Enjoying this thread, thanks.

Question for OP and Chop (and anyone else doing this, or thinking of it) - do you mind sharing your current family situation? Maybe I'm just too indoctrinated to think creatively about it, but seems like this type of "retirement" has the potential to alienate a lot of family. Thanks!

I want to build a cabin and walk across the US too.

pokeraz,

Thank you for this thread. I'm in a similar situation, where I actually enjoy the work part of having a job (as opposed to the putting-up-with-day-to-day-management-bs part), but have most likely accumulated enough wealth where I don't need a job.

I'm in a similar space, trying to figure out if I want to work some more, or, if not, what I'd do with myself. Software for me, but similar in that if I don't keep relatively up to date, I couldn't get back in the field some years down the road.

But then, I think, is that a bad thing? Sure, I'm unlikely to find another gig that pays as well as software development. But I'm also losing the stress that comes along with a higher-pressure job.

Thanks also to all who have responded with advice, it's not only helping pokeraz figure out things.

Please allow me to throw a point out there for discussion, which I hope won't be a massive derail: lolUSA#1 health care.

Health care outside of employment seems to be either very expensive or crappy if you pay less. Being in (probably) the last third of our lives, it's more likely we'll need health care, and need something expensive.

That's the major thing that's got me interested in going back to work. I'm also considering if I could get a full-time-with-benefits gig somewhere like a bank, Home Depot, or something. Get the benefit, lose the stress, have something to do.

That caution being said, I rather suspect that de captain, chopstick, lapka and the others are factually right, and we just haven't come to the logical conclusion: it's o.k. to retire. One of my friends who retired early told me recently when discussing what's been going on: "sounds like you're retired, you just don't know it yet."

Let's not be de captain's uncle.

Just fyi UPS offers part time manual labor jobs with health insurance.

Nah. I've spent the past 20 years focused on Cisco at a lower level and I'm screwed right now. My skills are only relevant insofar as they apply to system administration.

I have nothing to add other than you're all inspirations and that I love this thread.

For me it was and is big concern. My mom does not understand my strat with money and jobs and material stuff. Just the fact that I don't have a TV is totally irritating for her. She is scared every time I leave a project that I won't find something new and how I will survive then.... I learned that I don't have to share every move in my life with my parents.

I am clearly in an easier situation than many in USA. It is basically impossible for me to end-up without health insurance. It clearly has its own cost: no matter how much I earn, I have to pay between 12% and 17% of my income for health insurance. But in my current situation with this kind of alternative life style it is an advantage to have guaranteed health insurance.

I'm not telling you whether to retire or not, but I don't think you should make any decisions based on the assumption that you will be able to take a decade off and then return to a reasonable paying job at age 60.

It is strange that I rarely come to OOT but this thread lines up very well with things I am thinking about every day. I think there comes a time if you have accumulated enough to think about what you would do every day if money wasn't a factor. I am pretty sure that working full time at that point is a mistake. I also think that outright quitting is probably a mistake. My approach is to slowly reduce the amount of time I work and am currently pushing for the minimum time required to maintain my senior partner status. That is about 60 hours/month so luckily pretty light. I find that it is still more than I want to work but hedging a bit until 2 teenage kids get through college seems smart. My main concern is that pretty much all my dreams are centered around physical stuff (surfing, etc.) and those things get progressively more difficult as the age heads north of 50.

Big fan of this post for those who haven't read it.

https://gregshahade.wordpress.com/20...ver-had-a-job/

Interesting thread.

I'm (just) 62 and pretty much working to keep my benefits for another 18 mos. - at that time I can COBRA out until I hit Medicare. I've been thinking a lot about what I'm going to do when I hang it up - my wife and I travel and hike a lot, and we don't have much in the way of bad habits. No family older or younger that we're responsible for. I'm almost certainly going to go up to the U and finish my Bachelors degree - I owe them 6 units or so.

Doing what I do focuses the mind from time to time. Couple of nights ago I took care of a 37 y/o guy in with metastatic pancreatic cancer who's not going to make it until Christmas.

Lastly - you must must must have health insurance, even if it's a super high deductible catastrophic policy. Health care is insanely expensive, and you never know...

MM MD

Congrats! Or you could just live in Canada like me and not have to worry about health care

Just curious but for those nearing retirement, what kind of NW are you talking about? I'm only 42 and having alot of the same thoughts - not really a fan of grinding my corporate finance gig another 10 years. I'm thinking I can't pull the plug with less than $2Million

It highly depends on your spending habits. I imagine with retiring at 52, you probably wont want to go over a 3% withdrawal rate so thats 60k per year.

If you can live on 60k of expenditures per year then 2 million is probably enough.

It also depends a lot on how willing you are to keep working at something for some of the time.

At 52 you've still got tons of options for making money. My goal is to mentally "retire" in a few years and then only do things I really want to do.

It's off topic, but - How do you get to be a doctor without a Bachelors?

Interesting post/discussion, and very relevant to my life--last year, at age 49, I did a life-inventory, realized I had enough savings to last me well into my 80's, & so pulled the trigger & retired. It was def. a much easier decision for me than most people my age as I'm not married (no one else to consult) & I don't have kids, so I don't have that added financial stress. That said, I also won't have anyone to rely on for help / assistance when I'm old, so there is that to consider, too.

OP mentioned taking 10-15 years off and then trying to return to his current career; imo that's extremely unrealistic. First because OP is in a highly technical field, and it's unlikely that he's going to have the desire / discipline to stay current during his prolonged "sabatical". Secondly who can predict what industry disrupters will occur over the next decade? Third and perhaps most important, OP isn't taking into account ageism, which is a very real thing. Few employers, when faced with hiring a 35 year old versus a 60-65 year old who's been out of the industry for the last decade, are going to choose the old geezer. And just because at 60 or 65 years old you may not "feel" or self-identify as "old", make no mistake--to anyone under 40 you are old as ****.

So yea, if you don't have the nest egg needed to retire permanently now, the more realistic option is to continue to work part-time, or realize that at age 60 or whatever, you'll likely end up working at a position far below where you are now, if not in an entirely different industry, i.e., "Welcome to Walmart!"

That said, clearly retiring at 50 is a helluva alot better than retiring at 65 or 70. I just got back from a 6 week trip to Peru, where I saw all these retirees trying to walk around various ruins and physically just being unable to do it. Being able to retire early is great in terms of being physically able to really enjoy the world (if travel is your thing) but you also feel like somewhat of an outlier, as most other travelers you meet are typically under 30 or over 60 years old.

I may be overly negative, but I've read a lot about how AI, automation, robotics will kill off just about all jobs within the next 10-15 years.
I'm not sure I would assume you'll be able to find a job in 10 years.

I do like your idea OP.
One thing I've thought about a little bit is doing an early retirement into a government job.
Right now I work in a very competitive stressful career, at a company who lays people off for a laugh.
But I make good money.
I was thinking maybe take a 50% pay cut, get a government job where no one really does anything and you can't get fired.

I appreciate all the great responses. I have done some serious thinking over the last two days.

I agree that the idea of going back to work is not a viable option. Not in any serious capacity and not at an income level that makes sense.

I’ve done some back of the envelope math and I am right on the edge. One thing that I realized is that about 65% of my assets are in some form of retirement account(401k, IRAs etc) that have stipulations on when money can be withdrawn. I have made an appointment for next with with my financial adviser and he will be able to help me sort through all this.

I suspect that I have two or three more years of work. Which is still an exciting prospect. I’ll know more next week.

I am completely debt free so no issues there.

As I posted not long ago, I have just sold my house with plans to build a new home with construction starting soon. I am cancelling that.

Like I said, after I meet with my guy next week, I’ll be able to make some concrete plans. But it really does look like early retirement is in my near future.

I'm sure your advisor can help you with this, but if necessary you can set up what's called SEPP or 72(t) withdrawals from your 401k/IRA, which allows you to access that money early without penalty. You just have to commit to withdrawing (and paying taxes on) a set amount each year between now and when you turn 59.5.

i'm sure you'll continue to get great advice here and from your financial advisor. i'd also encourage you to check out this site once you get down to brass tacks. https://www.bogleheads.org/

it's an incredible free resource, and lots have posters there have already been where you're going.

The interaction of money, work, and happiness is something that I have put a lot of thought into over the years.

When I was in my early 30s I was really focused on retiring as early as possible. I am in the fortunate position where I am in a high paying field, my wife is as well, and neither of us are big spenders. I had a plan put together where we would grind full time work until about age 46 and then retire. I took it for granted that full retirement was what would maximize my happiness and wanted to get there as early as possible.

As I got into my late 30s I started to question whether full retirement was actually what I wanted. After a lot of reflection I came to the conclusion that I actually enjoyed having a job. It gave me a feeling of accomplishment, and group of coworkers who I am close with, and some structure in my life. I realized that what I didn't like about work was when I would work 50+ hours in a week, be exhausted, and miss out on a bunch of fun stuff because I was too busy.

After realizing this, I focused on quality of life. I ended up decreasing to 70% time at my work about 2 years ago, which means I average about 28 hours per week. My wife was able to decrease to 50% time at her work. Now I have plenty of time to do things I want and spend time with my kids. My wife and I have lots of time together. I haven't once missed the extra income that we gave up.

I realize that we are lucky because we work in high paying fields where we were able to get part time positions. It actually wasn't easy and we both met some resistance at first but with time were able to get our employers to allow us to cut down. I'm 40 now and I am very happy with my current situation and totally looking forward to working at this level for the next 15+ years.

TL;DR - make sure full retirement is actually what you want. Give strong consideration to part time work.

$2MM Canadian ~$1.56MM USD if anyone's interested. As amoeba and others said, it's not how much you have, it's how much you spend.

Like some others in this thread, I've been single, no kids, in a fairly high-paying industry for a number of years, so have some money stashed away.

But just as significant is I have a simple lifestyle. Paid off my house, drive old (but still going ok) vehicles, don't dine out much, kind of a homebody (except the occasional travel).

Thanks to all who've responded, especially those with experience in this game and those throwing out notes of caution to ensure we all think about other aspects.

Can you live off 4% of your savings yearly? If so a 70% stock 30% bond allocation would probably (guessing about 75%, there are simulators you can use) see you through to death without you going broke. Can you live off 3% of your savings yearly? In that case your nest egg could probably support roughly an infinite retirement.

And look into what your financial adviser is charging you. If he's charging 1% of assets every year (common) then those retirement numbers going to change to 2% and 3% from 3% and 4%.

Also a big benefit of retiring early is that you can rollover a bunch of your 401k and traditional IRA money into a Roth for zero or low taxes every year. A Roth conversion is treated as taxable income, but if you don't have any income then the first bit isn't taxed, then from like 9k to 20k it's taxed at 10%, etc. So you can get around having to pay any taxes on your 401k money. And you can live on the stuff in your taxable accounts (and avoid paying much or even any taxes on dividends and capital gains as you don't have much income).

Healthcare is the single biggest unknown for early retirement.

All of your other costs should generally go down (less gas usage and wear on your car, more time to cook and eat in, possibly paid off residence, downsized residence where proximity to work and school district no longer a factor).