Reboot

[SilentWalker]

I am 50 years old technical exec in a megacorp. Rebooting my plans after reaching minimum FI in my mid 40's, but then giving away half of everything in a divorce settlement. Now remarried and starting to do calculations again with many new and different factors playing into the equation.

Currently I only work and DW has been staying home with our son. My plan would be to work until my late 50's, contemplating 7 more years or so. Having said that I must always keep in mind that my position in the megacorp tends to be very unstable due to various political pressures and frequent changes in the top management. With this situation I have always had a shadow plan of immediate retirement at any given time, sort of being ready for my boss to walk into my office to tell me it is my turn to go find "new challenges".

We live in inexpensive area and follow LBYM lifestyle. DW is planning on going back to work next year, and being quite a bit younger she has no plans for early retirement at the moment. Her line of work is poorly paid but she will get rather generous family medical policy and pension benefits, which works well with the thought of me sooner or later becoming a stay at home ER-dad.

So why not retire right now then? The thing is that for now I am rather fond of my job. And while our current finances would allow us to continue our current life stye without any trouble (minimum FI), my retirement plans would optimally include some increased expenses related to travel and charity work.

That's it for the background. I am looking forward to participating and learning from this forum.

 

[Totoro]

Sounds like you are in a good place in your life!

Welcome

 

[braumeister]

Based on what you've shared in this initial post, I think your plan of retiring in about seven years sounds perfect.

FWIW, can we assume you've worked through this?

Some Important Questions to Answer Before Asking - Can I Retire?

 

[Katiek]

Welcome!

 

[Walt34]

Agreed you're in a good place - you like your job and would like to stay in it, but recognize that it may go away with short notice and you are prepared for that.

Welcome to the forum!

 

[Koolau]

Welcome Reboot. Our paths seem somewhat similar. Way back when I was 50, I was just FI (minimal pension was vested and running the numbers said ER was doable.) Still, I too had arrived at a point in my c@reer that I had always dreamed of. I stayed on until 58 when my j*b suddenly changed. At that point, I had the means to be FI AND to be able to many more things in ER than I would have been able to do at 50. In most ways, I am glad it worked out the way it did. As always, YMMV. Best of luck with your plan. Do keep in touch with the forum!

 

[KrissK]

Welcome SilentWalker. I think we need a new term - minimal FI (MFI). Describes me well.