Hello and Many Thanks!

[Number3Red]

Hi! I've been lurking for some time now, but its more fun to participate in the discussions. Thank you to all who share their stories which have been a great inspiration to me!

My wife and I are both 37, we have 2 kids, 8 and 7.

Retirement accounts are around $330K, brokerage and cash comes to about $100K. 529's combined for the kids are at $44K.

Equity we have in our home is at about $121K, we have 25 years left on a 3.5%fixed 30yr mortgage. We still owe about $330K.

Combined, we make around $200K per year and over the last couple years we've managed to ramp up to about $40 - $50K per year in contributions to our retirement savings.

If we hadn't had so much fun and spent so much $ in our 20's we'd really be cooking on our way to FIRE, but we're on the right track now and if we stay disciplined we have a realistic chance at 2036 or thereabouts.

Looking forward to participating in discussions and providing updates at significant milestones!

 

[grasshopper]

Thanks for the intro, you are further along than we were at 37 and we retired at 54/50.

 

[Dtail]

Welcome Number3Red
We hope to hear updates on your way to FIRE. Keep saving and investing.

 

[brokrken]

Welcome! With you guys stashing that much away now, you'll be surprised at how quickly your nest egg will grow....especially if you can get some help from the market.


One thing to make sure you consider is to start saving outside of your retirement accounts. If you RE, you'll have to bridge the gap from when you retire to when you can take money out of your retirement accounts without penalty and you'll need a good balance in those taxable accounts to be able to that.

 

[Number3Red]

Welcome! With you guys stashing that much away now, you'll be surprised at how quickly your nest egg will grow....especially if you can get some help from the market.


One thing to make sure you consider is to start saving outside of your retirement accounts. If you RE, you'll have to bridge the gap from when you retire to when you can take money out of your retirement accounts without penalty and you'll need a good balance in those taxable accounts to be able to that.

Thank you!

I appreciate the input regarding taxable accounts to bridge the gap. Aside from a Roth contribution while we're still able, all of my savings goes to a taxable brokerage account since I don't have an employer-sponsored retirement plan. All of my wife's goes to a 403(b). I figure that the taxable account can also be used for medical expenses before medicare eligibility as well as to help with any tuition costs if we exhaust the 529's.

 

[mamadogmamacat]

Welcome. very impressive list of assets for your age. You are much further ahead than I was at that age, yet I managed to comfortably retire at 55.

 

[Erbragg1]

Welcome! With you guys stashing that much away now, you'll be surprised at how quickly your nest egg will grow....especially if you can get some help from the market.


One thing to make sure you consider is to start saving outside of your retirement accounts. If you RE, you'll have to bridge the gap from when you retire to when you can take money out of your retirement accounts without penalty and you'll need a good balance in those taxable accounts to be able to that.

I second this recommendation. I wish I had this advice given to me when I was in my thirties! It has delayed my FIRE date by a couple of years....

 

[mrWinter]

I second this recommendation. I wish I had this advice [start saving outside your retirement accounts] given to me when I was in my thirties! It has delayed my FIRE date by a couple of years....

Why did it delay your FIRE date by a couple years? Why didn't 72t or Roth IRA Ladder work for you. Did you do the math and confirm that the 10% penalty on early withdrawals on retirement accounts is worse than working-year taxes on after-tax account contributions?

 

[HI Bill]

Why didn't 72t or Roth IRA Ladder work for you.

I have been planning to use 72t (substantially equal periodic payments, or SEPP) for a long time, but after receiving an inherited IRA where the decedent was over 70.5, I think I'll just take larger distributions than the RMD from 53 to 59.5. This will be equivalent in value to my "married filing jointly" $24,000 exemptions, so I should not owe any taxes on the distributions.

 

[Erbragg1]

Why did it delay your FIRE date by a couple years? Why didn't 72t or Roth IRA Ladder work for you. Did you do the math and confirm that the 10% penalty on early withdrawals on retirement accounts is worse than working-year taxes on after-tax account contributions?

I will be retiring (hopefully late this year) and I will be using a 72t to do it. The challenge is that I did not have enough in the TIRA to get enough to bridge the gap I had. I needed a couple years to let it grow so that the max amount I could get from the 72t along with my post tax savings covered my gap till I hit 59.5. Had I known earlier, I would have put less into my 401(k) and more into post tax.