I'm single and 29 years old and I have been a life insurance agent for 8 years now. I have a residual income from all my previous sales of about $2,500 a month. I make about 80-100k a year. I drop most of my savings 3 years ago on my first investment home, which is now worth 550k and I owe 192k on it and it's rented out for $2,300 a month. I'm about to drop most of my savings again on my second investment house. I live at home with my parents in the back house rent free. If I try hard I can probably save 25-40k a year, but lately I have been very passionately thinking about retiring as soon as I can. So if I push it I should be able to save 50k+ a year.

Sounds great right? Problem is I hate my job and I don't know how much longer I can keep this up. I drive 100-150 miles per day 6 days a week meeting with potenchiel clients to sell insurance. There are many days I door knock all day long. I work 12pm-9-10pm 6 days a week. Going back to school or trying to start any other career would be financially stupid since I'm so successful at what I currently do. And chances are if I did that I would be making less $$ then I do now. I have concluded that there is no exit for me job/career wise.(unless someone can prove me wrong) So the only solution I can come up with is to tuff it out like this for maybe another 10 more years save as much as much as possible and try to retire ASAP. I really can't see myself still doing this past the age of 40. It's just to stressfull and to hard on my body and mind.

How do I retire by 40? This saving and dropping everything on investment property is great but I don't think it's going to retire me by 40. What else can I do? Help me get out of this job!!!!

 

So you spend what???? 9 to 10 hours/day involved with work but 2 to 3 hours of that is drive time. I suspect you have lunch/dinner in there as well. And for this you pull 80 to 100K/year. That sounds like a typical middle class income situation to me.

Welcome to an adult job, I guess..........

I suspect it all boils down to the fact that you don't like what you do. IMO you should be focusing on that.

 

you have a house worth 550k and you rent it out for $2300/mo?? something about that sounds WAY off

You're 29. Going back to school to get a degree in something you'd rather do for a career path is not a bad idea, It's very doubtful you'll be able to retire by 40 unless you're still living with your parents. If you had a different career path you could enjoy your job, chances are you'd be working till your 67 like the rest of us anyway. Do you have a 401k? it wouldn't help you retire now but if you don't you should start one.

I guess if I owned a 550k home I owed 192k on i'd sell it and bank 358k. invest it the right way and if you make 10% a year that'd bring in 35K, + another 30K from residual income that makes 65K. Not a bad salary if you've living with your parents rent free. It sounds like your parents pay your bills so 65k and zero bills is definitely retirable dependent on how you want to live your life.

 

I need to move back in with my parents...

 

if you hate what you do, go study for your GMAT, Go to a top tier B School. Than change career paths to your chosen field.

 

Please read my post

Going back to school or trying to start any other career would be financially stupid since I'm so successful at what I currently do. And chances are if I did that I would be making less $$ then I do now. I have concluded that there is no exit for me job/career wise.

I have come to means that I dislike my job/career but I'm still thankful for it becuase of the 100k annual income that I make from it. I have also come to means that I cannot /will not do anything else.

I just want help so I can plan a retirement path ASAP. I'm willing to work 40-50 hours a week at something I hate for the next 10-15 years as long as I can see light at the end of the tunnel.

 

Since you are so good at what you do, start your own branch. Learn the business and management side of it. Start a small branch and grow.

 

I can relate to the theme of this thread here. I don’t have any answers either unfortunately, my primary focus right now is to just pay off my remaining debt. Once that’s done in the next 1-2 years I can re assess things. In the meantime I try and live a balanced life with work/free time, because ultimately that’s what’s personally healthy over the long term to my happyness. I’ve never been one to sacrifice one over the other. A lot of people do though.

As far as investments go, its so hard to count on anything anymore with the market being so volatile, and the Dollar worth less and less. I would be inclined to sell the house and bank all that cash as another suggested, but I wouldn’t know what to do with it ….other then possibly buy gold with it and throw it in your retirement box and burry in the back yard wile its a sure deal today. Tomorrow you could lose all the value on that house again when the next bubble pops, and that’s the problem with investments no matter what these days, its all gambling with your money and now more then ever.

 

Selling the house wouldn't be on the smart side of things. Provided you can keep it rented, it will pay for itself over time, and then pay rewards. Buying another then another will allow continual income over time. I'm assuming that you want to be a landlord, can deal with those issues, etc... if not, you should probably get out. However, if you bought at 400, and you can sell at 550, is your new found equity better used elsewhere? If your equity is the same that you put in plus 3 years of payments (little principal in those), then selling might be a break even proposition at best.

However, I think that having more smaller units is probably a better choice than a few larger ones. Maybe Scot or someone involved in that market can chime in. Not carrying the massive debt with large units or relying on one tenant puts you in probably more risk than if you had 10 small units, and one went unrented, you'd be at 10% to cover out of pocket, not 100%. I know someone who started with a single condo unit early on. Then another, then another. Now I believe he has 400+, has full time mechanical/engineering/office staff and just reaps the benefits. Took him 30 years to get there, BUT, he continued to work at a 100K+ job, so he didn't touch any of that until he got laid off in his 50s. Every dollar was reinvested in the business. His kids and grandkids are set just as he is now.

As for retiring in 11 years? I don't see it. Of course, you could hit the lottery. You could buy 50,000 shares of a penny stock that makes a run and sell it. Maybe find a suitcase laying on the street one day. Just think, even IF you could save 100% of what your make (wait, there's taxes - so I'll use your very unrealistic 50K number). In 11 years, you'd have the opportunity to use 550K to do something. You'll need income for the next 40-50 years! from your investments since you're retired. If your lifestyle doesn't change, you'll need (according to some models) about 80% of what you earn during your working years for retirement, yearly. I'm sure that number changes dramatically for a 40 year old vs. 60/62/67/70. Those people probably don't have to worry anymore about kids, college, buying a house, etc... you likely have ALL of those things in front of you.

At some point, I'd think you'd want to move off of your parent's property. That takes money. Out of your income, what do you actually pay for now? I'm thinking you're in for a rude awakening when you finally get out.

Sorry if this comes across as super negative or it ran into a few tangents. I wish you the best in your efforts, but there's probably a pretty significant reason that the % of retirees at 40 is probably so low I'd run out of zero's in this: .00000000% to quantify it. You need to earn enough to have enough working for you in your first ~20 (now about 11) years) to support you for the next 40+. While your personal goals are admirable, you might want to consider discussing them with a lawyer, accountant, financial advisor and people who work with people that are like what you want to be.

 

All I'm trying to say is that going to B school isn't a stupid decision if you get into a top tier school. You hate your job. If you go to a top tier b school you can go through recruitment and get a higher paying job in a diff. career path (depending on what interests you). including opportunity costs, B school will roughly cost you $300k. you can make that up within a couple of years if you go to a good b school. & you won't hit a glass ceiling.

Why do you want to retire at 40? i know a few people that retired that early and hated it. IMO you should try to find a career that you actually enjoy. Living with your parents at 29 and saving XXX amount is not the way to retire. Thats not how "normal" life is.