How much capital do I need to retire comfortably on ?

[JBmurc]

Personal I plan to retire from my labour intensive job once we have a Debt free home and passive net income of $500pw ... but of course I will just replace my labour intensive job with a more lifestyle friendly job and in turn focus more on my sharetrading ... I don't ever plan to retire completely ..
Goal is before my 40th ... only few more years to go ,..

[h2so4]

Is 7% realistic given you have to be reasonably low risk to ensure you dont lose capital. Ironically, the more capital you have, the more risk you can take as you aren't as dependant on maintain the capital to maintain the income.

The biggest issue with early retirement, from what I can see, is what do you do with your time, and more specifically how much does that cost. If your hobby cost money and you increase it from 2 days a week to 7 days a week, that requires an increase in income. In some ways, having a job stops you from spending money!

I'd be looking for a secondary hobby that generated an income to support my full time hobby but I wouldn't have a J.O.B.

[Beagle]

Is 7% realistic given you have to be reasonably low risk to ensure you dont lose capital. Ironically, the more capital you have, the more risk you can take as you aren't as dependant on maintain the capital to maintain the income.

The biggest issue with early retirement, from what I can see, is what do you do with your time, and more specifically how much does that cost. If your hobby cost money and you increase it from 2 days a week to 7 days a week, that requires an increase in income. In some ways, having a job stops you from spending money!

Yep, That's very true. I plan to enjoy boating a LOT when I retire so I'd better re-work my numbers...

[h2so4]

Yep, That's very true. I plan to enjoy boating a LOT when I retire so I'd better re-work my numbers...

Aye aye captain

[BeeBop]

I retired at 40 yrs old once I had a passive income of 40k. Got husband working though and managed to grow our capital significantly over the 5 yrs since retiring...helped somewhat by the market's timing...bought in the dip of 2010 and managed to catch the recovery. Interestingly, despite a good salary whilst working, I have added more value per year than when on salary...but my hobby is real life monopoly!

[smpl]

Using an annualized average of 15 years of my investment returns - it is reasonable to assume that I can get an passive income of 40k per year from my portfolio going forward. Several years of tax work says that it costs me 24k per year to live a good quality of life in New Zealand (good food, utilities, transport, clothes, fun stuff, living conservatively). Although I do live rent free with a home and income - ie rent pays for the mortgage. I spend an additional 6k per year on 'unnecessary' things ie eating out, alcohol, holidays, personal expressions through commercial expenditure. After taking into account i) inflation ii) tax iii) mortgage repayments iv) savings for retirement and v) future savings and expenditure for family, then I have a decent amount of residual income remaining, especially if I cut my expenditure a little bit...

I am 30 years old and began to question the value of accumulating wealth just for myself. Research into the components of fulfilling work revealed that meaning is by far far the most significant factor. So I think I can and make a real difference over the rest of my life then I should apply the Principles of Compound Interest (ie 1. start young 2. give often) to Making A Difference in my career. See charities recommend by GiveWell and The Life You Can Save.

What do you think?

[BeeBop]

Using an annualized average of 15 years of my investment returns - it is reasonable to assume that I can get an passive income of 40k per year from my portfolio going forward. Several years of tax work says that it costs me 24k per year to live a good quality of life in New Zealand (good food, utilities, transport, clothes, fun stuff, living conservatively). Although I do live rent free with a home and income - ie rent pays for the mortgage. I spend an additional 6k per year on 'unnecessary' things ie eating out, alcohol, holidays, personal expressions through commercial expenditure. After taking into account i) inflation ii) tax iii) mortgage repayments iv) savings for retirement and v) future savings and expenditure for family, then I have a decent amount of residual income remaining, especially if I cut my expenditure a little bit...

I am 30 years old and began to question the value of accumulating wealth just for myself. Research into the components of fulfilling work revealed that meaning is by far far the most significant factor. So I think I can and make a real difference over the rest of my life then I should apply the Principles of Compound Interest (ie 1. start young 2. give often) to Making A Difference in my career. See charities recommend by GiveWell and The Life You Can Save.

What do you think?

When you "retire", along with managing your own family/life (which also keeps costs down), I can assure you that you can also give a lot of time: there are many organisations that really really appreciate human time as opposed to just cash donations. Schools for reading recovery support, Scouts/Guiding, animal rescue, rural volunteer services naming just a tiny drop. We have a regular donation programme going plus I contribute in time to three different organisations (although, I do have to restrict the time I can give otherwise I would be pulled in three different directions).

[smpl]

For all practical purposes I have already retired. Good point on how managing your own family/lift keeps costs down and I think the way you spend your time is very admirable. The cause that I am exploring at the moment argues that our money (and time) gets the most bang for buck helping the poorest billion (ie living on less than $1 per day) - a group that we do not have in New Zealand.

[Aaron]

here is a good article on the issue.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/n...ectid=11542103

[Aaron]

Not a very informative article but interesting that the next generation working longer for less, is a given. Why do young people just accept this.

http://money.cnn.com/2015/12/02/news...ecd/index.html