Hi everyone!
Last time I posted here I made the mistake of posting absolute numbers. Mods were very generous and allowed me a rare mulligan for which I am grateful.
Since then, I've done a lot more lurking and am ready to post about our situation again.
AGE: 38, 36 (DW), 5 (DD), 3 (DD)
OCCUPATIONS:
Me: Solo practitioner specialist in private practice, 4 days (28 hours) of surgical type procedures
DW: analyst at Canadian Bank (MBA, CFA); 3 days part time
ASSETS:
Home: 33% of NW (equity portion), approximately 17% of home value is non-discretionary mortgage at 2.15% interest, house has more than doubled since we bought in 2006
Calgary Investment Property: 2% of NW (equity portion)
Stocks/Bonds = 70/30 AA: 65% of NW, Buy and Hold forever (I am a "stock collector") (DIY) including major positions in Canadian Banks especially TD Bank, Canadian National Railway, Berkshire Hathaway, Nike, McDonalds, Home Depot, Exxon Mobil, Coach, index for energy, index for invesment grade bonds (HYG, XCB), Altria, amongst others. Hedged 50/50 between US/CDN. Will post another thread elsewhere for opinions/ideas here.
INCOME: mid to high six figures since the age of 26, have been saving 50-70% with exception of the year we made large downpayment on home
EXPENSES:
Current Living Expenses (property tax, all utilities, food, transportation, live-in nanny, kids extracurriculars, entertainment/sports, clothing, gifts, charity, vacation, taxes) < 3% WR of investable assets. There are definitely expenses here that can be trimmed but it appears the investments can sustain the fluff. We have a soft spot especially in the kids extracurricular dept.
Future Plans
With the help of this forum, we are much closer to being FI than we originally thought and also feeling more financially secure. I originally thought I needed a "gazillion dollars" in order to FIRE when I initially learned about a safe 3% WR and erroneously extrapolated my current high expenses (which includes a hefty but non-discretionary mortgage for one), overestimated tax burden, and double counting of expenses between personal/business.
We are still a little short of being completely FI if we decide to include private school tuition, college tuition and the remaining portion of the non-discretionary mortgage (we really do not need to live in such a big house but its a nice area with very good public schools and we consider ourselves living/enjoying our real estate investment which is capital gains exempt here in Canada). Including these "non-perpetual" expenses and using the spending reduction features on FIREcalc, it says working until 42 will give us 100% success for a 50 year retirement period!! I will probably work a few more years just to add some cushion. I am guessing that as I approach my early 40's, I will have difficulty pulling the FIRE trigger being a very goal oriented individual all my life. Not sure if two young able bodied semi-type A personalities can just bum around all day. Parenting will keep us busy for sure but what about the meat of the day while kids are in school??!! Fortunately, being a practice owner, there will be options including hiring an associate and reducing my work days to completely selling off the practice and being an associate myself.
DW is planning to try the RE thing next year and be a SAHM since she no longer feels the need to be my "backup" income. To be fair, I am somewhat worried for her as she is giving up an enjoyable and meaningful work situation and even her boss! For me, I kinda like my work but cannot say it is my passion in life (I enjoy hockey/golfing much more!), it has its pros/cons like everything in life.
We've only begun to scratch the tip of the iceberg in terms of the possibilities after ER. Possibly living / international schooling for a year in another country to immerse in our native culture (we are canadian born but roots are overseas)when the kids are around 10 years old and even possibly combining it into a missionary venture for ourselves. For sure, it seems a little too dreamy at this point so I'll end it off here.
Again, thanks for reading and any advice is appreciated!
Last time I posted here I made the mistake of posting absolute numbers. Mods were very generous and allowed me a rare mulligan for which I am grateful.
Since then, I've done a lot more lurking and am ready to post about our situation again.
AGE: 38, 36 (DW), 5 (DD), 3 (DD)
OCCUPATIONS:
Me: Solo practitioner specialist in private practice, 4 days (28 hours) of surgical type procedures
DW: analyst at Canadian Bank (MBA, CFA); 3 days part time
ASSETS:
Home: 33% of NW (equity portion), approximately 17% of home value is non-discretionary mortgage at 2.15% interest, house has more than doubled since we bought in 2006
Calgary Investment Property: 2% of NW (equity portion)
Stocks/Bonds = 70/30 AA: 65% of NW, Buy and Hold forever (I am a "stock collector") (DIY) including major positions in Canadian Banks especially TD Bank, Canadian National Railway, Berkshire Hathaway, Nike, McDonalds, Home Depot, Exxon Mobil, Coach, index for energy, index for invesment grade bonds (HYG, XCB), Altria, amongst others. Hedged 50/50 between US/CDN. Will post another thread elsewhere for opinions/ideas here.
INCOME: mid to high six figures since the age of 26, have been saving 50-70% with exception of the year we made large downpayment on home
EXPENSES:
Current Living Expenses (property tax, all utilities, food, transportation, live-in nanny, kids extracurriculars, entertainment/sports, clothing, gifts, charity, vacation, taxes) < 3% WR of investable assets. There are definitely expenses here that can be trimmed but it appears the investments can sustain the fluff. We have a soft spot especially in the kids extracurricular dept.
Future Plans
With the help of this forum, we are much closer to being FI than we originally thought and also feeling more financially secure. I originally thought I needed a "gazillion dollars" in order to FIRE when I initially learned about a safe 3% WR and erroneously extrapolated my current high expenses (which includes a hefty but non-discretionary mortgage for one), overestimated tax burden, and double counting of expenses between personal/business.
We are still a little short of being completely FI if we decide to include private school tuition, college tuition and the remaining portion of the non-discretionary mortgage (we really do not need to live in such a big house but its a nice area with very good public schools and we consider ourselves living/enjoying our real estate investment which is capital gains exempt here in Canada). Including these "non-perpetual" expenses and using the spending reduction features on FIREcalc, it says working until 42 will give us 100% success for a 50 year retirement period!! I will probably work a few more years just to add some cushion. I am guessing that as I approach my early 40's, I will have difficulty pulling the FIRE trigger being a very goal oriented individual all my life. Not sure if two young able bodied semi-type A personalities can just bum around all day. Parenting will keep us busy for sure but what about the meat of the day while kids are in school??!! Fortunately, being a practice owner, there will be options including hiring an associate and reducing my work days to completely selling off the practice and being an associate myself.
DW is planning to try the RE thing next year and be a SAHM since she no longer feels the need to be my "backup" income. To be fair, I am somewhat worried for her as she is giving up an enjoyable and meaningful work situation and even her boss! For me, I kinda like my work but cannot say it is my passion in life (I enjoy hockey/golfing much more!), it has its pros/cons like everything in life.
We've only begun to scratch the tip of the iceberg in terms of the possibilities after ER. Possibly living / international schooling for a year in another country to immerse in our native culture (we are canadian born but roots are overseas)when the kids are around 10 years old and even possibly combining it into a missionary venture for ourselves. For sure, it seems a little too dreamy at this point so I'll end it off here.
Again, thanks for reading and any advice is appreciated!
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