
Ask HN: Is it possible to retire early on $1m? - tempsy
I&#x27;m early 30s, single, do not plan on having kids, and have about $1m in assets (no house).<p>I have seen a few articles&#x2F;posts on people in similar situations (including 1 couple) who have decided that was enough to stop working.
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zapperdapper
Depends. Using the "4% rule" you should be able to drawn down $40k/year,
without depleting your capital, so if you can live on that then in theory the
answer is yes. There are various provisos with using the 4% rule but I won't
go into them here. A couple of other options:

1) You could retire from full-time work and do the odd contract.

2) Set up a little sideline. It wouldn't have to make much as you already have
a lot saved.

3) Part-time job at Starbucks (or similar). This is also known as Barista FIRE
(FIRE is Financial Independence Retire Early). The idea is in USA you'd get
the Starbucks free health care, and a little income, plus it might be fun, if
somewhat hectic.

4) You really do need to think about what you would want your retired life to
look like. "Not work" will only be enough to take you through the
"decompression zone", not beyond.

One final point. Things change. You change. Life happens. At some point you
might want to get married, have ten kids, and build a house in the
countryside. Who knows. I think that's why keeping your skills honed and brain
working in "retirement" is probably a good idea.

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vhodges
It depends... based on 'safe' withdrawal rates (and what the assets are
invested in!) 1m will generate 30-40k per year. If that's enough, then why
not?

You may find [https://www.reddit.com/r/Fire/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fire/)
helpful.

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pascalxus
As long as you stay single and don't live in CA or any other blue state, then
yes, that will be more then enough to live well. Right now, I know it might
seem like you'll be single forever. But, that might change. If you do get a
GF, she may want marriage and kids. That will change the equation: at that
point you'll need about at least 4-5 times more then what you needed as a
single person.

Keep in mind, most forecasts (the average) for long term equities say it will
yield roughly 3% real, from here on out, much less than the 6.7% that people
have become accustomed to in the last century. This is due to slowing world
growth, both in population and a slowing of per capita productivity increase.

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ohnocentral
What specifically is the issue about retiring in a 'blue state'? If you mean
cost of living, the OP might choose Needles CA or some place that is much less
expensive than, say the Bay Area. Is there a tax you're referring to that is
problematic (i.e. cap. gain tax on investment income in state) or just the
hidden taxes (i.e. taxes on fuel etc)?

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pascalxus
Cost of living is much higher in blue states, unfortanetly. It's a outcome of
higher regulation which customers end up paying for. Higher cost of living in
terms of Shelter cost, Utilities and generally higher taxes.

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auslegung
I would say absolutely. You should be able to take over 5% of the total and
never dip into the principal. You might be able to take 7-8% even. But it
depends on your cost of living which can vary widely. Not owning your own home
yet means rent, and that is usually the most expensive part. If you owned your
own home with $1 mil then you should be set. But you want to do more research,
so I suggest [https://www.getrichslowly.org/](https://www.getrichslowly.org/),
[https://www.daveramsey.com/](https://www.daveramsey.com/), and
[https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/blog/](https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/blog/).
These are all financially conservative resources.

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Finnucane
There’s obviously no way to predict what your needs will be in 40 or 50 years.
If you don’t own a house, what will your rent be like? Insurance needs? Maybe
we will get Medicare opt-in or something like it, but who knows. Will coastal
cities even be viable 50 years from now? Florida will be underwater.

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gshdg
That depends on a lot of factors. Mostly: how much will you spend per year?
And what will the market return: not just on average between now and when you
die, but also when will it stagnate/crash and when will it grow?

