The Blog of a Man Who Plans to Retire at 37

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Arrr...I was hopin' the swabbie would come back for more keelhauling, so I couldst follow up with a "Blow Me"

 

[Greenbackluver]

Aw come on!

 

[Greenbackluver]

Faking it would be pretty difficult for the rest of your life

 

[consejo]

Go for it, Jack! Even on this board there will be naysayers - be a nay SLAYER!

At 35, I was broke, unemployed and over $50K in debt. 15 years later I had a net worth over $1M. I will retire in 32 months but I'll be 55. If I could turn back the clock, I'd get out ASAP, in my thirties and live like a student.

Work is OK but the freedom of ER is the ultimate tonic, and the sooner the better. In fact, I think total retirement is over-rated. We all need something to do. I'd say just work enough to support your present lifestyle doing something you enjoy TODAY! Don't wait to enjoy your life and have as much free time as possible.

Think of it this way--four day weekends for the rest of your life, or work six months a year and take a six month break for as long as you enjoy that.

The keys: The sooner the better, work only as much as you need to to live simply, and enjoy what little work you do.

Good luck, my brother, and may the force be with you!

 

[Nords]

Work or ER?  Hmmmm.... tough choice.

In fact, I think total retirement is over-rated.  We all need something to do.

Hey, speak for yourself, Consejo.  I have more than enough to do without a job.

It's possible that work is for those who aren't ready to handle being totally responsible for all of their own entertainment!

 

[dex]

Nords - my heros!

 

[windedhare]

Re: Work or ER?  Hmmmm.... tough choice.

It's possible that work is for those who aren't ready to handle being totally responsible for all of their own entertainment!

Well put!

 

[Jack_Key]

Go for it, Jack! Even on this board there will be naysayers - be a nay SLAYER!

Yes, I've seen that and was really surprised by the reaction I did receive from some people. I am very open to critic, comments and suggestions and I actually did the blog in order to get in touch with some people that, like you, did retire very early or plan to do so. But I've read many "you are full of s***" or "go make your homework"... anyway. I don't care too much about those people, if they don't believe it is possible (or if they don't want to stop working, which is correct if they are happy with that), then they should just don't lose their time finding flaws in my plan.

The keys:  The sooner the better, work only as much as you need to to live simply, and enjoy what little work you do.

I'm considering this as a second option. As I've said before, I don't think I will never work between 37 and 65.. but from 37, I will be free to work wherever I want, part-time if I want, changing job when I'm bored (and stop 6 months between the two), etc. Or maybe I will enjoy my ER that much that I will never want to get back to work, I don't know yet.

Regards,

Jack
http://retireat37.blogspot.com

 

[consejo]

Jack, in regards to your last post: Good for you!

I made some posts and got flamed, as well. Mostly by the same people, that's gotta tell ya' something!

I like your blog, it will be of value to others and I know how much work they are.

I'm new to these boards but figured out real quick that you just ignore about 50% of the posts. Write them off to the boredom of others or something.

I'll be interested to see how you do. The first time I retired I was 30. It lasted two years as I was not really prepared but I do not regret a day I spent at the beach.

R/

 

[grlcndream]

The key is freedom - doing what you want when you want...if you want to work, great. If you don't, great. It's not sitting around doing nothing, it's having the choice/freedom to work however much you want!

 

[Jack_Key]

The key is freedom - doing what you want when you want...if you want to work, great. If you don't, great. It's not sitting around doing nothing, it's having the choice/freedom to work however much you want!

That's exactly what it is. Actually, I think then that "Financial Independance" is more closely related to what you say than "Early retirement".

Jack

 

[chris2008]

Your blog is blocked - are you gone?

 

[TromboneAl]

It will be interesting to find out what happened.

 

[retire@40]

One possibility:

Maybe he finally realized his plan wasn't realistic.

Instead of adjusting his numbers, he just gave up.

 

[TromboneAl]

Maybe he couldn't afford to maintain the blog.

 

[poyet]

Or by halving his expenditures to 7k$ / year he discovered he could retire asap
Patrice!

 

[wstu32]

i like that... they didnt know they were poor until the govt told them...
one thing i always had a rpoblem with...how can someone be considered poor when they own tv, car, are overweight, eat 2-3 meals per day...and have cable on top of that!

 

[old woman]

i like that... they didnt know they were poor until the govt told them...
one thing i always had a rpoblem  with...how can someone be considered poor when they own tv, car, are overweight, eat 2-3 meals per day...and have cable on top of that!

Being overweight can be cheaper than being fit, carbs are cheaper then veggies. Poor is not having everything you want or at least the idea you might get it someday.
I considered very very early retirement and decided not to do it. I had a little house, near a bus line and was paying off the house fast and puting money away for retirement. I calculated what it would take to give up working. If I had not going back to school, bought a bigger house I could be retired years ago. But I couldn't have afforded to leave the house except to get groceries, it wasn't worth it to me.
I am about at that point again, big house about paid for about enough money put away but I would be living with no choices in my life. So I will work longer, I don't mind working as much as I mind staying home with nothing to do. When I have a reason I will retire. The reason could be my health, my boyfriend's retirement, needing to care for my mom, losing my job. I just save as fast as I can and when I retire I figure out how to live on what I have.

 

[wstu32]

sometimes it is not actually retirement we all strive for, it is the fact that knowing we can tell our superiors to shove it anytime we want...
that makes going/being at work a lot better!!

 

[poyet]

wstu32, you're right but I can add that once you can do it, you do it, and once you've done it, you dont stay at work for long, they dont like you any longer !

 

[Jay_Gatsby]

sometimes it is not actually retirement we all strive for, it is the fact that knowing we can tell our superiors to shove it anytime we want...
that makes going/being at work a lot better!!

Fear is what keeps many people in crappy jobs. The financial independence to say "take this job and shove it, I ain't workin' here no more!" would give many people the courage to go do something they want to do, and for more than just the paycheck. With such a promise of occupational happiness, it makes me wonder why so many people don't pursue financial independence. Perhaps they haven't reached the point of being sick and tired of being sick and tired...

 

[HFWR]

I think most folks either think it's undoable, or just can't dream the dream...

 

[Nords]

I think most folks either think it's undoable, or just can't dream the dream...

It's not a lack of courage or imagination. It's an overwhelmingly vicious downward spiral.

You're overworked, you're exhausted, you're not thinking clearly, and you're not happy. But how do you step back, take a deep breath, and rationally analyze the situation to identify the alternatives? You're up to your cheeks in swampwater and too busy swatting alligators to wonder what that giant sucking sound is.

I think the resolution only happens when there's a significant life experience-- an unexpected buyout or mass layoff, a health crisis or even death (yours or family), or a major family problem (aging parents, kid delinquency). Suddenly it's too crazy to continue the "normal" routine-- life's priorities realign themselves, you get a different routine with perhaps some reflection time, and maybe you even catch up on sleep a little. Maybe you're spending too much time in waiting rooms (or emergency rooms) with plenty to think about. However it happens, you have more time to analyze the situation and the way becomes a little clearer. Perhaps at that point there are so many more significant problems that money isn't the issue it was allowed to be.

I spent 10 fairly unhappy years on active duty waiting for my Navy pension to vest. We consoled ourselves that it helped keep the family where we wanted to be and gave us the opportunity to save more. Those thoughts were largely correct but the safety margin was razor-thin. We were surrounded by the answers-- Reservists were all around us-- but we were too busy being overworked & exhausted to think of taking the time to explore the opportunities. Our solution was adequate but it was truly the best we were capable of coming up with at the time. If I had left active duty and joined the Reserves my income would have slowed down a little and we would probably have ended up relocating, but spouse might have had a much better (more flexible) career and my retirement would only have been delayed by a few years. The drop in our stress would have more than made up for the drop in income.

When our family crisis hit, I was much closer to retirement and I'd already worked through the process of assets, expenses, & options. We knew spouse might want to leave active duty and we had the time to learn more about the Reserves. Once we'd researched the answers, spouse knew what she had to do-- and I recognized what an opportunity I'd missed.

Don't get me wrong-- I'm quite satisfied with the way things turned out. But if we'd had that unexpected crisis a few years earlier, we wouldn't have been in a very good position to figure out the answers.

 

[wstu32]

right now i am couple houndred thousand short... that would cover medical insurance. i could save that in about 1 - 1 1/2 years.
i could ask my wife to pick up a few more hours at her pt job at macy's and get medical, but want that safty net ... i figure personal medical insurance to be 10k per year.
me: 40
i have 1.2 million -- just about $1 million brokerage acct, the rest in iras... townhouse free and clear. Pretty darn close...
but medical insurance is the thing holding me back at this point.
Every day i get closer and closer...
I consider myself truely blessed, but have worked for every penny!

 

[poyet]

Well, my modest experience from what I saw (parents and close persons) is that the chances of getting cured of a severe illness, say a cancer by medicare (meaning good medical system available to developed countries) are much lower than the chances of "self-engineering" one by being stressed at work or stressed in general, fighting with contracts, bosses, people, family, etc.

Hell everyday for medicare (and then you need it and it does little to rescue you) or happiness right now for a decent and reasonable life with good sleep, no smoking (whatever), no drinking, no stress... ?

Everything can happen to me, I can be dead tomorrow of a hart attack (happened to a friend of mine last year - 46yrs 4 kids), why should I worry about medicare (which I wont have for at least 10 years...) I should worry about living my life ! not you ?

I'm not telling you go ahead without having made clear choices. But medicare is an invention designed to put us in slavery as well, as work wages are. Big Brother (BB) knows that and speculate on fears of people to enslave them with security (case of civil servants doing stupid jobs but have security to die at their jobs), claiming that you need a "Carte Vitale" - vital card - to get medicare ! come on I need no card to be alive !, insurance of the insurance in case you would not be entirely covered, etc...

Fear and greed. I'm greedy to live everyday as a free man, ignoring BB as much as I can. Well, I stop my rambling (still the best dump of my real thoughts !)