Hello everybody
I've been observing the boards for some time now, and I figured it was time to come out of the closet
A little about me:
About 4 or 5 years ago, I received as a gift the book Retire Young, Retire Rich. As far as quality goes, it wasn't the best book I ever read, but it definitely started me down the path of thinking about early retirement. This was a big change from my previous workaholic lifestyle.
4 years ago, I took my first real vacation. This was 3 weeks in the Philippines scuba diving and loafing. The first week, all I could think about was work. The second week, I started to enjoy it. And by the third week, I was asking myself "How can I do this everyday for the rest of my life!" Over the following months, my girlfriend and I then put together a 60 page business plan about how to make it happen.
A few years and hundreds of books later...
I'm 32 years old, single, with no desire to have children. My networth is about 860k. 100k of this is in vested employer based stock options, so I'm going to lose 40% of that to tax when I exercise.
I'm currently living in Taiwan on expat assignment for the next 8 - 12 months (TBD) and my cost of living here is incredibly low, averaging out to about 1k USD a month (My employer pays my rent.) When I moved overseas, I sold nearly everything (house, car, motorcycle.) I still have 6 small boxes of "stuff" and 2 guitars. 90% of the stuff I would never miss if it was gone. At the time, moving from a 4 bedroom house down to 6 boxes was one of the most liberating feelings I ever had. A quote from Brad Pitt's character in Fight Club: "The things you own end up owning you" really struck a chord.
My entire life I've been extremely frugal, which means I'm saving about 90% of my paycheck every month now. When my expat gig is up, I'll be 33 years old and my net worth should be in the neighborhood of 1 million USD even if the stock market is flat.
I (sometimes) enjoy my work, but in many ways I feel as though I am stagnating and have limited personal growth opportunities. I want to move on
Part of my business plan was to work for a few years as a scuba instructor in various tropical locations around the world, living off of my scuba earnings. This had the advantage of diving for free (goal #1) and allowing my portfolio to grow in the mean time. I have also taken up sailing in the last few years, and would like to circumnavigate at some point, but have insufficient experience to do it now.
After this adventure, I would likely settle down somewhere in the developing world. I've already been to about 30 different countries and have done so cheaply, eating food from street vendors, staying in hostels, and using frequent flyer miles. I might even decide to ride a motorcycle across China, getting by on my elementary level Chinese
Money is of course a huge area of focus:
My portfolio is currently in a non-commital state. I'm pulling in about 2400 USD a month in dividends and interest, and this is with 250k in a municipal bond fund yielding 3.2% or so. (To avoid the 35% tax bracket.) I have 70k in an IRA, 100k in my 401k, and the rest is in various money market and brokerage accounts (for a total of 860k.) I've been thinking a lot about how I should invest this, but have taken little action as of yet. Since I don't currently need the dividends and interest, I know it would be better to hold growth equities so I dont' get hit with tax every year.
Firecalc tells me that even with 30k annual withdrawals, that I should be fine for 60 years or so (100% based on 1 million, if I recall correctly.) Based on posts from Ben and others, and my current lifestyle, I think I would manage on well under 24k a year in places like Thailand. I'll be visting Thailand in February for Chinese New Year (reconnaissance mission
)
I still want the sailboat though, so I keep working. Interesting enough, the original business plan required I build up to 500k in networth (cost of living of 8k a year in the Philippines.) Then I changed that to 750k. Yesterday, it was 1 million. Now I'm thinking 1.2 million, for "buffer". In truth, I'm scared
Healthcare is also a big issue:
4 years ago I was terrified about the impact of insurance and rising healthcare costs. Sometime in the last year, I went to a hospital in Taipei and had a chest X-ray and an ECG. I had a chest X-ray in the US as part of the physical in preparation to move over seas, and the cardiologist didn't like something he saw... In the US, it took 2 weeks to get feedback from the doctor. In Taiwan, he had my X-ray on his PC monitor 10 minutes after the X-ray was complete. The total cost to me was about 20 USD. It wasn't even worth it to me to fill out the multiple forms to get reimbursement from my corporate insurance plan. (btw, I'm fine. The Taiwan X-ray and ECG looked perfectly normal.) I was amazed at the quality and low cost outside the US. (I've heard similar stories from others)
Living outside the US:
Many of my friends and co-workers that I have discussed retirement with say they must stay in the US. Reasons vary, but the most common reason is because of children and family. Other reasons are fitting into a new culture, strange food, not knowing the language, and safety. I've been living overseas for over a year now, and honestly the only thing I have missed is a public library with books in English. Knowing that I can withdraw 30k a year, I think I can live like a king, although in truth I would probably still live quite humbly.
Fear:
I'm a little scared about making the big move. Part of it is due to being 32 years old. I mean, what will my mother say
Am I willing to walk away from my career? What if something happens and I need to work again? I think these fears are normal, although a little irrational.
I have no doubt that I would fill my life with lots of fun and interesting things to do. I made a long list of all of the countries I want to visit, things I want to learn, things I want to read, and things I want to do. I'm not sure I can live long enough to do all of them (all the more reason to start now!)
In the next year, I need to convince myself that this is really the right thing to do, and that 1 million USD is enough (of maybe the stock market will jump and I won't have to convince myself
)
In my situation, is there something I'm missing?
Thanks! (And thanks for reading this far!
)
Jeremy
I've been observing the boards for some time now, and I figured it was time to come out of the closet
A little about me:
About 4 or 5 years ago, I received as a gift the book Retire Young, Retire Rich. As far as quality goes, it wasn't the best book I ever read, but it definitely started me down the path of thinking about early retirement. This was a big change from my previous workaholic lifestyle.
4 years ago, I took my first real vacation. This was 3 weeks in the Philippines scuba diving and loafing. The first week, all I could think about was work. The second week, I started to enjoy it. And by the third week, I was asking myself "How can I do this everyday for the rest of my life!" Over the following months, my girlfriend and I then put together a 60 page business plan about how to make it happen.
A few years and hundreds of books later...
I'm 32 years old, single, with no desire to have children. My networth is about 860k. 100k of this is in vested employer based stock options, so I'm going to lose 40% of that to tax when I exercise.
I'm currently living in Taiwan on expat assignment for the next 8 - 12 months (TBD) and my cost of living here is incredibly low, averaging out to about 1k USD a month (My employer pays my rent.) When I moved overseas, I sold nearly everything (house, car, motorcycle.) I still have 6 small boxes of "stuff" and 2 guitars. 90% of the stuff I would never miss if it was gone. At the time, moving from a 4 bedroom house down to 6 boxes was one of the most liberating feelings I ever had. A quote from Brad Pitt's character in Fight Club: "The things you own end up owning you" really struck a chord.
My entire life I've been extremely frugal, which means I'm saving about 90% of my paycheck every month now. When my expat gig is up, I'll be 33 years old and my net worth should be in the neighborhood of 1 million USD even if the stock market is flat.
I (sometimes) enjoy my work, but in many ways I feel as though I am stagnating and have limited personal growth opportunities. I want to move on
Part of my business plan was to work for a few years as a scuba instructor in various tropical locations around the world, living off of my scuba earnings. This had the advantage of diving for free (goal #1) and allowing my portfolio to grow in the mean time. I have also taken up sailing in the last few years, and would like to circumnavigate at some point, but have insufficient experience to do it now.
After this adventure, I would likely settle down somewhere in the developing world. I've already been to about 30 different countries and have done so cheaply, eating food from street vendors, staying in hostels, and using frequent flyer miles. I might even decide to ride a motorcycle across China, getting by on my elementary level Chinese

Money is of course a huge area of focus:
My portfolio is currently in a non-commital state. I'm pulling in about 2400 USD a month in dividends and interest, and this is with 250k in a municipal bond fund yielding 3.2% or so. (To avoid the 35% tax bracket.) I have 70k in an IRA, 100k in my 401k, and the rest is in various money market and brokerage accounts (for a total of 860k.) I've been thinking a lot about how I should invest this, but have taken little action as of yet. Since I don't currently need the dividends and interest, I know it would be better to hold growth equities so I dont' get hit with tax every year.
Firecalc tells me that even with 30k annual withdrawals, that I should be fine for 60 years or so (100% based on 1 million, if I recall correctly.) Based on posts from Ben and others, and my current lifestyle, I think I would manage on well under 24k a year in places like Thailand. I'll be visting Thailand in February for Chinese New Year (reconnaissance mission
I still want the sailboat though, so I keep working. Interesting enough, the original business plan required I build up to 500k in networth (cost of living of 8k a year in the Philippines.) Then I changed that to 750k. Yesterday, it was 1 million. Now I'm thinking 1.2 million, for "buffer". In truth, I'm scared

Healthcare is also a big issue:
4 years ago I was terrified about the impact of insurance and rising healthcare costs. Sometime in the last year, I went to a hospital in Taipei and had a chest X-ray and an ECG. I had a chest X-ray in the US as part of the physical in preparation to move over seas, and the cardiologist didn't like something he saw... In the US, it took 2 weeks to get feedback from the doctor. In Taiwan, he had my X-ray on his PC monitor 10 minutes after the X-ray was complete. The total cost to me was about 20 USD. It wasn't even worth it to me to fill out the multiple forms to get reimbursement from my corporate insurance plan. (btw, I'm fine. The Taiwan X-ray and ECG looked perfectly normal.) I was amazed at the quality and low cost outside the US. (I've heard similar stories from others)
Living outside the US:
Many of my friends and co-workers that I have discussed retirement with say they must stay in the US. Reasons vary, but the most common reason is because of children and family. Other reasons are fitting into a new culture, strange food, not knowing the language, and safety. I've been living overseas for over a year now, and honestly the only thing I have missed is a public library with books in English. Knowing that I can withdraw 30k a year, I think I can live like a king, although in truth I would probably still live quite humbly.
Fear:
I'm a little scared about making the big move. Part of it is due to being 32 years old. I mean, what will my mother say
I have no doubt that I would fill my life with lots of fun and interesting things to do. I made a long list of all of the countries I want to visit, things I want to learn, things I want to read, and things I want to do. I'm not sure I can live long enough to do all of them (all the more reason to start now!)
In the next year, I need to convince myself that this is really the right thing to do, and that 1 million USD is enough (of maybe the stock market will jump and I won't have to convince myself
In my situation, is there something I'm missing?
Thanks! (And thanks for reading this far!
Jeremy