Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Economics > Personal Finance
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
 
Old 12-05-2018, 06:19 AM
 
5,342 posts, read 6,144,882 times
Reputation: 4719

Advertisements

Quote:
Originally Posted by mysticaltyger View Post
Yes, I would agree with that. It's definitely harder to do by your early 30s, especially if you want kids. But the principles are the same even if you don't hit FI in your 30s. So you hit it in your 40s. Still a good place to be.

However, I would also say I don't like the way people talk about kids as if they are inevitable. Kids ARE a choice.
Oh absolutely. We have most of those things, but I got a PhD, so I didn’t start my first real job until I was 29. We will have enough saved up to retire in our mid 40s with 2 kids. All I’m saying is for the people saying it’s not possible don’t do it, the couples you are reading about are extreme examples, as a lot has to go right to retire in your early/ mid 30s. Retiring in your mid to late 40s is much more obtainable for a more average person/couple though.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 12-05-2018, 07:10 AM
 
Location: East Coast of the United States
27,378 posts, read 28,451,420 times
Reputation: 24904
Quote:
Originally Posted by mizzourah2006 View Post
Retiring in your mid to late 40s is much more obtainable for a more average person/couple though.
People in their 40s typically live in a house with mortgage payments and have kids who are teenagers or going to college already. Parents may have to pay for their kids' weddings as well. There are all kinds of financial obligations which come with that. You could get laid off from your job. Then of course, there's the issue of health insurance.

Retiring in your 40s is much easier said than done.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 12-05-2018, 08:51 AM
 
Location: TN/NC
34,911 posts, read 31,030,575 times
Reputation: 47280
Quote:
Originally Posted by BigCityDreamer View Post
People in their 40s typically live in a house with mortgage payments and have kids who are teenagers or going to college already. Parents may have to pay for their kids' weddings as well. There are all kinds of financial obligations which come with that. You could get laid off from your job. Then of course, there's the issue of health insurance.

Retiring in your 40s is much easier said than done.
I'm no expert in the FIRE movement. Still, it seems like a lot of these folks are betting on the bad never happening.

A high school classmate of mine was paralyzed in a serious car wreck back in August. You could be on track to be FIRE, then this happen. Imagine if you retired at 40, were out of the work force for ten years, then this happens. The remaining spouse hasn't worked in a decade.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 12-05-2018, 08:59 AM
 
5,342 posts, read 6,144,882 times
Reputation: 4719
Quote:
Originally Posted by BigCityDreamer View Post
People in their 40s typically live in a house with mortgage payments
Who doesn't have a mortgage payment or pay rent? That's kind of silly to even mention. Either you pay off your mortage or you have a mortgage. Many people in their 50s and 60s also have mortgages.

Quote:
Originally Posted by BigCityDreamer View Post
and have kids who are teenagers or going to college already.
Again, not everyone in their 40s has kids. If they do, they are cheaper at that point in the grand scheme of things anyway. I live in a low cost of living area and we pay $10k/yr per kid for daycare. If when they hit 5 I instead put that $10k/yr in a 529 from 5-15 I think they'll be ok by the time they hit college. I guess people haven't really looked at the cost of their state schools or they live in extremely expensive states. All the land grant state schools (besides Pennsylvania) in states that I have lived in have tuition for under $11k/yr today. If they have to live on campus, that's another $10ishk. So $22-$24k/yr. That completely ignores the 2 years of CC route that can be had for less than $10k. It's definitely expensive, but nothing compared to what some people are talking about having $250-$400k saved for their kids college education. If you want your kid to go to Harvard and think he/she can get in, go for it. But clearly you won't be retiring by 45 on a $100k HH income in that instance. Similarly if I want to buy a $500k house on a $100k income I won't be retiring at 45 either. The cost of college is largely a choice, just like owning a Suburban vs. a CRV is or owning a $200k home vs. a $500k home.

Quote:
Originally Posted by BigCityDreamer View Post
Parents may have to pay for their kids' weddings as well.
Parents may have to pay for their kids' weddings, or help. That's the beauty of compound interest. If you start saving say $75/month when your daughter is 5 to 25 with a CAGR of 4% (keeping it low to adjust for inflation) you will have roughly $28k saved. Pretty sure that could pay for a wedding and it's no different than a life insurance payment.

Quote:
Originally Posted by BigCityDreamer View Post
You could get laid off from your job.
You could, that's why saving a high percentage of your income is always a good thing. It prepares you for unexpected life occurrences.

Quote:
Originally Posted by BigCityDreamer View Post
Then of course, there's the issue of health insurance.
Health insurance is extremely affordable if you don't have a high income. Keep in mind in retirement unless you are receiving Social Security, or a define pension, your income should equal your expenses. I went in to the calculator and put in a family of 4 with a MAGI of $50k and it says the cost of a silver plan would be $271/month.

Quote:
Originally Posted by BigCityDreamer View Post
Retiring in your 40s is much easier said than done.
Of course it is, but if you read my post I was saying it's much more realistic than retiring in your 30s where all of the things in the list I had above didn't pan out, but maybe 2 of them did.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 12-05-2018, 09:06 AM
 
2,606 posts, read 2,694,663 times
Reputation: 3550
Really dumb question but I don't understand Financial Freedom of future. I can understand short term being financially wealthy enough not to worry about work, but how can one guarantee things will still be perfectly ok 50 years from now. Even with huge investment, you don't know what the market will do, you don't know what the business will be like & how can one feel confident enough to say I am set for life at such young age. I can only plan for 5 maybe 10 years out in future. Anything beyond that is crazy


I think most people who retire super young are counting on welfare service to carry them thru incase things turn south or have side gig, which is just like working/having a business
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 12-05-2018, 09:10 AM
 
12,101 posts, read 17,028,437 times
Reputation: 15764
Quote:
Originally Posted by mysticaltyger View Post
Now I think you're the one whose being a little too easy breezy here. Like everyone can just go out there and fund such meaningful work in a paid job. That just doesn't sound very realistic to me. At. All.
Different things have different meaning to different people.

Let me ask you something. Forget about pay for a second.

If you could work a job that was meaningful to you, then what would it be?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 12-05-2018, 09:17 AM
 
5,342 posts, read 6,144,882 times
Reputation: 4719
Quote:
Originally Posted by keraT View Post
Really dumb question but I don't understand Financial Freedom of future. I can understand short term being financially wealthy enough not to worry about work, but how can one guarantee things will still be perfectly ok 50 years from now. Even with huge investment, you don't know what the market will do, you don't know what the business will be like & how can one feel confident enough to say I am set for life at such young age. I can only plan for 5 maybe 10 years out in future. Anything beyond that is crazy


I think most people who retire super young are counting on welfare service to carry them thru incase things turn south or have side gig, which is just like working/having a business
You can't. And to be fair almost every single person retiring in their 30s (which are very few) aren't actually retiring in the traditional sense. They are retiring from the corporate 9-5 and moving into something they "want" to do. Almost everyone capable of retiring by 30 has the drive to do something with their lives and that something will almost certainly eventually earn some income.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 12-05-2018, 09:18 AM
 
Location: NE Mississippi
25,407 posts, read 17,087,868 times
Reputation: 37084
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stockyman View Post
MSN article about a couple who retired early in their 30's. Man was an engineer and wife was a project manager. https://www.msn.com/en-ca/money/pers...cid=spartandhp

Hoping there will be an article about a couple who retired in their 30's that either worked at Wal-Mart, Home Depot, or Applebee's. Seems that only Engineers can retire in their 30's.
I read the article and liked what I read.
The couple knew what they wanted from the very beginning and worked toward that end. I have nothing but respect for such people.
I am not one of them, though. I am someone else.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 12-05-2018, 09:55 AM
 
10,075 posts, read 7,496,982 times
Reputation: 15498
Quote:
Originally Posted by mizzourah2006 View Post
Oh absolutely. We have most of those things, but I got a PhD, so I didn’t start my first real job until I was 29. We will have enough saved up to retire in our mid 40s with 2 kids. All I’m saying is for the people saying it’s not possible don’t do it, the couples you are reading about are extreme examples, as a lot has to go right to retire in your early/ mid 30s. Retiring in your mid to late 40s is much more obtainable for a more average person/couple though.
retiring a decade later also bumps their social security up by that many years as well. paying into it 20-25 years out of the 35 years, instead of the 10-15 years when retiring in their 30s. yes, I know people who think they can retire won't need SS, but they will. They already take whatever ACA subsidies they can now to afford "retirement", so it isn't a far stretch to think they will take SS when they can too.

I'm curious if FIRE crowd is mostly americans because the system is setup for capitalism or not. Other countries have as much disposable income to invest, but the FIRE movement doesn't seem to be picking up there, or not as many news stories about them. In the US, people can buy healthcare and such on an open market, I don't know how other countries work. If their healthcare is provided via tax/social system, what happens when they choose to stop paying taxes and aren't disabled? Do they still keep the healthcare or do they have an open market to buy it from as well?

the closest to FIRE I see out of europe are the digital nomads, still working but choosing to live in cheap areas so they can stretch dollars. Not exactly FIRE, but it's similar enough. Same with the backpackers/seasonal workers. They travel around and do odd jobs between stretching money in SE asia or anywhere cheap. If MMM's theory that minimalism aids in FIRE, then backpackers around the world are some of the most minimalist people out there. Living out of a backpack for all their worldly goods
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 12-05-2018, 10:01 AM
 
5,342 posts, read 6,144,882 times
Reputation: 4719
Quote:
Originally Posted by MLSFan View Post
I'm curious if FIRE crowd is mostly americans because the system is setup for capitalism or not. Other countries have as much disposable income to invest, but the FIRE movement doesn't seem to be picking up there, or not as many news stories about them. In the US, people can buy healthcare and such on an open market, I don't know how other countries work. If their healthcare is provided via tax/social system, what happens when they choose to stop paying taxes and aren't disabled? Do they still keep the healthcare or do they have an open market to buy it from as well?
It's extremely popular in Canada too. I think part of it and it's played out by the OP is that most of the very early retirees are in tech. Tech doesn't pay anything close to what it pays here in Europe and Australia. I'm in data science and when you go to DS forums you hear US people saying "those seem like reasonable average salaries, especially if you factor in your Bay area's, etc." Then you hear people from Europe saying average pay for that profession is 1/3rd that. I think DS is an extreme example, but I do think tech makes far more over here than in Europe in general. Given most of the people we read about are coming out of high paying tech jobs that might explain part of it.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Economics > Personal Finance

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top