Retirement
I have no interest in working until I'm 65. In fact, I would be very happy if I were able to stop work entirely in the very near future. Doesn't everyone? Not working means that I can persue more interesting endeavours (some of which may actually produce income, as well as being interesting).

With our current savings plan, we'll have our house entirely paid off this year, and complete financial independence by 2012. By complete financial independence, I mean that with a very conservative investment plan, we'll have enough income to last us indefinitely, even if we double our current outgoings. Most people would consider reaching this goal by the tender age of 35 quite an achievement. I would tend to agree.

However, I'm both impatient and lazy (with a bit of hubris mixed in), and don't want to wait until I'm 35 before retiring. I'd like to retire sooner. The good news for me, is that I can.

The complete financial independence plan allows for personal immortality. Since income is greater than or equal to expenditure, this plan sustains itself indefinitely. However, I'm not immortal, so I can actually retire with a lower level of assets and still live comfortably to the end of my days.

Unfortunately my back-of-the-envelope calculations show that the difference required in assets may only shave 1-2 years off my expected retirement age. That's a good start, but not as great as I would hope.

I still have more research to perform, and a few tricks which I may consider using. With luck, I may be able to shave a little more time off the final figure.