To Retire At 56? Or Rough It Out...

[Dave Hounddriver]

41 minutes ago, OnMyWay said:

It is funny how the topic is about retiring at 56

That's because 56 is the dyslexic 65!

[Dr. Shiva]

9 hours ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

That's because 56 is the dyslexic 65!

But there are people around planning to retire with real age of 56 or even less. So dyslexic is that one not.

[bows00]

17 hours ago, Dr. Shiva said:

Stock market and especially currencies are very difficult to forecast. They are like playing in a casino.

And that is why people lose money in the stock market.  They attempt to predict the future, which is impossible.  The key is to stay invested and ride out ups and downs.  You can't get hurt on a roller coaster unless you jump off.  And don't put all your eggs on any one stock, but invest the entire US and International Index. 

[earthdome]

11 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

It is funny how the topic is about retiring at 56 and it seems that several members, including me, did retire at that magic number!

Same for me, retired at 56. I had my big warning at 54, heart attack and lung cancer. That wake up call helped my resolve to retire as early as possible.

[Dave Hounddriver]

I am not going to say that I wish I had worked longer.  But had I done so, I would not be clenching my teeth over this news:

"Falling gold, oil prices take toll on Toronto stock market"

You see my pension money is primarily in stocks, as bonds and bank deposits yield insufficient growth to retire young and live a long life.  So I am getting a double whammy!  My stash of cash is losing value (or growing much slower than needed) and the dollars it generates buy fewer pesos each month.

I was hurting when the CDN$ dropped to about 32 pesos to the dollar and feeling relieved when it climbed back up to 37.  Now it has been on a slow, steady decline for 3 months.  When I retired 9 years ago (on my 53rd birthday) the markets were roaring and I was getting 40 pesos to the CDN$ and it was on a growth pattern so that I was doing well when it got to 44.  It has all been downhill since 2009.

So hope for the best, but if you are gonna retire young you better plan for the worst.  My plan was, and still is, to do one of 3 things:

First, live fast, die young, and leave a good looking corpse. (I did not expect to live past 65 in my drinking, smoking and partying days.) In that event my money only had to last until I kicked the bucket.

Second, if I ran out of money while still young I could go back to work.  That could still work but at 62, with 9 years of laziness under my belt, its not so attractive.

Third, if the money lasts until 65 there is always the option of going back to Canada and living on the minimum government pension like all the other old farts who did not properly plan.

So before you retire at 56, think about all this.  No matter what you think is going to happen in the future, it could actually be worse than you expect.

Still not going back though 

[intrepid]

12 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

It is funny how the topic is about retiring at 56 and it seems that several members, including me, did retire at that magic number!

Yes, very interesting.  I was able to do it at age 55.  Eight months later,....here we are with no regrets and blessed with a family who take care of themselves.  This makes me feel good and often on outings I will help out the ones who are not as well off but still working and trying.  I really like helping more when they don't ask and I know the need.

[stevewool]

6 hours ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

I am not going to say that I wish I had worked longer.  But had I done so, I would not be clenching my teeth over this news:

"Falling gold, oil prices take toll on Toronto stock market"

You see my pension money is primarily in stocks, as bonds and bank deposits yield insufficient growth to retire young and live a long life.  So I am getting a double whammy!  My stash of cash is losing value (or growing much slower than needed) and the dollars it generates buy fewer pesos each month.

I was hurting when the CDN$ dropped to about 32 pesos to the dollar and feeling relieved when it climbed back up to 37.  Now it has been on a slow, steady decline for 3 months.  When I retired 9 years ago (on my 53rd birthday) the markets were roaring and I was getting 40 pesos to the CDN$ and it was on a growth pattern so that I was doing well when it got to 44.  It has all been downhill since 2009.

So hope for the best, but if you are gonna retire young you better plan for the worst.  My plan was, and still is, to do one of 3 things:

First, live fast, die young, and leave a good looking corpse. (I did not expect to live past 65 in my drinking, smoking and partying days.) In that event my money only had to last until I kicked the bucket.

Second, if I ran out of money while still young I could go back to work.  That could still work but at 62, with 9 years of laziness under my belt, its not so attractive.

Third, if the money lasts until 65 there is always the option of going back to Canada and living on the minimum government pension like all the other old farts who did not properly plan.

So before you retire at 56, think about all this.  No matter what you think is going to happen in the future, it could actually be worse than you expect.

Still not going back though 

Well said that man.

[stevewool]

Stocks and shares i have a few, but its been there for over 8 years, it goes up it comes down and thats it.

My biggest investment for the future is my savings , yes many say it does not make anything compared to stocks, yes you are right but it does not loose like stocks can either, its safe money for the just incase, and that is why i keep on putting it away in the safe bank too.

Next is rental from my house, now that is going to be fixed and for so long too, its going to a member of my own family so its as safe as i can make it.

I dont intent to work after i say thats it , so i must have enough cash to last me till i can get my state pension which after my saying goodbye to work day i shall have another 6 years to go to get that pension.

I am on target for what i am wanting and i am hoping it should all work out too, there are worries but they are all what ifs , i cannot change what ifs but doing what i am doing now i can to prepare for those.

I am  not as rich as many of some folks on here and it seems i dont want what many folks on here have too, but i just want to be happy and safe and less worries and stress.

Working all my life and having very little in cash terms because of my earnings and having a young family at a young age , being married twice before and loosing out to the system, its taken a long time for me to get back to where i am in control and rather rich in my eyes, its very hard to loose that income i have coming in, to having to live on savings and rental, it will be done once i know i am ready and i mean i am really ready.

[Snowy79]

For the UK individuals we currently have a triple lock on our pensions which is set at 2.5% but even that can be dropped like a hot potato by the Government. The main safety net that I can see is to buy a condo in a great tourist site. This way you can live in it and only pay for utilities and condo dues, and survive off of your pension.

If inflation goes through the roof you've got a better chance of renting your condo out and using the surplus to pay cheaper rental elsewhere. I'm in the process of viewing a condo that rents out at 5,500 php per night or about 40,000 php per month. Re-sale values are also quite high. My plan B area I can rent a one bed apartment 100m from the beach for 10,000 php per month. I'm figuring from a mate who lives there currently for rents to only increase slightly.

[jpbago]

11 hours ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

You see my pension money is primarily in stocks, as bonds and bank deposits yield insufficient growth to retire young and live a long life. It has all been downhill since 2009.

 

You must be rich as the stock market in Toronto has more than doubled since 2009. The index went from around 7,500 in 2009 to around 15,500 now.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/markets/indexes/chart/?q=tsx-i

During the 10 years ended April of 2015, the S&P TSX Index had a rank of 20 
with a return of 57%.

http://www.forecast-chart.com/historical-tsx-composite.html