50 yo, $590k net worth...want to stop working asap

[jasonfreedom]

Hi everybody!!
First time visiting this site. But been into financial freedom as an intention for many years.

Okay my deets:
- 50 years old
~ $590k net worth ($120k investment home equity, $120k stocks, $350k blue-chip crypto)
~ $550/mo passive income ($250/mo rental home, $100/mo stock dividends, $200/mo crypto)
~ $2400/mo retirement income now vested if I stop working today, starting Age 67 (social security and work pension)
- No personal debt (except monthly ccard balance and investment home mortgage)
- $200k/yr salary (w/ bonus and 401k match really $225k)
- $5000/mo expenses (rent $2400, food $600, gym/massage/therapy $1000, phone/utilities $250, everything else $750... I live in Hoboken after all)
- No wife (that I know of), no children, have a gf who doesn't want to get married, rent my apartment
- Have a LOT of life experience. Everest base camp, all 7 continents, triathlon runner until a nasty injury, spent a month with a shaman in the Indonesian rainforest, spent 3 months galloping around South America, started many companies and most but not all of them failed, nearly got married 5 different times, etc.


I've wanted to be financially free ever since I read The Richest Man in Babylon at age 30.
Made some stupid financial decisions at ages 40 & 43...but am in a good place now.

What would my life look like?
- I want to never have to work, another day for the rest of my life.
- I want to take 6-12 months off...and do nothing.
- I want to make a shitton of money. Businesses, investments. Don't yet know what that looks like. Just feel I haven't proven myself to my own satisfaction.
- I want to meditate in a cave in tibet for 30 days at a time, visit friends I have in Germany and France, spend 3 months in a thatched hut learning a language that's not too popular (such as Vietnamese), and if there's somebody I want to meet, I want to be able to fly anywhere in the world to meet them.
- I want to stay healthy.
- Wanted to start a family, but never met the right girl. Now, at age 50, not sure.
- I want to give back. I want to help a LOT of people.

Some of my core values:
- I value freedom over luxury.
- I absolutely dread the corporate caricature culture - I'm too original of a personality. But, I am working at such a place........
- I dislike the dishonesty that seems to be prerequisite for any kind of info marketing, self help etc. business
- I really DON'T do well with financial pressure. Grew up in poverty, etc.
- I value long term and deep friendships.

So........the big question is this:

Would I be happy if I retired today? (Well early 2022, to spread out my tax bill...)

Thank you for reading!

 

[UnrealizedPotential]

I don't know. I am not an expert in such matters. But my initial thoughts are you will probably need to keep working for a few more years at least. maybe work until 55 and then take a look to see what your vested retirement income plus passive income comes to and compare with your expenses and see what it looks like at that time.

Others will come along shortly with better answers I am sure. But I would not do it now if I were you.

 

[aaronc879]

Looks like you are no where near ready to retire. That comes from someone who thinks most people on here worked way longer than they needed to and will die with millions in the bank. You could get crazy lucky and have crypto go up a lot and stay there and maybe you could eeek out a decent retirement but it is very, VERY unlikely you could retire anytime soon and not run out of money before you die.

 

[corn18]

$60k / year expenses x 25 = $1,500,000 in actual savings (not net worth). You can retire when you hit that number. And that's giving you credit for the pension and SS later on.

 

[skyking1]

So you net ~150K from work and spend 60K
I'd say bank a few more years. at ~100K a year it will go up fast.

 

[cyber888]

Well, I know about the lifestyle you want, but you're not going to achieve that in New Jersey.

If you want to quit now, your best bet is to live in Kathmandu, Nepal which is cheap. You can go to Everest or Tibet easily from there, and find a cave to meditate. I've also stayed in Kathmandu and Tibet for months and went to Milarepa's Cave in Tibet.

But you know, if you want to stay here in the US, you got to work at least another 8-10 years to be independent, and go live in a cheaper southern state.

Hi everybody!!
First time visiting this site. But been into financial freedom as an intention for many years.

Okay my deets:
- 50 years old
~ $590k net worth ($120k investment home equity, $120k stocks, $350k blue-chip crypto)
~ $550/mo passive income ($250/mo rental home, $100/mo stock dividends, $200/mo crypto)
~ $2400/mo retirement income now vested if I stop working today, starting Age 67 (social security and work pension)
- No personal debt (except monthly ccard balance and investment home mortgage)
- $200k/yr salary (w/ bonus and 401k match really $225k)
- $5000/mo expenses (rent $2400, food $600, gym/massage/therapy $1000, phone/utilities $250, everything else $750... I live in Hoboken after all)
- No wife (that I know of), no children, have a gf who doesn't want to get married, rent my apartment
- Have a LOT of life experience. Everest base camp, all 7 continents, triathlon runner until a nasty injury, spent a month with a shaman in the Indonesian rainforest, spent 3 months galloping around South America, started many companies and most but not all of them failed, nearly got married 5 different times, etc.


I've wanted to be financially free ever since I read The Richest Man in Babylon at age 30.
Made some stupid financial decisions at ages 40 & 43...but am in a good place now.

What would my life look like?
- I want to never have to work, another day for the rest of my life.
- I want to take 6-12 months off...and do nothing.
- I want to make a shitton of money. Businesses, investments. Don't yet know what that looks like. Just feel I haven't proven myself to my own satisfaction.
- I want to meditate in a cave in tibet for 30 days at a time, visit friends I have in Germany and France, spend 3 months in a thatched hut learning a language that's not too popular (such as Vietnamese), and if there's somebody I want to meet, I want to be able to fly anywhere in the world to meet them.
- I want to stay healthy.
- Wanted to start a family, but never met the right girl. Now, at age 50, not sure.
- I want to give back. I want to help a LOT of people.

Some of my core values:
- I value freedom over luxury.
- I absolutely dread the corporate caricature culture - I'm too original of a personality. But, I am working at such a place........
- I dislike the dishonesty that seems to be prerequisite for any kind of info marketing, self help etc. business
- I really DON'T do well with financial pressure. Grew up in poverty, etc.
- I value long term and deep friendships.

So........the big question is this:

Would I be happy if I retired today? (Well early 2022, to spread out my tax bill...)

Thank you for reading!

 

[SecondCor521]

It doesn't seem like you're ready to me either.

Financially, you're not close to the 25x rule. Cut out the $1K of self pampering would be my first thought.

Second, you don't know what you want to do really. Your OP is all over the map, figuratively and literally.

Third, you don't really know your numbers. Your budget is all round figures which means they're estimates, not actuals. And when you list your net worth you excluded any rental home equity where there is presumably some.

Question:

Why are you paying rent and own an investment rental? Why not kick out your tenants and move into your own rental? I must be missing something there, but my suspicion is that your $250 in rental income is not your long term average, probably doesn't account for vacancy and repairs, and if it does it probably isn't a very good ROI.

 

[2HOTinPHX]

Hi everybody!!

First time visiting this site. But been into financial freedom as an intention for many years.



Okay my deets:

- 50 years old

~ $590k net worth ($120k investment home equity, $120k stocks, $350k blue-chip crypto)

~ $550/mo passive income ($250/mo rental home, $100/mo stock dividends, $200/mo crypto)

~ $2400/mo retirement income now vested if I stop working today, starting Age 67 (social security and work pension)

- No personal debt (except monthly ccard balance and investment home mortgage)

- $200k/yr salary (w/ bonus and 401k match really $225k)

- $5000/mo expenses (rent $2400, food $600, gym/massage/therapy $1000, phone/utilities $250, everything else $750... I live in Hoboken after all)

- No wife (that I know of), no children, have a gf who doesn't want to get married, rent my apartment

- Have a LOT of life experience. Everest base camp, all 7 continents, triathlon runner until a nasty injury, spent a month with a shaman in the Indonesian rainforest, spent 3 months galloping around South America, started many companies and most but not all of them failed, nearly got married 5 different times, etc.





I've wanted to be financially free ever since I read The Richest Man in Babylon at age 30.

Made some stupid financial decisions at ages 40 & 43...but am in a good place now.



What would my life look like?

- I want to never have to work, another day for the rest of my life.

- I want to take 6-12 months off...and do nothing.

- I want to make a shitton of money. Businesses, investments. Don't yet know what that looks like. Just feel I haven't proven myself to my own satisfaction.

- I want to meditate in a cave in tibet for 30 days at a time, visit friends I have in Germany and France, spend 3 months in a thatched hut learning a language that's not too popular (such as Vietnamese), and if there's somebody I want to meet, I want to be able to fly anywhere in the world to meet them.

- I want to stay healthy.

- Wanted to start a family, but never met the right girl. Now, at age 50, not sure.

- I want to give back. I want to help a LOT of people.



Some of my core values:

- I value freedom over luxury.

- I absolutely dread the corporate caricature culture - I'm too original of a personality. But, I am working at such a place........

- I dislike the dishonesty that seems to be prerequisite for any kind of info marketing, self help etc. business

- I really DON'T do well with financial pressure. Grew up in poverty, etc.

- I value long term and deep friendships.



So........the big question is this:



Would I be happy if I retired today? (Well early 2022, to spread out my tax bill...)



Thank you for reading!

I don't know about being ready to retire but wow you have done a lot of cool things. Sounds like you have a book you should be writing....I would read it.

 

[jasonfreedom]

Thank you everybody,

The "but" here is that if I "retire," I'll have time to start new businesses - which will generate more money.

Thoughts on this?

 

[jasonfreedom]

Cut out the $1K of self pampering would be my first thought.

Third, you don't really know your numbers. Your budget is all round figures which means they're estimates, not actuals. And when you list your net worth you excluded any rental home equity where there is presumably some.

Question:

Why are you paying rent and own an investment rental? Why not kick out your tenants and move into your own rental? I must be missing something there, but my suspicion is that your $250 in rental income is not your long term average, probably doesn't account for vacancy and repairs, and if it does it probably isn't a very good ROI.

Thank you... and everybody brings up good points but here goes:

- $1k/mo of self-pampering: I can cut this off, but at the moment I NEED self-pampering to cope with the fact that I have to work a f*cking job which grates against my soul.

- Numbers - these are close to actuals. I rounded them for simplicity; can give you a to-the-penny tally for the past 12 months if you like. Also, the $120 in rental home equity is included as part of my net worth.

- why am I paying rent? Because I don't want a huge mortgage. I live next to NYC so I can network and meet people. This remote suburb wouldn't afford me good networking opportunities. $250/mo is after repairs (again rounded to the nearest $25), and the average was $150/mo to start but rental has gone up over the years & necessary appliances have been replaced.

 

[RetiredHappy]

Until you have started a business that makes money, you should not quit your job. You don't have enough money to retire. You will be taking tremendous risk to walk away from a paying job without something which is solidified that makes money.

Crypto? It is high risk and purely speculative. Good luck. You can be very rich one moment and at 0 the next.

 

[jasonfreedom]

Looks like you are no where near ready to retire. That comes from someone who thinks most people on here worked way longer than they needed to and will die with millions in the bank. You could get crazy lucky and have crypto go up a lot and stay there and maybe you could eeek out a decent retirement but it is very, VERY unlikely you could retire anytime soon and not run out of money before you die.

Thank you... I'm a late adopter of crypto and did a lot of research.. Right now the speculation is in NFTs and gaming currencies, which I don't understand well enough to fit my risk tolerance. But I think the blue chips (Bitcoin, Ethereum, and maybe four others) are stable enough, especially with institutional money coming in.

Hope this doesn't sound like a sales pitch.

I guess I'm not looking to retire, but rather have control over my time so I can do what I want.

 

[jasonfreedom]

Well, I know about the lifestyle you want, but you're not going to achieve that in New Jersey.

If you want to quit now, your best bet is to live in Kathmandu, Nepal which is cheap. You can go to Everest or Tibet easily from there, and find a cave to meditate. I've also stayed in Kathmandu and Tibet for months and went to Milarepa's Cave in Tibet.

But you know, if you want to stay here in the US, you got to work at least another 8-10 years to be independent, and go live in a cheaper southern state.

Yeah Milarepa's cave would be on my tourism list.

A good friend of mine (who's 10 years younger than me...) lives in Bali and tells me I can live there, comfortably, for $1k/month right now. If I didn't have a gf, I would very seriously consider it.

 

[jasonfreedom]

I don't know about being ready to retire but wow you have done a lot of cool things. Sounds like you have a book you should be writing....I would read it.

Thank you! I've heard this from a few people. It is one of the many things I would like to do if I could just have control over my time.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

The "but" here is that if I "retire," I'll have time to start new businesses - which will generate more money.

Thoughts on this?

Start it now as a side line as a proof of concept - something you could ramp up if retired. Most small businesses don't have a high success rate, unless it is something like consulting in your current field.

 

[captain3d]

Sounds like any hope of a quick exit is crypto going 4x from here which is surely years away in the most optimistic view.

If it goes the other way and you have to build $1.5 mill in a traditional portfolio from a traditional job then a decade +

The good news is that there is no way your personality is going to let you do that so you better just get on with a unique plan while hoping crypto saves the day.

Seems like living digital nomad cheap life with an online business might be happier.

 

[37andhappy]

Hi everybody!!
First time visiting this site. But been into financial freedom as an intention for many years.

Okay my deets:
- 50 years old
~ $590k net worth ($120k investment home equity, $120k stocks, $350k blue-chip crypto)
~ $550/mo passive income ($250/mo rental home, $100/mo stock dividends, $200/mo crypto)
~ $2400/mo retirement income now vested if I stop working today, starting Age 67 (social security and work pension)
- No personal debt (except monthly ccard balance and investment home mortgage)
- $200k/yr salary (w/ bonus and 401k match really $225k)
- $5000/mo expenses (rent $2400, food $600, gym/massage/therapy $1000, phone/utilities $250, everything else $750... I live in Hoboken after all)
- No wife (that I know of), no children, have a gf who doesn't want to get married, rent my apartment
- Have a LOT of life experience. Everest base camp, all 7 continents, triathlon runner until a nasty injury, spent a month with a shaman in the Indonesian rainforest, spent 3 months galloping around South America, started many companies and most but not all of them failed, nearly got married 5 different times, etc.


I've wanted to be financially free ever since I read The Richest Man in Babylon at age 30.
Made some stupid financial decisions at ages 40 & 43...but am in a good place now.

What would my life look like?
- I want to never have to work, another day for the rest of my life.
- I want to take 6-12 months off...and do nothing.
- I want to make a shitton of money. Businesses, investments. Don't yet know what that looks like. Just feel I haven't proven myself to my own satisfaction.
- I want to meditate in a cave in tibet for 30 days at a time, visit friends I have in Germany and France, spend 3 months in a thatched hut learning a language that's not too popular (such as Vietnamese), and if there's somebody I want to meet, I want to be able to fly anywhere in the world to meet them.
- I want to stay healthy.
- Wanted to start a family, but never met the right girl. Now, at age 50, not sure.
- I want to give back. I want to help a LOT of people.

Some of my core values:
- I value freedom over luxury.
- I absolutely dread the corporate caricature culture - I'm too original of a personality. But, I am working at such a place........
- I dislike the dishonesty that seems to be prerequisite for any kind of info marketing, self help etc. business
- I really DON'T do well with financial pressure. Grew up in poverty, etc.
- I value long term and deep friendships.

So........the big question is this:

Would I be happy if I retired today? (Well early 2022, to spread out my tax bill...)

Thank you for reading!

Good on you.

Personally, I think you need (or least should aim for more), but good you are on the way.

What do you consider blue chip crypto? BTC /ETH and a few leading alts? In my view this is good, and ties in nicely with the freedoms you value. Sounds like you are experienced, but in case not, be very aware you will need to hodl on any big correction. And it seems some of the crypto is producing a yield? Be careful if staking. I would only every hand over the keys to any coin via d regulated exchange.

Other than that, keep putting money towards blue chip equities (or even just an index ETF).

I would try to milk that salary a little longer. Especially if we have a massive downturn that salary will be able to generate outsized returns if you invest it (and may also assist in getting one last loan to help purchase a second property).

 

[teetee]

Excluding the social security and pension, the firecalc says you have less than 50% chance to stretch the money for 35 years with 1 million dollar net worth to support your $60k a year living expense, 2m net worth to have the freedom you are looking for with 100% success rate. More if the net worth is shared with someone ( not a girlfriend I hope ).

Good luck. I personally wouldn't dream of retiring in your situation but I am not a free spirit. I am hoping I will be free from the rat race after 5 more years.

 

[SecondCor521]

Thank you... and everybody brings up good points but here goes:

- $1k/mo of self-pampering: I can cut this off, but at the moment I NEED self-pampering to cope with the fact that I have to work a f*cking job which grates against my soul.

- Numbers - these are close to actuals. I rounded them for simplicity; can give you a to-the-penny tally for the past 12 months if you like. Also, the $120 in rental home equity is included as part of my net worth.

- why am I paying rent? Because I don't want a huge mortgage. I live next to NYC so I can network and meet people. This remote suburb wouldn't afford me good networking opportunities. $250/mo is after repairs (again rounded to the nearest $25), and the average was $150/mo to start but rental has gone up over the years & necessary appliances have been replaced.

Most here understand the need to de-stress from a job. $1K a month still is a lot - that's $12K a year or $300K you need to save up per the 4% rule to cover those expenses, or a year and a half of your currently quite high salary.

Why exactly do you have to work a job that grates on your soul? You said in your OP that you make $200K. I know the NYC area is expensive, but there's a lot of other places in the US and the world where you can live and a lot of other jobs you can do. That sounds to me like either an excuse or there's something you've left out.

Good on you for knowing to the penny. That's what most here do when working towards FIRE (although there is a sizeable minority who wing it).

My last question was not why are you paying rent, it's why are you simultaneously paying rent and own a rental property? Is it the same property like a duplex? Is the $250/mo on your rental equity a good ROI? If it's not the same property, could you stop renting your current residence, kick out your renters, and move into the place where your renters live? That's what I was trying to ask before, but perhaps I didn't articulate it clearly enough or there's something I still don't understand about your situation as you laid it out.

 

[ImaCheesehead]

It doesn’t sound like you actually want to retire, more like you want to take a one year sabbatical to do nothing, then start making money again by starting your own business. You also noted that you have started many businesses but most have failed. If you have to use your small amount of capital to start any of these businesses and they fail, your nest egg will be gone fast.

If you did have successful businesses, what did they have in common and why did you get out of them?

 

[Aerides]

Your 60k doesn't include health insurance, or allow for much wiggle room, certainly not much of that travel you want to do. So, nope, not close yet.

You're also counting on things like dividends as your income which almost no one here does.

Yes, start that side gig, but don't quit the day job until you have some income from it. "not enough time!" then slack a bit at the day job, cancel a vacation or two and find a way.

You're 50, so you can't expect to quit, dabble, and come back to anything close to your current salary. Nope, no one hires a 52 year old for $200k, or half that, especially with a gap year or two.

Instead, hang in there and bank all you can for 3-5 years, and reassess.

 

[jasonfreedom]

It doesn’t sound like you actually want to retire, more like you want to take a one year sabbatical to do nothing, then start making money again by starting your own business. You also noted that you have started many businesses but most have failed. If you have to use your small amount of capital to start any of these businesses and they fail, your nest egg will be gone fast.

If you did have successful businesses, what did they have in common and why did you get out of them?

My successful business was freelancing based on my skills. I did very well with it, earned a lot more than I ever did in salary - and kind of had an "out" at age 40 - but then I took another risk which harmed me financially in a big way.

And yes, starting a business is a huge risk / financial investment. Had I not taken those risks and worked steady job(s), I would easily be in the $2-$3m range by now. But, those are the choices I made.

 

[jasonfreedom]

Your 60k doesn't include health insurance, or allow for much wiggle room, certainly not much of that travel you want to do. So, nope, not close yet.

You're also counting on things like dividends as your income which almost no one here does.

Yes, start that side gig, but don't quit the day job until you have some income from it. "not enough time!" then slack a bit at the day job, cancel a vacation or two and find a way.

You're 50, so you can't expect to quit, dabble, and come back to anything close to your current salary. Nope, no one hires a 52 year old for $200k, or half that, especially with a gap year or two.

Instead, hang in there and bank all you can for 3-5 years, and reassess.

All of you are making sense. And yes I shouldn't count dividends...I can't think of them as passive income anymore because so often dividends get slashed.

Been in my current job for 3 years, and yes I have banked all I could. Feeling financially grounded, but...

Last night as I was falling asleep, I just felt miserable. Absolutely miserable, 100% through and through, as if my life, and the real purpose of it, is going to waste. I've just, been living with this feeling for the last 3 years, and this feeling of dread seems to steadily be getting worse and worse.

I remember, some 13 years ago, reading The 4-Hour Work Week, and thinking to myself, I could almost have written that very book. And now it just feels...the dream is slipping away. And with each year I get older, there is less of a chance for me to keep it alive.

 

[jasonfreedom]

Most here understand the need to de-stress from a job. $1K a month still is a lot - that's $12K a year or $300K you need to save up per the 4% rule to cover those expenses, or a year and a half of your currently quite high salary.

Why exactly do you have to work a job that grates on your soul? You said in your OP that you make $200K. I know the NYC area is expensive, but there's a lot of other places in the US and the world where you can live and a lot of other jobs you can do. That sounds to me like either an excuse or there's something you've left out.

Good on you for knowing to the penny. That's what most here do when working towards FIRE (although there is a sizeable minority who wing it).

My last question was not why are you paying rent, it's why are you simultaneously paying rent and own a rental property? Is it the same property like a duplex? Is the $250/mo on your rental equity a good ROI? If it's not the same property, could you stop renting your current residence, kick out your renters, and move into the place where your renters live? That's what I was trying to ask before, but perhaps I didn't articulate it clearly enough or there's something I still don't understand about your situation as you laid it out.

If I didn't have to work, I wouldn't need to de-stress. I cannot exaggerate how much forcing myself to go to bed, spending Monday mornings in meetings, and filling out reports that aren't going to change the world...how much that is affecting my emotional health.

I used to put together accounting reports, so I'm in the habit of reconciling every transaction to the penny - used to manually reconcile bank statements on Quicken every month, etc.

House rental: it is for a family member, whom I trust, long story, so not purely an investment. I won't be kicking anybody out. I could buy a modest house out in Vermont or Oregon, for sure...but then I won't have networking opportunities. Which I'm very happy to give up - except I have to "play the game" to stay where I am at, income-wise.

 

[pacergal]

You state you make $225k, yet it looks like you have $370k in actual savings.
No, it doesn't look like you can retire yet to me.
If you truly live on 60k, did you just recently start saving or earning that higher amount?
Does your "everything else" $750 in the budget include medical/dental insurance, clothing, gifts, transportation, etc?

Your desires swing widely. I hope you find what you are looking for, but I think you need to keep working for a few years.