18 year old form the UK looking to retire in under 10 years.

[mrjim]

Hi I’m new to this forum and I am looking to retire in under 10 years. I have a part time job that pays £800 a month and I currently spend around £300 a month, I don’t have any kids and still live with my parents. I have £743.36 in my buildings society and I add in what I haven’t spent that month so around £450-£500 monthly (more when I’m in full time employment). I started learning about financial independence a few months ago (August 2013) and I am learning the basics about stocks, bonds, mutual funds, REIT’s, options and real estate individually, then picking the one I feel more comfortable with investing in and then adding in the others.
I’m hoping to retire within 10 years (hopefully around 27-29) and move to America (possibly California, Alabama, Georgia, Wyoming), I know that moving to America is not easy as you have to fit a certain criteria eg: have a company that’s willing to sponsor you, have medical training, have a close family member who lives there.
Does this sound possible at all?
Thanks.
mrjim

 

[racy]

Hi Jim,
It's always good to see a young person that's planning ahead for financial independence. Keep studying, saving and investing.

Your question prompted me to search. I found this website, Making the Move Abroad With Ease And, see that emigrating to the US is difficult; much more than I realized.

For what it's worth, here's what they say about Canada: "With it's close ties to the UK, it's ease of access and of course high standard of living, Canada has become a front runner for most British people looking to move abroad permanently."

You're young, everything is possible!

 

[mrjim]

Thanks for the reply Racy, do the investments that I listed look ok for financial freedom/retirement.

 

[braumeister]

This is a joke, right?

 

[Midpack]

It can be done, but it's not for most people. Sounds like a budding Jacob...

Early Retirement Extreme: — a combination of simple living, anticonsumerism, DIY ethics, self-reliance, and applied capitalism

 

[ShortInSeattle]

If you want to retire early, it helps to earn a high income and save most of it.

Your youth gives you a big advantage - start saving now and "future you" will be pleased.

To start, find a good job that will keep you interested and pay you well. If necessary, seek out training to get qualified.

10 years is NOT reasonable for most people, but you are putting the cart before the horse anyway. Get educated. Get a good job. That is step one.

Be very careful about who you marry (if you marry) and don't go impregnating anyone accidentally, that is step two.

Save 20-50% of your income and invest it sensibly, that is step three. Get some books on investing to learn how.

I recommend the Mr Money Mustache blog for some reading material.

SIS

 

[CaliforniaMan]

If you want to retire early, it helps to earn a high income and save most of it.

Your youth gives you a big advantage - start saving now and "future you" will be pleased.

To start, find a good job that will keep you interested and pay you well. If necessary, seek out training to get qualified.

10 years is NOT reasonable for most people, but you are putting the cart before the horse anyway. Get educated. Get a good job. That is step one.

Be very careful about who you marry (if you marry) and don't go impregnating anyone accidentally, that is step two.

Save 20-50% of your income and invest it sensibly, that is step three. Get some books on investing to learn how.

I recommend the Mr Money Mustache blog for some reading material.

SIS

I'm just an old guy, and if I were 18, I wouldn't have listened to me, My kid's didn't listen to me when they were 18 either. But just my opinion, it is not too early to start thinking about saving, investing and living frugally, but it is way way way to early to start thinking about retirement.

You really don't know who you will be in 10 years. 10 is twice as long as you were when you were 13 years old. Are you the same now as when you were 13? You will change a lot in the next 10 years.

I agree with ShortInSeattle, "To start, find a good job that will keep you interested and pay you well. If necessary, seek out training to get qualified." Now is the time to concentrate on your education. That is the key to everything in your future. It is the key to how much you can earn, what kind of adventures you can have, and what kind of opportunities will be available to you.

Sorry to say, but 18 is the time you have to get down to working very hard, working hard getting an education. Again, your best investment is your education.

You are in the best time of your life, make the sacrifice, work hard, get educated, and have a little fun.

And for gosh sake, follow ShortInSeattle's advice "Be very careful about who you marry (if you marry) and don't go impregnating anyone accidentally, that is step two."

You will notice on this site there are lots of engineers, doctors, etc, who were able to retire well, but got educated first.

Just my thoughts for what they are worth.

 

[mrjim]

Thanks for all of your reply's. Sorry I should have said in the post that I'm planning to become financially independent within 10 years as I feel that that is the time when I'll be thinking about starting to support a family so I figured that I would prefer to have savings and investments that I could live off of if I needed to, so that If I needed to take time off work I would't worrying about money coming in each month. Also it would give me options to do things like live abroad/take up more hobbies/volunteer if I wanted to leave my job or go part time.
So if I focus on getting a decent paying job and then saving and investing, does this sound like something that could happen.
Once again thanks.

 

[REWahoo]

So if I focus on getting a decent paying job and then saving and investing, does this sound like something that could happen.

Not likely. Of the thousands who are members on this forum, even the most frugal and well-employed rarely become FI before their 40's - most later.

That said, there are always a few outliers who manage to hit it big early in life, resist the temptation to "live large" and reach FI far earlier than most. But don't count on it.

 

[JacqJolie]

Well, I don't know about the under 10 years part for an 18 year old. It would be do-able for someone who's in the high income phase of their career, which an 18 year old definitely isn't.
Check out the blog Freedom 35: freedom 35
His approach is less extreme than ERE and he's single and doesn't make a high income so may be more appropriate. He's also funny.

 

[Ready]

It can be done, but it's not for most people. Sounds like a budding Jacob...

Early Retirement Extreme: — a combination of simple living, anticonsumerism, DIY ethics, self-reliance, and applied capitalism

It's been over a year since I read Jacob's book. I seem to remember him claiming to have annual expenses of about $7K, right? So even at a 3% SWR he would only need about $231K to consider himself FI. Seems achievable, if you can really get your expenses down that low. That's a big "if" though.