Early Retirement?

[hollypoast]

Do any of my DisFriends follow websites like Early Retirement Extreme, Where We Be, Mr. Money Mustache and the like? I've stumbled upon them and I'm am so intrigued that I can't stop reading and thinking about it. My husband and I have a decent start saving for retirement but all of this is really motivating me to think differently about it.

Wondering if...
-anyone has tried it and failed. And most importantly why did it fail or not work out?
-anyone has tried it and has been wildly successful. What's your story!

We have been talking a lot about redefining our retirement and I want to get as much info as I can.
Thanks much!

 

[KennesawNemo]

Do any of my DisFriends follow websites like Early Retirement Extreme, Where We Be, Mr. Money Mustache and the like? I've stumbled upon them and I'm am so intrigued that I can't stop reading and thinking about it. My husband and I have a decent start saving for retirement but all of this is really motivating me to think differently about it.

Wondering if...
-anyone has tried it and failed. And most importantly why did it fail or not work out?
-anyone has tried it and has been wildly successful. What's your story!

We have been talking a lot about redefining our retirement and I want to get as much info as I can.
Thanks much!

I recently found Money Mustache because someone here mentioned it. I enjoy reading it and found some of the advices are very helpful, but I can never live like a Mustachian!

Now I am off to check the other websites you mentioned.

 

[eliza61]

Never heard of them but I'll go look at them.

As far as early retirement. many of my friends and family had public sector jobs that allowed them full pensions after 20 years. My dad and sister both retired from NYPD. My 2 brothers did full careers in the military and my BF's are an attorney, doctor and one owns her own PR business. so they all have retired before 62. My sister retired from NYPD and then started her second career.

Not sure if they followed any of their advice, I do know most have financial planners. Also I think we're lucky because we may have been the last generation that didn't do things like cc's (when I was young most people only had sears card or maybe a Montgomery ward card. But on the bad side we also didn't have things like 401K's and IRA's. Also we all went to college but colleges didn't cost what they do now so no one I knew had crazy student loan debt. My girlfriend the DO, had a lot of her med school loans waived by working in health care "deserts".

 

[RitaE]

I read Mr. Money Moustache often just because I find him really funny. I don't think I have it in me to live his lifestyle. For instance, I'd get one of those punch in the face things for the vehicle I drive and I'm not giving it up!

But I have learned a bunch from him. I think he's great. My husband and I have a goal to be able to live solely off of our investments and pensions by age 59 if not sooner. I don't know if we'll make it, but hopefully. Probably more than any other writer he has helped me to define how to structure what we own into income flows and then how to examine our lives for ways to get just as much enjoyment for little to no cost. He has a natural gift for making things sound easy and uncomplicated.

The other ones you mention sound familiar to me so I'm sure I've read them occasionally.

 

[ellie05]

It is nothing new. I knew a few people that choose this lifestyle when I was growing up.The one that I seem to remember the most was the couple that boarded my horse. That is what they enjoyed and that is ok. I think everyone is different and enjoy and value different things. My mom loves her job she says she will never retire, so even if she saved all her money and cut her expenses she wouldn't really gain anything. She is happy and feels free. I personally couldn't live like he does, but good him and anyone that chooses to pursue what makes them happy instead of the rat race .

 

[pryncess527]

I read Mr. Money Moustache often just because I find him really funny. I don't think I have it in me to live his lifestyle. For instance, I'd get one of those punch in the face things for the vehicle I drive and I'm not giving it up!

Ditto! He's a bit extreme to me. I found his site from the YNAB forums, a lot of YNABbers really like him. I have gotten a few tips from him, but I could never live like he recommends.
I'm also really lucky to love my job, so while I'd like to be able to retire early, I don't feel the need to race towards a retirement in my 30s.

 

[crisi]

I do, but I find the "live on $25k a year" lifestyle to be a little extreme. Its nice to know people do it - because its nice to know I can if I must - but I don't really need to. And I find some of the judgement on how people spend their money to be a little judgy. If they WANT to work and can afford their luxuries, that's their business. Believe it or not, not everyone wants to be retired.

I'm currently "retired" - or on sabbatical - and my husband still works. I'll probably go back in a bit - maybe next fall.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

My husband retired after 30 years on active duty at age 54. Now he's on his second career.

 

[arminnie]

I don't know any of those sites, but I took early retirement at 55.

It's been great. I've traveled, had fun, etc.

My DH and I are sort of within driving distance of WDW (12 hours), have annual passes and DVC. I'm leaving for my 3rd trip in a few days.

We have 2 homes but neither are big or fancy. Great neighborhoods but each is a small 2/2 condo which makes it easy to travel.

We have 2 cars - paid for.

I avoided debt like the plague, kept my cars for 10 years and never tapped the equity in my home.

 

[chiefmickeymouse]

My husband retired after 30 years on active duty at age 54. Now he's on his second career.

Mine too and if he decided to retire fully he would drive me nuts! He's the kind of guy who needs a mission to accomplish.

 

[akcire]

We don't follow these sites, specifically. Sometimes they do have good ideas. We do occasionally read them. We don't ride our bicycles for miles nor do we grow all our own food.

We live a pretty cheap lifestyle, that began out of necessity when we got married. My husband had a relatively moderate paying job when we got together. I did average. I had no debt. He had a mountain of student loan debt, over 120K. Then 911 came. His moderate job went poof. He was only out of work for 3 weeks, but his new job paid much less. At that point we went into crazy debt payment mode, sort of Dave Ramsey style before anyone was talking about him. Seriously once a month we splurged $10 on a date night.

Once the student loans were paid (and we got some pay raises along the way) we moved onto paying off the house. The house is paid off.

Currently we live on $2500 a month, or $30,000 a year. This includes all expenses (including vacations) except property taxes. All our other money goes into pre-tax savings, deferred compensation, after tax savings or investments. We live on significantly less than my husband earns. Now some of the early retirement people live on $8000 a year, that is way too extreme for our house.

Now $2500 with no housing expenses is a fair amount, and we live well; yet some would never consider it. [Before our daughter was born we spent around $2100 (the $400 a month raise was to cover all her expenses)]. How we are different: we do not have cable, in winter you need a sweater in my house, in summer you may sweat, my car is a dinosaur, we do nearly all our own home repairs, mow our lawn, we rarely buy clothes, we use the clothes dryer on a very limited basis, we clean our own house, we dine out on a limited basis (but do spend a good amount on high quality gluten free food-even Whole Foods for selected items), we have one pet (who won't be replaced) who we will not be spending thousands of dollars on vet bills, we buy one piece of new furniture a year (makes for slow replacement), no fancy coffee, etc.

As for FI (Financial Independence) I think we are technically at or very near to the point, using our current spending. That said retirement is not on the horizon for many years (15+) for many reasons. The first is that our daughter is 3, we are late 30's. My husband has a ton of education and would be very unhappy retired at this point. I have stayed home the past 3 years and find it boring. (I'm looking at going back to work part time). The cost of healthcare is out pacing inflation and we are afraid we will run out of money, we both have health issues. We don't know if we will want to increase our lifestyle in the future or move to a higher cost of living area.

I never tell anyone in real life about our situation. Most people I meet think we are the working poor (I've even had people counsel me against spending money on a Disney vacation when they perceive we our outspending our income). I had a neighbor give me a talking to about leaving work when my daughter was born. I thank them for their advice.

I want for nothing (other than an occasional maid service when the house is a pit). The thing my husband and I laugh about is the more money we get, the less stuff we want. I can't explain why. We upgraded our house (with cash) last year. For the most part we are finding the 4 bedroom 2600 square foot house to be too big for us. As long as the market keeps climbing in the area, I would not be surprised if we downsize to a smaller house in the next couple of years.

So in many ways we live a spartan existence, but most people I know don't want to live my life; for us it's great.

 

[writermommy6]

I haven't heard of any of those. We are close to being completely debt free, including cars and house and hubby wants to retire early at age 55. That's the soonest he can retire and access his 401k. He's 50. Looks like we'll be able to do it but I will definitely look at those sites and see if we can hurry things along.

 

[tvguy]

.

As far as early retirement. many of my friends and family had public sector jobs that allowed them full pensions after 20 years.

You do have to define what you think early retirement is.
"Normal" retirement for me, according to Social security is at age 66 and a half. If I retire before then, it is early retirement and reduces my benefits.
But here in Sacramento, we have a different situation because not because the state is a large employer, but because we HAD 2 Air Force Bases and an Army Depot. For some state agencies, full retirement is after 30 years service, with no age attached. Start with the state at age 18, you will have maxed out your retirement by age 48. Then there is the military. Go in at 17, and you can retire as soon as 22 years later, at age 39.
My teacher friends generally retire after 30 years, so if you start right of college at age 22, you can be out by 52, however some districts you to "buy" years of service to retire before 30 years. $10,000 buys you a year of service, you can buy up to 5 years. Top scale is $75,000, pension is 60% or $45,000, so do the math, you spend $50,000 to retire 5 years early, you get $225,000 in retirement pay, not a bad investment.

 

[eliza61]

You do have to define what you think early retirement is.
"Normal" retirement for me, according to Social security is at age 66 and a half. If I retire before then, it is early retirement and reduces my benefits.
But here in Sacramento, we have a different situation because not because the state is a large employer, but because we HAD 2 Air Force Bases and an Army Depot. For some state agencies, full retirement is after 30 years service, with no age attached. Start with the state at age 18, you will have maxed out your retirement by age 48. Then there is the military. Go in at 17, and you can retire as soon as 22 years later, at age 39.
My teacher friends generally retire after 30 years, so if you start right of college at age 22, you can be out by 52, however some districts you to "buy" years of service to retire before 30 years. $10,000 buys you a year of service, you can buy up to 5 years. Top scale is $75,000, pension is 60% or $45,000, so do the math, you spend $50,000 to retire 5 years early, you get $225,000 in retirement pay, not a bad investment.

My dad became a cop at 28, retired at 45 he got extra years for being a Korean Vet and being wounded in action. back then you didn't need a college degree. Between his military pension, cop pension and social security, he made more than his goop salary. My sis did pretty much the same thing, went in at 22 retired at 45 almost at about 75 % of her full salary. The calculation is on her last three years salary so a lot of cops will work over time like crazy to bump up their salary. She's on her second career as an interior designer. Not sure how much she has to pay for her medical benefits though.

They are really early examples though. I think 55 is early.

My job they have a magically formula, lol your age and your years have to add up to 80 in order to get full pension. So if your 55 and have 25 years your good.
Of course, they stopped pension for new employees, I'm grandfathered in.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Early for me will mean before I die

 

[hollypoast]

If they WANT to work and can afford their luxuries, that's their business. Believe it or not, not everyone wants to be retired.

I totally agree. I would never judge anyone's choice to work or retire. I am just so intrigued by it and thought this would be a good place to ask about it. One of the things that my husband is worried about is my yearly trip to the world which I am not willing to give up.

 

[hollypoast]

I never tell anyone in real life about our situation. Most people I meet think we are the working poor (I've even had people counsel me against spending money on a Disney vacation when they perceive we our outspending our income). I had a neighbor give me a talking to about leaving work when my daughter was born. I thank them for their advice.

LOL For some reason I find this very funny! I hope to be you some day getting advice from people who think I'm poor but really have a ton of $$$ earning interest.

 

[hollypoast]

You do have to define what you think early retirement is.
"Normal" retirement for me, according to Social security is at age 66 and a half. If I retire before then, it is early retirement and reduces my benefits.
But here in Sacramento, we have a different situation because not because the state is a large employer, but because we HAD 2 Air Force Bases and an Army Depot. For some state agencies, full retirement is after 30 years service, with no age attached. Start with the state at age 18, you will have maxed out your retirement by age 48. Then there is the military. Go in at 17, and you can retire as soon as 22 years later, at age 39.
My teacher friends generally retire after 30 years, so if you start right of college at age 22, you can be out by 52, however some districts you to "buy" years of service to retire before 30 years. $10,000 buys you a year of service, you can buy up to 5 years. Top scale is $75,000, pension is 60% or $45,000, so do the math, you spend $50,000 to retire 5 years early, you get $225,000 in retirement pay, not a bad investment.

As I read more and more I am finding that I may have misspoke by using the word "retire". What I mean is financially independent meaning I don't have to work doing X because I need to pay the bills. I can work when I want doing what I want because I don't need money to pay my bills... ya know. Maybe I'll work part of the time but how much I'm paid isn't as important as doing something I enjoy. Making money doing it is a bonus.

 

[MrsPete]

I've been reading Mr. Money Mustache for a couple months, and it's a love-hate kind of thing. You can find some great tips on that board, which I enjoy; but many of the posters are really arrogant jerks. Many of them are arrogant jerks with low morals. However, you can still learn something from someone with whom you really wouldn't be friends in real life.

I've read some of the other sites too -- good information, good motivation.

 

[A_Princess'_Daddy]

My wife and I have considered early retirement on and off for a couple of years now, but honestly I love working, not for the money but because I love the intellectual aspects of what I do and walking away worries me because I think I'd be bored stiff very quickly.

What I think is more likely is that when my daughter goes to college, I'll "retire" and join the faculty at a college or university around where she attends (I'd love to follow her to whatever college she attends, but don't want to plan on that and be disappointed if it doesn't happen).