Early retirement planning is not something you will hear a lot about from your financial planner. At school they spend as much time on how to get you to retire early, as West Point cadets spend on how to surrender…it is not in the curriculum at Financial Planning University.
Instead of thinking what rate of return your portfolio needs achieve to retire in 5 years…be thinking how you will feel physically in five years. If you are in your fifties think about how many of your peer group is now running faster or hitting one less club to your favorite par three…hmm, what I thought, they talk more and more about aches and pain.
Remember when the I aisle at the drug store was for indigestion and insomnia? Now it is for incontinence and impotence. Just joking…I hope.
We know, I retired at 49…15 years ago. There is no way I would be able to do the things now we did 15 years ago. I am not referring only to virility either. You should give much more thought to the affects of age on retirement.
What good will it do you to be a wealthy man at 65 if you cannot enjoy your money? If you are in better physical condition at 65 than you were at 50, please donate your body to the local med school…they would be interested in how you did it.
Do you consider how much stress you are putting on your body to achieve “Your number”? That commercial is all about money, what most financial planners deal with…it does not address at all your increasing age and declining physical ability.
To sum up, would you rather have X at 50 and be able to physically enjoy your retirement? Alternatively, would you rather have 2X or 3X at 65 and be too worn out to enjoy your money?
Make sure your early retirement planning takes into account your age as well as your portfolio balance and yield. Enjoy.