I plan to retire from my current carrer as a project manager slash sw engineer in about 10 years. EDIT - That will put me at 54. I've always wanted to become a general contractor and build a few amazing homes that even the most O.C. high end appreciating person would love. So in ~ 10 years I plan to be licenced, with good contacts, and enough cash set aside to live my dream of buying a large chunk of land, divide it, and build 3-4 really well done homes - the last of which will be ours. No retirement for me until the day comes that I don't awake from my sleep.

Anyne can retire anytime they want. The trick is figuring out how to retire with a standard-of-living you find acceptible.

46, assuming the Navy will keep me for that long, and assuming that I can continue to maintain my IRA and TSP accounts at the current rate, and assuming ... (shrug) Lots of assumptions, I guess.

3 years if all goes well. I'll be 45.

13 years until I'm 50 ... that's what I'm shooting for.

The key will be maintaining a desired standard of living.

I dunno.. if you have a noggin full of ideas, can you ever retire? And what's retirement anyway? Sitting around at the local Coco's for hours each day?

Maybe tomorrow....if my boss crosses me one more time.

Lack of most responsibility is a nice position to be in for some.

Deciding which boat me and a bud want to use this summer and getting called up to check out the mallards feeding on the bait for a heads up on diving action did get strenuous today. I guess deciding which underwater camera w/topside viewing to buy for 5 knot currents did beat the sh!!t out of me this week. Oh.. did I say that some young animal wants his scuba instructors tag and he has me in the 40F drink all winter so he can learn from this oldie who has flippers for feet, so he says. I know too many young'ns living in this hick town.

btw.. having the proverbial work-a -holic white collar big city bride involved in routine multi&hundred million $ private RE deals keeps them occupied.

My close aged bro has me in the dumps because he's been searching for the right condo for us to buy in Costa Rico, Panama, or Mexico. He comes back from this town in the Yucatan two weeks ago and tells me the surfing and fishing is good but the locals are either to young or to old. He's still single and wants to replicate his Santa Monica female action. This is his 6th scouting trip in the past two years. Dam, I got bummed out again.

Retirement sucks.

My latest plan is to retire from my current business by the 20-year mark, which will be March 2009. Ideally we will have positioned the company for a lucrative sale by then, and/or will have sucked enough cash out of it for a solid nest egg.

I will still be relatively young at that point and look forward to trying something new without (hopefully) having to worry about day-to-day bills.

Retirement: open a Porsche shop, where I can work on _my_ terms. "No, I don't really feel like working on that rusty POS of yours. Joe, down the street, is fairly desperate for work, though, you might try him." I'll also make espresso in my shop -- and my espresso machine will be made from a VW engine. ;)

Or maybe I'll just go into a second career, even knowing I don't need to. I always wanted to be in technology, and I'd much rather approach the job market with the attitude of "You need me more than I need you" than the desperation that's so common.

I work to live not live to work. Work gets in the way of my life but its necessary right now so I go.

If I was not working?

I would be in the gym in the morning. I go now but its at 6:00 in the morning and it would be nicer to go at 8.

I would play golf once a week. Work on my own cars because now I would time. I would sign up for more track days because I would be with my family more and would not feel guilty about tying up my weekend playing car.

I would travel more and split my time between my house in Florida (winters) and my house in North Carolina (Summers) more.

10 years cannot go by fast enough.

I'm planning on this being my last year at work. My kid has one more year of college and I figure I'll wait till he is out. I have slowed down some at work and if I could work part time for a while that would be great. I'll be 49 in a few month's so I'll be close to 50 when I retire. I'll then have time to work on my project car, golf, sail, and maybe even work around the house a little.

My dad retired when he was 57 and says he should have done it sooner. He is 70 now. The last time I talked to him he said the fishing was poor and his golf game aint what it used to be, but he's still out there everyday doing one or the other.

I plan to retire in 7 years (52 years old then).
My wife and I have $600k equity in the house and quite a bit more than that in stocks, 401k, saving etc.
I'm thinking we'll move to Idaho falls and buy a really nice big house on a lot with water for $275k. I'll get a part-time job (no more than 20 hrs per week which is 1/3 of what I work now) as a handyman or something like that. It has to be fun, keep my mind busy, but something that doesn't require deep thought or stress. Just enough to cover my spending money and maybe buy lunches or pay for a round of golf every week, that's all I need.

The only fly in that ointment is my daughter will be in college at that time and my son will be close behind. Depending on where they want to go might mean i have to work until I'm 57 or so. My daughter was already talking about Bezerkeley but I just about have her talked out of that liberal a$$ brain-washing hell, now it's USC which aint cheep.
I'm hoping her grades and athletics will help some with a partial scholarship or something.

I never plan to retire. Sure, I will probably stop working full time, but I will probably always have some type of part time job. There are several reasons:

1. Retirement is strictly a post-WW2 phenomenon brought about by the unprecedented prosperity of the era. Before WW2 very few people "retired". The economic conditions which allow lengthy retirement are passing.

2. You rest, you rust. I have seen this many times. Working a part time job during your "retirement" keeps you physically and mentally active.

3. The seniors that I know who work seem to be more in touch with people around them, complain less, and enjoy life more.

4. I like to work.