Are you to chicken to RE?

[mb]

So if you are FI but not RE what's the excuse?

[2B]

I don't qualify by the poll since I'm not in the <4% SWR group. I guess I'm not "chicken" by wondering if I should use Bernicke. If I had the guts to go with his plan, I'm ready.

[uncledrz]

mb
I like part time work. When and if I come to a point that I don't want to do it anymore, I won't.
Tio z

[F-One]

I'm with 2B, can't vote since there is not >4%. Close, but biggest issue is obtaining healthcare coverage. Wife has chronic back issue. Am I too chicken, right now, yep.

[LOL!]

I have big expenses in the future that I have to deal with. But I guess my spouse can work to pay those.
And despite the prevalent opinion around here, there are some great jobs out there that are fun, easy, and meaningful. I think I have one of them, so while RE is always available, it is not necessary.

[Texas Proud]

I am on the cusp.... could do it 'maybe', but would like a bit of insurance...

And, I hope to meet some nice lady that would want to share the rest of my life... which means I would not be at the right amount... but, give me 5 years and I am there either way...

[tryan]

Didn't base the FIRE decision on a SWR ... was more about hitting a FI level (2m). Which I suppose is a backhanded SWR.

Oh, then the megacorp golden, silver, bronze, nylon parachute helped push out the door.

[piano88]

I could retire today and draw about 3.8% to cover expenses. I just turned 50 and have been working in the same career for about 27 years. Though I'm getting tired of it, I haven't found anything else worthwhile doing. I haven't tried hard to find something else. What is great to know is that I could retire anytime.

Piano88

[unclemick]

I was canned, layed off, made redundant, my job was eliminated, however put - Jan 93. Had no clue what FI, SWR or that other stuff meant. The SO liked living in a fish camp over Lake Ponchartrain - "I am not going to move!" Learned to live 'cheap but good.'

After ten years found Dory36's forum on the Retire Early Home Page - and learned I wasn't an unemployed but resourcefull bum but instead a high class FIRE - I've been totally immodest ever since.

heh heh heh 8)

[CyclingInvestor]

I hit FI in July 04 (paying off my mortgage to celebrate) by reaching 4% SWR,
but at the time work was still good, so I worked an extra 2+ years to fatten the
buffers. When the work environment turned south in Oct 06 I retired, living
on the almost 3% dividends my portfolio generates.

[W2R]

No way!!! If I could RE tomorrow and be confident that I had a good chance of making it work, I would be living the good life this very minute.

[bbuzzard]

While I could retire at a SWR of about 3.5% of my current expenses, I am young, have not put the child through college, and expect to have significantly larger expenses in retirement than while working. I currently do not spend much money b/c I spend most of my time working, traveling for work or commuting to work, and my wife works also which means she has no time to spend money either.

I do plan to start a consulting business in the future at some point to transition into full ER, the plan being that I can limit working to 30-40/hours a week (currently 60/week including commute) by working out of the house and eliminating administrative overhead. The wife would also quit and would do the administrative stuff (billing, accounting, scheduling, travel arrangements, etc). I believe I can bring in 50-70% of our current combined income this way. While this would not allow me to continue to save (much), it would cover all our current expenses, allow me more free time, and give the nest-egg time to grow on its own.

The idea is that we would then fully retire when our child starts college.

[HFWR]

I'd be retired if I could make an 8% WR work...

Keep going...

[Sheryl]

We could make it work with the stash that we have - we reached our (second) goal last November. We could live pretty well on 4%.

But if we work a little longer, we'll have a better stash, bigger comfort zone, safer withdrawal, more to spend on play and travel, etc.

I want to buy one more new car before I quit, which will take a chunk out of the stash.

Plus I don't HATE my work, I enjoy some parts of it, I would just like to work less.

My SO is going to take a year's "leave of absence" in September - if his company goes for that that. If not he's probably going to quit. I am going to move toward part time - though I haven't really set a schedule. The first step is to see how life feels with him not working and me still working. I have usually been able to take reasonable vacation time - it is/was SO who had the infexible schedule.

We are 46 and 51. I expect I'll not work past 50 in any case.

So yeah, you could call it chicken, or prudent. Take your pick.

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sheryl So yeah, you could call it chicken, or prudent. Take your pick.

Maybe a combination of both? You could call your self 'chudent' or 'pric...'. Uhhhh, maybe not...

[USK Coastie]

I am planning to pull the plug June 30, 2007. So I gues you could say that pretty much as soon as I reached FI I will RE.

[SecondCor521]

I plan to be FI for about 12 hours before I RE. The 12 hour lag will be because I will look that night after the market close, find I've hit a 4% withdrawal rate, and swing by the office to quit the next morning. It might be 16 hours because I might sleep in.

That's my ideal right now, but I'm young and naive. Probably when I get closer it will look more complex than that.

Oh, and all bets are off if my youngest isn't in college by that day. Right now the spreadsheet says that's not going to happen.

2Cor521

[Animorph]

I'm 52. I've got one kid in college and another going in three years. Social security and DW's small pension won't kick in until I'm 62-65. I'd be pulling out more like 10% for the first few years, which would ramp down to 3% by the time SS and pension kicks in.

FIRECalc says I'm maybe 70% safe, but If I retire now, I'm very vunerable to a bad stock market for the first few years (though I do have bonds to cover a few years). Nonetheless, I'll probably RE next year and just lower the expenses if needed.

Dan

[shiny]

I've already quit and would be happy for DH to quit. He's got an opportunity to work overseas and make a nice chunk of change, so, like Sheryl I think we are going to feather the nest a bit more.

Chicken?? I don't know, maybe.

[garrynky]

I'm at the point where I really don't care what the numbers look like. At the end of this year I'm bailing out of the workforce. Maybe a change of pace and change of scenery and I'll feel differently.