[quote=gzz]I am thinking of retiring next year, when I will be 39.

Partly because I am tired of being slightly overweight. Best shape of my life was between school and my first professional job. I ate fresh lean meat and veggies twice a day and worked out daily as well. I looked like a fitness model.

I just don’t have the energy to exercise daily and run a business. Being diagnosed with borderline hypertension which runs in my family is another issue. I am about 135/85 in the middle of the workday with coffee.

Hoping to control it by cutting salt way back and limiting caffeine to 300mg per AHA guidelines. I already eat pretty healthy otherwise and exercise intensely 4 hours on the weekend, plus 4 hours a yard work a week, and walk everyday.

My Dad meanwhile just officially retired this month and is already thinking about a part time job or consulting![/quote]

I’ve learned the hard way if you don’t have your health, it doesn’t matter how much money you have because you won’t be in any condition to enjoy it, and Uncle Sam or someone else does.

For me, going to work keeps me engaged to people and I like what I do. The difference is, these days it’s under my terms, I’ve had conversations where a senior exec said jokingly “we have to be nice to you if we don’t we?” and my standard response with a nice smile on my face is “pretty much…if you think I am adding value…and if not, you should fire me.. I would”. I’m not overly concerned of losing my job, and while there are basic work ethics and work etiquette, I’m not an unreasonable person like *cough* some of my other peers who get butt hurt at the slightest criticism.

The thing I don’t understand is that all these tech companies have a lot of perks like a free gym, clubs, etc. And a lot of colleagues don’t even bother taking advantage of it. And then 10-20 years from now, they look like crap, feel like crap, and spend more time seeing their doctors. It ain’t worth it. No matter how busy I am, I schedule meetings around my gym time. Or some meetings I just don’t bother to attend. Fortunately for me, this crossed my mind when I was 30, not when I’m in my late 40ies like many of my peers are now sadly dealing with.

As far as early retirement, I’m not sure I will ever fully retire. But one thing is important for me is a perpetual income stream. Counting on stock appreciation or asset appreciation isn’t going to cut it, because things don’t appreciate forever. I’m looking these days for income streams, whether it’s property that generates a lot of cashflow or stocks/funds that have reliable dividend income.

My current rental income will be around $65k/year right now after cost. Not bad, not great.

Since I won’t be able to touch my 401k/IRA until 65, my other thing is my non-ira/401k investments with 4% dividend returns would generate $40k/year after taxes if I could consistently hit a 4% dividend return.

So I think right now, if there’s decent alignment, I could have about $100k-110k/year in passive income. But there are costs to quit right now.
…Health insurance for me will be roughly $25k-30k/year, so that leaves me around $70k, no large debt hanging over my head, and my kid’s college mostly funded, there would be incidentals. Also, I would be limited to what I could contribute to my future IRA/401k instead of doing a maximum 401k/IRA contribution right now.

Ideally, I’d like to get my rental income up to around $100k to be comfortable. Not there yet…But this would be my path for the next 20 years until I’m 65, where the remaining in the IRA/401k would be available, which if all goes well will be around $1.5-2million if I don’t screw up majorly with it.
Meanwhile, until I’m unemployable, there’s no reason for me to quit early. I don’t hate what I’m doing, my health is ok, I have plenty of free time and under my terms, my company pays my health insurance, they provide a matching 401k, free gym time, pays for my cell phone, and my salary allows me to maximize my 401k contributions each year and have plenty of left over….without the stress of running a business, at the cost of paying higher taxes.
I’ll keep going until I get fired and become unemployable, lol. Or where the time spent on the job isn’t worth what it pays me.

These unusual melt-up’s in the stock market for the past few year are a lucky windfall. They provide unexpected large windfalls, and yes they probably won’t last forever and left on the table, there’s a risk of them going down….That’s why personally, I like taking money off the table every so often and pay of debt. Because you can’t lose by realizing gain. It’s not a question of winning, it’s then how much did you win by. Not that it would be a case for me, but if the economy goes down, and everyone’s losing their jobs, it’s a great feeling when you don’t need to worry about making mortgage payments on the roof over your head. Then, I’m not stuck taking a job I hate with shitty pay just to pay the bills…and ruining my health by stressing out over money…