Can I Retire Early?

 When Early Retirement Comes Into View

When you're in the early or the middle parts of your working career, retirement can seem like nothing more than an impossible dream. But at some point, usually during your mid-forties, the idea of no longer working starts to become more of a reality. This is when you begin to ask yourself: Can I actually do it? Can I retire early? Does this scenario sound familiar?

This is by no means an easy question to answer. If it was it wouldn’t be the number one question I hear and see all around as people enter the second half of their careers. While I believe almost everyone should get the advice of a professional CERFTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ when making this decision, there are some ways to start figuring out how close you are to realizing your retirement dreams.

Here's a list of fundamental questions you'll need to answer to decide if you can retire early.

Can You Replace Your Current Income?

Although everyone's circumstances are unique and different, the main question you have to answer is if you'll have enough money to retire early. The first step is to understand where your income will come from in retirement to replace your paycheck.

·        How much Social Security will I be receiving?

·        How much in retirement savings will I have accrued by then? Remember that your 401k or Traditional IRA is tax deferred money, meaning for every dollar you take out you will owe taxes (fed and state).

·        How much will my cash savings be by then if current patterns continue?

·        What about my non retirement investments? What is the total income I can reasonably expect from my portfolio at this time?

·        Will I have any income from rental properties? How much will this income be?

·        How much will my annuities generate for me?

·        How much income will I receive from my pension (if applicable)?

·        What about any part time work I might do during retirement? How much income will I receive from it?

Answer these questions to arrive at a reasonable starting figure. Once you've done this, you can begin to refine your speculations by using the methods we discuss in the following sections.

How Much of Your Current Income Will You Actually Need to Replace?

Clearly, the controlling idea here is to replace all or most of your current income by using the above sources. And while this is a great place to start, there are many other considerations as well, most of which depend on your particular needs, goals, and life circumstances.

The truth is you may or may not need to replace all of your current income to retire early.

Here are some things you'll need to consider regarding your retirement income needs.

·        How much will your lifestyle change once you retire?

·        In what ways will your lifestyle change? Can you get by comfortably with a little less income?

·        Will you want to maintain emergency funds that are over and above your health, homeowner's, and life insurance?

·        What are your specific goals and dreams for your retirement? Will you have enough to achieve them and still maintain a reasonably comfortable lifestyle?

After you've come up with the answers to these questions, use them to calculate what your expected retirement income needs will be. From here, you'll have a decent idea of how close you are to reaching your early retirement goals and any changes you need to make going forward to satisfy your future income needs.

Financial advisors are able to help you figure out how to reach your financial goals and achieve financial independence as soon as possible. So while it can be a complex topic to tackle, carefully considering your lifestyle, assets, and debts will allow you to calculate a rough estimate of how long your money will last beyond your income-generating years.

No one knows what the future holds, especially when projecting out 20-30 years. That’s why it’s so important that financial planning is a process, not a one-time event (just ask Ben Carlson), that flexes and adjusts with you and the financial environment over the years.

Can you retire early? Chances are that you can with the right preparation and financial planning that puts you on the path to achieve this financial goal.

This article originally appeared on Lake Road Advisors

About the Author

Paul Sydlansky, founder of Lake Road Advisors LLC, has worked in the financial services industry for over 17 years. Prior to founding Lake Road Advisors, Paul worked as relationship manager for a Registered Investment Advisor. Previously, Paul worked at Morgan Stanley in New York City for 14 years. While at Morgan Stanley, Paul was a senior-level manager within the Institutional Equities Department. Paul received a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Marist College and holds an MBA from New York University Leonard N. Stern School of Business. Paul is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ and a member of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA), Financial Planners Association (FPA) and the XY Planning Network (XYPN)

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