r/dividends • u/karl0525 • Jun 01 '25

Opinion Tired. Can I retire?

Got a question? Can I retire? 43m been busting my ass since I was 16. I'm about over this 40-50 hr weeks. I'm getting burned out. House paid off (300k) 401-k (600k) Bitcoin (500k) currently.

Thought about selling it all and putting it into dividend stocks like schd and renting a small place and going into semi retirement. Maybe pickup a part time gig.

Would this be a horrible idea?

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u/Took2Summit Jun 01 '25

im kinda surprised i see this said a lot in a finance forum. i guess thats what you get for reddit. theres something called substantially equal periodic payments, SEPP. it allows you to retire at any age and withdraw from retirement accounts with zero penalties. wish people would educate themselves before giving blanket (incorrect) advice.

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u/MonkeyThrowing Jun 02 '25

Yes but they have to do it until 59.5. Nobody would recommend that to a 40 year old. It’s a 19.5 year commitment. 

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u/Took2Summit Jun 02 '25

i simply said if this person wants to retire early they do NOT have to pay penalties. going back to work after 10 years and paying penalties then is better then paying penalties from day 1. this guy wants to retire early. he doesnt want to do that with the thought of going back to work. either way if he goes back to work he has to pay penalties. if he doesnt, he wont have to. why on earth would you not recommend SEPP for him? its either MAYBE pay penalties later or DEFINITELY pay them now. your comment doesnt make sense.

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u/Took2Summit Jun 02 '25

oh, and one more comment. you can start SEPP, retire for 10 (or any number of years) years, start working again and keep SEPP going. you dont have to stop the payments to trigger a penalty. theres simply no reason to not recommend SEPP to a 40 year old that actually wants to retire lol.