Last year I retired aged 40. And although that seems odd for South Africa - more and more are retiring younger in the States and around the world. For me it was the realization of a few things, the biggest being that I would happily forgo a new BMW/holiday home/ yearly oversea holiday/ect ect if it meant having every day to do want I want.

It was not all my own decision - my one shop that had done very well with no competition suddenly had two of the chain stores move into town and sales plummeted - so I closed it immediately. And after closing that one down I did some maths and figured with all my stock turned into JSE stock, I could just - with a bit of luck, live on the dividends. But there where quite a few what if's - but so far, everything has gone better than expected - might even allow myself a 10% "increase".

My budget is tight - but as dividends generally increase quicker than inflation, theoretically I should do better the further I go down this path. I also plan to try make the odd buck with my hobbies down the line - hopefully enough for an overseas holiday every 5 years or so.

These days my time is spent playing in my workshop or garden, doing online courses, knocking a tennis ball around and reading - today, as it's a tad hot, will be editing some photo's and carrying on with some courses.

Anyone else planning to cut back and retire early?