5 ms·

Is it really common to retire at 35? I'd think it would be just a few could afford that. Around here property taxes plus health insurance for a family is $50k/y

by rb808 8y ago

Is it really common to retire at 35? I'd think it would be just a few could afford that. Around here property taxes plus health insurance for a family is $50k/yr. So from 35->65 that is $1.5m. Not including cost of living of course. Maybe the stock market has been way too successful in the last few decades. Ask a European or Japanese person about retiring early and living off the market. (of course many 35 year olds are struggling to save for a house deposit let alone thinking about retiring)

gedy 8y ago
Yeah I only hear that from 20 somethings who extrapolate their 401k and salary from past 3-4 years of good gains. It's all they've known. I used to think that way, but after the two big downturns in 2001 and 2008 I am sadly a lot more realistic now..
joejerryronnie 8y ago
No, it is not common - even in the mythical valley. Very few people relative to the entire industry strike it rich with enough money to travel the world drinking champagne and eating caviar. The typical valley story goes: When you're 20 - Live in SF and chase your startup dream of making it big. Most likely left with a bunch of worthless options and too little pay for the hours you worked, but great friends and memories (mostly of the after hours parties). When you're 30 - Transition to FAANG like company. Live in SF and commute to the valley. Start making some real money but feel like you sold out. Still harbor dreams of quitting and launching your startup - right after that next big vesting period. When you're 40 - Screw startups, you've got a family to feed, a mortgage to pay, and college tuition to think about. You've finally made the move from super-hipster, urban, walkable SF to a random suburb in the valley and may have even purchased gasp a minivan! Secretly, you find it a much more pleasurable living experience than SF but won't admit that to anyone. When you're 50 - Hopefully, through hard work, smart financial decisions, and a little risk taking, you've gotten your finances under control. You've figured out how to use debt effectively, have a solid set of investments, and ideally are working toward multiple streams of income. You can now legitimately plan your next big career progression, whether that's retirement (still several years out), scaling back your full time work to focus on passion projects, or actually launching that startup (with a statistically much higher probability of success than any 20-something founder).

by rb808 8y ago

gedy 8y ago

Yeah I only hear that from 20 somethings who extrapolate their 401k and salary from past 3-4 years of good gains. It's all they've known. I used to think that way, but after the two big downturns in 2001 and 2008 I am sadly a lot more realistic now..

joejerryronnie 8y ago

No, it is not common - even in the mythical valley. Very few people relative to the entire industry strike it rich with enough money to travel the world drinking champagne and eating caviar. The typical valley story goes: When you're 20 - Live in SF and chase your startup dream of making it big. Most likely left with a bunch of worthless options and too little pay for the hours you worked, but great friends and memories (mostly of the after hours parties). When you're 30 - Transition to FAANG like company. Live in SF and commute to the valley. Start making some real money but feel like you sold out. Still harbor dreams of quitting and launching your startup - right after that next big vesting period. When you're 40 - Screw startups, you've got a family to feed, a mortgage to pay, and college tuition to think about. You've finally made the move from super-hipster, urban, walkable SF to a random suburb in the valley and may have even purchased gasp a minivan! Secretly, you find it a much more pleasurable living experience than SF but won't admit that to anyone. When you're 50 - Hopefully, through hard work, smart financial decisions, and a little risk taking, you've gotten your finances under control. You've figured out how to use debt effectively, have a solid set of investments, and ideally are working toward multiple streams of income. You can now legitimately plan your next big career progression, whether that's retirement (still several years out), scaling back your full time work to focus on passion projects, or actually launching that startup (with a statistically much higher probability of success than any 20-something founder).