For personal and professional reasons, I don’t ever plan to completely retire. Unless of course I get to the point where I physically can’t work, my plan is to just do something chill like become a professor at a JC, UC or CSU. Sitting around building model ships, playing golf or bridge and traveling until I croak doesn’t sound all that appealing. Even if I can afford to never work again, I think I would still like to — just not 60-100 hours per week, like a dog. Lastly, the pressure to save for retirement is lessened if you plan to work forever. Anyhow, that’s my premise. I’m just curious how many of you plan on retiring completely vs. the other alternatives.
Retiring at 40 regardless of net worth. Given my current progess it looks like my retirement years will be pretty spartan…
Sounds like a good plan, Gouman. Now, I don’t have a job yet and this is a bit ambitious, but one can dream: I am a little bit of the opposite in that I want to retire from an office job as soon as it is feasible. I am very motivated to follow the markets and do well for myself, but I am not an office type. I am too much of an introvert to ever be fully comfortable in that setting, IMO. I may be wrong and time and the experience may show that, but probably not. Plus, I am in the school of thought that we as people shouldn’t be shackled up in offices all day. Banking on myself being a good day-trader (which of course I would experiment with greatly beforehand), I would like to support myself with that, write a little, and enjoy life (hopefully with my family).
I want to make a difference in this world before I kick the can. I don’t plan to let my eighties hold me back (when I get to my eighties)…
I “retired” at the age of 43 from the military. I was lucky because I was pre-August 1986 by a few weeks, which meant that I retired with a 50% pension at 20 yrs (as opposed to 40% after 20-yrs for the post-1986 guys). Now 2-years out, I’m on this board and in a part-time MBA program so I can transition into finance (or financial planning, or compliance, or whatever…) I could have moved somewhere cheap where my $5,800 a month pension would mean something but I chose NYC instead…sometimes I wonder.
Just remember to buy long-term care insurance. My mother started paying for it at a dirt cheap rate in her mid-30s. Now in her mid-50s, her rate is still obscene and will be pretty much forever. One year of care will pay for 30 years of insurance premium if you start young. Wait until you’re in your 50s to buy long-term care insurance and it can be rather expensive. Buying long-term care insurance at a low rate can take a lot of pressure off saving if you plan on working until you can’t any longer.