How much cash do you need

[CityFarmer]

True. There's no point to retire early and live like a "Beggar" for the sake of retiring. Rather I feel reasonable WANTS need to be achieved and with Safety Margin. You can't expect yourself to go back to work later on when there is not enough cash to go around. We can't turn back the clock once we hit 70s, 80s or even 60s. The job is not there any more and your Salary is probably so low is not going to matter much.

Retire shouldn't mean do nothing and waiting to die.   It should mean financial freedom, and free to chose what to do e.g. a career change to a lesser income, yet more meaningful or desired job

[wsreader]

Retire shouldn't mean do nothing and waiting to die.   It should mean financial freedom, and free to chose what to do e.g. a career change to a lesser income, yet more meaningful or desired job

May I suggest do not wait until achieving financial freedom to change to a more meaningful or desired job.

Something to ponder :
"Don't sleepwalk through life: Warren Buffett" from 1:45min onwards
http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000497630

[opmi]

Retire shouldn't mean do nothing and waiting to die.   It should mean financial freedom, and free to chose what to do e.g. a career change to a lesser income, yet more meaningful or desired job

May I suggest do not wait until achieving financial freedom to change to a more meaningful or desired job.

Something to ponder :
"Don't sleepwalk through life: Warren Buffett" from 1:45min onwards
http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000497630

Yes. Many people have this type of thinking "After I make $XXm (or when my children grows up etc) , then I will focus on doing this and that for society/charity". 
I think it is a concurrent thing rather than a sequential thing.

[corydorus]

I think there is no fixed rule that you can only enjoy after retire. I think it ties to individual situation and fully agreed concurrent is best if you can manage and do it. Why not.

The best job to enjoy is to work on the job you enjoy for long time before you can FF to retire. And i probably won't consider to actually retire as i will be very well paid using very little of my time since i am very good at it by then and which job that i tip-toe to work (hee hee)!

[Big Toe]

One has to choose your own path. More often than not the things that I enjoy doing does not pay well, and often I end up paying to stay in a job.
Whereas the jobs that I do not like often pays very well. After much deliberation, I decided to go for the job that does not pay and instead have to often dig my own pocket to stay in it. A bold and stupid move by all measures(heck, life is short). So in order to pay for the job I am in, I have to think of other ways to make money but does not take up too much time.

And that's how it is. Most people are just comfortable in their own jobs(sure it is stressful, but imagine taking the job away, that would probably be more stressful) to think about what to do next. What I think would be wise is to get something going to supplement your existing income and have it ultimately replace your salary entirely. Retirement is not a subject of concern once you get a relatively steady stream of income. And yes, no one said it was easy.

[sgd]

One has to choose your own path.  More often than not the things that I enjoy doing does not pay well, and often I end up paying to stay in a job.
Whereas the jobs that I do not like often pays very well.  After much deliberation, I decided to go for the job that does not pay and instead have to often dig my own pocket to stay in it. A bold and stupid move by all measures(heck, life is short). So in order to pay for the job I am in, I have to think of other ways to make money but does not take up too much time.

And that's how it is. Most people are just comfortable in their own jobs(sure it is stressful, but imagine taking the job away, that would probably be more stressful) to think about what to do next. What I think would be wise is to get something going to supplement your existing income and have it ultimately replace your salary entirely.  Retirement is not a subject of concern once you get a relatively steady stream of income. And yes, no one said it was easy.

Yah I think your's have more ring to it. Not everybody can find a job that pays well that you also enjoy doing.

Unless you are the boss of your own business (and naturally get lion share of the earnings) that you wouldn't have gone into if you didn't like it in the first place.

[Porkbelly]

I believe that financial freedom
allows options:

- how much effort to earn $$
- how much time to earn $$
- No supervior, manager, boss, to dictate terms. ( the market does that )

How much $$ is required to achieve that is up to the indivdual.
But there are some fixed points that must be met such as

-Utilities bills,
-Food
-Health care ( dentist, eye care..)

These are long term, regular bills that one has to pay over a lifetime... rich or poor.
Beyond this, its very much up to you how you want to live your life.

What car you own (or any)
What housing you live in
Where you have vacations
Where you eat, what you eat
What clothes you wear

Are all the variables... and it determines how much money you need.

If you inherited $2 million, and already have a home that
is paid up, as a single person, you have financial freedom.

The next question is:

How long will the freedom last?

[sgd]

In some ways when you drill right down to the bone, money is actually "Time" everybody has time is how you use your and other people's time to do things get from or for you.

Nobody has enough need of money but everybody has plenty of time.

You build a house with aim to sell it. if you build it on your own it will take ages and lots of headaches or you can hire people you are actually buying their time to front all these headaches and issues for you and even then despite everything you have done it's still not a sure thing. Nothing about money is ever easy.



My colleague returned to india some time back to build her house.

She tells me, after she buy the land from government which just consists of the plot and bare support pillars she had to source her own architect to come out with the design, who would then advise her based on the design how much building materials to buy and how many workers to hire then she would again source the cheapest.

Then to make sure the workers are working and materials don't get stolen she got to hire 2 village relatives as day and night site supervisors cum security guards and in order to make sure these relatives are not eating snake themselves she got to take leave go back to india for a few month.

I tell her why don't get a developer "pao ka liao" do everything end to end for you, she say that's the practice in india.

[corydorus]

In some ways when you drill right down to the bone, money is actually "Time" everybody has time is how you use your and other people's time to do things get from or for you.

Nobody has enough need of money but everybody has plenty of time.

You build a house with aim to sell it. if you build it on your own it will take ages and lots of headaches or you can hire people you are actually buying their time to front all these headaches and issues for you and even then despite everything you have done it's still not a sure thing. Nothing about money is ever easy.



My colleague returned to india some time back to build her house.

She tells me, after she buy the land from government which just consists of the plot and bare support pillars she had to source her own architect to come out with the design, who would then advise her based on the design how much building materials to buy and how many workers to hire then she would again source the cheapest.

Then to make sure the workers are working and materials don't get stolen she got to hire 2 village relatives as day and night site supervisors cum security guards and in order to make sure these relatives are not eating snake themselves she got to take leave go back to india for a few month.

I tell her why don't get a developer "pao ka liao" do everything end to end for you, she say that's the practice in india.

They have yet get past the Industrial Age ! (Joking... don't poke me)

[sgd]

In some ways when you drill right down to the bone, money is actually "Time" everybody has time is how you use your and other people's time to do things get from or for you.

Nobody has enough need of money but everybody has plenty of time.

You build a house with aim to sell it. if you build it on your own it will take ages and lots of headaches or you can hire people you are actually buying their time to front all these headaches and issues for you and even then despite everything you have done it's still not a sure thing. Nothing about money is ever easy.



My colleague returned to india some time back to build her house.

She tells me, after she buy the land from government which just consists of the plot and bare support pillars she had to source her own architect to come out with the design, who would then advise her based on the design how much building materials to buy and how many workers to hire then she would again source the cheapest.

Then to make sure the workers are working and materials don't get stolen she got to hire 2 village relatives as day and night site supervisors cum security guards and in order to make sure these relatives are not eating snake themselves she got to take leave go back to india for a few month.

I tell her why don't get a developer "pao ka liao" do everything end to end for you, she say that's the practice in india.

They have yet get past the Industrial Age ! (Joking... don't poke me)

From talking to various indian colleagues I glean that in their country people are trying to scam each other all the time. Developer will inflate the price but deliver little or go bust run away with people's money - there's no trust.