This is an interesting rhetorical question (since I am many years past that age and will not be retiring for a long time) that I have seen from a few financial bloggers, so I will give my opinion on this critical goal (for some folks). Anyone can retire at 35. If you start early enough, remember Investing is like Golf. FIRE seems to be the new watchword. Financial Independence Retire Early is a lovely idea, but is it feasible?
The primary thing you should do is plan on not living past 40. You can retire at 35 no problem. You might be able to retire at 32. OK, that is me being a snarky-pants on that one; however, the idea might be that you “retire” at 35 and then go back to work at “40,”a change of career concept.
The concept of a mid-life career change has worked very well for many associates and friends. If, at age 35, you decide you don’t want to be a “grunt programmer” and go back to school to become a Lawyer or Doctor, you have retired from your old career but are “reborn” in your new job. This is not FIRE. Does that seem to imply you stop working?
Another great idea is to plan on winning the lottery at 35. Then you can retire for sure. However, you may return to work at 40 since if you buy lottery tickets, you will most likely blow most of that money as well.
If all you are trying to do is retire 30 years before the “normal retirement age,” stop worrying. In about ten years, the retirement age will be moved up to 75, and thus, 45 will become the new 35!
Why Retire at 35 ?
I guess my real question is: You want to retire at 35? What the hell are you going to do for the 50 years after that? If you tell me “explore the world,” I’ll let you know “the world” can get tedious after a while. Why not just aspire to be DEBT FREE by 35 and able to do what you want at 35? You don’t like your job, quit, and do something you want, that is the greatest freedom. If you want to change careers, no problem, you can do it.
Who wants to retire at 35 completely? Is FIRE a believable idea?
Retiring that early sounds like a dream, but definitely doable in the finance realm. In fact I’ve known a Canadian investor that retired at 28 through effective stock investing and real estate. He knew how to beat recessions, inflation and uncertain market conditions, but he worked like a dog in his twenties. That is the flipside. Some would rather take the time to fully enjoy their youth.
Nothing wrong with enjoying your 40’s as well!
35 is a very early age for retirement and I think that there are still lot of things you can earn through that age, but if you wanted to retire by that age it is your personal call. My uncle who is a retiree are now enjoying the benefits of binary options, you may check more on how you can turn a good trade into more money, check on binary broker optionbit http: //optionbitsreview.com and you can enjoy the same returns my uncle is having right now.
This proves that people are becoming less creative. There are millions of things one can do. Start reading and see what inspires you. I have been retired since 42 and I will not live long enough to do all the things I would like to do. I am busy every day of my life. This is a big big world and so much to learn.
When “retirement” was first created as a concept at the time of the introduction of CPP, 65 became the normal age to do it. Life expectancy was only about about two more years. People started working at 15, so by 35 they would have worked 20 years. The 35 age holy grail of retirement is where you somehow cheated the system, working 20 years and being retired 30+ years. It’s all about saying to everyone, “ha, ha look at me, I’m retired, you’re not, I’m smart, you’re a dummy still working away”.
But people no longer die at 67. and what with modern young folk taking longer to get an education, finding themselves and their career, a spouse, doing the procreation thing, many have barely begun serious work at 35. One could almost say that retiring at 35 nowadays effectively means never actually working at all (but then, can you retire if you have never worked?).
To keep with the original concept of early retirement (20 years on, then 30 years off) we need to take account of the fact that life expectancy for those reaching their 30s is somewhere around 85. Taking 30 years off death age brings us to 55, the new 35.
I actually want to retire from the corporate world at 35 (I’m turning 32 this year) but I certainly don’t want to stop working at all.
I agree with you that spending the next 50 years of my life of simply exploring the world would probably end-up being boring.
The point is reaching financial independence (e.g. not having to work 9 to 5 everyday) as soon as possible. Then, there are plenty of things you can do to occupy your mind 🙂
I used to be in a rush to retire but it turned out that I just really hated my job. Instead of investing every spare penny into dividend stocks, I now enjoy a balance of investing for retirement and investing in life with tropical vacations, new hobbies and experiences while I’m young. I’m not sure if people who retire at 35 will have the excess funds to do that in their 30’s, let alone 50’s and 60’s.
I think the trick is to find a job where you constantly ask yourself, “Are they really paying me to do this?”
I would love to retire at 35!!! It would be so nice to just lay on the couch all day, watching The Price is Right and all the soaps.
My passive income from real estate, and dividends exceeded my expenses at about age 32. I am 41 now and have not had a regular job since then. I agree that doing nothing but leisure is great for awhile, but even that it gets boring. What is fortunate is when you are financially free you can afford to work on your own terms.
If you don’t want to retire at 35 or 45 years old, what will happen to you when you are downsized in your mid-life and you have “no particular place to go.” I think it’s going to be a part of our own future where people will no longer want to be slaves to a corporation but masters of their own destiny. The challenge is will you be able to craft your OWN job or small business as a 50+ Entrepreneur. Then, you will have the power (grey power) to live a life that is more satisfying rather than being subjugated to a career that is not of your own choosing.
Without defining “retire” this question is difficult. If we define “retire” as not working for money anymore (because you have enough), then there is much that one can do to make the world a better place that involves work but no pay.
If we define “retire” as not working, then life will get pretty boring pretty quickly.
If I could have “retired” at 35 and worked on my own terms to make the world a better place, I would have.
I consider people who are very well off and work to get more without really making the world a better place a scourge. Do something for someone for free.
It’s a state of “Mind”…I’m like Jan’s post above ,but my wife will work until her death bed…sad really
What are you going to do for the next 50 years!? What can’t you do? If that is your response then work is taking too big a role in your life. There’s so much I want to do and if the 8 hours in the middle of the day didn’t tire me out so much I would be able to do it in the off hours but most of us are pretty beat by the end of the day.. Gardening, raising animals, going to the gym everyday, learning to cook all kinds of ethnic food, planning trips, traveling, there is so much to fill a day, I would never get bored..
I think my former golf buddies are glad I quit golf. My last tee shot landed among them about 30 feet behind the tee with quite a bit of energy and rebounded a good ways from there! It was a game I liked to call “Whap @#$%!!!11!!!!” so no great loss there!
I, as like most in Canada, will retire in my 70s. I am 51, starting a new career, but luckily with no debt. I have been semi-retired, mostly because I could not find a job in my last career. So I went to school and did exceptionally well, and am now trying to find the job. I burned through all my retirement income to get to this point but at least I am here with more knowledge than what I had before. “Never give up! Never surrender!!!”
I am in my late 40s so I missed retiring at 35 by a few years. I still have HELOC debt of $16,900 so I have a long way to go to be debt free too but I am ready to retire now. All I need is the money.
I would take long morning walks with friends, volunteer with Habitat For Humanity and maybe finally clean my basement
Great post. For me retiring with 35 does not mean to do nothing. For me retiring is more like having no duties in my day job. I love money and I love investing but often I just have not enough time to take care about investments. If I could retire at an early stage I would encourage my own projects like real estate, self employment or stock investing. Retiring for me means being financially independent and having the time for my own projects.
Many people I know are having their children at 30-35. If they did retire at 35, they’d stay home 7×24 and look after their children. That might be one kind of retirement, but it certainly wouldn’t be the kind most people imagine.
That is not a retirement, that is choosing a much tougher career.
My goal was financial freedom before 40! I achieved it at 38 years old! I did it through income property and businesses. I was always a saver and decided to invest in income property. I get to work at things I enjoy rather than things I have to do.
I’m not even sure what I’d do if I retired at 65. I hate golf.
I’ll just do something else, my former golf buddies will be glad to hear I won’t attempt to follow them around asking, “Did you see where that went?”