Quote Originally Posted by dmc View Post
I'm already retired.

I quit work full time in 2006, I was 49, I worked part time till Oct, 2007. My wife and I have always invested our money and lived below our means. When I turned 40 I laid out a plan that I felt that I would be able to save enough to quit working when I hit 55 if I chose to do so. It was apparent that my investments were making more than I was spending so I quit at 49, the boss asked me to stay around for another 6 months or so to help with the transition. I only had to work 20hrs a week and really didn't do much.

Even with the lousy economy I am now worth more than I was in 2007. And we have been living well, no debt and only needing around 100k to do what we want a year. I'm buying a plane so my expenses will go up another $15K-20K a year but that's not a problem. Just the reduced amount in taxes I pay now compared to 2006 is enough to live off of.
Is that $100K/year income to live on each year, or $100K in total savings? I think it's the former because you said your getting a plane and they are pretty expense to have, fuel and maintain.

Maybe we should start a thread on "How much do you think you'd need to live on in retirement"? That would probably be useful to determine how much a person needs to retire on, and how long it would take them to reach the amount needed.