Another cheapskate from Germany...

[Sigmund]

Hi folks,

after some weeks of reading your ideas I decided to become an active member of the ERE community.
I'm 38, married with kids, INTP and living in Germany. I was always interested in investing and letting my savings / nest egg grow, however the idea of early retirement is quite new to me.

I was always missing the "burning desire" (courtesy of N. Hill) to go fast forward towards early retirement. I had a vision what I would like to do, I have a way, i.e. I can save every month a chunk of my salary, but there was never enough discomfort with my job. Actually I liked it very much.

Now a great motivator emerged in my life. My former boss went away, and my company employed a full-fledged sociopath to perform the job. After some months of enduring this jolly fellow on daily basis I started to ask myself "is this money worth my ruined health?". I started reading, learning, saving more and more and my plan of early (in German terms) retirement started taking shape.

I hope to learn a lot from you guys and also hope to be able to give something back to the community.

Sig

[jennypenny]

Welcome!

How far are you from the possibility of retirement? Is semi-retirement possible? Are you looking to switch jobs?

[Sigmund]

Welcome!

How far are you from the possibility of retirement? Is semi-retirement possible? Are you looking to switch jobs?

Hi Jennypenny,

the formula I use is: (monthly expeses) x12 x25 = target nest egg size
I try to work at both sides of the equation, i.e. to reduce my monthly expenses and to save aggresively towards the nest egg. Now I arrive at about 12 years till FI, however I factor in my present needs which will likely go away when my kids grow up, my pet crosses the rainbow bridge, etc.
I save about 50% of my income at the moment, but I'm trying to find tricks to save more. On the other hand I dream of ERE, not my kids, so there are limits how far I can go with saving now.

Semi retirement - I don't want to do something I dislike one year longer than necessary, even half-time.

I live in an extremely cheap region. If I switch jobs I'll have to move, save less and spend more just to keep my family present life standard.

[Gravity's Rainbow]

Hi and welcome.

Yes, it's tougher with kids, I have two. I think many here didn't even know about ERE possibilities until after they had children and so you have to be realistic. 50% on this forum sounds like you still have ways to improve but to the rest of the 'normal' workers in society, that sounds like an incredible achievement already.

"Semi retirement - I don't want to do something I dislike one year longer than necessary, even half-time."

I have been through this thought process myself in recent times and I have decided to go with the semi-retirement option next year as either my wife or I have to stop working full time soon to handle family matters better. I really do understand what you mean though. Honestly, if I could, I would almost rather go another 5 years full time so that I could fully retire and never have to do the job again at all. Having said that, the quality of life if you semi retire can be nearly as good and you can have it sooner whilst still topping up the nest egg or at least making sure it isn't being eaten away in the meantime. It's an interesting debate I think, but maybe think about the semi -retire option some more or find another job that you would like to do part time maybe? I see you might have to move though and so only you can be the judge on that one.

Regards,

GR

[Sigmund]

Thanks GR, it's good to know from ppl for whom ERE works with kids.

I was thinking of doing some work on the side, just in case. However it would mean acquiring some new skills because my present occupation does work only in a corporate setting. On the other hand I wouldn't like to commit myself to learning something which doesn't work, because the market changed or because the skill became obsolete. So I'm still unsure what to learn, however I have some ideas.

[lazyboy]

Hi Sigmund,
welcome and nice to see I´m not the only one in Germany who doesn`t want to work until 67.

[Sigmund]

Hi lazyboy,

that's really sick, throwing lots of taxpayers money at over-generous retirement benefits for present retirees and at the same time cutting the benefits of the future retirees by postponing the retirement age till 67. And the retorics of "Versorgungslücke" (income-expense gap), encouraging the regular-age would-be retirees to save for retirement. WTF they are paying their "social insurance" (i.e. additional retirement tax) if they have to save once again by themselves for their retirement?

Is everyone except us so clueless to accept this cheap talk?

[Gravity's Rainbow]

Hi Sigmund,

Yes, agreed re. unsure about investing too much time in learning a whole new set of skills just to switch to another job. I toyed with the idea of going back and doing an IT degree and finding working in areas of computing that interest me but honestly the time and money I would have to invest just don't seem to be worth it.

I believe the state pension in the UK is now not available until people are 67 also, a sign of the times indeed. Might even be 70 by the time we get there! All the more reason to think in ERE terms now.

GR