To Retire at 50 I feel that a lot has to be in place, I know for myself I enjoy living an exspesive life so if I were to retire at 50, I would need a lot a good investments. Witch I have but still living on a tight budget is not something I would be good at plus I like working.... What has worked for you?

First of all I was referring to mid 50,s more like age 55, but what has worked for me, has been switching our retirement funds (mutual funds) on a short term basis, averaging 25% annual returns. I'm 54 and my husband is 52 so in 3 years if we wish to we can retire. What also worked was purchasing some more real estate in 2004 and 2005 and selling it at a perfect time, moving into a rental home we had and paying that mortgage off from the proceeds of another home. We will stay there for at least 2 years so we don't have to pay the gains and then move to our home in Georgia for retirement. Now we have 2 homes, one in Florida and one in Georgia with no mortgage. I have been sucessful in doing this switching in funds for the past 10 yrs. I have taught myself technical analysis and I read charts. It's almost like reading tea leaves. lol!

I don't think my post took so I'll rewrite it. I was referring to the age of 55 more than 50. We have 3 more years left. I attribute my success to switching our retirement funds for the past 10 years on a short term basis, basically trading it. I have done an average of 25% annual returns which helped a lot. Then I had 3 homes, two in Florida, and one in Georgia. One home in Florida was rented out for 2 yrs and we just moved into that after selling the one I lived in while I had tenants. Now we will stay here for at least 2-3 yrs so we don't pay capital gains, then move to our home in Georgia for good. Whew! Hope this takes.

To be honest with you I don't foresee this happening with us. We were late to thinking about our retirement. We do have something set up now but not where we will be able to retire at 50.

I don't know what late was for you. But we started late also. My husband was 40 and for 2 years the money didnt' do much, until I learned how to switch the money back and forth. We have 3 more years if we chose to retire at 55 but in a 10 yr period, I took 15k and without much contributions, I was able to get us retired early. I learned technical analysis and chart my funds. Anyone can do this. It's not that hard if you give it a chance and can help someone who started late. Believe me, we had our troubles when it came to finances but this was our saving grace. Don't give up, keep educating yourself on finances and learn technical analysis.

I'm hoping to collect a pension at 55, but I hate the word "retire". It will enable me to start a second career and, perhaps, take more risk than I was comfortable with before. I suspect I'll work until I no longer can...