[quote=ice9]I appreciate the comments/feedback earlyretirement.
It’s very useful to hear the thoughts from someone who has spent a lot of time thinking about this, and even done it.
Maybe it’s splitting hairs, but I don’t think of myself as having debt. I have a mortgage, yes, but there is 100K equity in the house. No student loans, credit card debt, etc.
Given the tax deduction on mortgage interest, I feel more comfortable having money earning dividends (that are taxed at 10% currently) than sitting in home equity.[/quote]
No problem. You are totally welcome. I totally understand your thoughts and worries and fears and dreams, etc. I went through the SAME things as you last year planning my “early retirement”.
I’m not saying to abandon your dream but I still think you should work several years, pay off your house and not have that worry. I understand you don’t think of it as “debt” but it is debt. You don’t own it. The bank does. Don’t get too into that whole “mortgage tax deduction is great thingy”. Also, I know people that say they will make more money investing it instead of paying off the house and they’ve lost it all. You just have to be realistic and careful there.
I don’t think of having $100k equity in a house as too much to write home about these days. I’m not sure how expensive it is or how much you have left but from what I’ve seen in San Diego…nice homes here are fairly expensive there so you still have a lot more to pay off.
Also, it’s still relative having a house paid off if the ongoing monthly expenses are high. Case in point, my house is totally paid off and it was fairly expensive but I have $16,000 in annual property taxes and Mello Roos as well as $450 a month in HOA fees not to mention we joined a country club that has $250/month in monthly expenses so even having a paid off house our bills are higher than many.
Definitely I think it’s a good goal to work towards as long as you always stay realistic and don’t fool yourself or talk yourself into something that you’re really not ready for.
It sounds like with your work at least you could do freelance work if you wanted to and earn money from time to time.
Also, you have to factor in the whole segment of the population (even friends/family) that will absolutely HATE you for being able to retire early. You’d think people would feel happy for you but in reality that doesn’t really seem to be the case in the majority of the cases.
I guess to be fair I’m not really retired as I still work about 5 or 6 hours a day but it feels retired compared to the 14 to 16 +hour days I worked before I “retired”. I worked INSANE hours before and much of it was stressful in the financial/investment realm.
I don’t really care what people think though. I give my kids a bath every morning, give them a bath every night. My daughter recently started pre-school last week and I pick her up every afternoon in the middle of the day at 1 PM. You should see the looks I get from all the other housewives picking up their kids. A few of them have asked what I do as I’m one of the only dads picking up their kids everyday and I’m doing it in shorts and casual clothes. (I think the other guy is an unemployed guy that lost his job and looking).
It’s a great feeling of being able to do what you want with your kids when you want, going to the pool, taking them to the beach, to the Zoo, etc during the week in the middle of the day. It’s great!
I do NOT dare tell people I’m retired but when they hear we’ve been traveling around for months on end around the world to exotic places…..the reaction I usually get is “did you win the lottery or something”??
There are wonderful things about “early retirement” once you get to that point. So don’t give up on the idea and try to ignore the haters….. I’d just advise to be realistic and factor in the great unknowns like inflation and future health care costs. Contrary to popular belief…..being a millionaire these days is NOTHING to write home about.
Fortunately I never HAVE to go back to work full time if I didn’t want to. I make enough in passive income to cover my monthly nut. But I definitely think after another year or so I will. Even to me it seems a bit ridiculous to be “retired” still in my 30’s….
And also to be honest I still have worries/fears almost each and every day and wonder if I truly have enough to retire. You can plan and think you know if it’s enough but in the end it’s still just a guess.
