Anyone else planning to retire early?

[Houses4Rent]

I am with Neville and I am not going to achieve it by slowly burning a pile of cash/policies/savings/capital etc. I am going to achieve it by receiving ongoing and forever growing (not decreasing) mostly passive income from a residential rental property portfolio - globally.

[Pap_sak]

I've been planning to retire for the last 43 years, I took out the correct policies all those years ago but after 20 years I hit a wobbly and could not afford the premiums so I lost all my input, since then I have hit a number of wobblies and reckon I will have to work until I drop.

If I knew 40 years ago what I know now instead of policies I would have invested in 'Unit Trusts', which I subsequently have done, so when I hit those wobblies it does not affect my investments and I can resume saving between times.

I am very weary of anything that charges fee's of any sort. I do have a tiny RA that I still contribute towards (I figure if I am retired and but can still contribute to a retirement plan, then I am doing ok!) - It's with Alan Grey's balanced fund and gave me a measly 9% - not sure if that was before or after their fees. My stocks/shares returned around 17% capital growth. I do realise though that it was not a good year in the market for many of the fund managers.

Personally, putting together a shares/ETF portfolio is not rocket science and buying shares is so easy and I find it a lot of fun. You just need to follow a couple of basic rules with regard to sector spread and the biggest rule of investing with the long term in mind

[wynn]

Two of my policies that I managed to keep because the premiums were so low were taken out in 1970 at that time I was earning R300PM which paid for rent, car, petrol, food, clothing, ciggies and a little extra for entertainment, the projected increase of COL was that when I turned 60 the R300 would have to be R600 so I took two policies over the period.
On maturity the return is better than calculated each now returns R800PM so now I can pay my telephone and internet connection.

[Pap_sak]

My father still has a life policy R15 p/m and pays out R75,000. He had another one that was R2500 p/m and paid out around R1.5mill that I asked him to stop. I understand life insurance when you have a young family to support, but once everyone is "stable" I think they should be stopped otherwise it seems like you gambling on that person's life. Also, unless it's fixed (like the first one) the premiums just get pushed to stupid levels.

[Justloadit]

Many of these old life policies have a cash out value. Get hold of the broker and find out. Cash it in, invest the cash, and then get a pure life policy.

[bones]

Retirement ?? i dont think i will live long enough to retire

constant shit hitting the fan and stress heart messing around bones cracking and a unhappy stomach ulcer

i will be lucky if i see the end of this year

but if i win the lotto i will be happy to buy a caravan and go fishing for the rest of my life

[Houses4Rent]

On maturity the return is better than calculated each now returns R800PM so now I can pay my telephone and internet connection.

Told you so - policies are crap/too risky and make someone else rich. I am glad I never took out anything substantial.

[reuphk]

I retired at 36. So now I wake up in the morning, think - aaaah! it's great to be retired, and then go off to work...
Translated - I gave up the corporate career, spend most of my time on managing our property portfolio, do consulting work that I absolutely love, and spend time studying and lecturing part-time.
It is just a mind set. It also helps that you have enough passive income to not HAVE to work.
I am, and always will be a very busy person. I love having passion, drive, and generally high levels of energy. I now do what I like, and what I want to do.

My biggest stress is finding just the right investments that gives a good return - mostly that is property, but that can be a little boring sometimes, so I like to look for other options as well.

As I said... I enjoy being retired, and then I get up and go to work...

[Houses4Rent]

Hi Reuphk, that sounds quite like me, but I am not as far down as you yet. If you come to Cape Town let me know and maybe we can have a beer to have a chat between like minded (property) people if you are interested.