Has anybody retired young (under 50) and stayed retired?

I think this comes down to how you define "retire". The discussion comes up on Mr Money Moustache, and other blogs/forums quite a bit.

I woudl define it as having passive income allowing you not to work if you didn't want to... But I would expect I would not stop "working" until I'm in the grave, it would just be on my terms, doing what I want (which would involve a lot more volunteering and probably some part time employment, and/or consulting).

Cheers,
Inertia.

 

I'm thinking of $1500pw for one and $2400pw for two adults in my future plans, today's dollars, assuming PPOR paid off. How much more are kids, without private school education? What age range is the peak in cost for them?

 

I've been retired just over two years now and I am still south of 50, so I may be the droid you're looking for. The "what do you do with your time?" is a valid one and one that is not only asked by many I come across, but one that I pondered long and hard about before I pulled the pin.

My biggest concern before retiring was that I would miss the intellectual challenge of work, particularly given my strong technical background. To mitigate this, I wrote down all the things that keep a mind occupied that I would love to do if work was not otherwise consuming my available time. This list included things like, further study, very detailed research of issues or topics in which I was interested, problem solving games/puzzles, participate in forums, volunteer for a worthwhile cause, help others solve their technical and financial issues (at their request), fix/maintain/develop technical home projects and learn new skills. Turns out this list has been more than enough to keep me occupied and I have barely dented it. The list is living, so as I tick things off it I also add more to it, so it is more like a never ending story than a finite "bucket list".

Other things I do are the usual that people expect, eg. travel a lot more, wake up whenever I want, read books, explore the suburb and local bushland with my dogs, spend time with older close relatives, watch TV series on Netflix, tend the garden, exercise and healthy doses of just relaxing doing nothing etc.

Being an introvert, I was never really big on the social interaction I used to get from work and I find I am quite satisfied with the level of socialisation I currently get, despite most people my age still being in "school". I can see how this could be a major issue for an extrovert, but my exposure to early retirement forums indicates that extroverts generally tend not to be the ones retiring early because they are either so ambitious that they'd rather keep working past the point where they really have "enough" or they fear the loneliness of being away from the social environment of work greater than the work itself. I am generalising here of course, so this does not apply to all but in my view it would be a struggle retiring sub-50 if you are a people person, so I can see why many return to the work fold.

So far, I enjoy being master of my own time far more than somebody else doing that for me, so my intention is to continue to explore new horizons under my own stewardship until I either no longer want to or I die, whichever comes first

 

Stopped working 2 years ago at 47. Plenty to do, outdoor stuff, do & learn new things. Today a 4hr Catalan class (free), 1.5 km swim at the pool, picked up one of my kids, working on some graphics stuff for the preschool.

Some people find it difficult to understand though and don't know what you do all day and assume you're rich, not really, just had to downsize spending and work on setting up passive income streams, yield is priority. Just watching the wheels.

 

I retired at 47, but continued to invest in property and about 3 years ago started developing property as additional income/cash.

The idea of giving away the day job was so I had choices in life to do as I pleased. I actually loved my day job, but it was a treadmill to nowhere, a gravy train.

"Society not set up for young retirees", you could be correct? but I don't really care its always about finding purpose in life/fulfilment, we may have different idea on what this is.

We all need goals and purpose in life. Retirement is just a word it does not mean instant happiness because you have achieved this goal.

I just enjoy what I do and between property investing, meeting friends, travelling, enjoying coffee with my daughters, fostering pups I am pretty busy.

I always have goals, my next goal is to do a JV development with my eldest daughter, to teach her, if she like it then good, if not then at least we gave it a go.

MTR

 

No offense intended, but if partner still works I don't think it really counts as retired. You've done extremely well, just not sure it's the correct word that's all.

 

It's a tough one. I tend to not say I'm retired as I'm still working - albeit for myself. So I just say I stopped being a 'wage slave' for someone else.

Or just an unemployed bum

 

MTR, by your reasoning, every housewife on the planet is retired.

I quit work to start my own business, so if Westminster is retired, then I'm retired, too. So is D.T.

 

But I do not operate a business, other than doing my own developments, this is my choice.

We have enough income to support our lifestyle.

@DT needs his business for income there is no choice that is my point. I gave away my day job in 2006... please read the title on this thread, what is it you don't understand

Whether you want to call it being retired or not, don't care, I call it retirement because I do as I please, I don't answer to anyone, I don't have clients, and my husband no longer works.

 

Dunno about @MTR but I couldn't be classified as a housewife - that would involve me cooking, cleaning, ironing and being domestically skilled. I can cook but hate doing the rest.

 

IMO, retirement is what happens when you no longer NEED to work.

What you do with yourself at that point is not relevant, it's simply a matter of having freedom of choice.

I'm working towards absolutely financial freedom within a couple of years, but I intend to continue challenging myself with bigger and bigger goals for the rest of my life – the pursuit of which many will absorb way more than full time hours.

The recurring theme of those I know who have wrapped things up early is they move on to doing much more fulfilling and challenging things with their time.

 

I want to take a good year off by 41st birthday, missed out on doing it by 40.
Then see what happens after that....

 

Absolutely agree with this. It's almost coming up to a year since I 'retired' mid-30's. Unencumbered by a j.o.b I have been:
- Riding with the kids to and from school each day
- Taking the kids to swimming, karate, tennis after school; and helping them with their homework
- Going to the gym. I've trained up and ran 2 marathons this year for the first time.
- Having coffees at my leisure
- Looking after current developments and searching for new projects
- Thinking about starting PhD in something that is really interesting, without the need to find a job in that field afterwards. Maybe biomed, or astro physics.

The missus went back to work part time for a few hours a week. After looking after the kids for almost 10 years, she wanted some mental stimulation. She earns a fraction of what she used to earn, but she is happy and stress free at work.

I guess I'm the house-hubby... Except I don't cook, or clean, or iron :/

 

BTW, the Internet Retirement Police (see Mr. Money Mustache vs. the Internet Retirement Police) have a tendency to show up whenever early retirement is being discussed in a forum. Looks like they have shown up already

 

Awesome potential courses of study there. I would love to study Astrophysics purely for recreational purposes and Biomedicine with more of a business purpose–enormous potential in the future of health especially with how staggeringly quick things are progressing (like the cost of genome sequencing) and the coming revolution of personalised medicine.

 

as defined by Mr Moneymustache.

As for me, am beginning to see a light @ the end of the tunnel.
I have a friend who retired @ 50 but he probably should have kept working part time for 'sanity' and purpose.

 

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Absolutely agree with you, having freedom of choice that's what we are all chasing at least that's what I thought.

Would you believe there are no PC rules on this... LOL, some investors will be happy to retire on $50K pa, some will want $200K pa, and some will just let the green monster take over and never get there


MTR

 

I'd love to have the position of being an employee right now where I could just hand in a resignation and leave easily.
If it were that easy, could have retired years ago.

What got us to where we are financially is the same thing keeping me locked up I feel.
We've built a business over the past 10 years which has had continual growth and is a substantial asset now.
However, it won't run by itself and one cannot just walk away or the asset will be lost.
The only other option is to secure capable/reliable management, take on a partner/s, or sell to exit completely which is the preferred option.
All take time and are quite complicated.
And when not in a desperate position to sell, the process takes even longer to get the best value for the asset.

 

OMG, give me strength... are you living in the 50's.... the housewife, the cook, the cleaner, the sex goddess... what next

 

Wonderful, good on you