retiring

[polkwrangler]

just seeing what everyone thoughts wanting to retire at age 50 .what would be a good amount needed in my retirement accounts thanks

 

[Wagtail]

Crikey, that's a 'shotgun' question.

In your profile you say that you've got a 13 acre property... not really a lot to make a living off of (unless there's something you haven't told us). Is it payed off (or will be by your 50th BD)? The same for the house? Outbuildings? And you can't get away from annual property taxes, even if you're mortgage free. Home & contents insurance?

Are you on town water and/or sewage? Power/electricity prices... the list isn't exactly endless but it comes down to figuring what your annual and monthly budgets are, today, then factoring in the average rate of inflation for 50 years old AND beyond that.

Vehicle/tractor life? How long until you need to replace them? Insurance & maintenance & petrol costs (annual/monthly).

Health care, including dental? What happens if there's an emergency?

Then you can start to factor in grocery (including alcohol/'libations')/home maintenance expenses.

Lastly... after all of the above, have at least US$20,000 in the bank as a 'buffer' against something unexpected happening.

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Long term planning can reduce a lot of the above. I don't know how far off your '50' is.
I managed to retire at 55.

 

[coobie]

just seeing what everyone thoughts wanting to retire at age 50 .what would be a good amount needed in my retirement accounts thanks

Retire without debt is one key.Will you be getting a pension check each month?How much $$ do you have in your 401K plan? Who is going to be paying your heath care plan??

 

[JD15302155870]

I was released shortly after 9-11. Fortunately i was able to get a pension at age 55. We began watching our money and where it went. I took a job as a contracter to make ends meet. When i did get another job we had more than when i was laid off. Scary time with two daughters in college and Me without a job. We survived and found we knew how to get the most out of our resources.it was a blessing in disguise.

 

[fishheadbob]

Not enough information . A realistic answer needs to consider debt, pension, health insurance, and on and on. Standard of living too, do you live high on the hog or frugally, and still on and on.
Then I thought what fool would ever consider any advice received on an internet chat board regarding such an important topic when it concerns the rest of a person's life. There are much better resources to tap than here.

 

[duffer]

just seeing what everyone thoughts wanting to retire at age 50.

Sure you can retire at 50....you just have to be dead a week from Saturday.

 

[Oldoak]

Not enough information . A realistic answer needs to consider debt, pension, health insurance, and on and on. Standard of living too, do you live high on the hog or frugally, and still on and on.
Then I thought what fool would ever consider any advice received on an internet chat board regarding such an important topic when it concerns the rest of a person's life. There are much better resources to tap than here.

Best advice anyone could have given. :thumbsup:

 

[Thomas]

Lot good advice has been given,try and keep rainy account for things you would expect...$$'s home repair,auto,higher taxes,love ones,etc.

 

[Kingsqueak]

It takes a very large amount of money to earn enough interest to live on that without eroding the principal.

You need to figure out how much income you need per year and allow for inflation as well with taxes just never ending and continually rising. Health insurance is massively expensive. Repairs and maintenance on property, vehicles etc will continue as well.

Remember as you age you will likely be able to do less on your own so that brings added expense.

I've given up on the idea of "retirement" and the target is now to have some way to have a basic level of income from some sort of business or service that I can do relatively easily into older age vs having to be on the rat race treadmill. Basically keep my overhead as low as possible to subsist with minimal effort.

I am 50 and would love to "retire" but to literally do nothing would take a few million in the bank in order to rest easy and I certainly don't have that. Even if I had that level of money, I would shift to setting up a shop to make furniture or something along those lines where I work on my own terms to stay busy and help offset the burn rate.

I think a lot of us want to retire because we hate the circumstances we are working in rather than wishing for being idle. Generally it's time OR money, you only get one, having both is the real dream.

There's a talk radio guy, Ric Edelman that has very conservative investment advice generally focused on retirement planning, I recommend listening to him for a while to pick up on strategy.

 

[oosik]

The best advice I can give - seek the council of a professional retirement planner who is not trying to sell you something. I'm retired. I quit the rat race at age 42 because I could and I had no grand illusions of sailing off into the sunset.

At the age of 42 - 35 years ago - conditions presented themselves and I grabbed the iron ring. I do not live high on the hog. I'm not on an existence income.

It was just one of those times when all the planets aligned and I could retire or work the rest of my life. I choose to retire and have never regretted it.