial consultant was so smart he wouldn't have to work. That was many years ago, and from there made a few good real estate moves which proved very lucrative but could have been much more so. Sold off those rental properties though, a few years back, really DUMB move on my part, but made a tidy profit which I put into my apartment in nyc. But was also in grad school and due to some personal situations really found it hard to be a landlord and was convinced that the bubble was going to burst once again but in real estate this time. Right now I am way too conservative in my investments. Rethinking my strategy. Real estate is not the way to go now definitely, but my returns are pretty low on my portfolio, so have to rework my strategy a bit. but better safe than sorry, especially with the nice sum i have accumulated at my age.

 

[Cool Dood]

nylady, are you looking for a trophy husband?

 

[newyorklady]

Nope. Married already. Besides I am way too cheap to have a trophy husband. Thanks for the offer though.

 

[GTM]

Nope. Married already.  Besides I am way too cheap to have a trophy husband.  Thanks for the offer though. 

Kinda hard to be cheap in New York City, well I guess with no mortgage and low maintence that reduces your monthly expenses alot. And if you use the subways instead of cabs or the ultimate expense in Manhattan owning a car you can save alot. Probably one person can get by on $3000 a month with that situation.

In the poll I noted alot of members have over $1.5 million and most don't count their homes. Also they are 45 to 60 years old. Some have pension too.

So you may need to maintain you low cost budget to ensure that $1mm is enough for you excluding housing. You may be looking at over 50 years of living yet. You dont want to go back to work at 70.  I'm sure that will not be the case.

They say a million dollars ain't what it used to be but to me its still big bucks.

 

[newyorklady]

That is why I want to move somewhere cheap. will check out argentina soon

 

[gtmeouttahere]

Semi-retire by 35. Fully retire by about 43-45. Need that 2 MIL to feel retired.