Early Retirement, What it Means to Me

I've been thinking a lot lately about the concept of early retirement. From reading blogs like Early Retirement Extreme and Free at 45 I've begun thinking about the true meaning of life. Not from an existential standpoint, which I've already thought about long and hard, but from a view of what every waking moment of my day is worth from now until my death.

My parents and their friends are getting old now. By old, I mean they're in their late 50's and they are really starting to look old. My dad is dying of cancer so he looks even older. When I was a kid, I thought, well, I want to live forever. I never wanted to be young forever. I guess your late 20s is when that thought pops into your head. I don't really want to be "young" forever. I feel like one's 30s are the perfect mix of being young and old. And the 40s aren't bad either. But once you hit 50 your body does start to seriously age. You can definitely work hard at keeping up your body through physical exercise, eating right, etc, but the years take their toll on every body.

When I think about early retirement, I don't have a dream of retiring to some desolate island and relaxing on a beach. I dream of working hard but doing what I want, when I want. I want to get to a point where working freelance or part-time on my own hours won't kill my bank account, where my savings are large enough that the long-term stock market gains will provide a substantial portion of my income.

So over the next few weeks, I'm going to work on calculating exactly what all this means from a financial standpoint. What year could I "retire" from 9-5? How much do I need to earn now and in upcoming years to obtain this goal? How much do I need to save? And when exactly can I retire "early?"

My current plan is to try to save $6,000 per month while I'm fortunate enough to have a job that pays well and low living costs. I'm not sure if this is maintainable over the long term. I'll update in the near future with some further calculations to determine how much I will need to save each month to meet my early "retirement" goals.