Soooo ready at 31!!

[Zipper]

You are in your prime years (30)'s.

Way too young to be obsessed with retirement.

Put a good plan in place and see what happens in 10 years.

[dex]

grlcndream ,
Plan your escape and write it down.
First you are not your job - the job pays the bills.
Second, if you want to retire early hopefully find a job that pays well and you enjoy. If enjoyment isn't possible find one that pays very well so you can reire early.
Third, if you like working with animals do volenteer work - large companies support that kind of thing.
Fouth, I'm 50 in 1985 (when I was 30) the concept of retiring early was not talked about. If it was I may have planned bettter.
I saw the movie "Office Space". A lot of corp life is full of that bull.
Good luck

[Beachbumz]

Please don't be disheartened by Zippers comments, he thinks everyone should work as long as him, not sure why.

[Calgary_Girl]

Quote:

You are in your prime years (30)'s. Way too young to be obsessed with retirement. Put a good plan in place and see what happens in 10 years.

No way! I say more power to ya! I'm 32, hubby just turned 35 and we think about early retirement a LOT! Our net worth is $700K (half of which is the equity in our home). Luckily, we are able to live off of my salary and invest hubby's. Plus, hubby just started a new job with great benefits (he contributes 5% to his RRSP and his company puts in 10% with immediate vesting) so that will help us reach the finish line even sooner.

[BUM]

Grlcndream,

Welcome a-board! Keep planning and stick to your plan.

If you need a home budget planning tool, follow this link and download the "budget worksheet". I've used a few. I like this one.

Grlcandream's planning tool:
http://www.free-financial-advice.net/create-budget.html

Hubby's planning tool:
http://www.nopassportrequired.com/co...msuit_wrap.htm

Got Lime?

BUM 8)

[kayelem]

Grlcndream:
I am impressed with what you have accomplished so far! Although I am married now (age 44) and ready to RE soon...I didn't plan on getting married when I was single and working in my 30's. In my 30's I was already planning to try to save a lot of my corporate salary so I could get out as early as possible.

I remember speaking with a woman in HR (she was quiequite non traditional) and she told me that basically I was responsible for my own career, not the company, and that I should be looking after my own best interests. She also told me that once I had a "Plan B" (improving my skills knowledge to do something else, saving my money so I didn't have to work, etc.), that "Plan A" (current job) wouldn't look so bad. It is all about taking control.

That said, I made some mistakes along the way, too. I spent some money foolishly to make myself feel better for the unhappiness I had in my job...looking back if I had better articulated my early retirement plan I might not have done that.

I stuck with my job until now and I am finally ready to go financially. Before you jump too early, please make sure you have a plan as others have counseled. Also, look at your situation as well.....you are being paid an excellent salary for very regular hours. In the corporate world I am working in my days start at 8 am at the latest sometimes earlier, and when I am traveling with employees and customers they usually don't end until 9 or 10 pm. My regular office days end no earlier than 7 PM. I think that is very normal in many corporations now days...so all I am saying is that you currently have a large chunk of "life" that is your own, and you are making good money. Make the most of it, get your Plan B in order, and retire as early as you can!

[panhead]

Hey grlcndream, welcome to the board ! We are in similar circumstances except I got a couple of years on you. I'm 34, have about $250k cash and outright own my (very) modest house. By early next year, I'll have hit my first level of FI. Granted, this level just covers all of my expenses including health care, but no extra fun at all except gas/insurance on my motorcycle. That being said, it will be party time as that makes working (somewhat) optional !
I think we've done things a bit differently, I've had several different jobs, always jumping to something new that sounds interesting as long as I got a huge chunk of a pay raise. I'm not concerned with security, if I get laid off, it's an early trial at RE, and you can always find another job, maybe at a lower salary, mabye higher, but I like risk. Just a suggestion, you might try scouting around for a job with a nice 20%+ pay increase and see how you do. Might shorten your time to freedom.
Oh yeah, I hear you loud and clear. I'm ready to jump ship at any time, but like many here, I am paid very well to do what I do, and don't want to walk away yet. Terhorst said getting laid off is a bad way to start RE, but I think this would be ideal, as I would get unemployment and severance, plus it would take a lot more than a layoff to hurt my ego (hell, it could probably use the reality check ;-)).
Anyway, keep us posted, good luck and when your on that beach, look to your right, hopefully I'll be there with a Corona in my hand as well !

-Pan-

[grlcndream]

I love coming back into work with these replies - thanks to everyone!

I have taken away several things from the latest responses:

1 - Make sure I have thought everything out and have a good plan before making any moves.

2 - That I do really have a good schedule compared to many others - it's rare that I work more that 40 hours a week. I need to be thankful for that, and take better advantage of the time I have outside of work.

3 - That if I work on my Plan B - becoming FI - Plan A - working in my current job - will not seem as bad.

4 - That others in this forum enjoy the pleasure of an ice cold Corona.

5 - I should be volunteering my time to help out with a cause I believe in.

Hello grlcndream!

I'm getting a bit worried about you and that
"ice cold Corona" thing. You will have a lot of time on your hands once you ER. Nothing wrong with thinking
about what you will be drinking, but there are other aspects to ER, like...............what will you be driving?
say........a "nice old Corolla". or maybe your TV?
"twice sold Motorola".........or perhaps..................
dryer sheets? Our brand is "Thrice fold cordoba".
The clothes dry fast but you have to explore
everywhere to match up your socks.

You will also have time to fool around with dopey
word play

JG

[Beachbumz]

Hello Grlcndream,
I'm getting worried too! Sure an ice cold Corona is excellent, but you will have plenty of time to expand your horizons, like with an ice cold Dos Equis, or maybe Tecate or Negro Modelo...well you get the idea. (and then there are all the other countries...) 8)

Happy New Year!

The Beachbumz

[grlcndream]

Beachbumz - You are absolutely right...not fair to discriminate against all the other fine ales available to me :-) I will broaden my horizons!

John - you are too funny. I truly enjoy reading your posts. You have a wonderful sense of humor and way of looking at life!

[wildcat]

Wow!! I am impressed with your story and certainly find myself contemplating similar ideas. I think people, myself included, look for meaning in their lives and don't always see what they are doing as meaningful. I think I will walk away early (if I prepare accordingly), live a simple life and do something that really makes a difference. I just have to make it to that point but best of luck to you. You will do just fine as long as you are happy.

[piranha]

As a 32 year old that has been teaching high school for 9 years, I can identify with the subject of this thread. While I'm actually at school, the day goes by fast and I enjoy interacting with students for the most part. The 3 things that bother me about my chosen profession more than anything are grading a seemingly endless stream of poorly written papers, interacting with delusional parents on a fairly regular basis, and noticing that the overall apathy towards education by teenagers seems to be increasing exponentially.

I think it was around my 30th birthday that I started thinking about ER, but in the last month or so planning towards it has become a semi-obsession. What would I do with my time? I can think of 100 things but I really don't feel like tormenting myself before heading into a new week of school (and papers).

[Ol_Rancher]

Greetings piranha, Welcome to a great forum. As a retired teacher I may be able to address serveral points in your consideration of ER from the profession as I did. I retired at 53 when my age + years of service equaled 80. The key was the medical coverage until age 66 when I would qualify for Medicare coverage as primary carrier.

I invite you to look up my profile and read my past posts, especailly those about teaching in the public school.

Again, welcome ...

[piranha]

I started skimming your profile and saw another thing you and I have in common... American Funds. *You still holding? *My wife and I have almost our entire portfolio with them. *Paying the upfront load sucks (we're down to 2.5% now), but I can sleep fairly well at night if the past is any indicator of future performance. *Most of our $ is tied up into Growth Fund of America, Invest. Co of Am, *New Perspective, AMCAP, and Fund. Investors. *We just started positoins in Europac and Captital World Growth and Inc. to get more foreign exposure. *Within the next 5 years when I get closer to my planned ER, I plan on gradually shifting some assets into capital income builder... which seems like a fantastic low risk option.

[Mountain_Mike]

grcndream,

You are NOT strange at all...I've been feeling this way for several years....but I'm older. I am also in a well paying job...and I've upped my 403b and 457 plans to over $1700 per month, but all this is just gravy! I'm 51, and I've been here so long, that at 55 I'm up to 70% salary. I talk about bailing out at 55, and DW says "you'll have a kid in junior high school." I think, "so what," as long as income is coming in, what's so magical about working.

My hat is off to you. If I'd been single, I would have figured out a way to retire at least in my early 40s.

Care to share one of those Coronas??

[grlcndream]

I wish I had one to share right now! :-)

Thanks for your response to my post.

A follow up:

I just found out that I am getting laid off with a nice severance package. April 15th is my last day. I have decided to get my real estate license and start selling. Boy am I scared. This will be the first time since college that I haven't had a steady paycheck. But it's also so exciting. I will be doing something I love for the first time as well. And will feel that although I will be working hard, I will have some freedom to come and go. If I am successful at it, this could be something I will do until I retire. EARLY OF COURSE :-) Wish me luck!

[laurence]

You have an awesome attitude to news that some would take very poorly, right on! Welcome to the board, good luck in real estate, the right personality can make a real killing!

[Calgary_Girl]

Good luck to you grlcndream!

The past two weeks at work have been HELL for me and I would love to throw in the towel. But, my bonus is coming up so I'll keep smiling

Early retirement sounds better and better every day and I'm obsessed with looking at our net worth almost every week....it's been that bad.

[BUM]

Quote:

I wish I had one to share right now! :-) Thanks for your response to my post. A follow up: I just found out that I am getting laid off with a nice severance package. April 15th is my last day. I have decided to get my real estate license and start selling. Boy am I scared. This will be the first time since college that I haven't had a steady paycheck. But it's also so exciting. I will be doing something I love for the first time as well. And will feel that although I will be working hard, I will have some freedom to come and go. If I am successful at it, this could be something I will do until I retire. EARLY OF COURSE :-) Wish me luck!

grlcndream,

That pink slip might be a blessing in disguise. Beware of confusing fear with normal career change jitters.
Remember Grlcndream and if grlcnwork then grlcneat and if grlcnsave then grlcnRE.

Good Luck and turn those dreams into reality.

BUM