[dmcummins]

One of the main things that got me started with thinking about early retirement was that my mother passed away when she was 55. And I've also seen many of my relatives health deteriate in their 60's and 70's.

So in my late 30's I planned to at least be able to retire at 55. And we really didn't want for anything, just made a effort to look at things as assets or liabililities. We always had nice cars and homes, and took nice vacations.

But we also invested in land from time to time, and the stock market. This also took some time and work, and risk. I was also fortunate that my family was healthy and I've been married to the same gal for years. She was 19 and I was 23 at the time. My boys got out of college when we were still relatively young so I got those expenses out of the way early. We paid for their college as they really didn't qualify for anything as my income was to high and I didn't want them saddled with debt.

We currently get by on about a 100k per year. But could live on much less if we chose to, but like Motion, I want to do as much as I can while I'm still in decent health. My Dad quit working when he was 57, right after my mom passed. He did pretty much what he enjoyed doing, but around 75 his health nosedived. Now he is pretty much stuck at home sitting around, he can't drive, and has to use a cane. And his mind is going.