The Amount of Money you need to retire early and live in poverty (community, state)
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.
Yea, The homeless guy in the photo, looks real happy. He probably has mental issues, or a vet, with PTSD. No reason to poke fun at him.....we are all lucky, that we are not living like him.
I wish that this country would focus more on Americans like him, instead of giving illegals everything under the sun.
I'm 72, retired two years ago, and have no investment portfolio. However, I have zero debts, enough savings for an emergency, and live on maxed-out social security and a small pension. I live a simple life, and moved to an area with a lower COL post retirement. It's hard therefore for me to identify with an article about the desire for early retirement.
I'm working on starting up a small business because (as a financial advisor told me) I don't have enough of a buffer. My goal is to grow my savings account, and have more disposable income so I can get to the point where an occasional weekend trip to the beach or a new piece of furniture isn't something I have to spend half a year paying off and a medical emergency won't wipe me out financially.
My advice to younger people who want to retire early? So what are you going to do, after the novelty of not working wears off? Those of us who are older will tell you -- life will throw things at you that you didn't see coming. How will you deal with disaster and loss - because believe me, they will come even if you're well off? If you retire early, how will you get back into the job market if you've been out of it for a decade or more? If not not sure what you're doing and you don't have a rock-solid plan and budget, don't do it. Not being happy with your job is not a good reason to screw up the rest of your life.
Well, good for you, working until 72. Many of us can't keep going that long. Not a choice.
Why not retire early, if you can make it work? We don't all need the same things. Disaster can strike at ANY age and bankrupt you even WITH insurance or savings.
Retired at 62 over 3 years ago, "novelty" has not worn off, LOL. Nor is life "screwed up". It's better than ever!
It's an individual choice.
If you want to give youngsters advice, tell them ALL to get desk jobs so they can keep working until they drop at that desk. Assuming their employer hasn't kicked them to the curb for getting older.
I guess automation will provide all the physical jobs from now on, LOL.
Yes, I know. But it is still annoying. And most that use it in public do not seem to be using it to find a job.
They are provided for emergency situations. Cell phones are necessary today, there are no more public phones. They aren't fancy, most are flip phones. Who finds jobs on the phone today in any case?
My advice to younger people who want to retire early? So what are you going to do, after the novelty of not working wears off? Those of us who are older will tell you -- life will throw things at you that you didn't see coming. How will you deal with disaster and loss - because believe me, they will come even if you're well off? If you retire early, how will you get back into the job market if you've been out of it for a decade or more? If not not sure what you're doing and you don't have a rock-solid plan and budget, don't do it. Not being happy with your job is not a good reason to screw up the rest of your life.
Very good advice. The "retire early" budgets I've run across seem desperately thin. Yes, a young person can live cheaply, but that doesn't necessarily translate into the older years. Dental and medical bills can mount. When I was young I'd go for years without seeing a doctor. Now it's several trips a year, and I'm fairly healthy.
Now, some of these retire early people are just leaving the corporate life for a self-employed existence. That seems pretty reasonable to me... save like crazy for 10-15 years and then start one's own venture.
But the ones who truly never plan to work again might be getting themselves into trouble. The high-paying job they left will likely not take them back after an absence of many years, so they will be left with minimum wage employment.
Well, good for you, working until 72. Many of us can't keep going that long. Not a choice.
I said I retired two years ago at 70. I'm describing what I did because the OP asked us to share our thoughts - if you don''t like it or it doesn't work for you, fine. I didn't say my experiences should be useful to everyone.
Quote:
Why not retire early, if you can make it work? We don't all need the same things. Disaster can strike at ANY age and bankrupt you even WITH insurance or savings.
Retired at 62 over 3 years ago, "novelty" has not worn off, LOL. Nor is life "screwed up". It's better than ever!
It's an individual choice.
So basically you're saying only those who agree with you and share your experiences should be posting in this thread. I didn't say my experiences should be useful to everyone.
Quote:
If you want to give youngsters advice, tell them ALL to get desk jobs so they can keep working until they drop at that desk. Assuming their employer hasn't kicked them to the curb for getting older.
I guess automation will provide all the physical jobs from now on, LOL.
Why are you being so obnoxious and taking this so personally? I stand by what I've said. If you don't like it, tough.
I would rather continue to work for the next 30 or so years and retire with a nice 7 figure net worth. Our retirement accounts keep growing. Our financial adviser tells us we can quit in 19 years if we want. I prefer to keep working.
I'm pretty up on the whole FIRE/LeanFIRE/BaristaFIRE/CoastFIRE stuff. These folks aren't using 100% bonds and 2% WRs. That is just silly. They are generally high in equities, relying on Bengen and the Trinity study, tweaking the "4% Rule" (which Bengen says is actually 4.5% based on latest research) downward slightly to account for longer retirement horizons. When Samurai started talking about 2% and being completely safe, I knew the article was bunk.
The FPL numbers are also built around income and working people. A lot of people's leanFIRE plans include having a paid off house, living in a LCOL area, etc. Especially important, they aren't paying FICA. They aren't paying any or much in the way of income taxes (spending from Roths and from brokerage accounts, etc.). They don't need to buy clothes for a job. They don't need to drive to work. A lot have side hustle gigs that bring in some money to make things easier.
Where I think so many of the LeanFIRE crowd falls short is that they think their current spending is sustainable as they age. They don't account for the uncertainty of the ACA, Medicaid expansion, rising prescription and health care cost, etc. PLUS the fact that as you age, you start to need more care and that seniors are charged more for insurance. Thankfully the 4% Rule, by its nature, is very conservative. If you don't have terrible SORR, you come out of things after a decade in really good shape.
I'm pretty up on the whole FIRE/LeanFIRE/BaristaFIRE/CoastFIRE stuff. These folks aren't using 100% bonds and 2% WRs. That is just silly. They are generally high in equities, relying on Bengen and the Trinity study, tweaking the "4% Rule" (which Bengen says is actually 4.5% based on latest research) downward slightly to account for longer retirement horizons.
It's a math equation in the end. Someone who can live on a 3% to 4+% SWR is making a choice to do that and they may have a very decent standard of living. Like most things in life, it is a choice. Most people who are into the FIRE movement and its various iterations become educated about the math, the level of investing that is needed to sustain such a plan and ultimately learn about the tradeoffs. LeanFIRE is not for me, but I do see how it can work for some folks.
Where I am I see booths set up on various corners for the phone giveaways.
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.
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.
