Realistically, when do you think you can retire?

I’ve been fairly aggressive with my finances and I’m currently trying to set up income streams so I don’t HAVE to work. I’m 32 and have ~160k in my TSP, with just under 10 years in the federal government. I bought a rental townhouse in 2010 and refinanced into a 15 year loan in 2012, which I’m paying extra on. I should have it completely paid off by the time I’m 37, at which point it will be a nice little chunk of change each month. Bought my primary residence a year ago and I’m looking to pick up another couple rentals.

No clue when I will actually quit my job but I’m sure I’ll be more and more tempted to once my income streams replace my mortgage

 

I plan on retiring at 55. With the plan I signed up with when I started I would meet the retirement number at 50. But, they won't let you draw unless you are 55. If you leave before then it changes to not being able to draw until you're 65. So with the sick time I have built up I'll be able to go out about 6 months before I turn 55. I'll have to do something else for insurance when I retire but at least I can do something fun and something I enjoy.

 

If I move to another country,it won’t be the USA.

 

I've heard of a place.

 

Well that seems obvious

 

I don’t blame you.

 

44

 

I am not older, I'm 32 but I was the same as you. Wanted the house paid off. I soon realized I wanted more than just a mortgage paid off. So instead of paying it off I bought another house as a rental. Then I wanted even more so I used that profit to invest in stocks. Then I wanted more so I built a duplex and rented one half along with my old house and lived in one half. The more I learned the more challenging I wanted to get into. Ended up talking to an old boss/owner and bought part of two companies. He owned in my trade. Now it feels like out of nowhere I built this massive piece of equity all around me. I have fun everyday and work my ass off but always challenge myself because really how fun is just getting in line, paying your payments, and letting others get rich with your money. You only live once.
So my advice is since you clearly have a better head than many people, do more and never just plan to stop. Take the next step. If paying extra on a mortgage works for a year or two, think about what you would want to do next.
Just my thoughts

 

Not to brag, but I have a pretty solid piggy bank right now at age 18. I'm sure its value will grow exponentially within the next few years. Maybe if I'm feeling generous, I can share some of the wealth with you guys.

 

Holy. Did you do all that debt free?

What do you do for a living?

Keep it going! Make smart decisions with your money.

There are three things you can do with money:
Invest it/save it
Spend it
Give it

Always do all three.
Giving really adds to your life. I applaud you for your last statement.

 

It doesn’t sound like he did, he says instead of paying off the mortgage he bought another property. If like most folks all the additional properties mentioned may have also been financed. But maybe not, he can chime in with details. But the post clearly says he did not pay off his mortgage but instead used that money for other investments. So not debt free.

If you are willing to leverage a lot you can of course get much higher returns but of course with significantly increased risk too. But lots of folks do it successfully. And even those that fail just need to declare bankruptcy and try it all again seven or so years later.

Really anyone with a mortgage and a retirement account at the same time is doing this - deferring debt repayment and investing in something you hope will return more than it costs to service the debt. It is just a question of the degree to which you do it.

For individual investors real estate offers the potential for massive amounts of leverage at relatively low cost with low risk of calling and depending on the state a variety of ways to wipe away most of the debt should things go south. Leverage in the equity or fixed income markets aren’t remotely as attractive for individual investors hence the reason you see folks willing to take on risk doing it in the real estate market. It isn’t that real estate as an investment is better than equities - it is actually measurably worse - but it allows for far more leverage for individual investors.

 

Trade worker. Sheet metal and some pipe fitting . Certified in both. But all you need this a trade and to spend a few years doing high paid industrial work while living stingy. That gets you started. Hell right until this year I was ripping around in a 2007 Toyota Yaris piece of garbage as a car along with my old Tacoma. Didn't need nothing fancy. Now I am looking at a 2014 Viper lol

 

Oh and no way I did t is all debt free. At some point you realize debt doesn't matter if you are making more money with the borrowed money. Would take you 100 times longer to get somewhere paying something off fully before starting something new. I would rather have cash in my hand and some debt than just a bunch of assets

 

Retirement is on the horizon. The only thing that would compel me to return to the work force is a court order from a Judge.

 

Ya without risk life is boring. I have confidence I could lose every penny I have and start over again and get back to where I am eventually.
You only live once so might as well reach high. As long as you have your health and family everything else is extra anyways

 

No, please don’t!

 

when they put me in the ground or throw me into the flames...whatever is cheaper

 

I wish everyone the best at this. I retired at 56 because of a federal law. Before 9/11 I had over 700k in my TSP on my way to 1M est at retirement and lost 30% on 9/11, then as I was recovering, I got divorce and lost 50% of what I had built back up. So I have less than planned, but since I knew retirement was coming at 56 and I had planned for that, I am still doing ok and happy.

I really do mean it, I wish everyone reaches their goals

 

Lol.. it was a bit tongue in cheek

 

How do you plan on growing it exponentially? Rates even in a money market account are only 2.5% max? I work in financial services and "growing your account exponentially in the next few years" doesnt just happen.......