Discovered that ER is a possibility after all

[3800Fiero]

I found this site in a round about way. We had built our house 20 years ago with every intention of it being our last home. Imagine our surprise when we were notified by the state about two years ago that a new toll road may go right where our house is located. After the shock and anger wore off we started to look at our options. Now, up to this point we thought that ER was a nice dream but not really attainable so I never even looked at our retirement savings and just figured it would work out in the end. I had only started saving for retirement when I was about 42 when a 401k was offered and even then only contributed about 10% with a 3% match. 5 years later I started a Roth IRA and tried to contribute every year.

As we saw it we had 3 options available: a) The toll way would miss us, we keep the house and continue on as before. b) We lose the house and move into FIL’s house as he was living with us and his house was empty. c) Explore ER options.

That led me to this site as well as a few others. The more I read, the more pieces began to fall into place. The first was that 80% of pre-retirement income nonsense. 20 to 25 times living expenses made much more sense and reduced our nest egg requirement. Next was discovering how much my DW had been saving for retirement between a 401k, annuities and a couple pensions from prior and current owners of her place of business.
So here we are at 56 & 54 with no debt of any kind, about $650,000 between 401k’s and Roth IRA, a $13200/yr pension at 59.5, and it looks like our house will be spared!

So for now it looks like I could ER in the next 1-2 years. Getting very excited!

[daylatedollarshort]

Glad to hear your house will be spared. I agree on the 80% nonsense. That has been a big part of our ER plan. A lot of our income before was going to income taxes, housing and kids. With the kids launched before too long, we could downsize, and by retiring early from full time work our income taxes would drop significantly. Plus by being home we had more time to go over the budget and reduce all of our expense - one by one. I now even know which toilet paper costs the least by weight in my area - Costco's Kirkland brand.

[MBAustin]

Welcome! There is lots of good info here and lots of friendly advice to help you along the journey to FIRE. Enjoy!