Newbie starting the countdown...

[datuck]

Hi all. Have more recently started getting serious about retiring. I'm 54 and wife is 51. I'm targeting 58 as my retirement year. We both work. Excluding 529s for our sons (one in college and one in 8th grade) we have ~$2M saved up in tax/non-tax accounts. We gross ~$265K not including bonus and RSUs. We have been tracking expenses for about 8 months and enjoy the discipline. We're spending ~$10.5K a month (includes $250 a month into a savings account). I also max out 401k/catch-up and have 8% taken towards espp. We're probably 90% invested in stocks.

We took a first pass at what a post-retirement monthly budget would look like and are figuring ~$7K at this point anyway (no more house payment, other expenses out and some in like med insurance).

I look forward to getting to know you all and I'm sure I will have lots o questions over time!

[Ready]

Welcome to the forum Datuck. You appear to be off to a great start! Actually, you appear to be just about finished. Congratulations on achieving these numbers and feel free to ask questions in the forum as they come up.

[H-Man]

Datuck, being this close to retirment you may want to consider your portfolio allocaton, 90% in stocks is aggressive given your age and proximity to retirment.

Assuming $7K/month expenses, your savings numbers (congratulations by the way), some social security and a mortality rate of 90, your numbers look golden. So good luck.

[datuck]

Thanks for the advice. I agree we need to start working toward a more conservative mix. I hope to get lots of good recommendations here!

[datuck]

Would this be the right section to share more details about our actual AAs and get some advice? I kinda feel like we have investments where we have them but with no real strategy. Some with ameritrade, etrade, stifel and fidelity...

[Ready]

The general forum advice for this type of request is to read a few of the books in the recommended reading lists that you will find in various threads on the forums, and then once you have done so, ask any questions you still may have. If you're very new to investing, and you start asking all of us for advice, you will get lots of it, and you won't know who to listen to. The books will give you a solid foundation before you ask questions or listen to any advice we may have.

The first book I read on the topic was Investing for Dummies. It was a great primer, and it motivated me to go on and read quite a few more books afterward. But just that book alone should give you a great head start in the world of DIY investing.

[ETFs_Rule]

Quote:

being this close to retirment you may want to consider your portfolio allocaton, 90% in stocks is aggressive given your age and proximity to retirment.

Actually it depends on WHO you are investing for... Yourselves or your young heirs.
If you are mainly investing for yourselves then consider whether you have reached the financial "finish line" or not. If so then you might want to be less aggressive and stick to an age appropriate mix of bonds and stocks.

[retire2020]

Quote:

Originally Posted by datuck Would this be the right section to share more details about our actual AAs and get some advice? I kinda feel like we have investments where we have them but with no real strategy. Some with ameritrade, etrade, stifel and fidelity...

datuck..I would consolidate into one/two brokerages. Also 90% is too high for your age. I would shoot for 60/40 Eq/Fi portfolio and slowly reduce to 50/50 by the time you retire. I was like you spreaded all over and consolidated to Fid/Schwab only now. I'm almost 50 and AA is 65/35 which will be reduced to 60/40 by 55 and then 50/50 by the time I'm 60.
Congrats on the impressive savings!

[ETFs_Rule]

Ric Edelman has a free portfolio creation tool. You enter your information then it spits out a portfolio. I would expect it to tell you to invest more in stocks than 50%. Ric has said that in these times of low interest rates you have to take more risk than you did 20 years ago.
https://www.ricedelman.com/cs/invest...u#.UvqTkIVjlac
The one thing that I disagree with Ric is this idea that you need so many ETF's. I think he over thinks it in order to make it seem complicated so that people will hire him to manage their portfolios. He'll recommend a value and a growth ETF for large cap, mid cap and small caps. I would rather just buy VOO to represent large caps. Want more risk? Add VO and/ or VBR for mid / small caps. Nothing wrong with just buying VOO and then being done with your stocks. That diversifies you into 500 companies.

[datuck]

So it's been awhile since I last posted... I'm now 56.5 and DW is 53. In the meantime, my wife has switched careers and is now a realtor... That has allowed us to buy/hold/rent 5 units (Dallas market is going to be nuts for the foreseeable future). All in the 5 units net us $3K per month. Will plan to buy more, as we consider this a business opportunity.

We have just over $900K taxable + $1M tax deferred saved, and the current actual value of the rental properties is $420K. DW nets $3K/mo on the conservative side and anticipate that going up. I currently net 14K. We do still have a mortgage of $230K (house worth $330K today in very favorable market), but will sell in 2018 when DS goes off to college. We track and discuss spending weekly and are spending $11K monthly - we plan for this to go down a bit over time but not as aggressively or quickly as we originally thought.

I am ready to transition out of megacorp, as its time to leave it to younger, more aggressive voices... I now plan to pop out in January 2017, taking advantage of a triple vesting and one last (I hope) bonus. My mid year performance "check-in" is next week and I plan to share my plan with my manager at that time, as a way to set the table so to speak. I've been encouraged by so many great stories here and also benefitted from great advice given to me all the others on this forum. You guys/gals rock!


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[MBAustin]

Nice update, datuck! You may want to read this thread before you talk with your manager:
http://www.early-retirement.org/foru...ice-80294.html

At some (many?) Megacorps, a six-month notice might make you vulnerable to an involuntary earlier exit. If you are counting on those vested options, I would personally wait until they actually vested before giving notice.

[datuck]

Thanks for the counsel MB. I've gone back and forth a bit on that one... I happen to work in HR. I think our company (and my manager) would handle things thoughtfully/ethically as our culture is pretty strong that way, but... you never know though. Crazier things have happened. I may not bring it up, but if the conversation heads into "future career" like territory, then I might go there.


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[CoAndy]

Things look great! At a 4% SWR, $1M will throw off $40k a year. You already have $2M, which exceeds your estimated expenses, once the house is paid off. It would appear that as soon as you get your expenses down to that $7k a month you projected, you should be good to go.

[datuck]

Well, I gave notice a couple days ago. My manager (20 years younger than me!) accepted that I was ready to close out my corporate career and is willing to work out a transition however I think best. I'd like to work through end of June. I feel great. DW is excited about me helping more in our real estate endeavors (said she needed an admin assistant). So, here we go!


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[euro]

Quote:

Originally Posted by datuck Well, I gave notice a couple days ago. My manager (20 years younger then me!) accepted that I was ready to close out my corporate career and is willing to work out a transition however I think best. I'd like to work through end of June. I feel great. DW is excited about me helping more in our real estate endeavors (said she needed an admin assistant). So, here we go! Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

Congrats, datuck! How did you end up reworking your asset allocation?

[datuck]

Thanks! One thing we did was shift a portion into real estate holdings... We now own 5 single family rentals (2 were all cash deals) that produce solid net income. We will continue to be buyers as part of our "passive income" strategy. DW became a realtor in early 2015, so also income coming from that. All in, 3 buckets we will pull from short term: RE active income, REI passive income, stock mkt income, with a plan to build REI over time so less reliance on the other two... Dallas market is very strong for foreseeable future and that helps.


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[TimSF]

Congratulations, you made it!

[MBAustin]

Glad the talk went well and you can do it on your terms!