I've changed my original goal of 45 to 55. DW had to stay home, so our income got cut nearly in half. We toyed with going more spartan, but we determined we are getting a lot of enjoyment out of the money we are currently spending ( nice slr camera for kids pics, little vacations, etc.). So I am 32, have about 130k in investments/savings, and we are socking about $10-12k a year away. With my contributions increasing 1% over inflation (definitely doable) per year, I see us with a little over 2 mil at 55, which will be a little over a mil in today's dollars. The house will be paid off (20 year mortgage), and my work has a pension you can take at 55 which will pay about 50% of my salary. If I retire at 54 I have to wait to 62 or 65 ( I forget) to get the pension. They also have a neat feature where you can take a whopping amount of cash per month from 55 to 62 or 67 and then reduce by your SS benefit amount. I'm looking strongly at this as A) I'll have to cover health care myself until medicare kicks in and B) I'm more likely to want to see the Pyramids of Giza at age 57 than 67.
I'm cool with 55, it's still young, it makes it so there is no worries with money now, no sense of deprevation. Plus, my work eventually gives you six weeks off and every other Friday, plus 7 holidays. That's 167 days off a year including weekends, so it's not exactly indentured servitude. But tough days like today make pushing my day of freedom out a decade seem a bit depressing.
I'm cool with 55, it's still young, it makes it so there is no worries with money now, no sense of deprevation. Plus, my work eventually gives you six weeks off and every other Friday, plus 7 holidays. That's 167 days off a year including weekends, so it's not exactly indentured servitude. But tough days like today make pushing my day of freedom out a decade seem a bit depressing.
