Wondering if there is anyone on here that has retired early (FIRE Movement)

[Weldor]

And sometimes a very physical job just wears you out early, unlike sitting behind a desk. Plus and minus on both sides of the fence. Most trades pay very well, pipeliners in their apprenticeships make more than most Doctors. I am sure tech jods pay but no physical activity.

 

[EastHumboldt]

No no no!! You mpfos are not allowed to retire!! You just keep working and paying into SSA so there’ll be something in there when I start collecting in a year!! G***@mmit!!

I retired at 54 from a govt career ( building maintenance tradesman). Now I build and repair guitars, and do the occasional construction job if it suits me. My pension pays the bills but I need the side money if I wanna have any fun.

 

[wingmaster]

I was intrigued by the idea since I got my first job, and proceeded to max out all my tax-advantaged accounts. I even made sure my wife was like-minded when we first started dating. So the option of early retirement will most likely be available to us in our 50s. 40 is way too ambitious IMO, I have no intention of being frugal in retirement.

Best advice I have is to drive your car into the ground. My Honda has served me well for almost 20 years

 

[Dos Perros]

I'm 40 now, and had I to do it again I would dedicate more time and energy earlier to creating my own income streams instead of depending on a corporate job. I'm doing that now, but wish I had started earlier. I think it'd be much easier to 'retire early' with a couple income streams you can do as you'd like, need.

Ultimately, your life needs a sense of purpose. And the happiest people tend to spend a lot of time in the service of others.

 

[Coopsdaddy]

Some great post on this!

 

[NCTrees]

What an absolutely pathetic and senseless existence some people must live when they have to have a job to give their life meaning.

Talk about having over-conformed and given up any sense of individual purpose and identity…. Sheesh.

If you need a job to not be bored, you are a pathetic excuse for a human being: have no sense of passion or creativity and just sleepwalked through your life. I reckon these must be the same people who apparently lack an inner dialogue.

If you’re distinguishing “job” from “work” then yeah, perhaps you have a point. Nonetheless you’re failing to recognize that some people make mistakes or aren’t born with silver spoons and have no choice. Calling people pathetic for correcting mistakes or pulling themselves out of unfortunate backgrounds comes off as pretty myopic.

If you’re using “job” as synonymous with “work,” well, you’re just plain out in left field. Work is a foundational necessity for civilization. It’s what allows us the freedom, time and means to do things like hunt and fish. The ability to live without giving back to society means you’re a social parasite, who is taking from the work of others. A tick on the ass of mankind, if you will. If this is your point perhaps you should move over to the anti-work Reddit thread and join the other Marxists in that fairy tale.

 

[Fogalo]

Just to clarify a few things. I mentioned semi retired. Meaning I will seek something that I love doing. Guiding bear hunters/ Working for a outfitter in my area part time. My current career is extremely stressful and is a high paying career but I do not enjoy it.

My goal has always been to save a large nest egg and have zero debt besides my house currently. Then transition to a lower income job that I love and then substitute the rest of the income needed from my dividends/capital gains from my investments.


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That’s a solid plan as long as you save enough or have enough passive income + whatever side income to support the lifestyle that you want and then some. Although, in that context wouldnt semi - retire be the same as a career change?

 

[RyanT26]

Currently 43 and I plan to semi retire at 50, January 1, 2030 to be exact.
I will have 26 years between fire/EMS and LE. both professions are a young man’s game. I don’t care if I have to mow lawns, work at Home Depot, be a damn door greeter at Walmart. I’m going to get out at the first opportunity. I know it’s difficult to predict the job market in seven years, but if it’s anything like today there will be plenty of work for someone who wants to work.
Between KP&F and my kpers 457 plan, any extra money should just be gravy.
You do have to consider your health insurance options. What is going to cost to be added to your spouses insurance, pay out of pocket, or just find a job strictly for the insurance.

 

[eamyrick]

I definitely follow that group. But some live a vastly different lifestyles then the majority of rocksliders. So I am curious how it fits into this lifestyle


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I’ve learned that you don’t really need to be a super high earner to become financially independent. I look at my plan as legs of a stool:
1) pension based on government service. I could have made more, worked less holidays, and put up with less garbage but then I wouldn’t haven been able to leave with a full pension at 23 years. My dad also retired relatively early and had both a 20 year mil pension and a 25 year state education system pension.
2) pay off debt, including house, and avoid lifestyle creep. I could currently afford to upgrade homes and get a pool, boat, etc but that doesn’t fit with being financially independent at 45.
3) it’s impossible to predict all future expenses but you can definitely predict future vehicles, kid college expense (dumping money into 529 every year)

 

[Elite]

Currently 43 and I plan to semi retire at 50, January 1, 2030 to be exact.
I will have 26 years between fire/EMS and LE. both professions are a young man’s game. I don’t care if I have to mow lawns, work at Home Depot, be a damn door greeter at Walmart. I’m going to get out at the first opportunity. I know it’s difficult to predict the job market in seven years, but if it’s anything like today there will be plenty of work for someone who wants to work.
Between KP&F and my kpers 457 plan, any extra money should just be gravy.
You do have to consider your health insurance options. What is going to cost to be added to your spouses insurance, pay out of pocket, or just find a job strictly for the insurance.

Glad to hear some one is like minded! I am in Canada so it is a bit different for health care


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[thegrouse]

I have considered it, but really do not know what I would do to pass the time. I have hobbies, but fishing and hunting daily would get old. I think I would end up looking for some type of work to give my day structure. I am thinking of relocating and working until I do not like showing up to work anymore. Then maybe give it a shot.

 

[Fogalo]

What an absolutely pathetic and senseless existence some people must live when they have to have a job to give their life meaning.

Talk about having over-conformed and given up any sense of individual purpose and identity…. Sheesh.

If you need a job to not be bored, you are a pathetic excuse for a human being: have no sense of passion or creativity and just sleepwalked through your life. I reckon these must be the same people who apparently lack an inner dialogue.

I guess, define job? - I certainly wouldn’t consider creating your own business “over-conformed and given up any sense of individual purpose and indentity”. Kinda the exact opposite.

Some people actually enjoy solving problems and creating goods and services for other people to have and use. Point is, you can take the risk to do it how you see fit. Could be working your own business or taking less hours. Thresholds vary for people as people have different views of how they want to live.

 

[Shawn Hultquist]

I did 26 years with a big city fire dept. retired at 49 because that is what the financial planner suggested. In three weeks I was bored out of my mind. I did get caught up on sleep. Went to the neighboring county and now work for that fire dept. best decision I ever made. Double income and insurance. Now working towards a second pension.

You will get bored


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[NRA4LIFE]

Retirement isn't what it's cracked up to be. Most folks that retire around where I live get bored in a year and are looking for work. Work as long as you can would be my recommendation.

Wrong. I retired at 53, 60 now and never looked back. I keep myself more busy now than when I was working. Retirement is EVERYTHING it's cracked up to be. We are enjoying life more than ever. Doing everything during the week is awesome. And not having to have everything done by Monday is a gem. I don't know a single person who thinks otherwise or has gone back to work.

 

[Blacktocomm]

My wife and I are into "FIRE" and it has been good and also bad.

I'm currently under 40 and plan to retire at 55. We've technically reached "FI" but "RE" is a different part of the equation. We also set a retirement number but each milestone we hit that number gets bigger.

Until I turn 40 we're keeping our foot on the gas for savings and after that we plan to relax a bit. Go fully remote with a more relaxed role and moving back to a home town in the mountains. Focus on the cruise control portion of the ride instead of accelerating wealth like our goal has been the past 10 years.

My personal downside to FIRE is that I'm incredibly focused on numbers. Even though we hit our "FI" number I haven't been able to adjust my mindset and spend more. I'm worried if I quit any earlier than 55 I would be stressed about the money I wasn't earning. I am not sure if I would get bored, but I sure as hell would be thinking about "if I worked one more year I could buy this much more stuff or make this much more money"

 

[Hnthrdr]

I love my job and get as much time off as I want basically, that said I plan to “retire” around 55 or so… only 23 more years. Then I want to start my second career of hopefully hobby ranching. May be able to get into this sooner but the wife and I have to see what the future holds. No hard and fast plans. It’s always best to strive for financial independence though. Pretty amazing to be in a spot to walk away from something when it stops being fun or compromises your morals (ie covid insanity)

 

[Stikbrandon]

What an absolutely pathetic and senseless existence some people must live when they have to have a job to give their life meaning.

Talk about having over-conformed and given up any sense of individual purpose and identity…. Sheesh.

If you need a job to not be bored, you are a pathetic excuse for a human being: have no sense of passion or creativity and just sleepwalked through your life. I reckon these must be the same people who apparently lack an inner dialogue.

You can only beat off so much before you get a skin burn…

 

[william schmaltz]

I love it. I'm 36. I work as a environmental PM and my wife is a PT. We have a plan to at minimum have as much passive income by 45 as our earned income. Which is about 3x our current standard of living. It seems like some in the FIRE movement are just trying to get enough passive to get by and quit their job. I think when a person does it that way, you fall into the trap that some have pointed out - you don't have enough money to do much more than sit around and die. So we plan to have way more than enough to basically do whatever we want and keep the egg growing when the time comes to "retire." Some of the things I plan to do when I "retire" and am in control of my time:

Property management - we will be up to, at minimum 12 units by then.
Photography - treat as hunting trips, fly out into draw areas. Dall sheep mostly. also potential income
Consulting - work in my current industry remote as desired
Web PT - wife will still do remote PT as she desires
ski instructor - 1-2 times a week in winter
trap line - 1-2 times a week in winter
fishing guide - fill in as desired
hunt camp - work at friend's business in their camps during spring and fall
Youth shooting range/boy scout/hunting ed volunteer
Nonprofit hunting/fishing group involvement
farming - help with friends and family in the midwest during planting and harvest
Wood milling - for my own projects and potential running a remote mill to sell in villages
Fur - put up fur for myself and local trappers/taxidermist. I love putting up fur and excellent workout

Those are just a few things to stay busy. None of them cost money (most of them would make money). Thats in addition to hunting, fishing, traveling, daily work outs, RVing, sporting events, etc. I don't see how people can possibly retire and be bored.

We still do fun stuff and have some nice things. Luckily we both grew up with nothing so we have extremely low standards. Our house is undersized for our family by most people's standards. Our vehicles are 20 years old. Whenever we sit down to make a big purchase we just do the math. Things we consider are would we rather dump $40K to update a vehicle or we can buy another rental and each rental equals the option of a few additional years of freedom at the ends of our career. Always been an easy choice for us.

 

[summs]

40 is my goal, 13 more years to go. And it's not that I dont want to work, I enjoy what I do, but I dont want to be forced mon-fri no before work hunts or after work hunts. I get made fun of when I say I cant afford items, but it's I choose not to buy lots of excess things. I spend more money than I should on hunting and fishing. But quality not quantity is big for me. Sacrificing now to the mighty stock market, warren buffet ETF approach doing well so far, just need time.

I work in a field with very high comeback rate after 'retiring'. I always ask, why. Answers range from lonely/board, to part timers who 'pays for my bar tab'. I want to be able to say, it pays for my hunting trips and take off when ever I need.

 

[WhatToHunt]

Good for you, OP. I don't think it's a pipe dream, it seems plenty of FIRE folks have success with the 4% rule along with remaining willing to work if needed (just like you said semi-retired). My wife and I plan to "retire" at 50 if the current course is maintained. Thanks for the dose of inspiration to keep after it.