re: Am I early retirement ready? Updated

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Teachers get a lot of time off and he’d be working the same schedule as his kids. However, teaching is a very stressful job with lots of extracurricular responsibilities. Maybe if he can get into a nice private school that values his previous work experience it’d be okay, but the last thing I would want to do as a financially independent person is go into education.

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I really think it depends on your situation and location. Also, when one doesn't have the stress about worrying about it being a career and just punching the clock and trying to enjoy yourself it is different. I also think if we had more retiree's going into the school system our school system would be better off. 25 year old's straight out of college are not the best for a lot of teaching positions.

Unless OP likes ROTC, just because he is military doesn't mean he has to do that. It would likely require a ton more time and effort over simply teaching something like history.

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My wife is on board. She's much less concerned than I am about whether we can afford it. She runs the household fiance's and is confident we can afford it.

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Sounds like you have the i's dotted and t's crossed.

Best advice would be to look forward at your family situation 15yrs down the road. You say 1°/2° school is pretty much on ice. that leaves college, weddings, etc. You sound like someone who's run those numbers already.

Presuming you'll lock up the $1.2M in a risk-reduced income-producing account, it will produce $35-50K/yr. If you worked 10 more years, and let the account grow, it would likely double in size. Roughly quadrupling if you worked 20yrs without drawing off of it. You sound like someone who's run those numbers too.

You'll just want to get to your 60's with no "lookback regrets". It would be ashame to find yourself wishing you had more funds for some purpose at that point. But being fairly conservative, you're obviously looking at ~$100K/yr in income in the meantime.

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No one I know has done it. They all keep working full-time. What am I missing? Why shouldn't I just do it?

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What you're missing is, you're too young. I would find a job with Fedgov - using your veteran's pref points, keep stacking cash and work towards a FERS pension at about 55. That's still high QOL, you'll go in with a greatly enhanced leave posture (8 hours per pay period, with your military service credit, or 26 days per year, with federal holidays and potential of credit, you can probably leverage 7 or 8 weeks per year).

But, having said all of that, you did better than 90% or more of folks your age - just too young to retire, IMHO.

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It's a real concern

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When I read the word retirement I think financial freedom. Anyone who thinks being financially independent doesn’t sound like fund is kidding themselves

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I'm way too conservative but I wouldn't call myself retirement ready if I had a mortgage. Getting rid of a mortgage is my first requirement.


I think the way I look at it, a mortgage is currently around-- 3.85%?

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Right. Home loans have the advantage of an interest tax write-off as well, at least up to a point. So a low rate mortgage can essentially serve as low-cost leverage money plus function as an inflation hedge. Needless to say though, that assumes the portfolio is not sitting with large cash positions.

Of course it sounds fun. I think it will be fun.

But a lot of people underestimate the social aspects that work provides. That doesn't mean don't retire early, it means make sure you replace it with something else.

You can find plenty of people and studies on the issue. I'm not making it up from whole cloth. You have to be self aware and know yourself.

Retiring and continuing to work are two different things. I would not retire with the numbers you posted until the mortgage is paid off.

I suggest you keep working, pay off the mortgage, and retire when you're debt free.

No way are you ready for retirement...

You're expecting 56k pension and will have 15- 20k of that gone easy with mortgage, home insurance and upkeep

Edit... I see you have insurance set up



Sounds like youre able to live comfortably and not have many worries but you need a job man.

It doesnt have to be a great job, but you need a job with health insurance would be great for you and set you up even better.

Its all in how you want to go seems like to me.

Go for it. Worst thing to happen is you go back to work when you're 69. Lol

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I think the more important question is what on earth are you going to do everyday if you retired tomorrow?

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I really am struck by how many responses are emphasizing "but what will you do all day" rather than any financial objections to early retirement. Reading, painting, hobbies, starting a microbusiness based on a hobby, hiking the Appalachian trail, meeting your old great uncle every Tuesday for coffee and an hour of conversation, coaching your kids' sports teams, coaching other kids' sports teams, volunteering with RSVP, being a mentor at a disadvantaged school near you, dog-walker at the local animal shelter, substitute teacher or lunchroom monitor, Sunday school teacher...Driver for elderly people in your neighborhood or church who can't get to a dr or to the grocery store, serve on a organization's board....

There is SO MUCH MORE to life than working a few more years to pile up a stack of cash to spend on something like a wedding. Hell, your kids may not get married, or they may run off to Vegas.

Sorry for my rant, my 38 year old neighbor died of cancer this week. Life is way bigger than whatever identity you are deriving from your work, and many worthy things in life are not paid work.