Greetings everyone. I've already posted a couple of times but neglected to introduce myself. Sorry about that.
I first started thinking about Early Retirement after being introduced to the man who wrote the book on the topic, Paul Terhorst. This was in the early/mid 90s, if I remember correctly. Paul and I still keep in touch.
I was in my 30s then. I turn 47 this year, and if all goes well, my wife and I are planning to retire in about 3 years. We currently live in the States but will retire in Taiwan, her home country, for a couple of reasons:
I've been to Taiwan about half a dozen times since I got married 7 years ago and I like it there. I get along very well with my in-laws, many of whom speak English. I've been lazily studying Chinese but have a long way to go to achieve fluency.
Anyway, I've already got a spreadsheet where I'm listing the things I'd like to do in retirement: books to read, topics to study, causes to support (through volunteering), places to visit, etc. My brother-in-law, an airline pilot, celebrated his 50th birthday by taking a week and bicycling around the island. I'm hoping I can do the same - but I have a lot of training to do before I'm as fit as he is!
And for those interesting in seeing the numbers:
That's the nutshell version. Thanks for taking the time to read. I'm looking forward to interacting with everyone.
Cheers!
I first started thinking about Early Retirement after being introduced to the man who wrote the book on the topic, Paul Terhorst. This was in the early/mid 90s, if I remember correctly. Paul and I still keep in touch.
I was in my 30s then. I turn 47 this year, and if all goes well, my wife and I are planning to retire in about 3 years. We currently live in the States but will retire in Taiwan, her home country, for a couple of reasons:
- we want to help care for her aging mother
- Taiwan has national health insurance, thus removing one big obstacle to ER
- we will have use of a modest condo that her family owns
- the average salary in Taiwan is about US$16,000, so our expenses will be considerably lower than here in the US
I've been to Taiwan about half a dozen times since I got married 7 years ago and I like it there. I get along very well with my in-laws, many of whom speak English. I've been lazily studying Chinese but have a long way to go to achieve fluency.
Anyway, I've already got a spreadsheet where I'm listing the things I'd like to do in retirement: books to read, topics to study, causes to support (through volunteering), places to visit, etc. My brother-in-law, an airline pilot, celebrated his 50th birthday by taking a week and bicycling around the island. I'm hoping I can do the same - but I have a lot of training to do before I'm as fit as he is!
And for those interesting in seeing the numbers:
- We currently have about $240k in our retirement accounts (Roths, rollovers, 403bs).
- We currently have about $35k in VWITX (tax exempt muni fund), which we're trying to build to about $160k to cover us until we hit 60 when we can then draw on the 403b/rollovers.
- We have about $20k in regular savings, which will help cover our move/transition.
That's the nutshell version. Thanks for taking the time to read. I'm looking forward to interacting with everyone.
Cheers!