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.

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

Quit copying my paper man!

 

[gtmeouttahere]

Quit copying my paper man! 

I am cracking up!!! 

I'm not copying you man, you beat me at being semi-retired at 33, I'm just trying to beat you to the finish line.   Wanna race?!!!

Two different approaches, same goal!!!  I think we may both win in the end. 8)

See ya soon!!!

BTW I'd take more than two MIL if offered....

 

[Cool Dood]

You two are peas from a pod... I've never seen anyone as excited about having two (or more!) mothers-in-law...

 

[justin]

Marry sisters. You get the benefits of polygamy, but only one MIL.

 

[brewer12345]

Hey, I've got two MILs. DW's dad remarried. However, I get along well with both, since out of DW and her two sisters, I am apparently the favored spouse among DW's family. The younger sister isn't attached and the older sister married someone that we all keep trying not to think of how easily it would be to make him disappear permanently.

 

[RETIRE_TINGLE!]

I am really loving the responses from everyone and feeling so much better about making the move from full time wage slave to semi-retired consultant (part time wage slave with options).  Reading the responses is VERY ENCOURAGING.

Short Answer: 45 with 1 mil in cash and income producing assets.

Long , Worried , Detailed Answer:
My plan is to semi-retire in 4 years when I turn 40.  I hope to have 275k in 401k/IRAs, investments of 350k and remaining equity in the neighborhood of 200k (excluding primary residence).  So bottomline, between 625k and 825k at semi retirement. My goal right now is to hang tight with current employer until 2010 and then go back to consulting/contracting in IT.  Since I don't have a pension, my mission now is to become as knowledgeable as I can with market investments and really work the FIRECalc tool.   

Working several months of the year on contract should cover my expenses and give me the opportunity to augment in savings.  I don't plan on having a paid off mortgage so working a couple of months will be a necessity until I can fully retire.  Full retirment might be another 5 or so years after semi-retirement, but I should always have the option to re-entering or staying in the workforce as a contractor as needed.

Current Situation:
age: 35, single, no kids, not planning family
Income: 113k/annually
401k: 103k
Employer LTI: $103k as follows: [48k (in the $ now) + 40k (in $ 3/07) + 22k (in $ '08)]
IRAs: 41k
Cash: 35k (10k on deposit for fourplex purchase)
Equity: $503k (across 3 properties)

Annual Savings: 24k

I would really like to get feedback on my plan.  I know I have a good head start, but I still feel I am missing some elements or not considering some gotchas in the furture or opportunities today.

My work situation is not horrible because I am left alone for the most part, but it is pretty clear that my management wants me gone.....don't think they can make any serious moves on me before my intended departure date, but it makes me more commented saving as much as possible in the next four years.

 

[Arif]

Marry sisters. You get the benefits of polygamy, but only one MIL.

I think he meant 2 million not mother-in-laws. I know which one I would rather have two of.

 

[MooreBonds]

Currently 29, and approaching a bit of a crossroads: now that my major project is complete (and awaiting my hard-earned, almost sent to the insane asylum worked-by-butt-off bonus), I'm trying to figure out if I want to merely get an easy job with good non-taxable benefits, or if I want to fart around with corporate bs at a different company for another 10 years while I continue a serious relationship and (probably) head down the road to being engaged.

My goal is to be completely retired by 40. I could go much sooner if I were married, and just live off my spouse's income while my investments grow, but it's still an 'unknown'.

Current NW: $572k (net of estimated taxes on retirement accounts)
Projected extra-ordinary after-tax income this year: $500k

Ideally, I'd love to simply putz around with some hormone investments in my $200k investment account, and divide the rest equally among Wellington/Wellesly/Windsor, and 6% callable CDs at FISN.com, and get an easy-going STRESS-FREE (or, at least, compared to what it is now ) job, such as working at a movie theatre and getting free movie passes...or something along those lines.

So, my final ER age/date depends mostly on what my future unknown wife's goals/aspirations are. My current significant other has mentioned that she wants to be able to pay for college for her future children, so I know that that won't be cheap.

--Peter

 

[laurence]

Wow Peter, a Millionaire at 29! I'm so impressed so many alpha dogs are able to contemplate ER, maybe y'all are just plain smarter! If I'm lucky I'll get my salary up to 90k next year, but there's nothing that would send me to an insane asylum about my job.

 

[justin]

Currently 29, and approaching a bit of a crossroads: now that my major project is complete (and awaiting my hard-earned, almost sent to the insane asylum worked-by-butt-off bonus),

...

Projected extra-ordinary after-tax income this year: $500k

Wow. I'm curious what is producing this $500k one-time income?

 

[Cool Dood]

Big drug deal?

 

[gtmeouttahere]

Just make sure you put the decimal point in the right spot!!! (Office Space)

 

[MooreBonds]

Wow. I'm curious what is producing this $500k one-time income?

Well, I am part Italian, and my father's side is 100% Sicilian )

I work for a family-owned business. Winding down on a major project (hint: http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/stl/ballpark/index.jsp ), and my involvement was more than critical (basically, was supposed to be just the project manager but also ended up being the jobsite superintendent overseeing 35 construction workers as well, as our superintendent turned out to be a POS but my family members refused to do anything about it).

It's nice to see that the project did so well now that it's in the close-out stage, but believe me - combining my personality type with the sh*t I put up with, there were many times (even with just 1 month until completion) that I honestly didn't think I'd be able to make it to the end of the project without quitting or having a nervous breakdown (which I did have, by the way, thanks to a mentally derranged construction worker going off on me (another story for another thread).

Because of the many bad experiences from the construciton manager/in-house problems in my own company/the construction industry in general/unions, I'm hanging up my hardhat and moving on to a different career in the next 12 months. I just have to play my cards right so I don't get screwed out of my bonus by leaving before I get it.

I had previously posted my thoughts of going for my MBA last June...but I procrastinated and realized that if things went well with the project, then I may not even need to get my MBA to get a good job to reach FIRE status. It's also good I didn't start it because based on how the project was from Dec 2005 to April 2006, there's little chance I would have had a second to even think about grad school work with the committments from my job....let alone get as little sleep as I did get between staying up late and worrying about a multitude of problems that could have gone wrong. There is a chance that I might end up working for the engineer that designed the ballpark, since I skied for the first time earlier this year and loved it (and their office is in Denver), but it's all up in the air for now.

The good news is that my new career can be literally anything I want. I'd prefer to get a 'decent' job that's fun and interesting (making at least $40k/year), work for another 3-5 years, and then goof off with the 'gravy' part time jobs with good bennies (e.g. movie theater ticket windows, etc.) for kicks until I simply don't have time for the pt job.

It's funny how much brighter your day looks, and how much less unpleasant the bs is when you know that you're merely biding your time to get your annual bonus to set you on FIRE. Of course, it hasn't been a bed of roses to get to this point from graduating 5 years ago, and did involve quite a few sacrifices...but the rewards are sweet.

 

[Matt_24]

I plan on a comfortable retirement at 55 years of age.

My goal is to be sitting on 1.7 million plus an annual military pension of 40K+ (adjusted up annually for cost of living).

 

[justin]

.

 

[BunsGettingFirm]

I'm 34 now. Shooting for ER at 38. My projections show that in January, 2010 I should hit the $1 million mark. Then I move to Thailand or Cambodia and marry a beautiful 19 year old woman.

Make sure she has a sister for me.

 

[BunsGettingFirm]

I am hoping to bail between 40 and 45, but it might take longer.

I actually don't know how long I will last at the full time career thing. The money is good and the work is interesting, but it is tough doing long hours, then going home and being daddy and helping out DW (Laurence knows what I mean). Ideally, I would like to go out at 40 with $2MM and a paid-off house, but I don't know how likely that is. I might settle for $1MM and a paid off house plus setting up a part time business. I have been helping some family and friends with financial planning and portfolio allocation and I have really enjoyed it. I think I could pretty easily get a CFP designation (would only have to take the test since I already have a CFA charter) and set up shop. But that is years in the future.

I'm in a bad place right now, just feeling burnt out and sick of not having the slightest bit of leisure/down time, so that is undoubtedly coloring my perceptons.

I think your plan may work. My current accounting teacher is a CFP. He got burned out being the CFO of a small computer reseller at about 40. Now he does some teaching, have a side tax prep. business, does some financial planning, and manages 30 of his rental properties. Seems to be a happy guy.

 

[Nords]

.

Justin, I'm checking in late today and I missed the events leading up to your editing of this post. Would you mind restoring it or PM'ing it to me?!

 

[justin]

Justin, I'm checking in late today and I missed the events leading up to your editing of this post. Would you mind restoring it or PM'ing it to me?!

Some spammer had posted one of those "I'm making $39,000/month from passive residual income from the ABG investment network" kind of statements. My post was making fun of the spammer. The spammer's post got deleted, so my post lacked context, and I edited it to nothing. I couldn't delete it for some reason.

 

[Nords]

Thanks!

I couldn't delete it for some reason. 

Poster deletion permission has been removed.  It was an attempt to avoid creative deletion of the record, mainly by trollers, but there are unintended side effects.  Of course people are attempting to preserve other poster's words for posterity by quoting them...

 

[justin]

I can delete some of my posts, like this one:

http://early-retirement.org/forums/index.php?topic=7402.msg132802#msg132802


Is "Poster deletion permission" selectively set based on topic or something?

I got confused by this, and even tricked into posting a test topic which I mistakenly assumed I could delete.

 

[Nords]

I can delete some of my posts, like this one:
http://early-retirement.org/forums/index.php?topic=7402.msg132802#msg132802
Is "Poster deletion permission" selectively set based on topic or something?
I got confused by this, and even tricked into posting a test topic which I mistakenly assumed I could delete. 

You'll have excuse me while I bring in one of the board admins who actually understands how to do this.

Or else you've discovered a bug an undocumented user convenience.

Oh, Jim? Dory?

 

[Leonardo]

Today: 22. No debts. 175k saved.

Good things happen: Retired at 30.
Normal: Retired at 42.
Bad things happen: Retired at 55.
Very bad things happen: dead before ER.

 

[Cool Dood]

Today: 22. No debts. 175k saved.

Leonardo, are we in dollars, or in reais?

Either way, congratulations!!

 

[Leonardo]

Leonardo, are we in dollars, or in reais?

Either way, congratulations!!

In reais. I intend to retire with R$1M.

Thanks. I had a really hard time convincing my girlfriend that this is the way to go.