Realistically, when do you think you can retire?

I understand. I retired from a sixty hour a week job with a high stress level. I took that experience and started doing freelance, not exactly consulting but more mediation of disputes. I work sometimes twenty hours a week and sometimes five. It with social security provides a pretty nice cushion so my wife and I don't dip into savings or her 401k for now because one day I'll have to quit what I am doing when my mind slows down - so far at seventy-four, I still click pretty well.
There are only so many fish to catch, so many projects to do and I felt stress at not having productivity. I started working at twelve and didn't stop for fifty-eight years, I got stressed by not having stress, kinda goofy.

 

I honestly believe anyone that can retire early, really won't retire.

They will just change where the money cones from.

 

it's all about creating multiple sources of income at an early age.

 

And how imperative it is to them really.

My dad took an early retirement at 54..phone company. He's worked since then and is now 71 but he was able to decide a lot easier where he'd work or how much guff he put up with after that.

 

Started contributing at 24. Looking to get into rental property too, but not at a place financially to get that done yet. Especially in this crazy Denver market.

 

For those of you older and wiser guys who have paid off your home, is there any advice or tips?

How did you do it and what was your motivation?

Did you just take out a 15 year loan and pay it off in 15 years or did you commit to regular additional payments?

I’m interested in the perspective from guys who have gotten to reap the benefits for making sacrifices at a young age.

 

I did 15 year notes.

I'm paid every 2 weeks. Because of that fact I was automatically making one extra payment per year.

I did have more than half the payment pulled from my pay check every 2 weeks. This allowed an additional payment to be made with little notice to my take home pay.

I had a huge over time year some time in there, so we paid off the last $8k to be over with the note.

 

First of all, I applaud you for at least looking to the future. So many people can't past the next paycheck let alone retirement age. I purchased my home in 1983 for $78K, 13.5% paying 7.5 points to get that. I refinanced it a few times (11%, 8.5%, and then 5.125%) as the interest rates went down but like a fool I took equity money out each time. My last mortgage was for $130K. Each time I got a 15 year loan. About 7 years ago I decided to quit being stupid and get serious about paying all my mortgage. I want to be ready for retirement and to do so I needed to be debt free. I calculated how much to pay my house off in 5 years and made the appropriate extra principle payments to do so. That took some serious cut backs in other areas. I have no "toys". Fortunately I'm pretty good at all types of repairs and remodeling so I usually never pay for repair services. I take care of my vehicles and home to reduce cost. I use Quicken and every day I have it download all my account information so I know exactly where I am each day. My wife and I stopped eating out so much. Last year I finally paid off my home, vehicles, and remodeled my house with not going into debt. Having an extra $3K a month is awesome but what is really strange is that I'm finding I don't need it to live my lifestyle. I'm still living cheaply but oh, do I sleep well never worrying about money. I don't know when I'll retire but I'm ready and can afford it because I got out of debt.

 

Thanks.
I have worked very hard to avoid debt and have seen the benefits of realizing that my needs tomorrow are more important than my wants today.
I also realize that bigger nicer homes and cool cars are really something you earn over a lifetime and not something you are entitled to as a twenty something.

Congrats on being debt free!
My ultimate dream is owe nobody in this world a dime.

I also understand what you mean about having extra money as you pay off debt but you don’t spend more. Living frugally is addictive and helps you “want for nothing” as @tandemgeek said.

More is caught, than taught.
My parents always lived below their means. My parents were older so in middle school/highschool my parents were in their 50s so at the height of their income/careers.
I had a really good friend in highschool who always had the latest and greatest iPhone, got a car a 16 and a new one at 18. Daddy had a brand new Mercedes, Harley, diesel Excursion, and Momma had a new Audi A8. Lived in a $1.5 milion custom home (10,000sqft).
They seemed to be living it up. I found myself wishing I made that kind of money. I assumed they made a lot more than my parents.
A year after graduating highschool her parents filed bankruptcy. Dad was self employed and the early 2000s took a hit on his business. As soon as his income dropped... they were screwed.
Her parents ended up divorced too. I wonder if that was largely fueled by money stress.

Getting older I realized... my parents probably made as much as they did. But my parents bought smaller homes, paid them off, bought cars with cash only. I think my Dad bought his first brand new car when he was in his mid 50s, they saved for retirement etc.

People will do a lot to make themselves look really nice on the inside, but like you said... they have nothing for a net worth. So you can’t find yourself being envious of others, because many times (not always) those are not as well off as they appear.

I love what you say about not wanting for anything.
You will never be happy always wanting what others have.

 

About 4 more years, will be 60. Full retirement package kicks in. Could work at my current employer forever, but why not retire. Going to buy something like this and just enjoy traveling and offroading wherever I want. Life is good my TW friends.

 

Holy hell that is massive.

 

I did a 30 because I had to..even when I refinanced.

Trick is, even in the early years I at least paid one extra payment per year. That alone will knock 7 years off.

Since getting more caught up on the projects and whatnot, we try to pay 300-400 a month extra..which works out to 4 or 5 extra a year.

Really matters to us, as when we bought the house in 2004 I was 30 but my wife was 43.

 

Well said sir. My folks married young but when my dad was in the Army they lived on the base instead of renting a place and saved like crazy. My nephew bought a new car when he got out of the service with his savings..and that's fine for him, it's what he wanted. My folks bought a shitbox and put a large down payment on their first house, which enabled them to afford more house than their income may show. My dad would also do work when he could, and always liked real estate so they kind of traded up a couple of times. It also helped that his job got moved from MA to NY and then back a year later unexpectedly, he was able to negotiate a better salary as well as some help with the moves.

Mainly, they've always been frugal. My dad used to kill himself every 4-5 years painting the house instead of hiring someone so he could afford private schooling for me and my sister. They also bought used and kept them forever..it helped too when I got older and learned how to fix them.

I allow myself some toys like a pool and my bike collection..my parents honestly don't have hobbies or anything really, and that's fine for them too. But they were able to raise us in Hingham MA (look it up, very rich town) which my dad's annual salary would never have been able to do by itself

 

I retired at 52. I'll be 61 next week and plan to start taking SS at age 62. I'd have to wait until 66 years 8 months to get full SS benefits. Doing the math I'd be 77 before I'd break even and would have to live well into my 90's for it to make a significant difference. Based on the life span of my parents and other relatives I should make it to my mid to late 80's barring something like cancer taking me out early.

I was fortunate to have worked in a profession with a good retirement plan. When the economy started going bad I ended up taking pay cuts in 2008-2010. My retirement is based on a percentage of my best consecutive 24 months which was 2007 and 2008. When we were told of an even bigger pay cut for 2010 I did the math. My bring home pay working after taking pay cuts would have been only about $200/month more than I could make retired. The house was long paid off and I had no other big debts. And about 2010 was when my elderly parents sorta hit the wall, could no longer drive and needed a lot of help.

After dad died in 2013 mom moved into an assisted living home and didn't need as much of my help. I went back to work part time and still work 6-10 days a month.

 

Im expecting to be dead long before I can retire.Not even joking.

 

It would be wrong and twisted to "like" that post.

I'm sorry to hear that.

 

Ya,living on the west coast has gotten so expensive it pushin people out.Im kinda at a point where moving somewhere else might be the only option(like a lot of others have already done).I guess partly my own fault for not having a plan when I was younger.

 

Same thing here in MA, although I want to move south eventually for other reasons too..I hate winter here

 

Move to Texas, that seems to be what all the other fed up Californians are doing

 

might explain why housing is so high there near college town.