To ease the thread back on topic. (OK, I hanker for a 67 Goat, and DW says it's gotta be topless, she loves to go topless, but that's another thread) I think there is a definite advantage to have an age-based ER equation, as opposed to a Funds based requirement. We finally figured out that we wanted to ER, preference for FIRE but neverthe less ER 7 years ago, when I was 43 and DW was 42. Our public service jobs require age 50 minimum to receive any sort of pension whatsoever. Since at that ephipany moment we had no savings, we embarked on doing some catchup, but realistically we were never going to acquire tons-o-dough based on putting away 7 or 8K a piece for 7 years. My thought in those heady days was we'd end up with about 100k x 2 at the end of the road. Serious money, but that was long before I learned about the 4 percent rule. I was assuming we could draw oh say 10 percent per year, (I told you I had no clue during the late 90's, it DID seem real easy to make money with money) but at the end of the day, our expenses were going to have to be covered by our DBP's.
OK as it happened, life changed a few parameters, some for the better, one for the very much worse, but through the whole period we never denied ourselves the "fun" stuff. I'm not saying we flew to Europe for a month or two, but we enjoyed our moderately expensive hobbies (I have 30 examples of the Icon in my Sig for instance) and took time off from work to smell the roses, always had one totally reliable vehicle, and another me to commute (current auction purchased Lincoln Mark VIII), and managed to get to pretty close to debt free with a goal of total debt freedom by next April Fools when I finally opt out. We'll end up with a couple more years of Mortage, but that's doable.
We enjoyed life, never lived below our effective means, and will have to slightly reduce our expenses when I ER (DW is already there) but not enough to significantly change the lifestyle we enjoy, and we're planning to use what remains of that savings nestegg to fund our "fun" fund for those Europe trips we've never had the "time" to do right. We're convinced we played the hand the best we could, no regrets, and I CAN'T WAIT to join DW at home.
