Tired of commuting? Fed up with a nitwit boss? Bored with your job?
Have you come to the conclusion that all this talk of empowerment is idiocy?
Are you, just plain "sick and tired of being sick and tired"?
There's a solution.
Start doin' what you want to do.
Get control of your life, become financially independent, and Retire Early .
Here are two hints:
Hint # 1..
Here are the three steps I recommend you take:
1. Do a status report.
I think most people would figure that someone who leads a very frugal lifestyle should be able to get by quite nicely on 64 thousand bucks a year plus Social Security. But what really matters is whether the savings you've accumulated can provide what you feel you'll need to maintain an acceptable standard of living.
The only way to really know is to crunch the numbers. A good financial adviser can do that for you. Or you can go online calculators like T. Rowe Price's Retirement Income Calculator or Fidelity's Retirement Income Planner and get an estimate of the odds that your retirement resources will last for the next 30 to 40 years.
I suggest you run a variety of scenarios -- different withdrawal rates, investment strategies, retirement dates and expense levels. (The Fidelity tool allows you to break down your spending into dozens of different categories and assign different inflation rates to them.)
Don't forget to factor in health care costs. You won't qualify for Medicare until you hit 65. So unless your employer provides insurance for early retirees, you'll have to buy insurance on your own in the meantime.
Estimating down health care costs in retirement is always difficult, and that hasn't changed just because of the new health reform law. Theoretically, the new legislation will put a brake on rising health-care costs and make coverage less expensive for some people by providing subsidies.
In theory, it will also improve Medicare. I wouldn't take any of this as a given. But I would assume that the cost of insurance coverage will be the same as it is now, if not more. If it turns out you have to spend less, fine. But I wouldn't count on it at this point.
2. Make an exit plan. If, after going through the analysis above, you find that leaving your job at age 50 wouldn't give you the comfort level you need, the single most effective thing you can do is continue to work and save.
You should also re-assess your investment strategy. But unless you're doing something terribly wrong -- like plowing all your dough into money-market funds or choosing expensive investments -- any performance boost is likely to be modest. The last thing you want to do is start investing very aggressively. The problem is that if you run into another year like 2008, you may end up having to spend even more time on the job.
If going over the numbers convinces you that you can afford to retire now, you still don't want to immediately march into your boss's office say, "I'm outta here!"
First consider whether you could improve your situation by holding out a bit longer. Maybe you've got stock options that will vest. Or perhaps working an extra year or two could mean a larger pension. Maybe there's the chance your company could downsize, in which case you could collect a nice severance package. The point is that you don't want to leave any easy money behind by making too hasty an exit.
3. Make an entrance plan. Here, I'm talking about a plan for entering retirement. You'll boost your odds of having a fulfilling retirement if you think about how you're actually going to live once you leave the workaday world.
Will you sell your house and downsize (or relocate, leaving you with lower annual housing costs and some spare cash to boot? How about working occasionally at a less stressful job, if not for the money, then to stay socially engaged? You should mull over these and other issues before you check out.
Speaking of socially engaged, you'll definitely want to consider the nonfinancial aspects of retiring before you leave your job. Recent research shows that factors like one's health, number of relationships and even attendance at worship services can have a big effect on retirement happiness.
Finally, ask yourself whether you're really interested in early retirement or just want out of your present job. It's easy to confuse the two when you're dissatisfied at work late in your career.
Whatever you decide, you'll still be better off by having gone through this process, as you'll now have a more accurate sense of whether you're ready to retire and, if not, how much longer until you will be.
Hint # 2: go to http://countrysidetourspr.124online.com/