Greetings,
First let me state how grateful I am to have found such a great resource as this forum. I’ve been lurking for the past few weeks attempting to absorb knowledge like a sponge. This appears to be such a well-run, polite, knowledgeable forum compared to so many others out there. Thank you to those who have already increased my understanding of FIRE, and given me valuable food for thought as I contemplate my move to ER.
Now let’s see… I read the “Read This” about introductions, so let’s see if I can hit the highlights:
I am 46 YO, married (Mrs. X is 45), with no kids, living in the mid-west. My wife and I have mostly-good financial habits, and have long talked about retiring early in a vague sense. We now find ourselves pretty fed up with our respective corporate rat races, and are seriously contemplating ER.
As of yesterday, we have about $4M in brokerage accounts, weighted pretty heavily in mutual funds and stock. We’ve got another $1.2M in 401Ks, and then about $400K in cash. By January 2016, we are planning our assets will be above $6M, not including homes, cars, or stuff like that.
Out annual spending has been the tricky thing to determine. We’ve done a lot of analysis over the past couple of years, and have averaged about $115K per year, not including income taxes. Frankly, there’s a lot of waste in that number, but it is pretty inclusive (home repairs, a major medical situation, hobbies, travel, etc.). Taxes and health care would obviously have to be added on to that for future projections.
I’ve run some of the most pessimistic FIRECALC scenarios that I can run – high taxes, high health care costs, high inflation, flat spending curve, no social security, no inheritances, buying a stupid expensive retirement home within 5 years, living to 100, etc. and it always seems to come out positive.
Obviously there are a lot of smart people here succeeding on much less (both nest egg and spending-wise) than the numbers above. But it’s still scary to contemplate making a big life decision like this. Our jobs are such that once we retire, we feel like there won't be an opportunity to "go back" in to the workforce at anywhere near the level we are now. The fear of “running out” of money at 85-90 is something that keeps me up at night.
Anyway, I look forward to learning more and hope to someday even be able to contribute something of value to the forum.
Cheers!
Racer X
First let me state how grateful I am to have found such a great resource as this forum. I’ve been lurking for the past few weeks attempting to absorb knowledge like a sponge. This appears to be such a well-run, polite, knowledgeable forum compared to so many others out there. Thank you to those who have already increased my understanding of FIRE, and given me valuable food for thought as I contemplate my move to ER.
Now let’s see… I read the “Read This” about introductions, so let’s see if I can hit the highlights:
I am 46 YO, married (Mrs. X is 45), with no kids, living in the mid-west. My wife and I have mostly-good financial habits, and have long talked about retiring early in a vague sense. We now find ourselves pretty fed up with our respective corporate rat races, and are seriously contemplating ER.
As of yesterday, we have about $4M in brokerage accounts, weighted pretty heavily in mutual funds and stock. We’ve got another $1.2M in 401Ks, and then about $400K in cash. By January 2016, we are planning our assets will be above $6M, not including homes, cars, or stuff like that.
Out annual spending has been the tricky thing to determine. We’ve done a lot of analysis over the past couple of years, and have averaged about $115K per year, not including income taxes. Frankly, there’s a lot of waste in that number, but it is pretty inclusive (home repairs, a major medical situation, hobbies, travel, etc.). Taxes and health care would obviously have to be added on to that for future projections.
I’ve run some of the most pessimistic FIRECALC scenarios that I can run – high taxes, high health care costs, high inflation, flat spending curve, no social security, no inheritances, buying a stupid expensive retirement home within 5 years, living to 100, etc. and it always seems to come out positive.
Obviously there are a lot of smart people here succeeding on much less (both nest egg and spending-wise) than the numbers above. But it’s still scary to contemplate making a big life decision like this. Our jobs are such that once we retire, we feel like there won't be an opportunity to "go back" in to the workforce at anywhere near the level we are now. The fear of “running out” of money at 85-90 is something that keeps me up at night.
Anyway, I look forward to learning more and hope to someday even be able to contribute something of value to the forum.
Cheers!
Racer X