When I tell people that I've retired early I get a variety of reactions. But once the surprise (which is always part of the reaction in some measure) wears off, the questions begin. And the most common one is something like this, "How did you do it? How can a person retire early?" That's what I plan to cover in today's post. Live Like No One Else Before I get into … [Read more...]
Retirement Math
Summary: Retirement math is pretty simple. Get the formula right by using the ESI scale to hit financial independence. As I discussed in My Retirement Budget, Income Allocation, and How I Plan to Diversify, there's a basic retirement formula. We'll get into specifics in a minute, but first let's revisit what I've said. Here are the main parts of my … [Read more...]
My Retirement Budget, Income Allocation, and How I Plan to Diversify
Today I wanted to give you some insight into the financial process I went through to decide I had enough to retire. We'll review the budget I set up (both income and expenses) and I'll give commentary on where I stand now and some steps I'm planning. We will cover them from a pretty high level (no one wants to go through a line-by-line budget) but give enough information … [Read more...]
Responses to My Retirement
As you might imagine, my retirement caught most people by surprise. I think it's because of a combination of three things: My age (only 52). Most people do not retire this young. My career. Most people who know me see me as a hard-charging executive. How could I stop working? My looks. Believe me, I look nothing like a "rich guy who could retire at 52." I look … [Read more...]
How to Cut the Cost of Retirement in Half
How much do you need to retire? Even if you don't have an exact number in mind, just think of an amount you guess would be close. Maybe $1 million or so? Or a bit more or a bit less depending on other sources of income you may have? Whatever your number is, now take half of it. What if this was the amount you really needed to retire? Makes those golden years of rest and … [Read more...]
Retirement 30-Day Update
Well, it's been 30 days since I retired (it happened a couple weeks before I posted on it) and I thought I'd let you know what I've been up to. FYI, I'll do a specific update every so often but I'll be talking about retirement and the new lifestyle throughout other posts as well (of course). But for now, here's what's happened the past 30 days: I'm still getting up … [Read more...]
Can This ESI Reader Retire?
Here's an interesting, real-life situation that I'd like to get feedback on. I know there are some really smart ESI readers out there, and I need your thoughts. The other day I received the following email from a reader (FYI, I've edited a bit for brevity but haven't changed the substance of our conversation): I would greatly appreciate your opinion on my current … [Read more...]
My Retirement Story, Part 3
My last post was the second in the series on my retirement. If you missed it or the previous one, post one was titled I Retired! and post two was My Retirement Story, Part 2. With that said, let's continue the story. Working Out the Financials Given the bad situation at work (my boss, the business, and my lack of interest) as well as my personal desire to accomplish … [Read more...]
My Retirement Story, Part 2
Last time we started a series of posts on my retirement. If you missed that and want to read it, check out I Retired! Let's pick up where we left off. Business Results Lagging Our business was "ok" but not great. Then the perfect storm hit. Our first quarter had been propped up by a seasonal selling event where customers had to buy from us. The second quarter had … [Read more...]
I Retired!!!
Yep, I retired. At 52. Feels great. :) I'll give you all the details of why, how, etc. over three posts -- all this week. Thinking About Retirement In case you all haven't noticed, I've been writing a lot lately about retirement. And not just retirement in general, but my retirement specifically. For example, consider these posts: Various Forms of Retirement … [Read more...]
