Retire rich or retire early?

[Boz]

Originally Posted by Smokin Gator

I currently have three jobs. I work as a consultant for a school district, have a residential rental property business, and have a cattle operation. The school job will go away at some point. The other two never will.

I choose work until the day I die. There is nothing else I want to do.

This is kinda what my wife and I are thinking about doing. We have IRA's, mutual funds and 401k's but we are going to start picking up small houses (for cash) and renting them out. Hopefully by our mid 40's (I'm 28 and she's 29) we will have quite a few of these and can rely on the rental income to support a healthy lifestyle. Sure there will still be "work" involved with the rental's but it wont be like a typical 9-5.