Pre-ER: When to stop adding money to portfolio?

[chinaco]

Thinking of it as a % of our portfolio is a bit interesting...

We actually are putting about 3% a year in tax deferred 401k style accounts + DW PST. We are putting another 1% after Tax. (Equates) to approx 1.5% pretax.

Essentially we are saving in 1 work year, 1 ER year of pretax income. It seems fairly obvious to me that if we are 4.x years from ER, that money will be used within 5-7 years and it should go into MM and Short-term and Int Term Bond Funds. That will help to fund ER income from age 55-59.5. Plus, those funds help us to adjust our portfolio allocation to the target 60/30/10 by 55.

[kaudrey]

I hadn't really thought about it until you asked the question, except that I also planned to save until I retired.

I save 30% of my gross income, but I live how I want to live - not extravagant, but I go out to dinner or drinks with friends, I go on vacation a few times a year etc. What would I spend the extra money on? Maybe once I get closer I'll go on a few more expensive vacations, but I have a budget for that in my retirement money, so I can wait until then.

My calculations are based on living at the same level I do now at retirement (adjusted for inflation etc etc). If I all of a sudden starting spending that extra 30%, I'd have to be cutting back again to my current spending levels once I got to RE.

My plan, instead, is to FIRE at 52 with a certain level of savings. If I exceed that level early, I'll just retire earlier!

[mikex]

I was doing 16%, but recently dropped to 8%, because I want to save more into a liquid account so I can quit my job early, and draw from that until 55. Also, my company matches 50% up to the first 8% of what I put into my 401k, so it seems dumb to just not get all that free money.

[megacorp-firee]

My last contribution goes in with my last paycheck from megacorp. That will max out my 401K contribution for the year. Then I start 'distributing'
whoo hoo ... Almost there!