Where will you be in five years?

[Niko]

I started thinking after reading the forum "Where were you at 31." I am 26, so I started thinking about where I will be in 5 years. At one time, I thought I wanted to stay in my current job, tough it out, with the hope of being FIREd in 14 years -- at the age of 40. Lately, I've come up with another plan that might delay FIRE but make the Mrs. and I happier. In the next 5 years, I'd like to build my nest egg, not to the point of FIRE, but to where I can let it sit and grow while I take lesser paying jobs. Ideally, in 5 years I could cut back on my savings and still FIRE at 45-50 or so. I'm not certain what type of jobs I might look for in five years, but here are some thoughts that run through my my mind:

-Try to get in the foreign service (as a side note, anyone here ever done this?)
-Move and teach abroad with the Mrs.
-Work for NPO


Anyways, where do you all see yourself in 5 years?

 

[kumquat]

Hopefully, on the green side of the grass.

 

[kcowan]

When I was 26, I was just getting married. Five years later, I had two boys, had moved to new cities 3 times to change jobs, and had tripled my income.

I have advised both boys to be flexible and do whatever they can in their power to enhance their value to their industry. So far so good.

 

[Fireup2020]

Still working in same job (maybe one promotion upwards...but no higher aspirations - have job satisfaction with regard to what really matters to me here, and that is priceless!) Five years closer to ER (aka closer to service years for retirement and growing that nest egg)! A few international fun/ski trips in the mix for this timeframe, and retired from the USNR! I second Kumquat's opinion - still on the green side of the grass!

 

[aaronc879]

In 5 years i'll be 33. Expect that i'll still be single with no kids. Still be at same job and still under 50K/year. Should be close to $250K savings. Still a renter so no debt unless I buy my parents house when they retire around that time.

 

[podey]

Hope to be purchasing an apartment in that time frame (that 20% down on NYC prices is quite steep). Have all my school debt paid off in the next 3 years and possibly have changed jobs as unless I get promoted here (which I'm not sure I want) I will have maxed out my potential unless I move departments.

 

[Niko]

When I was 26, I was just getting married. Five years later, I had two boys, had moved to new cities 3 times to change jobs, and had tripled my income.

I have advised both boys to be flexible and do whatever they can in their power to enhance their value to their industry. So far so good.

Hey, I'm 26, just got married, and my first kid is on the way. Any chance you can send me your secret recipe for tripling my income in the next five years??

 

[kcowan]

Hey, I'm 26, just got married, and my first kid is on the way. Any chance you can send me your secret recipe for tripling my income in the next five years??

Yes but it will cost you
First job was bailing out a huge infrastructure project to make a profit. I got it because no one else would touch it. Because I saved the *sses of several layers of management, I got rewarded with a plum sales territory (also in trouble). After turning that around, I got the biggest client in the west.

So it was mostly taking risks and pulling the fat out of the fire. (Kind of similar to small cap investing. We bought 1200 shares of AAPL when it was $13.)

 

[Sarah in SC]

In five years DH will be 50 and that is the target date for him to retire. Our plan is for him to get another boat, putter around with it, making some trips down to the Bahamas, visit a friend retiring in Belize, maybe do some volunteer work, etc until my retirement in (hopefully) another 5 years, at which time I'll be 47.

No change in job or homeplace, but maybe a few more trips, a few more dogs, and a few more drinks! Staying on the green side, too, I hope!

And I'm really hoping that in 5 years CFB will have that men's cooking school opened up so I can send DH out to Cali for some lessons!

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Retired, still working or dead--in order of preference.

 

[steve88]

hopefully rich

 

[Meadbh]

I hope to RE on December 31, 2012, so in five years I will have three days to go!

 

[bright eyed]

huh, i know at least the next 1-2 years, same job - i think i have to put on cruise control for a while till the kiddos are both in school...by that time too, i will have a clearer sense of how things are working out on the job etc...i'm lucky that i love the people i work with and what we do...i hope to be settled in 5 years and stop having to ponder all these things - does that never go away?

so hopefully that means at least a stable financial situation. we're renting from my parents for now - and don't see any drastic changes in that situation unless the bottom really falls out in RE around here...

funny that i don't have a very clear answer since i always ask this question when i am interviewing folks for positions...hehehe

 

[Sandy]

In 5 years I will be days away from 56, so I hope to be FIREd. But that is my short "if all goes according to plan" timeline, so I will have to get back to you.

 

[tricky88]

Five years... I"m hoping that I am out of Los Angeles by then (I like it here a lot actually, and think the LA-bashing is usually done out of ignorance, but I've been here long enough).

Hopefully a small house with a few animals, growing some of my own food, and a nice fat bank account that grows mostly on its own and doesn't require the wife and I to keep adding to it at the frantic pace we're currently doing - or trying to do. I hope five years from now we'll be able to downshift from the 50-60 hour weeks we're both currently working but not yet eating into any savings. We'll be in our early 40s.

 

[martyb]

Anyways, where do you all see yourself in 5 years?

RETIRED. In exactly 5 yrs, 21 days to be exact.

 

[Goonie]

In 5 years I plan on still being retired, livin' a life of leisure, and enjoying endless days of play!!!

 

[W2R]

In five years...

I will have been retired for three years;
I will be living in Springfield, Missouri;
I will have owned my house there for two years;
I will just be finishing the process of furnishing, painting, and decorating it;
I will know all about snow and will be giving advice to southerners on the forum planning to move north;
I will have FINALLY decompressed and completely unwound after my working years;
and...
I will be planning my vegetable garden to plant in the spring! (hint: cherry tomatos! lettuce! green beans!)

 

[RetireeRobert]

In five years, we hope to be sitting in our new house, all the moving done, landscaping in and even starting to grow, cups of teas in our hands as we look out at the view and enjoy.

 

[aaronc879]

In five years...

I will have been retired for three years;
I will be living in Springfield, Missouri;
I will have owned my house there for two years;
I will just be finishing the process of furnishing, painting, and decorating it;
I will know all about snow and will be giving advice to southerners on the forum planning to move north;
I will have FINALLY decompressed and completely unwound after my working years;
and...
I will be planning my vegetable garden to plant in the spring! (hint: cherry tomatos! lettuce! green beans!)

Springfiled, MO barely qualifies you for giving snow advice. You will have fairly mild winters compared to many. I live about 700 miles north of Springfield and get about 50 inches of snow per year compared to the 15 inches in Springfield. We've already gotten over 25 inches and winter just began. It's also 12 degrees colder up here on average. You'll be in a nice location for average yearly temperature for the cost of living.

 

[W2R]

Springfiled, MO barely qualifies you for giving snow advice. You will have fairly mild winters compared to many. I live about 700 miles north of Springfield and get about 50 inches of snow per year compared to the 15 inches in Springfield. We've already gotten over 25 inches and winter just began. It's also 12 degrees colder up here on average. You'll be in a nice location for average yearly temperature for the cost of living.

Good! Although I have felt a little timid about the snow up there, I have noticed that the temperatures in Springfield are usually not too bad. They sometimes have fronts come through. Since the winters will be fairly mild, my adjustment to them may not be too tough.

 

[dessert]

In five years I will be 2 or 3 years into retirement. I'll be doing a lot of fishing, be in a different home, and traveling to interesting places.

It's fun right now discussing future events at w**k and I'm thinking to myself "that won't be my problem", and sometimes even think it out loud to everyone's amusement.

5 years from now.......re-born into a completely new life.

 

[Dog]

In five years I will be just on the verge of turning 55 and .......
Living full time on Whidbey Island
Golfing w/DH again
Spending more time outdoors (cycling, running, hiking, kayaking...you get it)
Enjoying a grandchild or two
Tending my garden
Getting up in the morning, wandering onto the deck in my pj's with my coffee & paper

 

[citrine]

In 5 years I will be:

38 years old
Saving like a mad woman
Living in North Carolina in a house
On my way to becoming a famous artist

 

[RetireeRobert]

In 5 years I will be:

On my way to becoming a famous artist

In what medium?