Quote:
Originally Posted by DAVES
An old expression from Mom, Man plans and god laughs. Endless articles on what you need to retire. They make me laugh. All you need to know is when you will die, what will kill you, the rate of inflation till you pass, the return on your investments, will social security continue to pay with what inflation adjust and what means test, if you have a pension the same questions may apply. Hum, if, you know all of them it is easy to calculate, exactly what you need to retire. Most of us, perhaps, all of us make a lot of assumptions.
We all know or think we know the stock market only goes up, real estate only goes up.
We tend to forget-EXCEPT WHEN THEY DON'T.
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Actually, the stock market DOES always go up, or at least has since it’s inception. Yeah, it has faltering troughs in the short run, but in the long run, it goes up. Of course according to Keynesian economics, “In the long run we’re all dead.” The real estate market also always goes up. Compare the price of a house you could buy in the 1960’s to the same size house you could buy today. It’s all relative.
You’ve made your decision, so it’s really a mute point, but retirement can be achieved at any time in your life that you want. Retirement isn’t any different than when working. It’s still income versus expenses. However, in retirement you don’t have to commit to a place to be and a function to do from 9am to 5 pm. But actually you can if you want, whether it be for money or philanthropy, or golf, water aerobics, woodworking or bike riding. Whatever floats your boat.
Retirement is not an end all, or a be all, it’s just another phase in our lives, and it’s not static, rather it’s dynamic. There is no failure. There is no “correct” age and there is no “too early” age. Yes, it would be wonderful if we all had too much cash, too many assets, more investment returns than we ever needed, but that is seldom the case. If it was, people on this thread wouldn’t talk about the stock market being bullish until when, the housing market going crazy and possible coming interest rate changes, and the fear of inflation.
Retirement isn’t easy, it isn’t a given, just like any other phase of your life, it’s a balancing act. It’s about your comfort level in that balancing act. You’ve made your decision to continue working for a while, and if you are comfortable with that, fine. The only 2 cents that I can put in is that we never know when we are going to get hit by the bus, but someday it will inevitably happen. So, the way I looked at it, the earlier you can put a little more freedom of choice in your life, well then step through the window, and enjoy.