The pure shock of what I found out when attending a retirement seminar was looking at the real question of -> When Can I Retire?

 

Have you thought about when you can retire?

I know most don't. It's sad but true. Most live pay check to pay check so why even think about something 30 years later, right?

WRONG!

I'm 33 with 2 kids and a stay at home wife. I am the bread winner.

But….

Can I realistically believe I can retire? I mean, when can I retire if I were to try and provide the same type of lifestyle I'm living now?

I've been putting into my 401k, IRA Roth, and even buying silver the last 8+ years or so. I'm not close to being where I want to be but there are some pretty important things to think about when your thinking about when you can retire.

When Can I Retire – When I Get Serious

The time your ready to start planning to retire is when your actually serious about retiring. You are never too young really. Whenever you start to make a little bit of money it's time to start investing for the future.

Why?

Compounding Interest

The first time I thought of this it was genius. Putting money away to gain interest but when that interest is also applied to the principle PLUS gains in the account it just gets bigger and bigger. This only really works if you KEEP the money in there. That's the issue with people these days. The will take their money OUT and the compounding interest at that point dies off.

The compounding interest only works remember IF you let it sit in there and let it grow, and grow. Add more money to it early on will of course help it but this is one of the magic things in numbers that people don't take advantage enough these days. The seem to think they need to save for retirement when they make more money. If that is the case many people will NEVER retire.

 

When Can I Retire, Really?

Here is a quick scenario.

  • Say you were to retire today.
  • You wanted to live the same life style at the same costs
  • Inflation didn't matter (even though inflation is more like 6-10% these years)
  • No additional streams of income, just what your pulling out for retirement today

How much money would you need?

This is what I had estimated.

 

$60,000 year X 20 years = 1.2 million (that's on the low end)

 

The reality is if you are really thinking “when can I retire” then you know when you retire you can't just live how your living now. Your 2-5 weeks of vacation isn't going to cut it when your in retirement stage. You want to travel, eat better, and do more things. Things you couldn't do due to be shackled to a J.O.B.

But many are finding out they can NOT afford retirement and hence work well into their 80s!!!!!

Now the stipulation of this calculation is that you have NO additional streams of income. Just what you have saved up like your retirement fund (please don't bet on social security income).

But….

If you were able to build up some passive income streams WHILE you were retired so you no longer work a J.O.B doesn't that free you up to “retiring earlier?”

I mean just think about this.

Do You Have To Retire When Your Old?

That's the real mind bender.

There are actually ways to leverage your time and money NOW like compounding interest to help you get to retiring in your 40s vs your 80s. As long as you had passive growing income then you could effectively retire at an age you can actually go and do things with. I mean.

How many 80 year old go skiing and shark diving anymore?

I highly suggest you go through my bootcamp and see what I'm doing on a part time basis to prepare my future for an early exit to retirement from my J.O.B. I have decided to stop worrying about the 401k and retirement funds and build my own residual income stream with Numis Network because I truly believe in the power of real assets and not printing dollar bills.

Remember, it's not retiring from working but more retiring from working for SOMEONE ELSE!

Graduate from my bootcamp and learn how to grow passive income so you can finally think about retiring and get some sleep without asking yourself before nodding off “when can I retire” anymore.

 

when can I retire

 


Lawrence Tam

Funny dude who grew up in Houston, and retired from Mechanical Engineering at the age of 33. Has 3 kiddos and happily married and marketing full time since 2012. Learn how to take control of your life and health through a simple challenge to keep you healthier one day at a time - Click Here to Learn More.

5 Comments

clarence · August 12, 2011 at 9:40 am

This a good article about life, you have read my blog post of 8/12/2011 called what is peace of mind on clarence kontio blog. I love how you write and think about life.

Joe · July 29, 2011 at 6:00 pm

Great Post Lawrence! This is my first time commenting, I have been following you for some time. I love your tutorials the most!

    Lawrence Tam · August 10, 2011 at 12:40 pm

    thanks a lot. that really does mean a bunch to me. I spend a lot of time educating and it’s always nice to know people are learning 😉

Nathan Gonzalez · July 20, 2011 at 8:47 pm

Awesome Post Lawrence, Love the mindbender!

    Lawrence Tam · August 10, 2011 at 12:40 pm

    it’s a shocker for sure. then if you take in the inflation of our currency… it’s mind blowing!!!

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