R    E    T    I    R    E        E   A   R   L   Y        L    I    F    E    S    T    Y    L    E
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Meet Billy and Akaisha Kaderli of Phoenix who retired eight years ago at age 38. Billy was a stockbroker, Akaisha managed and then sold a successful family restaurant. No children, so a lot easier. No child rearing costs, no saving for college.

And Mark and Jill Freer, barely 40 but poised to retire within a year... double income, no children also. For three years Mark worked in the Middle East, Jill investing all his hefty paychecks sent home into the bull market. Add to the equation they’ve been big time 401-K savers all along and have a great corporate retirement plan. Financial planners say it’s a winning formula for early retirement. 

Billy and Akaisha set up a financial goal for their retirement of $500,000 fully invested. 

And then the spending side of it again, is a personal decision, but probably somewhere around $25,000 or $30,000 a year. 

How about Mark and Jill? 

Well, it really depends on lifestyle, and it is most important to start off being debt free which we are.

Financial Planner Bob Baltes says it pays to start as young as you can. If you’re a couple age 21, for example, here’s the ticket.

Well, in 25 years if they can manage to put away $2,000 each into an IRA and have tax-deferred growth and maintain a growth rate of about 12% a year which, by the way, is what the stock market has been averaging, they will have accumulated approximately $600,000 by age 46. A couple with children, I would think a million dollars would be a safer bet.

What inspired Billy and Akaisha, Mark and Jill, are books like these by authors who live the life many of the rest of us long for. And websites like this one which as a public service, helps YOU do the number crunching.

So I had to decide how much was enough for us. When we first started we had a goal of $50 a day, and we divided that up into categories, and we’ve increased that now to $60 a day.

Financial planners say it’s important to save for retirement regularly, no matter what your age.

We recommend always... save till it hurts. Number one, if you have retirement plans, maximize whatever can be put into those retirement plans. Most plans do have an employer match, so you’re leaving money on the table if you’re not maximizing retirement plans offered by your employer.

Billy and Akaisha average well over 12% a year on their investment, so at that rate they still have thousands left over each year to reinvest. Works for them, but there are some things to think about.

Number one, you should have a good health insurance policy. You should consider a disability or an accident insurance policy, and also be aware that the stock market is going to have its ups and downs so your portfolio should be diversified.

Well, we do carry insurance through a major company, however we do carry high deductibles because we figure if we need to go to a doctor, we can afford to pay that, and if you go into another country such as Mexico where we spend so much time, a doctor visit down there is about $12 or $13. Plus the fact that once you retire, you eliminate lots of stress in your life and you tend not to be sick.

So what if the stock market collapsed, say as much as 50%, would Mark and Jill have to start all over again? Are they prepared? Have they thought it through carefully enough?

Well, yes we have and life is a risk. You really don’t know what tomorrow will bring, but we’ve planned for that and we do intend to have medical insurance. And, if things change along the way, maybe we will have to go back to work, but we are ready for the challenge.

We are happy.

It works.

I’ve never been so happy in my life! I feel like for the first time I’m living my life. Before I was “doing” my life, now I’m living my life.