In my early thirties with a mortgage, kids, health insurance and those annoying tax bills… Is the MMM goal really something achievable in Switzerland?
After getting quite motivated and excited on the MMM podcasts and blog posts, I feel somewhat ‘back to reality’ as any discussion on the idea of early retirement is so alien and incomprehensible to those around me, it has made me question how realistic it really is.
Are many here on track to realistically to be done and dusted before 65?
Hah, if you complain about your tax bill you must be earning a lot more than us! Mid-thirties with kids here, though no mortgage because we think it does not make sense in our location at all.
I’m just about 8 months into my plan, but so far so good. However we plan to work full-time (actually 80%, but it feels like full time 
) until 40 and then part-time until 50 while letting the stash grow. Then we should be able to retire. The plan is to use the pillar3a money to buy a place in a low-cost-of-living part of either Switzerland oder a neighboring country, and live off the rest.
This is not really early by Mustachian standards, but at least it will involve relatively little work time starting at 40, and still retiring much earlier than most other people. So I’m happy with it. It is also a choice we make - we could save much more by downsizing the apartment and all that, but we don’t really want to.
I think it should be possible, but we have revised our plan and try to lower work to one day per person per week. This lowers ourbtarget amount by half and we keep accident insurance and AHV contributions through work.
Hi zugzoo,
If I look at my current monthly expenses living in Switzerland:
So it’s feasible 
This topic will always be alien to a lot of people around you, because it shakes the foundations of our consumption society. In general, people have too many beliefs to overcome before starting to believe in FI.
So, instead of convincing with arguments, lead by example. For instance, I know that I made thinking a friend very hard when I mentioned that if I stopped working now, my emergency fund would be enough to cover at least three years. (It was last year and I had started my journey for a little more than one year). In general, as soon as you grow your stash to levels not commonly seen, people will start thinking by themselves.
To come back to your first question, I would say it is definitely possible. I am currently in my early thirties and I plan to retire around 40.
However, it depends a lot on your numbers. Like everywhere else, housing, healthcare, transportation and food (and kids) are the main costs, so it is important to optimize them as much as possible. For instance, if your housing costs more than 20% of your after-tax household income, your saving rate will be badly impacted.
It would help if you could publish your post of expenses, so we could perhaps give you some pieces of advice about how to reach your financial goals 
Thank you all very much for the responses!
I’m still very new to this but slowly working through the process of reading all the threads and blog posts on the subject - so expect a lot more from me in the future. Everything makes a lot of sense and there is some light at the end of the tunnel I’m sure…
I’m challenging myself to in taking the effort to know and understand what ‘my’ numbers mean in reality here in CH. I’ve already discovered quite a rookie mistake of signing up for the Life Insurance bundled 3a - I’ll detail the numbers on that in another thread 
But onwards and upwards to FI!
Have a good weekend!