Is it still possible to retire early?

[Zlantann]

I have heard people talk about retiring early and I usually see it as unnecessary. But as I begin to grow older it is beginning to make sense to me. Growing up and education took me like twenty years, and I might work for another thirty-five years. So, it is expected that I will retire at the age of fifty-five.

Now it is important to note that the desire to retire early is personal because some people don't want to rest early. I just think I need to have some time to do this. I am passionate about, and in some cases, most of them are not for profit making. I also need time to explore books and learn about many things. I desire to rear domestic animals and plant some crops. I just want to be free from this rat race and modern-day slavery. Life is too short to be wasted only on work.

But with the economic condition of some countries, people are scared of retirement. Retirement benefits can hardly feed a family for two years because of inflation. Before, now retirement benefits could sustain a family for up to ten years if it was well managed. But this is not the case today. It is common to see retirees still working actively to survive. Seeing elderly men engaging in energy-consuming jobs because of harsh economic conditions is always painful.

Regardless of these economic woes I still believe that there are still ways to retire early. I have considered a few steps on how to plan for early retirement. They are not new but I wanted to remind us.

-Budgeting: If you don't have a good financial plan you better consider having one. It helps you to know when to reduce or increase your income and expenditure. Recently we had to cut the cost of buying imported cereals and replacing them with cheaper locally produced ones. We had to start spending money on a keyboard teacher because the children needed to learn music. It is not a basic need but we have to make provision for it. Budgeting will help you spend within your means.

- Saving: It is very difficult to save money in this period of economic breakdown. What you earn is not even enough to cover the cost of your needs, so having extra is not just possible. You might not be able to save a huge amount monthly but just try and save a little. I was saving $10 monthly from my salary, and I continuously did it for about two years. You might say I just saved $240, but the truth is is at least I have a backup fund. So from that, you have little income, no matter how small, keep saving some.

-Alternative sources of income: In some countries, getting a job is a big problem, so you can hardly get more than one job. The economy is also affecting businesses negatively, many firms in my country have gone bankrupt. Going back to school to get a relevant qualification, which has a high tendency to give you a job with a higher pay, is good. Learning a new skill that can help you meet a need in your location is also fine. Starting a business with available funds can bring profits. The point I am making is that you should use any available opportunity you have for another income source. But this is not an excuse to overwork yourself; your total well-being is more important.

-Investment: If you are considering early retirement, then you should have a system that brings money even when you are not working. Some people have built that will give them money for as long as they live. I know of many people whose income from their farms can sustain them for like. Some people were able to own properties that they rented and make money. Some persons have shares, patents, or royalties in some profitable organization. People will always say the forum promotes Bitcoin but the currency is another good investment. One can add Bitcoin hodling to his retirement plan because it is profitable.

-Healthy Living: Many retirees spend their savings on medical bills. Sometimes, these illnesses are unpredictable, but we should also do our best to prevent them. We should eat healthy, avoid harmful practices that endanger our health, exercise, and rest. A healthy retiree greatly enjoys his retirement life because he is strong and spends less.

In summary, early retirement is a choice. The global economy is making it difficult to achieve it, but we can still try our best to plan toward enjoying it by saving, investing, and healthy living.

[Davidvictorson]

In summary, early retirement is a choice. The global economy is making it difficult to achieve it, but we can still try our best to plan toward enjoying it by saving, investing, and healthy living.

In my estimation early retirement is a choice if you leave in an economy that is already developed. In an economy where the government actually cares for her citizens and have been able to provide the basic and amenities for them. But if you leave in an economy that is still developing early retirement will only be a wish. Because you can't retire early and have it going good for you. In this type of economy you have to work twice as hard to even erk out a good living for yourself and while you are at it retiring early would be the last thing on your list. That is why you should do work that you love, take time out to relax, eat healthy, invest no matter how little even while you are actively working.

[Roseline492]

Now it is important to note that the desire to retire early is personal because some people don't want to rest early. I just think I need to have some time to do this. I am passionate about, and in some cases, most of them are not for profit making. I also need time to explore books and learn about many things. I desire to rear domestic animals and plant some crops. I just want to be free from this rat race and modern-day slavery. Life is too short to be wasted only on work.

But with the economic condition of some countries, people are scared of retirement. Retirement benefits can hardly feed a family for two years because of inflation. Before, now retirement benefits could sustain a family for up to ten years if it was well managed. But this is not the case today. It is common to see retirees still working actively to survive. Seeing elderly men engaging in energy-consuming jobs because of harsh economic conditions is always painful.

In most cases people don't just retire because they have come of the age of retirement but because most people laboured so hard right from when they were very small and with there consistency they managed to become wealthy by establishment different businesses or company so they could just feel to retire from working after they have putting people in place to run the business for them so as to enable them rest, so actually early retirement is very good if someone has already established himself very well because you would be at home while your income will be coming from diverse source.

Truly with the Economy of most countries people are very scared because most of them have nothing to fallback on if being retired from there work especially when there monthly salaries are very small that they can hardly use it to diversify to any other thing, actually I think the best way is to be self employed because that's the only way to escape the trauma of being retired from work and also having your own business is actually the best because self employed gives you the privilege of being independent to anyone or company for survival because you own your business.

[Solosanz]

Retire early is a privilege, almost people want to retire early, but they forget not all people can retire early, not even retire early, their pension funds doesn't enough to cover their life and need to work until they die.

Most so called "financial advisor" always said to use 4% rule i.e. 25x annual income rule, let's say you can with $500 per month, which is $6K annually, so you only need to collect at least $150K in order to retire early. They said just invest it in obligation, time deposit, ETF, gold or any other low risk investment which bring 6-7% APY. Take the 4% of the interest to pay your annual cost and re-invest the 2%-3% to hedge against inflation.

But I'd say it's all bullshit, the inflation rate in health, food and school is more than 3%, the inflation rate mostly 10%-15% per year.

The reality is you need to earn at least 15% per year just to hedge against health, food and school inflations excluding your annual cost.

[bluebit25]

(...)In summary, early retirement is a choice. The global economy is making it difficult to achieve it, but we can still try our best to plan toward enjoying it by saving, investing, and healthy living.

I find this reasonable in cases where you think it is right, and it is your own decision with freedom.

Personally, I don't have the opportunity or rather, I'm not tied to a job related to any company, so maybe I'll allow myself to retire

But sympathize with the current general situation even with staff cuts, layoffs of many employees in many positions and new changes to revive everything. And in the main content, I also believe that if we are ready for a life plan, retiring early is also a choice that the individual is responsible for.

[franky1]

i have retired early, so yes its possible

many people cant/wont retire early for the main reason that their outgoing monthly bills outweigh their potential non-working income/wealth
so are stuck having to work for income to cover the costs

if however you can pay off your mortgage quick and be mortgage/rent free then your bills/outgoings reduce alot, thus reduce your burdens
if you can find ways to reduce other set monthly costs/bills then that further reduces the burden of needing to earn extra income via work

the less you have to pay out on bills free's you from having to work more hours. and also means you have more spare money from investments/stored wealth to spend on leisure activities

[Iranus]

To be honest, I have never thought about the prospect of retiring and at what age I would retire. Because I realize that with the current life when we encounter countless difficulties, I don't think I will be able to retire to enjoy my old age. Every time I think about my family, especially my children's future, I don't dare think about retirement. Life is increasingly harsh, raising them and providing their daily necessities is also sapping my strength, and if I stop they will have to live the rest of their lives full of difficulties. Not to mention, with an increasingly polluted world, increasing illnesses and I also have to prepare for my parents to grow old...there are too many things to worry about and I no longer dare to think about my retirement scenario. Retirement is a luxury that I have never dared to think about.

[kryptqnick]

Retirement works very differently depending on a country and on personal health. In my country, some people receive a pension from a very young age if they have disabilities or serious health issues due to certain events. But pensions are so small that it's hard to actually retire, even if you have it. In some countries, retirement works based on what you're paying to a pension fund, and what you're paying (plus where it gets invested) becomes your retirement fund. In my country, what you're paying goes to support currently retired people, and there is no investment system for pension funds, so money is always scarce.
Of course, if you're in a good financial condition, you can make your own retirement fund and put some savings there monthly, and you can invest a part of it into something you believe will continue growing (Bitcoin, gold), so then you can retire when you want to retire and when you feel like you've got enough in your fund.
From the op's points, I like the point about health because it's not very obvious but it is relevant.

[angrybirdy]

To be honest, I have never thought about the prospect of retiring and at what age I would retire. Because I realize that with the current life when we encounter countless difficulties, I don't think I will be able to retire to enjoy my old age. Every time I think about my family, especially my children's future, I don't dare think about retirement. Life is increasingly harsh, raising them and providing their daily necessities is also sapping my strength, and if I stop they will have to live the rest of their lives full of difficulties. Not to mention, with an increasingly polluted world, increasing illnesses and I also have to prepare for my parents to grow old...there are too many things to worry about and I no longer dare to think about my retirement scenario. Retirement is a luxury that I have never dared to think about.

Maybe back then, we had a target age for when to retire, but with what is happening now in our country where there are many changes and stable sources of income are needed to live, it seems that you really don't want to think about retirement, and even those who are riches owner of a company will still work even though they are at retirement age, have we thought about why? because for them, as long as their body and mind can do it, they will continue doing it because nothing is permanent in the world, something can be lost in just one snap, so in preparation they are not complacent, especially now that it seems like every year there is a change in expenses and lifestyle of our life so it's better that we enjoy the time while we work so that we don't think that our life is just wasted on working and saving money, learn how to balance our life and work.

[peter0425]

Now it is important to note that the desire to retire early is personal because some people don't want to rest early. I just think I need to have some time to do this. I am passionate about, and in some cases, most of them are not for profit making. I also need time to explore books and learn about many things. I desire to rear domestic animals and plant some crops. I just want to be free from this rat race and modern-day slavery. Life is too short to be wasted only on work.

The concept of retirement is subjective. For me retirement age would mean not having to work and still having money enough to do my daily tasks and a couple of extra travels here and there. However I know a lot of people like doctors for example who have dedicated most of their lives to the academy and then to the hospital that still continue to work not because of profit. They just really want to keep doing their job.

On the other hand, some people can’t retire because they still need to continue working to sustain themselves and maybe their families as well. In my countries, a lot of old people are still working because they are still supporting their children. It has a lot to do with culture as well. I am aware in America, most kids move out right before college but in Asian countries this rarely happens. So there’s always going to be mouths to feed. Thus retirement can only be possible when you have more than enough money to support yourself while your kids support their own.

-Budgeting: If you don't have a good financial plan you better consider having one. It helps you to know when to reduce or increase your income and expenditure. Recently we had to cut the cost of buying imported cereals and replacing them with cheaper locally produced ones. We had to start spending money on a keyboard teacher because the children needed to learn music. It is not a basic need but we have to make provision for it. Budgeting will help you spend within your means.

I’m sorry but your examples are quite out of reach. A lot of people in low/low middle income either have to choose between eating meat or just opting for a much cheaper options. This is the sad reality that’s why a lot of people especially in third world countries can’t seem to retire early sometimes they even die working.

[jrrsparkles]

People from the middle class can't afford to retire which is the reality not just now but most of the time period, they have to work in their entire life period to survive and save something for the next gen but now it is becoming more difficult there is nothing to save, all just go for the monthly/yearly and emergency expenses.

So increasing the source of income is the only possible way which is not easy either but not impossible so they have to go to the extremes of working 16-18/hours a day in their prime time than settling for a comfortable lifestyle in their 30's.

[Felicity_Tide]

I had to skim through all what you've written, and I must commend you for sharing your opinion. In my own perspective: retiring early might not necessarily mean just sitting or laying around and living on what you've laboured for since your working days. Just as you've said, "I just want to be free from this rat race and modern-day slavery'. I actually see that statement as early retirement. The stress of waking early to join the hustling and buzzing race is never enjoyable, but we just have to do it for our needs and sustainability.

Multiple sources of income that comes from a long term investment are indeed a very good way to retire early. With this investments, you won't necessarily work for someone, but you will have a task to checkmate your source of income on a regular bases which I don't see as an idle work either.

You made mentioned of something like farm investment which I think it's a very good way to retire early. You are never in a rush to go to work as this is your own business where orders don't come from anyone but yourself. The buzzing lifestyle might be reduced when we choose a better retirement plan.

[pinggoki]

Yes but it requires really strict when it comes to your finances and there's this one person that I've heard talk about it where she retired at 30, you need to pay out all of your debts and if you can, that you should prioritize paying those debts more than anything, frugality is a friend for you in this kind of scenario so if you really want things to go your way, you're probably going to see some kind of strictness and this kind of mindset doesn't really have the kind where you just wanted to do it now, either you got this mindset early on because this takes time as with any other really strict discipline out there. This is a really alluring thing to do but you have to really stick with the grueling process for a really long time if you want the really good results. The best thing about this kind of thing is that you learn a lot of passive incomes whenever you're into this kind of thing.

[shinratensei_]

honestly its really hard setting up all these things required for retirement for all I know we could be very disciplined saving money for retirement and all and these efforts could go in drain when some urgent situation hits us such as unexpected medical bills I mean even the most healthy living person always have that chance to be unfortunate enough.
so far the safest way to retire is just to make it filthy rich when we are young and then invest in various things, that way we can face whatever the problem we gonna face but only very few people could make it that way anyway the world statistics shows that only small portion of people becoming rich for a reason.
because its really hard to achieve accumulation of wealth to the point where we won't worry about needing money ever again, such thing could only be pulled off by really specific people.

for the average joes, its probably better off saving money from our salary, maybe get some retirement plan or something to guarantee our old age.
even that doesn't necessarily guarantee that we will have that much money when we are old if we when we were young only making dimes on our jobs.

remember that most of the millenials right now couldn't even afford housing with the high prices in general, most of the millenials are still renting and it gonna burden them as they gets old when their earning significantly reduced.
now the norm is working until we're old and thats just how it is, the bill doesn't pay itself and we can't afford both retirement and housing so there we only left with one choice which is not retiring at all.

[uswa56]

This is not an easy thing, especially for someone who has many life responsibilities, I think early retirement is not necessary and in fact we should work until whenever we can as long as we are still healthy and can do it and return everything to the work we do, the most important thing is is that we can love our work, especially if we have the intention to help many people from the work we do.

In my opinion, early retirement can only be done by people who have a lot of inheritance and don't have many responsibilities in life because if someone starts from scratch and alone then it is almost impossible for him to retire early and live out the rest of his life.

[retreat]

It depends on the individual, whether they want to retire early or not. There are people who think that they want to retire at the age of 50, for example, but there are also those who want to continue working until they can't work anymore. Because the principle is like this, if you have sufficient savings and active passive income, then retiring early is a good idea - maybe you are tired and want to enjoy life immediately. But when you only have little savings, no income, and still have responsibilities, the idea of ​​retiring early is crazy, especially when you live in a third country, I don't think that you can retire early quickly, unless if you are rich, this is possible, but if you are an ordinary employee, you should rethink the idea of ​​retiring early.

[Frankolala]

In my country most government workers don't retire themselves until the government retires them they even reduce their age so that they can serve long in public office. The reason is that they never planned on retiring early or the job that they doing pay is too small that they can not start up a business.

There are people who don't work under the government because they are self employed due to one or two skills that they learnt or they were privelege to set up a business. The bottom line is that, no matter how little you earn, think of another means of income or investment that can generate funds for you as your retirement back up. This is why investing in bitcoin is good for everyone that has plans of retiring early. Now that you are working, just make it a habit and assign an amount that you will use to buy bitcoin regularly till you retire from work.

[batang_bitcoin]

Investments and as many sources of income should a retired person have. If not, it's still possible to retire early and mostly those who are in the tech industry do it. How? Through selling the companies that they have built and the business that it has. The valuation that these companies and businesses that are getting is very high as long as they're on the trend and their technology and innovation is on set and in proper timing. While all of those advises are for real and needed to be done, if you want to shortcut it. Aside from winning the lottery, making a business in the tech industry is one way.

[Strongkored]

Early retirement doesn't seem to be difficult for those who have planned their future well and also those who already have passive income, but if you are just an average worker who only relies on your salary every month to meet your living needs, it is very impossible.
Many people think that continuing to work until they are old is like being enslaved so they hope to be able to retire early, but retiring early is not that you stop working at all but that you have to have something else to do to spend the time, because if the purpose of early retirement is to stop working at all, someday you will feel bored and miss the days of working, so actually early retirement is a time when we can enjoy the time we have to do activities that we like instead of just relaxing at home and being unproductive people, and I don't want to retire early but hope to remain a productive person until old age.

[Minor Miner]

This is not an easy thing, especially for someone who has many life responsibilities, I think early retirement is not necessary and in fact we should work until whenever we can as long as we are still healthy and can do it and return everything to the work we do, the most important thing is is that we can love our work, especially if we have the intention to help many people from the work we do.

In my opinion, early retirement can only be done by people who have a lot of inheritance and don't have many responsibilities in life because if someone starts from scratch and alone then it is almost impossible for him to retire early and live out the rest of his life.

Yes, according to the OP it sounds easy but I'm sure not many people will be able to do it.

I have seen many people who have planned for retirement even when they are very young, is this really necessary? Not to mention, they are not rich people, they still have to work hard to provide the daily necessities for themselves and their families.

You're right, except for people who inherit a huge fortune or people who have no responsibilities in life, they think about retiring early. But for people who are working hard and struggling with life, they will not rush to think about this.