What would it take to retire at 50?

[Deleted]

Given that that's only 20 years from now, I don't think it is possible! At least not with our current income level and debt (cars/house/student loans). We could probably DRASTICALLY downsize our home and rent a small 2 bedroom in a bad area, lol. And sell our cars and drive beaters. And never do anything fun or buy anything we don't absolutely need.

I plan to live long past 50 - I'm hoping 90! - so to save up enough to live off of for 40 years in the next 20 years sounds pretty impossible. I would love to though! Maybe we need to start playing the lottery more!

[liveintheville]

We're 37 and 38 and our kids are 4 and 2. Kid 1 will just be starting college when I'm 50 and kid 2 will still be in high school. So I think it would take some sort of miraculous windfall.

[belovedbride07]

I just ran some quick numbers; if we stopped diverting any money to a down payment fund (and never bought a house) and never wanted to have kids, we could retire at 50 (ignoring healthcare).

(It is possible the numbers would still work out if we did buy a house, but right now I'm just looking at what in our budget over the next 2 years we theoretically could divert to retirement.)

Since we plan to both have kids and buy a house, this isn't going to happen.

Well, unless I write something that sells really well, or DH has a successful invention (that the company doesn't have any rights to)...then we would re-assess.

[pitterwoo]

Depends on lifespan. We both have some longevity genes in our family...but we have some real "shortgevity" genes too. 50 is only 9 years for DH...so pretty impossible assuming we can at least outlive 3 of our 4 parents and make it to our 60s. We are living on pretty small incomes and expenses now so I can't think of much more fun to cut.

[Deleted]

I could potentially do that if I stayed at my current job because I have a pension and would be able to purchase cheaper health insurance. But my current plan is to stay until 56 so I get the maximum benefit. I wouldn't retire at 50 unless I was really really secure.

[Deleted]

More money.

[sillygoosegirl]

Aug 4, 2012 23:09:04 GMT -5 kooshball said:

I think the hardest part of retiring at 50 would be finding good health insurance.

Very true. We're aiming to retire in our mid-50s, but wonder if we will end up needing to continue to work for the health benefits. It kind of saps my enthusiasm to save for an even earlier retirement.

Aside from the health insurance thing, we could probably retire by 50 if we stay dual income after having kids (or younger if we don't even have them). Provided the stock market does as well as it is supposed to.

[WOT?*]

The lottery. I'm 48 already.

If you're talking about ME retiring rather than US retiring, that could be done today. My job is strictly money for fun for me.

[ssmjlm]

Aug 5, 2012 1:23:52 GMT -5 sillygoosegirl said:

Aug 4, 2012 23:09:04 GMT -5 kooshball said:

I think the hardest part of retiring at 50 would be finding good health insurance.

Very true. We're aiming to retire in our mid-50s, but wonder if we will end up needing to continue to work for the health benefits. It kind of saps my enthusiasm to save for an even earlier retirement.

Aside from the health insurance thing, we could probably retire by 50 if we stay dual income after having kids (or younger if we don't even have them). Provided the stock market does as well as it is supposed to.

I guess I never realized, but in private industry are you no longer eligible for buying into group health care through your employer? In the government as a retiree we can still get health benefits? Unfortunately there's not married option so you either get 2 individual if you're both govt or have to pay for a family you don't have.

I plan to retire at 57 which is the earliest I can at my job w/o any penalty. It's just about making good choices now for COL and putting a boatload of money into retirement.

[315bride]

Well, for my H and I with our pension plans that's not a pipe dream. That's one of the advantages of working in the public sector: legislated defined benefit plans and retiree health. Could we live off it? Not unless we moved to a LCOL area. Realistically, we will both work after we retire, but we definitely think our career decisions have been wise considering this economy.

H will retire quite a few years before me. I want him to go to massage school when he retires. He's not on board yet.

[Deleted]

My first thought is: why would you want to? Assuming you like your jobs and all.

My parents are retiring next year at 53. They inherited a lot of money from my grandfather and my dad has a nice pension. Anyway, it's like they're staring into the abyss. They have no idea of how they will fill their time but they know they have to do something. And they find fault with every idea suggested to them.

[chessie]

The lottery. We plan to have kids later in life mid 30's, later, so it would never happen due to health insurance and we will still have a mortgage. My dad changed fields early 50's to calm it down a bit, I guess I could do the same, but from what I can see work keeps a lot of people going. My grandfather is in his 80's still working and healthy, so something about that, waking up daily, having a purpose, keeps you in the frame of mind.

[rubytue]

My father took an early retirement package at 50, but he then "worked" full time splitting it between his volunteer activities and his becoming managing partner of his commercial real estate investments. I'm not really sure that type of thing is possible today. He kept his insurance from work and had a nice pension. Very few people have that anymore.

I'm hoping to go out at 57. That's the earliest I can go with full benefits. I can't even fathom 50. That said, I would want to cut out travel and such to be able to retire early. I like to travel now, and I sure want to travel in retirement. I think I'd go crazy in a small condo in a LCOL area with no job and no money to travel. Even if I was doing hobbies full time.

[arterr0]

I think we will probably drastically scale back instead of retiring in our 50's. We should have a nearly paid off house, and we're leaning toward not having kids, so health insurance would be the main impediment. I'm thinking a PT job at Whole Foods, REI, Starbucks, or somewhere else that offers decent benefits for PTers would probably cover that.

[Pom]

H is in an industry where he will be most "valuable" with more years of experience as he nears retirement age. We are pretty certain that he will want to work (with concessions made for plenty of time off) since the money for the experience is very lucrative.

[Deleted]

I will hopefully be a tenured professor...why would I want to retire?

[rugbywife]

Unless they change the terms of my current pension plan (which they might, its a big issue right now) and as long as I pay back into it for any time I take off for maternity leave (which I likely won't, it's a shitton of $$ whilst off on mat leave for a year)...I would be able retire at 54 with 60% of my pay (best 5 years)...I likely will work beyond that in order to a) make up any time lost through mat leave, b) get to 70% of my pay and c) work as long as my husband who is 6 years younger than me (and also a teacher).

We don't save anything other than our pension for retirement...it accounts for 11% of our pay so that's enough going into retirement (at least for now). If they end up changing the terms of our pension we will have to look at alternative options (RRSPs, which are Canadian 401ks - I think).

If we didn't have our pensions there is no way we would be retiring anywhere near 50...my husband will probably be 54 when he retires though, maybe 56. Not bad.

ETA: we have universal health care here, so that's not an issue, we will have to apply for extended health care (prescriptions, physio, dental) once we retire and that is going to suck because my medical history sucks ass.

[luvmagoldn]

Seeing as how H and I are 41 it's not going to be possible. But if it were, I guess we would both be SAHP's for our kids and be available to them for all their school stuff, after school activities, etc.

It sounds kinda nice actually but would be completely dependent upon winning the lottery - BIG!

[whitepicketfence]

Aug 4, 2012 22:44:44 GMT -5 @peggyolson said:

The lottery.

...yep.

We already live a no-frills lifestyle and don't have many luxuries in our budget so I'm not sure that we could cut back on much else. Add in two kids (and possibly a 3rd down the road) that we plan to send to a Catholic school from preschool through high school and we'd pretty much have to win the lottery to retire that early.

As it stands now, our youngest child should be done with college when DH and I will be 49. We hope to have all mortgage debt and such paid off by that time, too, so that we can retire in our late 50's but who knows what might happen. We started saving for retirement at age 21 and 22 so we're hoping that will help out significantly.

[Deleted]

I think I could retire from my company at 55 assuming they are around that long. I could get health insurance from them at COBRA type rates then.

To save enough, we would need to downsize our house (doable) and totally stop spending. We might not be able to ever have a child. And definitely second jobs as much as possible would help.

I'd rather just work another 10 years and hope both of our health holds that long (my father's did not but that was largely related to lifestyle choices.)

[marchmom06]

I'd like to retire at 55/56, which will put DH at 65. Health care is the big dependent factor. At that age, our kids will be 24/25, so well out of college & we will have our homes paid off. If (and, it's a pretty giant "if") we can afford health care, we are on track to have enough money to cover our other expenses at that time.

We'd like to sell our houses & move to Hawaii or San Diego.

[vanillacourage]

My DH is currently fixated on retiring at 55. Personally, with life expectancies what they are, I think that's a little irresponsible unless you have millions saved. What's more likely to happen is that he will "retire" from traditional employment and go into PT consulting. The real hang up is health insurance, though I work in an industry where it's not uncommon to be able to carry FT status and benefits with only 32 hours/wk.

[sillygoosegirl]

Aug 5, 2012 6:29:55 GMT -5 @lcap said:

My first thought is: why would you want to? Assuming you like your jobs and all.

My parents are retiring next year at 53. They inherited a lot of money from my grandfather and my dad has a nice pension. Anyway, it's like they're staring into the abyss. They have no idea of how they will fill their time but they know they have to do something. And they find fault with every idea suggested to them.

For starts, loving your job now does not mean you will love your job in 20 or 30 years. Industries change over time. I know lots of people in my parents' generation who never thought they would want to retire when they were in their 20s and 30s because they loved their jobs so much, but as technology has advanced, their jobs have had to change and are simply not as enjoyable anymore. Other people see their jobs outsourced. And yet others become disabled, or are laid off and unable to get back in due to age discrimination.

Anyway, I can't imagine feeling that way about retirement. Do they not have hobbies or interests outside of work? DH and I took most of a year off work a couple years ago and spent most of it traveling (some international, some backpacking in the wilderness in the US). I can hardly wait to have the time and money to do more than that. I also enjoyed being a math tutor for part of that time, though I hardly made any money at it. I also want to join the Peace Corp at some point. And maybe run a bed and breakfast. There are so many things to do that most people will never be fortunate enough to be able to make a living doing, and it's hard to find time for all of them when you only get 2-3 weeks off per year.

[LoveTrains]

Aug 5, 2012 4:59:32 GMT -5 ssmjlm said:

Aug 5, 2012 1:23:52 GMT -5 sillygoosegirl said:

Very true. We're aiming to retire in our mid-50s, but wonder if we will end up needing to continue to work for the health benefits. It kind of saps my enthusiasm to save for an even earlier retirement.

Aside from the health insurance thing, we could probably retire by 50 if we stay dual income after having kids (or younger if we don't even have them). Provided the stock market does as well as it is supposed to.

I guess I never realized, but in private industry are you no longer eligible for buying into group health care through your employer? In the government as a retiree we can still get health benefits? Unfortunately there's not married option so you either get 2 individual if you're both govt or have to pay for a family you don't have.

I plan to retire at 57 which is the earliest I can at my job w/o any penalty. It's just about making good choices now for COL and putting a boatload of money into retirement.

It depends on the company, but yeah, most people do not have access to health care when they retire. That is a big issue with the employment based health care coverage that we have in this country.

At my current company, there are no retiree health benefits. So once you retire, you better have be medicare eligible or have an option with a spouse for health insurance, otherwise you are on your own and buying from the individual market, which is very expensive at ages 50+.

[jena]

Retiring at 50 is not possible for us. DH will turn 50 when our youngest turns 7yo.... and we'll have a 10yo, 12.5yo and 25yo. So with one college education down, we'll still have 3 to go.

When DH is 65, the last kid should be graduating college. Damn I hope these kids get some scholarships.

The good news is that the house will be paid off when he's 61, so that frees up some funds to help pay for that last college education.

Retirement? What's that? Lordy, it was depressing typing this out. We do save for retirement, it's just our late blooming family size that is going to kill us.

[ssmjlm]

Aug 5, 2012 15:11:50 GMT -5 LoveTrains said:

It depends on the company, but yeah, most people do not have access to health care when they retire. That is a big issue with the employment based health care coverage that we have in this country.

At my current company, there are no retiree health benefits. So once you retire, you better have be medicare eligible or have an option with a spouse for health insurance, otherwise you are on your own and buying from the individual market, which is very expensive at ages 50+.

Thanks for the info! Sometimes I get stuck in my govt bubble.

[anna7602]

I would have to jump ship on the whole idea of TTC #2. Not only would we be funneling a lot more money into a second child, but he/she would be getting ready to go to college just as I turn 50. Not to mention all the money we already spend on DD.

We've already got plans to retire to a LCOL area and hopefully have our place in NYC paid off by that time and be able to sell at a huge profit, but who knows what the market will do.

Quite frankly, I don't see myself ever completely retiring. I freelance and like what I do. If we could pay our regular bills like health insurance and home upkeep/maintenance from our retirement investments and I could bring in extra money freelancing to pay for nice vacations and some perks, I would keep working as long as I am healthy and able.

[Deleted]

To retire at 50 we'd pretty much have to give up food and shelter for the next decade and a half. In other words, it's totally not feasible.

[mayflowers22]

Aug 4, 2012 22:44:44 GMT -5 @peggyolson said:

The lottery.

:Y:

[chia]

Aug 5, 2012 4:59:32 GMT -5 ssmjlm said:

Aug 5, 2012 1:23:52 GMT -5 sillygoosegirl said:

Very true. We're aiming to retire in our mid-50s, but wonder if we will end up needing to continue to work for the health benefits. It kind of saps my enthusiasm to save for an even earlier retirement.

Aside from the health insurance thing, we could probably retire by 50 if we stay dual income after having kids (or younger if we don't even have them). Provided the stock market does as well as it is supposed to.

I guess I never realized, but in private industry are you no longer eligible for buying into group health care through your employer? In the government as a retiree we can still get health benefits? Unfortunately there's not married option so you either get 2 individual if you're both govt or have to pay for a family you don't have.
I plan to retire at 57 which is the earliest I can at my job w/o any penalty. It's just about making good choices now for COL and putting a boatload of money into retirement.

Make sure you realize that in order to get the Fed health benefits in retirement, you have to have them in your last 5 years (continuous) of employment.