Thanks highlow65 for starting this thread! You get the honor of my first ever post on this board -- been lurking for a few months.
I will join the class of 2021 -- actually my goal is anywhere from December 2020 to December 2022, so 2021 is a good compromise. What year I retire depends on my portfolio RoR, but I'll be 51-53 by then. For the record, married with no kids of our own, but DW has a son from a relationship long before we met, when she was young and foolish. She is far from foolish now, but incredibly the kid is still around. Amazing how that works.
Anyway, I started obsessing with retirement since our NW, including our expensive but older fixer upper house, rose above 2.6m. I could retire now, I know, but a few things are pushing our number to closer to 4m (predicted by 2022 or earlier). First, we live in a high cost area (DC metro) and DW wants to stay here for a good while -- perhaps another 20 years unless I talk her out of it. Second, kid is nearby, and kid needs our financial support, and kid is having his own kid with his fiance (he's in his mid-20s), and so we will be grandparents in our mid-40s. We'll want to give the granddaughter every chance to launch in the real world as a real person, unlike kid. That means education, of course. Third, we are young and health insurance is a big issue and funding 20 years before medicare kicks in could be challenging. Fourth, while we're making good money now, I'm currently looking for a lower paying but more relaxing job, and it will still pay six figures but will be a pay cut. Fifth, I like working so long as I don't have to keep at my current pace -- desperately need a break.
I have many things to keep me busy, and will probably manage our rentals during retirement, so maybe I'll never truly retire. Looking forward to camping out west for as long as DW can take it!
Good luck to the class of 2021.