Can I Retire Early? I've Had Enough of Work

From a very age I hated the idea of going to school waking up early and then looking forward for the weekend, I hated school. Fortunately I did well at school and thought work would be better. Now after 10 years of working and changing jobs seven times I've come to the conclusion that I want to retire as soon as possible. I guess I was not cut out to work for a living. I am not lazy and I certainly don't want handouts, I just want to work and make enough so I don't have to work again, I could choose to work if I want to.

If there's anyone out there who can give me some advice I would really appreciate it!

Thanks in advance

I feel you brother, I also hate working for a living and only see it as a means to an end. If you really want to retire early you need to make some really tough choices. It all boils down to your income, expenses and how much you have in reserve. If you really want to retire early then I would suggest that you minimize your expenses and increase your income.

You can't retire straight away so try to save as much as you can, normally people only save about 10% so that they can retire in 40 years. Instead why not try saving 80% so you could retire in 5 years? it all depends on how much you want to retire.

How much savings do you have and what do you need to live on every month? you need to take into consideration inflation and how the cost of everything will rise in the future. You really need to work everything out in advance and workout how much your retirement will cost and then work towards that figure.

Cool idea about saving 80% of what you earn, I wonder whether it could be done? I suppose the best way to retire is to minimize your liabilities and increase your income to reach your target amount. If I was really hell bent on retiring early I could always rent out my house and then move to some smaller apartment, I could lower my expenses by spending less on food and energy, clothing and then use and savings that I had to generate income. I wish interest rates were higher then the money would work harder for me.

Thanks for the responses, I really appreciate it. Looks like there's more people like me. Here is my financial position at the moment. I live in London and my monthly expense is around £1000, I live in a 3 bedroom house which has equity of £130k. We have much more room that we need so I could move to another smaller house if possible. At the moment I have £50,000 in savings earning a pitiful rate of 2-3% in savings account. Please Please Give me some ideas.

Thanks for the advice, you're right about the rents in London, they are high! You've really given me a lot to think about. I am thinking along the following lines, I thought I would make a list of what I need to do to make this a reality.

1. Work for another 2 years and take savings account to £100k
2. Buy a 1 bedroom flat for £50,000 - this means £50k left over.
3. Rent out property for £1200 (£100 less for estate agent fee), after mortgage I will have remaining £700
4. Keep £50,000 in Santander 123 account which pays 3%, I will get £125 - Hopefully rates will rise in the future.
5. Total income now of £825 of which we will only spend £500 so we can save the rest
6. Look for other ways to generate passive income

Having the freedom to escape the 9 to 5 job would be a dream come true!

Is there any way I can refine the plan? I need to make my assets work as hard as possible for me.

Thanks for all the advice and guidance..look forward to some response.

Wow, thanks for all the information, seriously dude this is gold dust. It seems pretty obvious now but it would probably taken me ages to figure everything out. Time to make a plan.

Have you thought about moving abroad to a country where everything is cheaper like Thailand, I hear that the cost of living is one tenth of what it is here and the properties are cheaper. If you're prepared to relocate then you could retire sooner than you thought, the concept is called Geo Arbitrage, you earn interest or passive income in dollars and spend in Thai Bahts.