“I don’t want to wait, for my life to be over…”

-Dawson’s Creek Theme Song

A friend of mine was complaining to me that he just wants to retire already (he’s 27).

I’m sure most people would laugh at him, but you probably know me well enough by now to know that I took him seriously.

So I asked him my favorite question: “WHY?”

And he told me what I suspected, that he just wants more time to hunt and fish and play with his dog.

All of which is pretty much free, and he doesn’t want much else.

After a few minutes with my calculator, we determined that he could live the EXACT life he wants for about $25k a year. At the best-supported (imo) “safe withdrawal rate” of 4% a year, that means a portfolio of $625,000 could sustain him indefinitely.

And guess what? He already has ~$200k saved up, and he can save another ~$60k/year.

Because this particular friend is really good at identifying what he actually wants – what truly makes him happy – and not wasting money or time on bullshit that doesn’t.

So now he knows that he’s just ~6 years away from retiring to the back country at 34 years old. And he couldn’t believe it (in a good way).

Just being mindful about how he spent his money and understanding what makes him happy literally gave him ~30 years of freedom he didn’t expect. The future was closer than he thought.

When I talked to him a few weeks later, he had already worked out a budget to live on $20k/year, knocking his time left in work-jail down to ~4years. Sounds like retirement has him pretty motivated.

I’ll bet if you’re mindful, you too can arrive to the future ahead of schedule.