re: Retiring at 50 with $2MM in savings

quote:

---

Sleep!
Health & Fitness
Fun with wife (Honeymoon 2.0)
No Sunday or work stress
No more fractionization (involved in many things / projects at work all at once all the time)
Clear mindedness / spiritual awareness
More time used to help others
To do list control and completion
No more work travel
I could go on….

---

Yep and like I said, you don't read well.

Absolutely 0 of those is applicable to what I said.

You boomers aren't understanding the difference between financial independence and retirement.

I full understand quiting a 40+ hour career job.

The OP is about "retiring" with $2 mil. Being done with work.

My point is that you can quit a career job early and be financially independent, but still earn income in a multitude of ways.

Work as a Golf Course starter, for instance. Bass Pro shops, etc. You can do some small jobs, work as a handi man for example doing only specific jobs that you enjoy. You can have a second "career" and earn $20k or so and change the amount of money you need in retirement accounts drastically.

quote:

---

It’s almost impossible to have $2mm in cash at 50

---

Not true at all, as has been said a few times already.

But to add some perspective, I didn't start my 401K till age 32. I did max it out every year since then. No catch-up payments over the last few yrs or anything fancy. I just maxed it out every year.

I am now 53 with $1.45M in that account (and we don't even have a very wide selection of funds to invest in). I plan to continue to max it out for my remaining two years.

I feel 100% certain that if I were able to start saving 7 or 8 yrs earlier while in my early 20s, I'd easily have over $2M in there. Probably significantly more than $2M.

quote:

---

Retirement is that, its literally retiring from working.

---

If we are getting literal, this is MW defintion:

quote:

---

The meaning of RETIRE is to withdraw from one's position or occupation : conclude one's working or professional career

---

That does not provide any definite meaning of what comes after that. Retirement is a personal thing and varies by person.

quote:

---

Correct, and that's exactly my point. Being financially independent is one thing, but I don't want to be financially extremely limited also.

---

4 posts to get to your point

+

I don’t read Auburnese well

=

Time neither of us will ever get back. Pity.

Curious adverb you choose—a very personal adverb. If you have higher level of wants than what $XMM retirement at YY age can provide, you don’t have financial freedom at that point. You are beholden to filling $ gaps to quench higher wants / thirst. If new found “retirement” requires you to trade your time and effort into work to satisfy those, of course that’s an option. Does not feel like retirement to me (when required/beholden to fill gaps), but personal finance is personal, assured as the sun rising in the east.

I think the desire for more, at the expense of enough, is where too many falter and find themselves on the depressed side of financial freedom continuum. And by ‘enough’, I’m speaking far and away from FIRE lifestyle or even any major sacrifices, if any at all.

My (personal) way of thinking: There is a breakeven point between higher retirement lifestyle and consuming precious retirement time to achieve it. This became abundantly clear to me when it took doubling our nest egg to improve retirement lifestyle beyond “the incremental” change. Doubling it consumed considerable precious time to achieve it. Decision taken: early retirement.

I believe the value of time and what is true meaning of freedom in retirement needs a line item in retirement spreadsheets! And it might also provide all needs and wants, in so doing. We are blessed. Hope you are, too.

Boomer (GenX) out.

My apologies.

That said, it can still be done, but it would be much harder. Youd need a high paying job and/or be single with no kids.

You'd have to dedicate after tax dollars which makes it harder to do. You also don't get the company match, but in my case our match is not as high as most. It's less than 5%.

You'd likely not be also saving in any retirement accounts unless you lived in a cardboard box or in your dads basement.

So I'll change my stance a little. While technically possible, it would require circumstances that make it practically impossible for most people.

(no message)

quote:

---

It sounds like you’re not willing to do that, which is fine and a personal decision. It is, however, very possible.

---

That couple hundred thousand a year pay raise goes a long way

Multiply times two with a badass spouse and you’re talking a few hundred thousand dollar raise.

My wife and I have both 4x our salary’s the last 12 to 15 years. Now it took some work and moving from TX To AZ, NC, LA, and back to the motherland in TX but it’s certainly doable.

There’s a bunch of ways to get to 2 mil by 50. I woke up at 32 and was done making 60k a year. Gambled on myself and took a lower salary for commission/bonus comp plan and it’s been life changing.

I could chase more money but my work life balance is amazing so I don’t see the point.

quote:

---

My (personal) way of thinking: There is a breakeven point between higher retirement lifestyle and consuming precious retirement time to achieve it. This became abundantly clear to me when it took doubling our nest egg to improve retirement lifestyle beyond “the incremental” change. Doubling it consumed considerable precious time to achieve it. Decision taken: early retirement.

I believe the value of time and what is true meaning of freedom in retirement needs a line item in retirement spreadsheets! And it might also provide all needs and wants, in so doing. We are blessed. Hope you are, too.

---

Yes but the point you continue to leave out, is that if you are busting your butt in your 30s and 40s to retire early you are also losing precious time there.

There's a balance.

I just went to Rome with my kids. It cost more than I wanted. I could have went on a vacation 1/4 of the cost and put the rest to retirement. I didn't splurge grossly on anything we did, and I enjoyed all of it. I did it because I wanted to not just go to Rome, I wanted to go to Rome with my kids at a certain age to show them the world and educate them on many aspects of history, culture, religion, etc. This came at a significant cost.

In making decisions like that, I am delaying my true "retirement"..

My point goes back to the OP, $2 mil at 50 is not a ton. Why not continue to work part time and get that number to $3 or maybe even $4 mil and find a balance in life?

This whole idea that "work" = unhappiness is simply un true. If you hate your life, absolutely change it.

quote:

---

This whole idea that "work" = unhappiness is simply un true.

---

it is for me . I will never work again because I don’t want to. It makes me unhappy and I owned my own business and was very good at it.

frick work. Fun is where it’s at

quote:

---

I down voted because of your echoing the theme that it takes "good luck."

---

The Psychology of Money speaks to "luck" in wealth accumulation. Luck can absolutely play a role in whether you are successful or how successful you are. If it makes you feel better, I'll modify it to say it takes not having really bad luck.