Early-retirement wannabe

kidmugsy

Your link doesn't work for me, Marine Life. That's a pity because I'd like to know what "4 times expected annual expenditure" refers to.

Shimrod

Try this one
http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/On-Retirement/2010/06/17/how-to-set-a-retirement-savings-goal

although I think this is the article http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/On-Retirement/2011/02/16/how-to-set-a-retirement-savings-goal--

The article talks about a 4% rule which is 25 times annual expenditure so I think it is a mistype by marine_life

kidmugsy

Thanks, Shimrod. I still didn't see a reference to the "four times" business.

Marine_life

Strange

I can't make the link work, however try this one - scroll down the page and look at the article "How to set a retirement savings goal"

http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/On-Retirement

patmil

The 25X rule looks great today. But even if you retire today it could be for up to 30 years. What will be the impact of inflation? Within that period how many stock market melt downs will there be? What will be the impact from the massive deficits being run by many countries? There are a growing number of people relying on the "state" (other people to meet their expectations. What other "black swans" are out there?
If you want to retire early, or any other time, it will be better to have an inflation proof source of income (something like rental from industrial property, or income from a small business, etc) than a lump sum subject to the vulnerable financial system.

cyclonebri1

Marine_life wrote: »

I am busy following the true early retirement wannabe path this week.

I wrote to my previous employer for an estimate of the expected payout on the final salary scheme which I left about 10 years ago. Current projection is just over 20,000 which starts at age 63. Ok, so inflation will seriously erode the real value to around 50% of that but its a good foundation stone.

In addition I put the maximum I could into my deferred compensation scheme, so that now has a balance of just over 350,000 which I can start drawing age 60.

Tomorrow I have a meeting with a financial advisor to talk about investment strategy over the next 5-10 year.

Plans were firming up ........and then I saw the pictures of the new McLaren MP4 ..........:p

Just remember, by tomorrow you could be dead:eek::eek::eek:, not intended to offend, but simply has to be factored into every single equation.

I look on it this way.

Rich and dead, or poor and alive????

No one is gonna take the former;)




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And inspite of this post I am actually a happily retired optomistic pessimist, works for me ;)

Marine_life

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

Just remember, by tomorrow you could be dead:eek::eek::eek:, not intended to offend, but simply has to be factored into every single equation.

I look on it this way.

Rich and dead, or poor and alive????

No one is gonna take the former;)




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And inspite of this post I am actually a happily retired optomistic pessimist, works for me ;)

So is your message - don't cut back today because it could all go wrong?

I think you are right but it's all a question of balance.

I have most (or pretty much everything) that I want / need but that does not stop me taking sandwiches to work for lunch. I think it's about having a goal and taking steps to achieve it.

I am often stunned by the British attitude to money. We hate asking for discounts whereas I am pleased with myself whenever I save money. Today I bought some new ski's for myself and my wife that were discounted in a sale. But I managed an extra ten %.

So being extravagent but frugal at the same time!

cyclonebri1

Marine_life wrote: »

So is your message - don't cut back today because it could all go wrong?

No not really, I basically mean edge your bets. After all the optimum would be to spend your last dollar the day before you die.:A

The optomistic pessimist in me, which is really how I view myself, thinks I won't live long into retirement but just in case I do................

Moderation in all aspects of life is my advice, take care;);)

gfplux

This is such a great thread.

But it is not all sunshine for those of us already retired.

Just arrived in the South of France (83) and it is raining.

waveydavey48

Hi all, very interesting thread. I'm just starting to look at retirement planning so thanks to all for excellent and knowledgeable info posted.

I have a question, apologies in advance if it's been covered already. In brief, I'm 49 with 2 occupational pensions which kick in at age 60. My tentative idea is to retire at 55, live on savings until age 60 then live on pensions, which I believe would be adequate. If I understand the matter correctly the minimum age at which someone is allowed to take a pension has recently been raised from 50 to 55. The nightmare scenario for me would be to blow my savings by living on them between ages 55 -60 expecting to live on my pensions only to find that when I'm 59 or so the government raise the minimum pension age beyond 60!

Any thoughts? Incidentally it doesn't seem right that we should all have a fixed age at which we can take a pension when we all started work at different ages.... in my case 16!