Retirement in My Early 40s ?

[gonesail]

i met a guy that said he retired at 40 .. he is now 60 and said that 40 was way too soon and he ended up going back to work. he just left to go on an extended cruise with his wife. life is a long time and many changes are waiting when you are young go with the flow and have fun along the way.

[Ferroever]

This is what I did, and I was just a lowly unqualified EFL teacher in Japan, earning 30K USD a year.
I lived a thrifty lifestyle but didn't scrimp on blue cheese, wine or exotic travel - 13 weeks a year paid vacation with my job as a teacher. Yeah.
I saved and saved and saved and didn't ever get a credit card or buy stupid crap, like fancy underwear or dumb shoes and handbags, then, when I had enough, I bought property abroad - cheap, cheap, cheap - unlike the F.UK and the stupid prices for property there. Buoy, how folks are suffering over there right now, having to work beyond retirement..For what??? Bricks and babies. Uh.
So yah, I bought in South Africa and Turkey. For cash. Then I bought a boat. For cash. Come check it out. I'm 42 and hope to never work in the traditional sense ever again.
One way to reach your dream is to say no to babies.
The world has way too many humans on it anyway.
Good luck. You'll be 40 before you know it.

[iwsteel]

Originally Posted by Ferroever

I saved and saved and saved and didn't ever get a credit card or buy stupid crap, like fancy underwear

I could forward you my Victoria Secret junk mail if you want. Maybe you could copy the design and make stuff out of old sails. Kevlar takes lots of heat.

[ZuiQuan]

Originally Posted by Ferroever

So yah, I bought in South Africa and Turkey. For cash. Then I bought a boat. For cash. Come check it out. I'm 42 and hope to never work in the traditional sense ever again.
One way to reach your dream is to say no to babies.
The world has way too many humans on it anyway.
Good luck. You'll be 40 before you know it.

Interesting, few things I would like to know; do you rent those properties or did the prices go up there and you just sold them or what? To which country did you pay taxes, if any, from those oversea investments? How much is your yearly budget sailing solo? How much you actually sail (move around) or do you just stay in one specific area?

After large amount of criticism, I have been thinking about my boat choise lately. I had no idea how affordable a monohull can be compared to a catamaran. For example, Beneteau Oceanis 34, 37 and 40 all look really fine to me. I could give in with the living space, but I just hate tiny bathrooms. From Beneteaus range Oceanis 43 seems to be the smallest one with a decent size shower. Also one older model, 393, has a really interesting layout with a large looking bathroom in the head. Anyone has experience with the Oceanis 393, is there enough room for two people to share a shower in the master bath?

Lagoon 380 seems to be well priced as well, but I have not yet found out the price difference between the basic, crusing and comfort models.

By the way, found this awesome video on youtube:

YouTube - Sailing big waves

[ronocnikral]

a reasonable assumption for withdrawing funds is 4%/year. This is suppose to help keep up with inflation as well. Therefore, you will need $1m for $40,000/yr (the math is the same for euros as well). I'm not sure what kind of houdini act you will do, but I plan to pay taxes on a lot of my retirement withdraws.

I know, it sucks. I'm young as well (27). It's good to have goals, but flexibility along the way is needed.

[ZuiQuan]

Originally Posted by ronocnikral

I'm not sure what kind of houdini act you will do, but I plan to pay taxes on a lot of my retirement withdraws.

I know, it sucks. I'm young as well (27). It's good to have goals, but flexibility along the way is needed.

Ok, I was probably wrong when I said that I am not going to pay any taxes at all, but there sure are some ways to minimalize them. As a guy who comes from a country where the progressive income tax goes easily over 50%, I am really interested in taxation law and this is the area of law that I am going to specialize in. Just look at my avatar, a small fish going after a huge bite...

[Augusto]

First I must say that you have a very bold plan, and I would like to help you with some experience that if I had with your age I would certainly be better of today. First of all, I am 43 myself and have worked in finance for the past 18 years, I am doing ok. and could retire right now if did not have wife, kid, dogs etc. But anyhow the best advise I can give is the following, instead of spending your money today to buy a boat, invest your money as wisely as you possibly can. If you want to retire early be stingy with your money, save as much as you can, dont spend on useless stuff, and invest. If in 2003 you had bought USD 100,000 of Apple shares today you would have more than a cool One Million. Read a Warren Buffet book, any of them, and you will understand that the best way to reach financial freedom is to save as much as you can on your early years. And you are right, money saved will give you handsome interest. Today a Goldman Sachs Bond will pay over 5%. To get experience you can charter, sail small boats etc. Large boats = Large Maintenance Bills!!!!
Be thrifty, invest wisely and your dream will come true. Indebt yourself today, and commit to large maintenance costs and you will enslave yourself to work.

Good luck, and I hope I was helpfull.

[Charlie]

The thing that I believe in is appreciating assets. I decided that I was going to buy a boat and go sailing when I was 26. Since then, with a wife and tw kids, I have concentrated on buying things that go up in value. Real Estate was my choice because I understood it. I know other people preach the stock market but I don't understand it. So remember these few facts: 1) Investments mean getting a return on the money you invested, (eg to invest in real estate the property you buy has to pay a return on the money you invested in buying that property), 2) Make sure you understand what you are investing in, 3) Bulls get rich Bears get rich pigs go to slaughter (don't be greedy). Every piece of real estate that I bought went up in value and is still worth more than what I paid for it. I didn't buy anything when real estate was going crazy. I am slowly reentering the RE market again now. 4) A dollar invested at 22 in worth more than $10 invested at 40, and 5) save more than you spend.

[ronocnikral]

i thought all europeans enjoyed paying their taxes. weird.

while you may hear stories about some doing well investing in this, or one guy getting lucky here; i would avoid putting all my eggs in one basket. my philosophy is that of the bogleheads. and at age 27, me and the wife have a net worth of almost $200k (excluding our house). we're well over $300k if you factor in our house. technically, we could sell everything and using the 4% assumption, we could cruise on $12,000/yr. but, we don't have a boat! and i want to be a little more comfortable than that.

the wife and i just talked last night about getting one. she is hesitant b/c of all the slip costs, mainteance, repairs. but the bottom line is...we're from the wasatch front and we love the mountains. since houston lacks mountains, we are focusing on something else we can do together that we both enjoy in the houston area - and sailing is the ticket! So, I have $5-6k budget (hopefully less) to get a sailable boat that we can enjoy together. or we can just save the money and go big, but i think we should stop and enjoy the journey a bit.

either way, i hope you make your goals. and if you beat me to cruising fulltime, i will be tres envious!

[Augusto]

Again if you look at Charlie's post you will see that Saving today to spend tomorrow is the most important thing you should focus on. Keep dreaming on what to do at retirement age, prepare for it, gain experience, and when you have achieve financial freedom go for it. And remember that being from a first world country you are used to have things that work, such as medical, education, high wages, etc. If you go to a developing country, costs are lower (sometimes), but wages are also lower and public medical assistance is hopeless.

[anglooff]

Some very good advice has been posted within the thread.

However do remember, that quite quickly, if you are retired, then "work" become the holiday.

Personally, sailing offers me relaxation with the occasional challenge. If you can find a way to ensure financial security (following some of the good advice above), while keeping a sharp edge of your intellect challenged, until its no longer important, while enjoying extended sailing opportunities…Then you probably have found the right equilibrium.

I hope you find it.

Alan

[scheda]

Hey ZuiQuan,

Let me start off by saying that I'm in no means retired, although I have plenty of time on my hands and the ability to go anywhere with my business.

This isn't for everyone, but I've had a great time building a business for myself that doesn't require any particular location.

What that essentially means is that I work online... although you don't really NEED to do that.

One book that really changed my way of thinking a few years back was, "The 4-Hour Work Week" by Tim Ferriss. Tim's focus is on "mini-retirements" where he off and disappears for months at a time, only returning to work for about 1-3 months before heading back out again.

I'd really recommend his book to you. Getting set up to spend time out on the seas by 40 is completely realistic. I'm 24 and as long as I can check my email a few times a week, I can make money anywhere on the planet.

[Randoneur]

Go do it.
Don't let there be any regrets later in life because the older you are the harder it will be to start.

When you get close to 40 you will know if 600K is enough money for your adventure.
You can adjust accordingly.

The sooner you get the boat the better. If you live in the Caymans and you love sailing you must have the boat!

If you are going to live on the boat you need room to live and you are certainly going to encounter some rough weather along the way, so I like the big boat.

By the time you are 40 you will have the education in sailing, maintenance, costs, and all the other things that you need to execute your retirement plan.

Just don't forget to enjoy your work life too, if will lead to success that will make your retirement plan possible.

[RayW]

My plan has been similar to yours, with exception of 4 kids and a wife. My goal is to retire at 46 (when youngest graduates high school). I'm 37 now. What we've done is invest in an average house but on 60 acres at the end of a nice subdivision. My goal is to sell the house / land in about 9 to 10 years. Then buy a little house on a bay (preferably in Alabama) and an Outremer 45. I've been chasing this goal since I was 25, and the boat has changed about 10 times and will probably change another 10 in the next few years. As far as how much money saved up to sail forever... That depends on a lot of things. Everybody has mentioned maintenance, but are you going to keep your boat for 20 plus years? If not then you'll need money to buy another one somewhere down the line. I'm very slowly building my "Last Boat" fund (very securely in savings and cd's) and planning on selling the land to buy the first boat and house close to the coast. Until then I'll trailer sail and bareboat charter.

The most important thing is to never give up.

[Lodesman]

Zuiquan,

If I had your timeline and goals, I'd buy a modest house or condo. Entry-level property never goes out of style, and 18 years of elbow grease can add plenty of value. I would also look into purchasing through Moorings or one of those type of plans. It would reduce the cost of buying a cat, and protect you from inflation of boat prices down the road.