hi everyone!
have been thinking and planning for early retirement for a while now and stumbled upon this forum and am loving what I'm reading, if not just for the fact of knowing I'm not crazy and there are other people out in the world like myself.
My goal:
I'm 29, live in Manhattan, work in finance, and I plan to retire in the next 5 years (33-35). I plan to have 500-750k in the bank, move abroad, and not to touch the nest egg but doing work that I actually enjoy doing.
A little background abotu me:
I started working in New York at 22, green to the world of finance, and a money hungry sh*t like all the other kids I was surrounded with. For people that have already done the math, I started working in 2008, August of 2008 to be exact. Within 3 weeks, Lehman brothers had declared backruptcy and markets were down 40%. I didn't really know what was happening at the time, and how it would affect me later, but it was quite the introduction to the working world. Coming out of college, I made $65k a year, and earned a bonus of about $30k my first year to bring my salary to around $100k. Yes that seems lilke a boatload of money for someone at 22, but you have to factor in NYC cost of living where we're taxed ~40% and you're paying $2000 a month to share an apartment (although it was temporarily cheaper following the recession). However, I had accrued a boatload of credit card debt (BAD BAD BAD) and some student loans in college. Also, being young and new to NYC and life in general, I fully indulged in everything NYC has to offer. I wasn't saving a dime and struggling to make expenses meet especially since I had so much expenses. My lowest point in my life was when my Mint account said in 2009 my net worth was $9, all my credit cards were maxed out, and I had to go to dinner with a friend and lie that I forgot my credit card to pay for my meal. nevertheless, I was lucky, and after my bonus paid out, along with some tax returns, I was able to pay off my debts in 2 years.
Over the years, conditions continued to deteriorate. Work became less interesting, banks became extremely regulated, salaries barely increased with inflation, and bonuses dwindled to almost nothing. The most senior guys still got paid decent bonuses, but a mere fraction of what they once were and I saw first hand how one person's income equating to 10 average Americans was not enough because of how leveraged and unsustainable their lifestyles had become over the years. During this time (2010-2013), I saved more regularly, and poured money into my 401k and brokerage account taking full advantage of the stock market rally.
In 2013, I decided to transfer with my company to South Africa as i always wanted to live abroad. I lived in SA for 2 years, traveling all throughout Africa and really seeing the world through a different lens. I took a paycut to move there, but the cost of living was so much less that I was saving significantly more. It was my two years here that really changed my outlook on life. There's much more to life than making the big bucks, which I probably won't ever see anyway. I returned to NYC in 2015 after traveling through Africa for 6 months, this time finding a job making $130k base and another $20k in bonus a year. I quickly realized I had lost interest in the world of finance and what i was doing was really just helping the rich get richer. Traveling also made me realize that I don't need nor want the fancy luxuries most peopel associate with people in my professions. So with that said, if you're not asleep yet, let me present my plan:
My income:
Current Salary: $150k + unknown bonus (15-20% of base)
401k: Company contibutes 10k a year
Airbnb: ~10k a year from renting apt while I take vacation
My current accounts: $180k (mostly in cash in brokerage accounts as I don't like where the market is at the moment)
401k: $55k
Roth: $10k
Brokerage Accounts: $75k
Cash: $40k
Current Savings per month: $5500 (3k post tax, 2.5k pre tax)
Current Savings per year: ~$60k + bonus = ~$90k
Assets:
I own an apartment in Manhattan via 30y fixed (3.5%) that should appreciate in value.
Plan after retirement:
I'm not sure what people on this forum think, but I think many people wrongly associate early retirement with "are you really just going to sit around and do nothing for the rest of your life? Sounds awful". I don't view early retirement as I'm just gonna be on a bitch and sip margaritas all day.
For me, it is simply, I will not work for the sole purpose of making money anymore. So my plan is to move abroad (haven't decided where yet), rent my apartment in nyc. Plan is to travel for awhile (budget style of course). I am also a dive instructor which is a huge passion of mine so will likely work as a dive instructor in Indonesia or the Maldives for awhile (housing and food usually included as part of the job). I will see what interests me after that and take it from there. But gone will be the days where I stare at a computer for 12 hours and mindlessly slave my life away.
The plan is to not touch my nest egg, and grow it through growth ETFs and decent yielding dividend stocks with track record of dividend increase.
I know my plan sounds a bit crazy and most people would probably work until they're 50 or whatno tand save a few mill but there's no way I want to do what I do for another 20 years. You'd be surprised how good of a life you can have abroad! Appreciate any input!
have been thinking and planning for early retirement for a while now and stumbled upon this forum and am loving what I'm reading, if not just for the fact of knowing I'm not crazy and there are other people out in the world like myself.
My goal:
I'm 29, live in Manhattan, work in finance, and I plan to retire in the next 5 years (33-35). I plan to have 500-750k in the bank, move abroad, and not to touch the nest egg but doing work that I actually enjoy doing.
A little background abotu me:
I started working in New York at 22, green to the world of finance, and a money hungry sh*t like all the other kids I was surrounded with. For people that have already done the math, I started working in 2008, August of 2008 to be exact. Within 3 weeks, Lehman brothers had declared backruptcy and markets were down 40%. I didn't really know what was happening at the time, and how it would affect me later, but it was quite the introduction to the working world. Coming out of college, I made $65k a year, and earned a bonus of about $30k my first year to bring my salary to around $100k. Yes that seems lilke a boatload of money for someone at 22, but you have to factor in NYC cost of living where we're taxed ~40% and you're paying $2000 a month to share an apartment (although it was temporarily cheaper following the recession). However, I had accrued a boatload of credit card debt (BAD BAD BAD) and some student loans in college. Also, being young and new to NYC and life in general, I fully indulged in everything NYC has to offer. I wasn't saving a dime and struggling to make expenses meet especially since I had so much expenses. My lowest point in my life was when my Mint account said in 2009 my net worth was $9, all my credit cards were maxed out, and I had to go to dinner with a friend and lie that I forgot my credit card to pay for my meal. nevertheless, I was lucky, and after my bonus paid out, along with some tax returns, I was able to pay off my debts in 2 years.
Over the years, conditions continued to deteriorate. Work became less interesting, banks became extremely regulated, salaries barely increased with inflation, and bonuses dwindled to almost nothing. The most senior guys still got paid decent bonuses, but a mere fraction of what they once were and I saw first hand how one person's income equating to 10 average Americans was not enough because of how leveraged and unsustainable their lifestyles had become over the years. During this time (2010-2013), I saved more regularly, and poured money into my 401k and brokerage account taking full advantage of the stock market rally.
In 2013, I decided to transfer with my company to South Africa as i always wanted to live abroad. I lived in SA for 2 years, traveling all throughout Africa and really seeing the world through a different lens. I took a paycut to move there, but the cost of living was so much less that I was saving significantly more. It was my two years here that really changed my outlook on life. There's much more to life than making the big bucks, which I probably won't ever see anyway. I returned to NYC in 2015 after traveling through Africa for 6 months, this time finding a job making $130k base and another $20k in bonus a year. I quickly realized I had lost interest in the world of finance and what i was doing was really just helping the rich get richer. Traveling also made me realize that I don't need nor want the fancy luxuries most peopel associate with people in my professions. So with that said, if you're not asleep yet, let me present my plan:
My income:
Current Salary: $150k + unknown bonus (15-20% of base)
401k: Company contibutes 10k a year
Airbnb: ~10k a year from renting apt while I take vacation
My current accounts: $180k (mostly in cash in brokerage accounts as I don't like where the market is at the moment)
401k: $55k
Roth: $10k
Brokerage Accounts: $75k
Cash: $40k
Current Savings per month: $5500 (3k post tax, 2.5k pre tax)
Current Savings per year: ~$60k + bonus = ~$90k
Assets:
I own an apartment in Manhattan via 30y fixed (3.5%) that should appreciate in value.
Plan after retirement:
I'm not sure what people on this forum think, but I think many people wrongly associate early retirement with "are you really just going to sit around and do nothing for the rest of your life? Sounds awful". I don't view early retirement as I'm just gonna be on a bitch and sip margaritas all day.
For me, it is simply, I will not work for the sole purpose of making money anymore. So my plan is to move abroad (haven't decided where yet), rent my apartment in nyc. Plan is to travel for awhile (budget style of course). I am also a dive instructor which is a huge passion of mine so will likely work as a dive instructor in Indonesia or the Maldives for awhile (housing and food usually included as part of the job). I will see what interests me after that and take it from there. But gone will be the days where I stare at a computer for 12 hours and mindlessly slave my life away.
The plan is to not touch my nest egg, and grow it through growth ETFs and decent yielding dividend stocks with track record of dividend increase.
I know my plan sounds a bit crazy and most people would probably work until they're 50 or whatno tand save a few mill but there's no way I want to do what I do for another 20 years. You'd be surprised how good of a life you can have abroad! Appreciate any input!
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