47 year old looking for financial independence

[jayfriendly]

I am excited to find this forum and looking forward to learn new and efficient ways to continue myself towards independence from corporate slavery. So far, I think I am on track but hesitant to make the move away from boring (but decent high paying) job to something more challenging on my own (without much of financial investment). I have to start planning for a good budget (including healthcare costs and bills but no debt) and bit more involved financial planning. Keeping the hope...

 

[treeofpain]

If you could share where you are now, some of these wonderful folks could help you take your next step. Cheers!

 

[jayfriendly]

Thanks for quick reply

In a nutshell, 47 single male; investments (75% stocks, 20% bonds, 5% fixed income) worth ~1.7M. Own home w/ no mortgage and about 50K annual expenses. Took quite some patience and hard work to get here (with two major stock market crashes). No expected changes in lifestyle with disciplined approach.

 

[jayfriendly]

Forgot to give more details: investments include 30% of tax def accounts and do not include value of home (~300K). Thanks.

 

[treeofpain]

What do you think is keeping you from FIRE-ing now?

 

[Turboslacker]

Do you also have a corporate pension coming?

Run your financial numbers thru FireCalc and Best Financial Calc.

You should be able to cut free as soon as you are ready is my ROM estimate.

 

[Golden sunsets]

Any ideas on what your next venture might be that doesn't require much capital investment?

 

[jayfriendly]

Thanks for all quick replies and good questions

No pension. Being in IT for many years, I would like to pursue some of my creative ideas creating mobile apps and software (although mainly for my own satisfaction than making money). I guess the thought of not getting a steady paycheck has been stopping me for taking the step towards ER. Also, I felt I need to plan for health insurance and other necessary home expenses bit better before making a final decision. I recently started to read posts on this forum and feel the input from people on this board can be very valuable.

FIREcalc shows 100% chance of success for next 40 years. I have used half a dozen other calculators which are usually 98% positive. The one I like better so far is the flexible retirement planner with monte carlo simulations.

 

[retire2020]

You've enough to cover your 50K expense. If you're scared(natural), you can think of going on leave of absence for a year and see how you feel.

 

[rodi]

Welcome.

If you've done much reading around here you'll know that the nest egg is only half the equation - yours seems healthy.

The other half is the spending. 1.7M is great if your spending is 60k or less (around a 3.5% withdrawal rate). But if you're spending $100k/year... you might want to keep plugging away.

The nice thing about saving a lot - is if you're saving, it means you aren't spending it... so more saving leads to lower spending, which means lower nest egg needed.

Edit to add - Didn't see that you'd addressed spending at 50k. That's a 3% withdrawal rate - which should be sustainable for a longer retirement.

 

[jayfriendly]

I did try a 3 month leave of absence last year and felt amazing Financially, since the US stock market performed great, I did not see any problems paying bills (even after spending some money getting house fixed) or even the fact that the portfolio grew quite a bit but I guess I have to see how it pans out in an average market. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[jayfriendly]

So, I am taking a leap of faith and planning to quit my job in next 3-4 weeks with proper alignment of planets With help from stock market and last of my employer stock grants vesting, I got my yearly budget straightened out bit and ready to enjoy summer for now. Hopefully, things stay on course.

 

[ICNTR]

Congrats! Sounds similar to DW and me. If you are a little nervous then just leave on good terms and with good contacts. Although firecalc and other indicators showed us with a similar success rate, we decided to resign but to do something to avoid pulling out of savings until we make enough for another five years of expenses. 300k in our case and 250k in yours. Part time, well paying contract work can cover that in much less than 5 years, or choose a fun lower paying role just to make ends meet as your comfort level gets even more comfortable.
Just our approach and one that I do not yet regret after about 2 years. Another 18 months and I will once again consider whether to quit everything for good. On the other hand, maybe it will still be fun to help old megacorp on the occasional win-win contract.
Good luck!

 

[jayfriendly]

After having thought through the situation and planning, I resign from the job this week. My manager asked me a few times if I was having second thoughts Thanks to stock market performance and vesting of a round of RSUs, my courage went up a notch. I plan to leave this job with a few good contacts and great relationship with the management.

Thanks everyone who responded for their input. Hopefully, I find a good use of all the free time I will get

 

[retirementguy1]

Well done, can't wait till I join the club myself. Congrats!

 

[jayfriendly]

Week three of financial freedom. So far enjoying summer. One of the good advice I got here worked out for me. My past employer really appreciated my tenure and asked me to return if/when I am ready. That was quite touching. It feels good to keep contacts with ex-colleagues and senior management during this phase.

 

[truenorth418]

After having thought through the situation and planning, I resign from the job this week.

Congratulations! I was in a similar situation as you when I retired 3 years ago. I was the same age as you are now and roughly the same NW. I'm very happy In retirement and I hope you will be too.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Week three of financial freedom. So far enjoying summer. One of the good advice I got here worked out for me. My past employer really appreciated my tenure and asked me to return if/when I am ready. That was quite touching. It feels good to keep contacts with ex-colleagues and senior management during this phase.

It is good to still be wanted and even better to be able to say no if they call with a high stress project with your name written all over it.

Enjoy your ER!

 

[jayfriendly]

A quick update to my ER. The ER came up in nick of time. My father got quite sick past few months, so I have been busy taking care of him and spending quality time, which would not be possible if I was working. Life could be interesting in anything we do.

 

[truenorth418]

A quick update to my ER. The ER came up in nick of time. My father got quite sick past few months, so I have been busy taking care of him and spending quality time, which would not be possible if I was working. Life could be interesting in anything we do.

A similar situation arose for me last summer after both my father and his wife were diagnosed with cancer. Because I was ER, I had the time flexibility to spend many weeks with them over the course of several months last year. I had not considered this benefit but it has turned out to be priceless. You never know.

 

[MRG]

A quick update to my ER. The ER came up in nick of time. My father got quite sick past few months, so I have been busy taking care of him and spending quality time, which would not be possible if I was working. Life could be interesting in anything we do.

Sorry to hear your father's ill. It's great you have the freedom to spend quality time with him.

Not everyone can do that.

 

[Katiek]

ITA with MRG. I'm sorry your father isn't well and send my best, but how wonderful that you can be there with him and aren't worrying about balancing demands on your time.

 

[Walt34]

DW said many times that one of the best gifts I have ever given her was the free time to spend looking after her dad before he passed. And there is no doubt in my mind that she would have been a basket case doing that and holding down a job at the same time.

ER has many good things going for it.

 

[jayfriendly]

I know its an old thread started by me. Another update: after spending a whole year of ER and taking care of my sick dad, I started feeling bored not being able to do anything constructive. So, I started part time contracting work in my IT field. It appears like I might have found a balance with part time work and free time to take care of my dad. Is this considered ER? Not sure. But, I feel lot better this way than taking a full time work position.

 

[Markola]

It's called,officially, Semi-Retirement and it's what DW and I plan to do. There's a good book by Bob Clyatt advocating it, called "Work Less, Live More." Enjoy your Semi-Retirement!