Do you have a large nest egg (7 figures +) to plan on taking this early retirement?
Or do you have any assets that will generate cash flow each month/year like rental properties?
The plain fact of the matter is the vast majority of people in their mid 40’s wouldn’t be planning to retire in the next 5 years.
I say all the power to you and wonderful if you can safely accomplish it but to definitely have a fairly large nest egg to even think about this.
My goal was always to be able to retire by the time I was 40 if I wanted to. It wasn’t easy but I probably could fully retire if I wanted to. However, I’m not sure I will want to retire so early.
I guess it would be hard to give you specific advice without knowing how large of a nest egg you have.
I have friends that retired early (in their 40’s) and they had major events like sudden illnesses that really threw them for a loop. I guess that is my biggest fear retiring early.
Back a few years ago when I was in your position thinking about retiring so early, my strategy was to buy several rental properties that generate cash flow each month.
I know my case isn’t the typical situation but I went in and bought several rental properties and completely paid them off. I know most people will leverage but I didn’t want ANY debt at all heading into an early retirement.
My goal was to go into early retirement having my principle residence completely paid off, having my cars paid off and having absolutely no debt at all.
Also, I’d set aside a fairly large emergency medical fund just in case something happens.
Also, much of early retirement just depends what kind of lifestyle you lead. That probably is the biggest factor in how early you can retire.
Some people are content with just staying home or close to home and not doing much while others strive to travel non-stop around the world to exotic places.
I know our single biggest expense is traveling around to different countries in the world. That will most likely be our biggest expense each year while we are retired.
I know for me I’d feel very nervous retiring early with no cash flow generating income each month. Sure we have stocks but the stock market can be a volatile place and you really have to stay very diversified and stick with it for the long term.
My friends that retired early and had almost all of their assets in the stock market nearly had a nervous breakdown during the stock market meltdown a few years ago. Some of them panic sold some of their stocks only to see the stock market come roaring back.
