Førtidspension er blevet et populært økonomisk mål. Og det burde det være.
Selvom du aldrig går på førtidspension, er det befriende at vide, at du kan!
Og det er måske netop strategien, der frigør dig til at tage fat på endnu større udfordringer i livet.
Det kan ske, når du når det punkt, hvor du ikke længere har at arbejde til livets ophold.
Der er alle forskellige aldre, som folk ønsker at gå på pension i, og for de fleste mennesker er det nok noget i stil med så hurtigt som muligt! Men lad os fokusere på, hvordan man går på pension som 50-årig, da det er et gennemførligt mål for mange mennesker.
Hvordan kan du få det til at ske?
Hvis du er 25 lige nu, så bør du begynde at spare op for at gå på pension ved 50 nu - som i med det samme. Den bedste måde at bevise pointen på er med et par eksempler.
Hvis du beslutter dig for at udsætte opsparingen for at gå på pension ved 50 i yderligere fem år – når du er 30 – og du begynder at spare 10.000 USD om året, investeret med en gennemsnitlig årlig afkast på 7 %, så når du er 50 vil have $425.341.
Men hvis du i stedet beslutter dig for at begynde at spare lige nu – igen, 10.000 USD om året, investeret med en gennemsnitlig årlig rente på 7 % – så vil du, når du er 50, have sparet 656.227 USD.
Det er en forskel på mere end $230.000, bare for at begynde at spare og investere fem år tidligere.
Det er en almindelig overbevisning, at du kan gå på pension blot ved at spare 10% eller 15% af din årlige indkomst. Og det kan være sandt, hvis du planlægger at gå på pension ved 55 eller endda 60 år og har 35 eller 40 år til at spare og investere penge.
Men hvis du er seriøs med at gå på pension som 50-årig, bliver du nødt til at spare mere end nogen anden. Det kan betyde, at du sparer 20 % af din indkomst, eller måske 25 % eller endda 30 %. For pokker, hvis du er meget ældre end 25 eller 30, bliver du nødt til at spare mellem 40 % og 50 % af din indkomst, hvis du håber at gå på pension ved 50.
Men hver gang du får en lønforhøjelse eller forfremmelse med en endnu større lønforhøjelse, i stedet for at bruge de ekstra penge, så forpligt dem til besparelser. Efter et par år med konstante lønstigninger burde du være i stand til at øge din opsparingsrate til 30 % eller endnu mere.
At spare så stor en procentdel af din indkomst opnår to meget vigtige mål:
Det andet punkt vil være rigtig vigtigt, når du rent faktisk går på pension. Jo færre penge du har brug for at leve for, jo hurtigere og mere effektivt vil du være i stand til at gå på pension.
Jeg behøver nok ikke fortælle dig, at du ikke vil kunne gå på pension som 50-årig ved at investere i rentebærende aktiver, som indskudsbeviser. Renter på 1 % om året eller mindre vil bare ikke skære ned.
Du bliver nødt til at investere i aktier, og det er her, størstedelen af dine penge til enhver tid skal investeres. Aktiemarkedet har i gennemsnit givet et afkast på mellem 9 % og 11 % i løbet af de sidste 90 år, og det er den form for vækst, du bliver nødt til at udnytte, hvis du vil gå på pension som 50-årig.
Annoncer efter penge. Vi kan blive kompenseret, hvis du klikker på denne annonce.Annonce
Livet er uforudsigeligt. Din pensionsplan burde ikke være det. Kontakt en uafhængig finansiel fagmand for at se, om du er på vej til at nå dine pensionsmål. Klik på din tilstand for at komme i gang. Get Started Since you’re probably well under 50 now, you can afford to keep 80% to 90% of your savings invested in stocks. That’s the best way to get the kind of return on your investments that you’ll need to build the kind of portfolio you’ll need to make early retirement a reality.
All the rewards of aggressive investing come with some risk, so you want to make sure you invest with a solid platform. Here are my top picks for all of you bold investors itching for early retirement:
Ally Invest: With Ally Invest, you can opt for do-it-yourself investing or professional account management with Ally’s robo-advisor. Ally starts out by helping you establish your risk tolerance, where you can opt for “Aggressive growth” and put the majority of your investments into stocks. Ally Invest offers some of the lowest trading fees on the market, 24/7 customer service, and professionally managed portfolios to meet your investment goals. Try Ally Invest today.
Betterment: Betterment offers investors an alternative robo-advising experience, completely automating your investment experience. The software maximizes your returns with tax loss harvesting and helps you to reach your specific retirement goals with RetireGuide. The service automatically rebalances your portfolio to keep you on track to your goals. With a low annual management fee and no trade fees, you can start investing with Betterment easily.
M1 Finance: Rather than assessing risk tolerance, M1 focuses on helping you target your investment goals and stay on track to reaching them. When you invest with M1 Finance, you can choose from 60 expertly designed investment “pies” made of up to 60 ETFs and stocks, or create your own. M1 then manages your investments, rebalancing your account as needed. M1 gives you fee-free account management and trades, and requires low initial investments, making it a great choice for aggressively investing for early retirement.
Taxes are one of the under-estimated obstacles of early retirement planning. Not only do they reduce the income you have available for savings, but they also take a chunk out of your investment returns.
For example, if you earn 10% on your investments, but you’re in the 30% tax bracket, your net return is only 7%. That will slow your capital accumulation.
But there is a way around that problem, at least partially. You should maximize your tax-sheltered retirement contributions.
Not only will that reduce your taxable income from your job, but it will also shelter the investment earnings in your investment portfolio so that a 10% return will actually be a 10% return.
If your employer offers a 401(k) plan, you should make the maximum contribution you’re allowed to. That would be up to $18,000 per year. If your employer offers a matching contribution, that’s even better.
You should also plan to make contributions to a traditional IRA, even if those contributions won’t be tax deductible due to income limitations. The investment earnings in the account will still accumulate on a tax-deferred basis, and that’s what you want to happen.
Now there is a basic problem with retirement savings, at least in regard to early retirement. If you begin taking withdrawals from your retirement accounts before you reach age 59 ½ you will not only be subject to income taxes on the withdrawals but also the 10% early withdrawal penalty as well.
But there’s a way around that dilemma – it’s the Roth IRA.
You don’t have to contribute to a Roth IRA every year in order to get the benefits of the Roth IRA. You can set it up by doing a Roth conversion from other retirement accounts, such as a 401(k) plan and a traditional IRA. (That’s another big reason why you should always max-out your retirement savings, especially if you want to retire at 50).
Roth IRAs enable you to take tax-free withdrawals from the plan once you reach age 59 ½, and have been in the plan for at least five years.
Roth IRAs have a loophole. Contributions to a Roth can be withdrawn free from taxes and the early withdrawal penalty.
After all, since there were no tax savings going in, there’s no tax liability going out. (Taxes and penalties, however, do apply to the earnings from the account, however, the contribution withdrawal rules don’t require a pro-ration between contributions and earnings the way traditional IRA withdrawals do.)
That contribution withdrawal loophole makes the Roth IRA perfect for early retirement. You can make this happen by doing a series of annual Roth IRA conversions from your other retirement accounts.
Are you with me so far?
There is one difference between contribution withdrawals from a regular Roth IRA and a Roth conversion. Since you are not making direct contributions with a Roth conversions, but rather converting balances from other accounts, the IRS has a five-year rule on early withdrawals.
At least five years must pass between the time a balance is converted and it’s withdrawn from the account . If it’s withdrawn sooner, it’s still not subject to ordinary income tax, but it will be subject to the 10% early withdrawal penalty.
You can avoid this by making a series of annual conversions to a Roth IRA, in what is known as a Roth conversion ladder.
Basically, what you do is decide how much money you will need to live on when you retire, and then convert that amount each year for five years.
As long as you stay five years ahead, you will always have a sufficient amount of Roth funds to live on, and you can withdraw them free of both income taxes and penalties.
EXAMPLE: Let’s assume that you need $40,000 per year in order to live on in retirement at age 50. You have several hundred thousand dollars in your 401(k) plan, so five years from now (in 2022), beginning at age 45 you start making annual conversions to your Roth IRA of $40,000. Once you turn 50 (in 2027), you can begin taking those withdrawals from the Roth IRA each year, free from taxes and penalties.
To illustrate, your Roth conversion ladder will look like this:)
| Year | Age | Amount of Roth Conversion | Amount of Roth Withdrawal | Source of Funds Withdrawn |
| 2022 | 39 | 40,000 | 0 | Ikke relevant |
| 2023 | 40 | 40,000 | 0 | Ikke relevant |
| 2024 | 41 | 40,000 | 0 | Ikke relevant |
| 2025 | 42 | 40,000 | 0 | Ikke relevant |
| 2026 | 43 | 40,000 | 0 | Ikke relevant |
| 2027 | 44 | 40,000 | 40,000 | 2022 Conversion |
| 2028 | 45 | 40,000 | 40,000 | 2023 Conversion |
| 2029 | 46 | 40,000 | 40,000 | 2024 Conversion |
| 2030 | 47 | 40,000 | 40,000 | 2025 Conversion |
| 2031 | 48 | 40,000 | 40,000 | 2026 Conversion |
The Roth conversion ladder will enable you to make early withdrawals from your Roth account until you are 59 ½ and can begin making penalty-free withdrawals for your non-Roth retirement accounts. It will also prevent you from having to draw down non-retirement accounts.
There is one downside to the Roth conversion ladder, which is a problem with all forms of Roth conversions, and that’s that you will have to pay regular income tax on the number of retirement assets converted to a Roth IRA.
But that may be a price worth paying if it means you’ll be able to have a generous early retirement income to go with that early retirement.
One financial habit you’ll have to get into is to live beneath your means. That means that if you earn a dollar after taxes, you’ll have to live on say, 70 cents, and bank the rest.
That’s not an easy pattern to get into if you’ve never done it before, but it’s absolutely necessary. Unless you can master it then early retirement will be nothing more than a pipe dream.
In order to live beneath your means you’ll have to adopt a few strategies:
Any money that isn’t going into living expenses is more money for savings.
A word of warning about debt:it can undo everything you’re trying to accomplish in order to retire at 50. It will do you little good if you reach 50 and have $500,000 saved, but $100,000 in debt of various types (it’s easier to get to that level than you think – just live the TV version of the suburban lifestyle and it’ll happen all by itself!).
Not only does debt weaken your net worth, but it also comes with monthly payments. And you’ll need as few of those as possible if you’re going to retire at 50. Better yet, the goal should be to be debt-free entirely. Debt not only raises the cost of living in retirement, but it will reduce the amount of income you’ll have to dedicate to savings between now and then.
Being debt-free should include your mortgage if you own your own home or plan to. Your early retirement plan should include a sub-plan to pay off your mortgage in time for your retirement date.
As you can see, if you really want to retire at 50 you’ll have to adopt a multi-strategy plan to make it happen. It’s mostly about saving a lot of money and investing it well, but there are a lot of factors that will make that challenge more doable.
Make a plan now, and then stick to it religiously, and you’ll be able to retire at 50 – or any other age you choose.