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Geetings from Atlanta
Old 10-07-2012, 05:41 PM   #1
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Join Date: Feb 2012
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Geetings from Atlanta

Hi,

My name is David and I am a long timer lurker, first time poster. DW and I are probably within about 3 years of FIRE. Well, I guess I might be better to describe it as 3 years away from downshifting. I will retire, but she will continue to work for 4-6 more years (but at 3 days a week). She really gets a lot of gratification from her job, so in her case, retiring for the sake of retiring does not seem to make sense.

Currently we have a little over 30x our current yearly pre-tax expenses saved. I would like to see it be a little higher because we are both relatively young at 45 and 47. With DW wanting to continue to work, we could probably downshift today, but we are both fairly cautious individuals and don't want to turn the money spigots off until we know the bucket is as full as we will ever need it. Plus I am hoping to pick up some sort of package from work over the next couple of years. But if one does not come along, we will downshift before DW's 50th birthday.

Currently, we are starting our search for a retirement location. We are currently in the Atlanta suburbs. Not really a bad place to live, but we would like to experience something different during the next phase of our lives. We have stared at the map for years trying to pick places we might like, so actually starting the investigation "on foot" is lot of fun!

Anyhow, I just wanted to introduce myself and say hello.

Cheers,

David.
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Old 10-07-2012, 06:09 PM   #2
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Welcome. Sounds like you are in a great position and have given this a lot of thought.
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Old 10-07-2012, 07:06 PM   #3
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Welcome. Your story sounds very familiar as the DW and I are going down a very similar path.

The only thing we are not considering (right now) is a move in retirement. Not saying we'll never do it, but just not considering it right now as we are in a medium sized city (Raleigh-Durham) area and are pretty happy. Having lived in Chicago and then its suburbs, and experienced Atlanta, I can understand the desire to try something different.
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Old 10-07-2012, 07:10 PM   #4
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Welcome. Have you checked out "Find Your Spot"?
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Old 10-07-2012, 09:02 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sadsak View Post
Hi,

My name is David and I am a long timer lurker, first time poster. DW and I are probably within about 3 years of FIRE. Well, I guess I might be better to describe it as 3 years away from downshifting. I will retire, but she will continue to work for 4-6 more years (but at 3 days a week). She really gets a lot of gratification from her job, so in her case, retiring for the sake of retiring does not seem to make sense.

Currently we have a little over 30x our current yearly pre-tax expenses saved. I would like to see it be a little higher because we are both relatively young at 45 and 47. With DW wanting to continue to work, we could probably downshift today, but we are both fairly cautious individuals and don't want to turn the money spigots off until we know the bucket is as full as we will ever need it. Plus I am hoping to pick up some sort of package from work over the next couple of years. But if one does not come along, we will downshift before DW's 50th birthday.

Currently, we are starting our search for a retirement location. We are currently in the Atlanta suburbs. Not really a bad place to live, but we would like to experience something different during the next phase of our lives. We have stared at the map for years trying to pick places we might like, so actually starting the investigation "on foot" is lot of fun!

Anyhow, I just wanted to introduce myself and say hello.

Cheers,

David.
David,

My name is Xavier and I also live in Atlanta. First I would like to say congratulations on your outstanding achievements! It seems that you and your wife have LBYM and now you are experiencing the results of your discipline and dedication. I'm 38 and my wife is 30 and we have 2 children under 2 years old. I would like to meet with people like you in Atlanta and exchange our stories, retirement plans and future ideas. Let me know if you might be interested and we can exchange contact information via PM.

Take care,

Xavier
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Old 10-07-2012, 11:16 PM   #6
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Welcome, sadsak.
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Old 10-08-2012, 04:24 AM   #7
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Hi Sadsak, welcome to the forum. You've done very well and should find you have many options as you consider how and when to move to the next phase. Good luck.
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Old 10-08-2012, 05:20 AM   #8
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Welcome to the forum. We were just in Atlanta visiting our old stomping grounds around Decatur. We had to make stops at the Dekalb Farmers Market, The Flying Biscuit(original chandler park location), and Trader Joes. We really liked Decatur, but the call of the Beach was just too strong.
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Old 10-08-2012, 09:02 AM   #9
Confused about dryer sheets
 
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Originally Posted by pb4uski View Post
Welcome. Have you checked out "Find Your Spot"?
I have tried to "Find Your Spot" and a few other tools. In many ways it was easier to save for our retirement than it is to figure out where to spend our retirement!

What DW and I have done to try to help us with the decision is to independently create a "Get-a-Life" tree (as described in "The Joy of Not Working"). Merging our trees has really helped us to identify what sort of place is going to be required to allow us to fulfill our wants/needs. The next several years are going to include a lot of exploratory trips!

Jimnjana, so funny that you mentioned Trader Joes. One our original filters was that we needed to be within a 2 hour drive of a TJs!
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Old 10-25-2012, 07:18 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sadsak View Post
I have tried to "Find Your Spot" and a few other tools. In many ways it was easier to save for our retirement than it is to figure out where to spend our retirement!

What DW and I have done to try to help us with the decision is to independently create a "Get-a-Life" tree (as described in "The Joy of Not Working"). Merging our trees has really helped us to identify what sort of place is going to be required to allow us to fulfill our wants/needs. The next several years are going to include a lot of exploratory trips!

Jimnjana, so funny that you mentioned Trader Joes. One our original filters was that we needed to be within a 2 hour drive of a TJs!
Welcome - we currently live in Atlanta too. I retired 2/2012 and it looks like my wife is handing in her notice at the end of the yr. Over the years we have had a lot of exploratory trips and was a lot of fun visiting different places.
We usually check to see if there is a Trader Joes too!
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Old 10-25-2012, 08:03 AM   #11
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Trader Joe's is the best! My daughter and I make occasional 6 hour trips with ice chests to either Albuquerque or Dallas to stock up.
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Old 10-25-2012, 12:24 PM   #12
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Originally Posted by Ally
Trader Joe's is the best! My daughter and I make occasional 6 hour trips with ice chests to either Albuquerque or Dallas to stock up.
That is dedication. I am lucky enough to be able to take 10 min bike ride to my local TJ.
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Hello From Metro Atlanta
Old 10-25-2012, 01:03 PM   #13
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Hello From Metro Atlanta

Hello sadsak,

30X your savings is wonderful! You're definitely on the right track.

DW and I are also in metro Atlanta. We've been here over 20 years and have found it to be a great place to live. There are obviously plenty of other great places and we hope to see many of them in our RV.

I don't know if RVing is your thing or not but don't dismiss it if you haven't taken time to give it some thought. It's great way to see the sights as well as stay in certain areas of the county for longer periods of time. DW and I have found RVing is reasonably affordable (although not cheap) and permits us to volunteer around the country as well as see places and meet people we normally would not encounter if we were simply flying in and out of airports.

Good Luck!
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