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Retire by 40 people

Jeffapp

Jeffapp

Member
Oct 29, 2017
2,247
My roommate has decided to be a retire by 40 people and it just seems like that you stay off any form of fun or anything nice until you hit that retirement. Then have to be cheap then.
I asked what happens if you get sick or die is it all worth nothing to get to goal that will never come. Or if you have kids or if I decide to raise the rent I'm I really fucking over your future
 
DrEvil

DrEvil

Developer
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
2,644
Canada
isn't it Freedom 55? that's early retirement. 40 is insane unless you've been lucky with the market and/or come from money.
 

dep9000

Banned
Mar 31, 2020
5,401
I don't know why more people don't do this. In my entire career I've never seen someone retire in their forties.
 
Cipherr

Cipherr

Member
Oct 26, 2017
13,435
Is it the whole F.I.R.E stuff? I've heard of it. I think overall its a good thing to get people interested in planning for retirement. But a lot of the stuff out of the FIRE movement seems a little destructive. And extremely risky. Retiring so early when life spans are lasting longer and longer runs a huge risk. And going over the top and being miserable for the entirety of your youth to get there HAS to have some kind of psychological downsides.
 
sn00zer

sn00zer

Member
Feb 28, 2018
6,084
Well, there are ways to do it if you already live pretty frugally. It's not about cutting yourself off from everything like your roommate is doing, just taking a good look at your buying habits and investing money you aren't doing anything with anyway. Not super hard to adapt to if you have a decent job and can be aggressive about attacking loan debt and such.

Also retiring at 40 seems crazy aggressive when you could lead a decent life if you aim for 50
 

Deleted member 4367

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
12,226
Gouty said:
Is this a question? What is your thesis?
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He's talking about FIRE (financial Independence retire early).

It's not about how much you make technically, it's about how cheap you can be and the percentage you can save. It requires saving like 50% of net income and having a very low planned retirement budget. Obviously it will be easier to save 50% or whatever if you have a higher income.
 
HStallion

HStallion

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
62,262
I feel its wishful thinking with the way the world has been going these last few years and especially with the pandemic. A lot of well laid, ironclad schemes and strategies are falling apart in record time.
 
RedMercury

RedMercury

Blue Venus
Member
Dec 24, 2017
17,655
dep9000 said:
I don't know why more people don't do this. In my entire career I've never seen someone retire in their forties.
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Most people even able to consider this probably have the privilege of a high paying job, no medical issues, job security, available amenities like public transit to save money, ability to invest, any number of things most people aren't gonna have
 
Tater

Tater

Member
Oct 30, 2017
2,589
Everyone has a different threshold for this stuff. Some people hate working, it's worth whatever sacrifice they need to make.

Sure they might get sick and die before 40, but odds are more likely the average person will get sick and die before they retire at the "traditional" 65, so I think they come out ahead there.

The other thing to remember is that if you scrimp and save to retire at 40 and fail... you still probably have a lot more money in the bank than someone who didn't even try.

I personally think you need to strike a balance - there's a lot of "young person" things I can't do anymore in my 40s, but I don't regret fully funding my 401k during my career.
 
Silex

Silex

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,754
In my experience, people who think they can retire at 40 are the ones who will get caught up in MLM schemes.
 
rokkerkory

rokkerkory

Banned
Jun 14, 2018
14,128
I am shooting for 45-48... should be completely debt free by 45 (in 3 years) and can rent out my house for a decent chunk of change.

Move to southeast asia and live a simple and happy life. You can more than comfortably live in Da Nang for example for $1200 a month including health insurance. $1500 and you'd be kinda balling. Same for Thailand.

If Trump wins, then I will expedite this.
 
OP
OP
Jeffapp

Jeffapp

Member
Oct 29, 2017
2,247
Cipherr said:
Is it the whole F.I.R.E stuff? I've heard of it. I think overall its a good thing to get people interested in planning for retirement. But a lot of the stuff out of the FIRE movement seems a little destructive. And extremely risky. Retiring so early when life spans are lasting longer and longer runs a huge risk. And going over the top and being miserable for the entirety of your youth to get there HAS to have some kind of psychological downsides.
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I think this is my thesis is I've done pretty much the typical stuff that people say to do to be smart with their money. Limit my crazy buying keep eating out low.
I make maybe 10% Less then my roommate (have the same job) but I own my house which has doubled in value, no school loans and 401k that has a good amount in it and seem to be able to buy a nice tv video games and other fun stuff. I'm not eating a grilled cheese for half my meals.
 
FaceHugger

FaceHugger

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
13,949
USA
I'm way ahead of the game in terms of savings and I couldn't imagine retiring at 40 or even 50. I could live a good five years on savings, another five on retirement funds, but then what? Early retirement age in the us is like 63. Something silly. I really wish retiring at 40 was feasible for most people. I know I am sick and tired of the rat race myself.
 

Deleted member 24118

User requested account closure
Member
Oct 29, 2017
4,920
DrEvil said:
isn't it Freedom 55? that's early retirement. 40 is insane unless you've been lucky with the market and/or come from money.
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Military. 20 years = retire at 38 (f you got in at 18) with the government giving you $40k a year and mostly free health care. If you're okay with being in the military of course.

I got med boarded and retired at 25 lul. To do that though I got "lucky" and got ulcerative colitis...
 
hurlex

hurlex

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,143
I think some of the FIRE stuff isn't about explicitly retiring, but letting you do a job you find more interesting but might have a lower salary. Or go do something independently but you have a financial base to work from rather than taking a risky loan.
 
ZackieChan

ZackieChan

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
8,056
sn00zer said:
Well, there are ways to do it if you already live pretty frugally. It's not about cutting yourself off from everything like your roommate is doing, just taking a good look at your buying habits and investing money you aren't doing anything with anyway. Not super hard to adapt to if you have a decent job and can be aggressive about attacking loan debt and such.

Also retiring at 40 seems crazy aggressive when you could lead a decent life if you aim for 50
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The strategy is to have enough for the Four Percent Rule (only taking an amount from your funds which will be replaced by interest/growth). They also factor in inflation, as well.
And someone who retires in their 40s will have the option to go back to work and make more income if needed, start a business, etc. The people who are into this are generally self starters and entrepreneurial, so they don't usually just stop doing everything when they "retire."
That's my plan in my early 50s. Maybe teach online or run some small business in games. Sell an info product or something. But I'd rather "choose" to work because I know I've put enough away to have my basic expenses covered.
Edit: poster above me gets it
 
GameDev

GameDev

Member
Aug 29, 2018
558
I mean it's technically doable:

Rate = 10% (just stick your money in an S&P 500 index fund)
Years = 22 (start working when you're 18)
Future value = 20 * $50k (5% rule and planning to retire with the median American salary)

Gives us a per month payment of $1,167.09, which I can see someone being able to do if they live incredibly lean.

But there's also inflation to take into account because the above assumes you started 22 years ago. I mean, if you want to retire 22 years from now with equivalent salary (assuming 3% year over year inflation), you need to put away $2236.26 per month.
 
louiedog

louiedog

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,284
A friend had a customer he did some work for who retired at 40. This was 15 years ago and the guy made some good bets on tech and got out before the bubble. He was also living modestly, moving from NYC to an area where $250k got him an extremely nice custom designed house.
 
skeezx

skeezx

Member
Oct 27, 2017
20,152
people who set "accomplish X at age Y" goals tend to have poor perception of how fast time actually goes by. unless it's something super finite like grad school or whatever
 
Calliope

Calliope

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,124
Detroit, MI
I'll be able to retire early. Not likely at 40 but before 50 for sure. If you want it enough, it's possible.

But you have a get a job lol. I'm hiring for a new position at my company, and it's shocking to me how many younger people just don't work. Like, at all. Claim to be waiting for the right thing to come along and in the meantime doing nothing I guess. I've worked since I was 15, retail, bartending, even McDonalds in high school, so I can't relate with that. I feel like my parents now lol.
 
Professor RAWR

Professor RAWR

Member
Jul 26, 2018
2,386
infinitebento said:
i chose to be a chef

ill retire when im dead
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F

I've recently just left the restaurant industry back in June. Only 24 so i'm looking for another career rn. It wasn't even my career at all... just a job easy to get into.

One of the reasons why I've quit is it always hit me seeing 30-60 years olds working as a cook and they DO NOT look happy at all... all miserable, living paycheck by paycheck, etc. My oldest coworker has over 60 and worked over 50-60 hours. The pay is insulting too.. I believe he was making $16-$18. That's the industry.
 
spootime

spootime

The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
3,430
Jeffapp said:
My roommate has decided to be a retire by 40 people and it just seems like that you stay off any form of fun or anything nice until you hit that retirement. Then have to be cheap then.
I asked what happens if you get sick or die is it all worth nothing to get to goal that will never come. Or if you have kids or if I decide to raise the rent I'm I really fucking over your future
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Click to shrink...

This is just my opinion, but for the average person, the drive it takes to accumulate enough $$$ to retire at 40 is also incompatible with retiring at 40.
 

JPLMD

Member
Dec 25, 2017
90
Enjoy my job way too much to retire by 40. Think it'll be hard for me to even retire by 60 because I'd be bored out of my mind and I like going to work. Maybe it's because I work only 4 days a week and have plenty of good work-life balance already? At some point, there's only so many games one can play, so many places to travel, etc before you'll be like "okay what's next?" What are you going to do with all that free time?
 
ZackieChan

ZackieChan

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
8,056
Calliope said:
I'll be able to retire early. Not likely at 40 but before 50 for sure. If you want it enough, it's possible.

But you have a get a job lol. I'm hiring for a new position at my company, and it's shocking to me how many younger people just don't work. Like, at all. Claim to be waiting for the right thing to come along and in the meantime doing nothing I guess. I've worked since I was 15, retail, bartending, even McDonalds in high school, so I can't relate with that. I feel like my parents now lol.
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Yeah, I've been working since I turned 16 and got a job as a dishwasher. I can't imagine not working, so even in retirement I'll do SOMETHING. Just don't want to HAVE to work.
 
Viewt

Viewt

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,805
Chicago, IL
I fucking WISH I could retire at 40, but by all indicators, I'm looking at 50-55, and that's without any major financial setbacks. Being able to say goodbye to the grind at 40 would be amazing.
 
turbobrick

turbobrick

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,079
Phoenix, AZ
I'm 34 and haven't even started a career, so I'll be working until I die.

But I still agree that to retire at 40 you either have to be making a lot of money, or have no fun in life.
 
Kieli

Kieli

Self-requested ban
Banned
Oct 28, 2017
3,736
Planning on dialing back on work in my mid-40s and be fully retired in my mid-50s. Assuming I'm still alive at that point.
 
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