At what age do you want/hope to "retire"

**smndtupidisaftr** · 06-05-2013, 06:58 PM

I'd like to do that now!

When that can happen, well, that's an entirely different question.

**bigdaddybus** · 06-05-2013, 07:38 PM

My wife and I are 39, and we are planning to retire at 62.

Two things that helped us reach that conclusion are: My youngest "should" graduate college or be on his own when we are 59, and our employer pension benefit really improves if we stay till 62.
The wild card in all this is that I am the executor of my parents estate which they are leaving me 40%. I hope they live to a very old age, but if they don't I could easily retire early with that assistance.

I work for an employer with pretty good benifits. When I am 59 I will have 5+ weeks of paid vacation each year, over a yr of sick days if needed, paid personal time, paid sick family time, good medical and dental benifits, and most important we enjoy it there. So I guess my point is, I enjoy my life and I am in no rush to get to retirement.

**sarah** · 06-05-2013, 07:55 PM

I'm planning for 62. I don't know if I will actually make it or not. The finances look good if I get a reasonable 5% return on my investments.

**smndtupidisaftr** · 06-05-2013, 08:01 PM

Originally posted by sarah View Post

I'm planning for 62. I don't know if I will actually make it or not. The finances look good if I get a reasonable 5% return on my investments.

Are you currently getting 5% or banking on stocks to grow at that rate?

**QuarterMillionMan** · 06-05-2013, 08:38 PM

Good question. A lot of times I see or hear people unrealistically retire too soon only to have to go back to work and earning maybe half of their salary after returning to the workforce out of necessity in order to try to maintain their same or comparable standard of living. Had they stayed in their current employment and not retired early their earnings potential would have been 50% more. Furthermore a lot of the people I know who retired too early and had to return to the workforce had to take jobs that they HATE! Had they stayed in their lines of work until retirment they would have been earning their top potential and possibly working in a career that they enjoyed or at least liked for the most part. Keep in mind that these people I know are in their 50's, 60's, and 70's. At this age employers would rather hire someone in their 20's or 30's.

Having said that I'm 47 and would like to retire when I'm 60, but that is wishful thinking. My retirement accounts would place me in the same boat as those people that I've mentioned above if I retire at age 60. So to answer the question my calculation puts me at age 85 to retire with my same standard of living. I just hope my mind & body hold out until then (lol).

**hamchan** · 06-05-2013, 09:39 PM

Never? I will probably have to at some point, but I don't really want to.

**sarah** · 06-05-2013, 10:32 PM

I am very fortunate. I will have a pension which will cover basic living expenses. However to answer your questions my very modest investments are currently earning 5.8% in mostly stock index funds. I am hoping to use this money to travel and for extras. Also I am convinced that Social Security will remain solvent. I see the social security problem as more political than fiscal.

**bjl584** · 06-06-2013, 03:35 AM

I'd love to go early, like at 50, but it probably won't be possible. At least it won't all things being equal. I suppose I could end up with some high paying job at some point that would allow me to go that early, but if things carry on the way that they currently are, then I will probably have to wait at least until I can tap my 401K and my Roth IRA (59.5)

**Blessed** · 06-06-2013, 04:20 AM

Since I only work a few hours a week I don't really know. I love my job. I guess I'll quit when my body won't allow me to do it. Hubby is going for the full years allowed pension. He will be 59 then. He is getting a 2/3 raise this fall and my plans are to invest it all with his blessing. I want him to be set to retire sooner if he wishes too.

**bigdaddybus** · 06-06-2013, 04:51 AM

I have to say I hate the title of this thread. People need to "plan" for retirement, not want/hope for it. I think that is the biggest problem with most Americans

**BuckyBadger** · 06-06-2013, 07:01 AM

We are *planning* to retire between 50 and 55 depending on circumstances. If we end up having a kid I'm sure it'll get pushed to the end of that range. If we get better than our conservative return estimates predict, or we get a windfall of some kind we can push it forwards.

This of course is based on my best knowledge as of right now and assumes that we meet our continuing savings goals for the next 15-20 years.

So who knows if it'll work. But we're going forward with that at a goal.

**disneysteve** · 06-06-2013, 08:05 AM

I'm shooting for 62. I'd love to retire before that (like now would be good

) but 62 is probably realistic.

**MonkeyMama** · 06-06-2013, 08:17 AM

The earliest will be age 50 (when kids could be done with college). I am mostly worried about getting the kids grown and through college, financially. I'd also like to get mortgage paid, but that might be kind of moot as our current downsize plan could be paid for in cash (right now).

Too many unknowns for now - depends if my spouse finds employment again, etc.

I imagine working seasonally or part-time *forever,* and my career leads to good seasonal and part-time work. This is because I really enjoy working and enjoy my job. BUT, I've watched so many friends and family unable to find any regular work past age 50. So it's more of a "hope for the best/plan for the worst" kind of plan, which is how we tend to be anyway.

**rennigade** · 06-06-2013, 08:34 AM

Wife and I are shooting for 55, maybe a hair earlier.

She just got a job with the feds so can now start fully funding her tsp..combined with my 401 and our roths...if we have to worry about money by age 50 I may put a bullet in my head.

At what age do you want/hope to "retire"