I would like to retire at 55. But how do you know if you have enough saved? My retired friends say you don’t need as much as you think.

^ you need to figure out your monthly expenses first. You should have 25 X your yearly expenses to live at the same level you are now. SS would be a cushion for you but you will need 25 to 30 times your yearly expenses to be safe if you are stopping at 55. It also depend what age you are when you want to retire and your life expectancy.

If you have some saving etc. you can do the 4% rule to see how much you can spend each year form what you have now and see if you can live from that number.

If you have no debt you can live on a lot less income than when you were establishing yourself,with a mortgage,kids,etc.You still need an income though.

Snow - 25 to 30 times whatever? We (future retirees) need to live as frugal as possible & then base income/incoming (can't figure health care cost I know) monies on that result.

My opinion.

^ whatever works for you. I can say if I need 2500$ a month to live that would be 30000$ a year, right? So 30000$ times 25 years of life you most likely would need 750000$ to have enough to live on for those 25 years. SS would be a cushion for your retirement and earned gains on your money you have. If you are going to keep having other income it does get easier on those numbers. I personally don't want to live like a dog and eat cat food just to be frugal. If you live with in your means retirement can be a success. For some it doesn't work out so well.

This is just my thought processes on checking to see if a person can retire. Everyone is different and should have a plan. IMO

Good post!

Frisky cat food is bait not food! Funny though.

Lived on the edge all my life.
Nothing new.

My financial planner said at age 55 I can draw out 3% and have the same income I do now, and if all goes well still gain 5% in my 401k each yr. I wonder how accurate this is. 55 sounds really good to me.

Retired 7 years now, writing this on my way back from fishing in Canada, we caught 250 walleye,100 small mouth, 1 pike. Great time, met lots of good people. Love retirement.:)

The best part is getting up at 6:00 a.m. and driving around town really slow, making everybody late for work...

Gary - When I'm in a hurry, I despise folks driving slow. Then when I have time to burn, I enjoy the slow driving. Go figure!

I retired a few months ago at 56. If you've planned well, and can swing it, I highly recommend it.