Before 25? I think for most of us, it’s possible to retire in 10 years, but 5 years is very short. And it depends on the education. The sooner you start working, the better. But let’s assume 5 years (in the ERE spirit). If you have an higher education, it might last 4 to 5 years.
In my case, it was 5 years… I was already 23. Add 5 years to that and you are already at 28. That’s still a good number, though.
I’m not convinced about being able to do it in 5 years yet, I need more time on this blog and some more calculations for that. But before 25? How could you pull that off? I don’t understand…

one might not want to do that because,
a) they don’t want to work that long, and
b) they can live on less than 36k per year.

PS – Before 25!

Do you think you’ll miss work? Finishing up at 25 with just 300K in the bank seems like a long road to hoe.

I guess I could live off 12K/yr in income if I had no living expenses, but why not just work until 30 or something, and triple your savings and then retire?

Enjoy your time off! We’re definitely enjoying ours.

I respect the reasons behind your confidence (great education, great compensation at your current job, plan on being self-employed, etc.) BUT I think it’s better to be cautious than sorry. In ten years your financial knowledge/skills will be largely irrelevant. The world is already changing at an alarming rate and who knows what the employment future will look like or what the economic climate of this country will be? You’ve mentioned all the upsides, but fail to consider the downsides. It’s less that posters like Alex and I are envious of your situation but concerned. In a worst case scenario, you will have no means to support yourself by the time your mini-retirement is over and your 30s and 40s will be exposed to more hardship and risk than if you had simply waited out a few more years in your 20s.

I appreciate your confidence, but there is a reason why people are cautious. If the upside (hopefully everything works out for you two) is a possibility, so is the downside. I just think the risk outweighs the returns, when you could be in the same happy scenario in your thirties, but this time for good.

@Kevinam: I’m happy to respond to your perspective or concerns if you articulate them, but a two-word reply doesn’t give me much to go on. I’ll start though: we have the money for at least ten years of zero income, and plan on taking at least two years off of work. Sounds very possible to me.

In our case, we don’t have a lot of responsibilities–no kids, no mortgage, not even a chia pet. The risk of entrepreneurship is also not so big. I don’t have to make very much money to survive, and my salary wasn’t huge before anyway, so the opportunity cost of trying something new is not as important.

Your plan to retire permanently sounds like a good choice for you. In your position, I might very well do the same!

So either I would have to take a low paying job and work in it for a much longer time period or I could try to be an entrepreneur. The latter choice might sound awesome, but again, I owe it to my family and myself to be realistic about it. Most entrepreneurs fail. Most entrepreneurs also have to work like a dog as well. Just because I am talented enough to make a high income working for the man, does not mean I have the moxie to make it by myself.

So by taking a few years off now, I am putting myself at a very high risk of 1) either having to work a lifetime at low wages or 2) a highly risky stint by myself working long hours struggling to make it. Whereas working another couple of years and being miserable at least I actually achieve financial freedom and don’t have to face either of these two choices.

DH and I could have stayed longer in higher paying jobs, thus saving much more aggressively, but we were miserable. Why do that to yourself? It sounds like you’re contemplating a change anyway–either to a less stressful career or to self employment (with any luck both!). So, since you’re making a switch anyway, it leaves you with some freedom and time that you don’t find every day. Take advantage of it!

I was a public school teacher in the US and DH and I have taken off and moved to France in the past–we even spent 6 months traveling around randomly between moves. While in France, I taught English basically freelance to professionals (lots of fun). While traveling, I beefed up my Spanish–like you. When I went back to looking for work, these things were actually an asset to me–I’m a language teacher–so my experience was directly related. Even the unrelated stuff can make your resume stand out in a pile.

Besides, your prospective employer is going to want to know what you did during a two year period. He/She will not ask you how many hours a week you spent ‘freelancing’ or whatever.

And being self-employed is one of my dreams. I’ve done it before on a pretty small scale, but loved it. Very inspiring stuff!

@Sassy Saver – See my comment above for our asset allocation. Everything was managed ourselves, although as I mentioned in the post our investment philosophy is quite passive – we didn’t do anything fancy. Cheap index funds with scheduled rebalancing. That’s all. Yes, the $300k does include 401(k) money.

@Stephanie – First off, 36 isn’t 25, but it also isn’t terribly old. Saving 50% of your gross income would be a great step for someone your age and would put you light years ahead of most of your colleagues. By the way, you’re the first person I’ve ever heard say that not being able to retire before 50 “sucks”. For most, that’s a big win! Good luck saving!

We’ve had several mini-retirements and I’m glad we did. Now 64 and unable to travel due to spouse’s health. Makes me appreciate the time we did have, even though our friends and family thought we were nuts when we left jobs to travel.

And here’s a way you can make your retirement permanent. Check out http://www.retireearlylifestyle.com/

And, no, I am not connected to the writers in any way except love to read their blog.

Good luck!

I bought a condo at 25, and continued upgrading my lifestyle until I now find myself with a 450K mortgage and under 100K in the bank.

If I’d somehow had the foresight to keep living like I did as a student, I could have saved between $40K – $100K a year as my income grew. Now my expenses make this pretty difficult, though I am trying to save about 50% of my gross, putting most of it towards the mortgage…

Anyway, while I usually find this blog inspiring, somehow this post just put some things in perspective. I’m 36 and even though I am pretty frugal, with the mortgage and expenses I’m stuck with ATM, there’s no way I can retire before 50. Sucks.

The bright side is that we’ll have a million dollar+ house by then (unless the markets collapse.) But will probably feel too attached to leave it, so the equity won’t mean much.