FI Progress

[fish13]

Hey guys,

Wanted to post an update to FI progress and maybe use this as 'blog' to update each year toward my progress.

28 years old

Taxable: 345k
401k: 145K
Roth IRA: 3.5K
Trad IRA: 24K
Condo: Approx 250K with 135K mortgage

Current salary: 90K, bonus 20-40K

Between 401K, employer match, and taxable contributions, I'm saving about 30-35K annually. Expenses are ~60K.

Hoping to be FI around 2027, which would mean a target of ~2MM. Right now I'd like to RE to a low COLA country (southeast asia, central america), but we'll see what I feel like doing once I'm FI.

My savings rate is probably lower, at least percentage wise, compared to a lot of people on this board. I could definitely be saving more and cutting out another 15-20k of expenses a year, but I enjoy traveling and other expensive hobbies and have been trying to balance savings vs. enjoying today.

 

[Senator]

Keep going, you will be Fi before too long. Often it happens quickly and you suddenly realize you no longer need a j*b.

 

[Ronstar]

Great job, Fish! You have a hunk of retirement $ for a 28 year old. Stay focused and you'll get there sooner than you think.

 

[Trueace]

Are you sure you've only been saving 30 or 35k a year?? Your net worth of what looks to be about 650k vs age (6 year of FT work experience?) would point to a much higher amount than that even with solid investment returns. Congrats on the progress though!

 

[Closet_Gamer]

You're way ahead of the game. Way to go.

 

[fish13]

Are you sure you've only been saving 30 or 35k a year?? Your net worth of what looks to be about 650k vs age (6 year of FT work experience?) would point to a much higher amount than that even with solid investment returns. Congrats on the progress though!

I received a small inheritance of 50k about 20 years ago that was put in VTI, so it isn't 100% hard work.

 

[RetireAge50]

Excellent, you are nailing it!! Great balance, enjoy life now and later.

 

[pb4uski]

....Hoping to be FI around 2027, which would mean a target of ~2MM. ...

Have you done any projections using Quicken Lifetime Planner or some similar tool?

 

[fish13]

Have you done any projections using Quicken Lifetime Planner or some similar tool?

I should be there assuming a 6% avg return with my current savings going forward. I will likely have a higher income/bonus target over the next several years, of which all incremental will go toward savings. I would like to get to 50k/year savings. I think my lifestyle inflation has hit a ceiling at this point so anything extra will end up saved. Running through a bunch of calculators, at this point its seems future contributions start to matter marginally compared to investment return.

 

[Trueace]

I received a small inheritance of 50k about 20 years ago that was put in VTI, so it isn't 100% hard work.

Nice.. that makes sense then. I was going to say how in the world are you getting those returns?!

 

[Sasset]

I should be there assuming a 6% avg return with my current savings going forward. I will likely have a higher income/bonus target over the next several years, of which all incremental will go toward savings. I would like to get to 50k/year savings. I think my lifestyle inflation has hit a ceiling at this point so anything extra will end up saved. Running through a bunch of calculators, at this point its seems future contributions start to matter marginally compared to investment return.

Have you run any scenarios with a range of returns and savings? I know you have a lot of time, but you are making some pretty high assumptions. Returns may be less and you may have periods of time that you won't be able to save that much. There could by layoffs. What if you get married or have kids?

You are doing great for your age. Keep it up! Just know life happens and be ready to adjust the plan.

 

[fish13]

Have you run any scenarios with a range of returns and savings? I know you have a lot of time, but you are making some pretty high assumptions. Returns may be less and you may have periods of time that you won't be able to save that much. There could by layoffs. What if you get married or have kids?

You are doing great for your age. Keep it up! Just know life happens and be ready to adjust the plan.

I've done some monte carlo simulations but honestly I don't find much value in them. It's interesting to see that you have XX% probability given Y average return and Z standard deviation of reaching your goal, but as you point out who knows what will actually happen. I think a 6% return expectation is probably reasonable, and as you model future portfolio growth, incremental contributions become a lot less meaningful (ie saving 35k vs 45k a year ends up making very little difference when the portfolio is 15x your annual savings, but a 1% annualized return difference is huge).

Zero chance of getting married or having kids. I can see the layoff risk, and this is a large part of the reason I want to become FI as the trend is definitely very little loyalty from employers or employees

 

[Markola]

I think Mr. Money Mustache FIRED at 30 with $600K taxable with a family of three (and a rental house and paid-off personal house, occasional carpentry work, a DW with a real estate license and, later, a lucrative blog.). Still, they only spend $24K/year so, point is, if you want to live overseas, you are getting close to being able to now. Maybe you should experience it, given your flexible situation, and, if you don't like it, you have plenty of time to get a j*b later. You'd probably pick up some uber-low cost living skills along the way of living your travel dream. On the other hand, don't listen to me as you are doing fine on your own! Bravo.

 

[fish13]

I think Mr. Money Mustache FIRED at 30 with $600K taxable with a family of three (and a rental house and paid-off personal house, occasional carpentry work, a DW with a real estate license and, later, a lucrative blog.). Still, they only spend $24K/year so, point is, if you want to live overseas, you are getting close to being able to now. Maybe you should experience it, given your flexible situation, and, if you don't like it, you have plenty of time to get a j*b later. You'd probably pick up some uber-low cost living skills along the way of living your travel dream. On the other hand, don't listen to me as you are doing fine on your own! Bravo.

I like my job and I'm in a pretty good maximizing pay-to-effort ratio situation right now, so I'm inclined save up while the gettin's good. I have some very good friends in SE asia who have very detailed budgets and get on quite well with 25k/year spend. Perhaps years from now if things weren't favorable I'd dip my toes in the water of trying to FIRE at a higher SWR or a lower COLA. But my goal isn't to quit working, it's just to have the option to do so as early as possible.