I'm a home-body...love the feeling of being "at home." It's where my heart is.
And my garage is where my liver is...I suppose. ;)
I've traveled and I don't need to see any more of the SOS. :)

That's funny. We all have a different idea of what we want. Flexibility is key for me, I dont know what I'll want to do in 5-10 yrs but I want to have a few options. If you can make the #'s work for a few scenario's, not just the 1 cheapest option, do it!

I had been considering going to Spain and living in one of those God awful Pomie areas so I didn't have to learn Spanish properly. Somewhere very close to the beach so I could spend all day on the beach and every evening in a bar - until it killed me.

Where do I begin? First, 15% works out to about $20k/year. I have no debt, no car payments, no CC balance, nada. Next, I've deferred my property taxes and they're only payable when I sell, or die.

After that, my expenses are pretty basic. Car and house insurance being my biggest annual expense. I don't travel much. My career had me travelling all over the world so at this stage of my life, I have no desire to see the inside of an airplane.

My daily routine has me up at 5AM. I go for my morning run, home for breakfast. Then I pretty much spend the rest of my day in my workshop. My buddies show up throughout the day for a chat.

I limit eating out to twice a month. Pick up vids at the local library, cut my cable, internet, and phone bill to $33/month.

I make my own beer and wine. Enjoy a steak once a week. And prefer to meet my buddies at home, rather than the pub.

Keeping life simple allows me to get by on about $17k/year, with $3k saved for contingencies (and Porsche parts)😄

A success story if there ever was one! Somewhat similar to mine.
You're living your life on your own terms. Most excellent! :)

I don't know how old you guys are, but for those of us who are not retired, not enjoying a pension, or not a recipient of guaranteed retirement funds, know that there's no guarantee of a pension or adequate health care benefits for the rest of your life. Laws can change, like pensions can get taxed (especially or at least means adjusted), and crap happens--like high inflation.

Buy and maintain passive income sources like apartments that you can do much of the repairs yourself. Maintain a good relationship with your tenants and raise rents to offset inflation. If you've planned well enough and life a modest and HEALTHY lifestyle, with a lot of genetic luck, you can retire early. How early depends on the "needs" of your children or elderly dependents.

Yes!
Like I said above...whore-pie politicians...looking out for their own self interests.
It's us against them, boys!...and not party-specific.
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"The Constitution is a restraining order against the federal government."

Try Key West ....

I use to make around 250k, now we are spending around 100k. But I'm no longer paying SS or maxing out the 401k. I'm also not saving for early retirement. I keep an eye on what we are spending, but we are spending more now that we are retired than when we were working, except for when the kids were in college.

So are we living on 40% of what we use to make, but we always lived on about 40%, that's how we quit working at 50.

And we could live on less, but as long as the net worth is growing I'm not worried about it.

My 60% pension works out to about 85% of what I was making working. Difference is no pension contributions and a lower tax bracket now. My wife retired around the same time without a company pension .She will get a gov,t pension starting in a few months and we have a rental property which generates another $5-600 /mo. We have a small house in Florida where we spend the winters . A big foreign trip would mean saving for it . Our cars are paid for so is our Florida home ,we have a small mortgage on our house because we moved last year.

Retirement seems so far off...but it is coming, and I am trying to prepare.

I just turned 30 this last July, and I have a little over 7 years in a State pension plan that earns 2% of my highest income within the system per year. I was contributing 10% to my 401k, but I have cut it back to 5% to try and aggressively pay back my grad school student loans. I expect to be out of my student loans in 5 years. I am reducing my short-term debts, and by this time next year will only owe on a house and my little car. No more credit card debt.

For those of you who have retired, or who have bridged that gap between barely living check to check to having that extra money to put towards retirement or investments, what would be my best bet for long term growth in money? I am hoping to keep my current home as a future rental, and my goal is to own several rentals or a small apartment building. I am handy, and willing to tackle home projects. Any advice for a guy coming up would be great.

You just said it right there...far as I'm concerned.
PM motion...he's a wise man in this regard.

60 Y/o, the wifey and I make about $300K per year. Paying off the house in the next three years, retiring in five or less. I'd retire now, but my employer (Disney) sends me all around the World on their buck. I fly Internationally Business Class. I've been to probably 20 countries, on their buck. Going to NZ (again) in a few months and OZ for the 1st time soon. I enjoy having someone else pay for me to go to far away places that I'd otherwise never get to see. Have almost $2 million in net worth. So not too worried. Our pensions and SS won't be that great, about $125K/year. I/we plan on "retiring" in 3-4 years. We'll most likely leave SoCal, for a lower priced and lower taxed area that is not too hot, not too cold, not too humid. Still trying to figure out where that place is.

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"...abut $125K/year....won't be that great..."
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You poor baby. ;)
Only in my dreams.

Don, with all due respect, no comment. Like I said, I'll move somewhere else like Dismal Nitch, AZ. Believe it or not, $125K/year living in SoCal isn't "rich" by any means. That is why I'll be moving somewhere else.

Hugh, no disrespect intended. I admire hard work and dedication.
Envy is a b_tch. :D
I admire what you've done. Seriously.
Capitalism is the best chance for prosperity for all...IMO.
Good on you! SmileWavy
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Edit: I moved out of KA due to the high cost of living there.
Just funnin' with ya.

I plan to call it a day in 4 years at 62 and we should be able to live on 1/2 our income pretty easily. We do like to travel still and we may have to see more of this country. Managing money and living small has always been pretty easy for me but the Porsche racing may have to be curtailed some.

Worse case scenario I move into my kids basement in Oceanside, sit on the porch all day drankin' and holler "GET OFF MY LAWN!" as the kids walk by after school.

Don, no worries.

I'll get my retirement from several sources, including a small pension from my employer, I'll only have been there 15 years, plus SS; and 15 years of CalPERS for the wife, plus her SS. I'll also get a princely sum of $300/month from a gig that I had for five years.

In retrospect, I had a government job when I first got out of college, I should have stayed there, I'd get a 90% pension on my base salary after 30 years. After decades of consulting and finally working for my current employer, I'll get closer to 20%.

I've been putting away at least the maximum money in an IRA for the last 35 years since I got out of college, which has grown very nicely. I have a few other investments (real estate).

I've finally convinced my 25 year old son, who is working, at a not great paying job, to put away at least $100/month into an IRA, about the cost of a Starbucks Latte every day. Who can't put away $3/day?

Sounds good, Hugh. A wise and prudent man.
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Back during the early dot.com days (70's) I loved my business and it often seemed like the money was coincidental.
I was pounding $4k - $6k/mo. into Mutual Funds.
You could throw a dart at a stock or Mutual Fund and make good appreciation.
One year my T. Rowe Price New Asia MF went up 93%. The good old days.

If you are going to God awful Wellington we could have drinks or coffee at a new place right on the beach called Spruce Goose.

You'll like Australia. Even the bad places are good.