Hi, guys!
So, husband and I have been following MMM for no more than a few weeks, and we've started working on our thrift spendings. We've calculated how much we make each year, how much we spend on most things, how to reduce a few leaks... the usual process. I might post it all later for your scrutiny, but here's another question for you.
Our goal isn't as set as "I want to retire as early as possible, how long 'till we get there?"
Even this is a bit hard to calculate, since we don't have the same investment options (living in Sao Paulo, Brazil), but we've been running numbers with the 4% rate averaged by MMM. We think we can get that much.
So, what do we want?
Well, I'm 28 (hub is 29). I was hoping to have kids by 30, but we've decided to delay to 32. We think we might be around a R$200.000,00 stash by then. We just started saving last year, unfortunately, because that's when we really went into the job market.
That's US$100.000,00, but let's say living costs are pretty similar here, before conversion (we spend R$35 with water, R$75 electrical bill, R$145 gym - on the way to being cut out), so I'll use R$ and you just imagine the same amount in dollars. We think we can live quite well with R$36.000,00 a year. Actually, even less, I hope. Mostly it depends on how good a rent deal we get.
Thing is: as per my username, I'm hoping to eventually move out to a larger lot, and actually farm as my main activity, with the odd job or two on the side (I'm an architect and advertisement copywriter). I've been driving myself hard the last few years to figure out how to *not* wait for traditional retirement to do this, specially because I want to be with my kids as much as possible. So, that's our goal: to be free enough to go live this life.
So what's up: we're hoping to move out of Sao Paulo this year (husband is just waiting to be moved to this new position), which will cut back some expenses, but create new ones (we're still on my parent's health insurance, mother-in-law sends us fruits from her cousin's farm every week, my mother sends vegetables from my uncle's business, etc), and we'll try to rent a place with lots of space from the start, to start filling my farming need. The farm itself will probably cost about R$100.000 to R$200.000, as opposed to R$500.000 for a town house. So, we're really questioning ourselves about our options after 2016:
1. Should we wait for the stash to get to full retirement amount before moving out of the city?
2. Should we keep the city jobs for a few more years to increase the stash further and delay the farm idea?
3. Should we only purchase the land then or purchase sooner so we can start working on it even while we're not living on it?
4. What if at least one of us start to phase out in 2017, reducing our income but spending more time with the kid? I suppose that'd be me, because the husband is still quite weirded out by the idea of non-conventional jobs. I could do topography with two kids in tow. But how would this delay the farm plan?
After writing the list, I realize it's not an option for both of us to quit regular jobs and live in a farm by the end of 4 years, since the farm itself will cost half to most of our stash (though we could finance it through several years if the interest is quite low). It's likely that the farm won't be close enough for a daily commute (unless you want to commute an hour into the city, or unless we get jobs in an even smaller town).
Well, so, how the hell do you guys make your plans? Do you all go for full early retirement or some of you go for a part-time thing (where the stash funds part of your expense, but you still work part-time or one of the spouses still go full time). If only the husband keeps the job, I think we can still pay all of our bills, but we'll nearly stop adding to the stash (especially considering the kid).
I won't even go into the matter of how much the farm keeping itself would cost, because this would be a topic for a post of its own... :)
