How To Retire In My Forties

I've been considering whether I can retire in my forties. Here are my some of the goals I need to achieve to make retirement in my forties a possibility.

• Sufficient Savings. I estimate that I will need 20 times my current salary to have a financially secure retirement. I am not counting on Social Security, which would be available at 62, and have higher benefits if I wait until 70. However, I have included continuing to save for our daughter's college education.
  
  Currently, we have saved 15 times my salary. I need to save an additional amount equal to 5 times my salary. For reference, I have not included my house in this calculation. I am looking to investment returns and deferred compensation growth to help close the gap.
• Zero Debt. My goal is to have no debt when I retire. Doing so will significantly reduce the income we need during retirement. Our mortgage payment is about 30% of our monthly expenditures.
  
  Currently, our only debt is our home mortgage, which is 1.63 times my salary. We could pay off our mortgage, but have chosen not to do so at this time.
• Health Insurance. A major necessity in retirement is having excellent health insurance. While we are healthy now, I expect that we will have higher health care costs in the future.
  
  Our group health insurance is excellent and I could not match it with private health insurance.

At this point, having excellent health insurance is the key barrier that I see to fully retiring in my forties. Although challenging, I expect to achieve both our savings and debt goals during my forties.

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This is not financial advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

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