Greetings from the L.A. suburbs! This is my first post, but I have been reading the advice on here for a while, and have been learning a lot. Today I'm curious to get people's take on whether I'm in the ballpark of being able to retire at around age 55.
I'm currently 41 years old, and my DW is in her late 30s. We have two kids, both in elementary school. Our combined annual household income is about $400k/year, and we both have great, stable jobs (although we both work for very small businesses).
Main assets and liabilities are as follows:
ASSETS
LIABILITIES
WHY AM I HERE?
I've been thinking about FIRE since neither of my parents lived past 70, and I don't want to work and work and work and then just be gone one day. I don't need to retire super early and go travel the world and "find myself," but I can definitely see myself gearing down and stopping work -- or at least cutting back and maybe just doing some consulting to keep myself sharp -- by the time I'm in my mid-50's.
DW sort of has a harder time envisioning herself stopping full-time work so early in life, but also doesn't want to wait until her mid- to late-60's to gear down. We both have livelihoods where it's conceivable that we could both do some consulting work and still draw some income, if we wanted to.
Ideal retirement for us would involve some travel, but we live fairly simply. Other than eating out and maybe 2 trips per year, I don't think we'd spend extravagantly in retirement. We have not thought much about long-term care insurance or other types of costs that will probably loom large for us one day.
I feel like we're on a good path to retire in our 50's, but for all I know, maybe we're still being wildly optimistic about how quickly we'll chew through our savings if we stop working in 15 years. I welcome all opinions and advice. Thank you for having me!
I'm currently 41 years old, and my DW is in her late 30s. We have two kids, both in elementary school. Our combined annual household income is about $400k/year, and we both have great, stable jobs (although we both work for very small businesses).
Main assets and liabilities are as follows:
ASSETS
- Liquid non-retirement investment accounts - $600K - Mix of stocks and ETFs, with a asset mix appropriate for our ages (around 80/20 equities/bonds)
- Pre-tax retirement accounts (IRAs, 401(k)s) - $800K - Same approximate asset mix
- Roth retirement accounts - $400k - Same asset mix
- Inherited IRAs - $630k - I have to take annual taxable minimum withdrawals on these, per the IRS single life expectancy table
- 529 plans - Approx. $300K combined balance, with a fairly aggressive tilt towards equities right now
- Home is worth approx. $900K
LIABILITIES
- $500K remaining on mortgage (so, $400K net equity in home)
- Approx. $10K auto loan
- That's about it. We use credit cards for everything but pay them in full every month.
WHY AM I HERE?
I've been thinking about FIRE since neither of my parents lived past 70, and I don't want to work and work and work and then just be gone one day. I don't need to retire super early and go travel the world and "find myself," but I can definitely see myself gearing down and stopping work -- or at least cutting back and maybe just doing some consulting to keep myself sharp -- by the time I'm in my mid-50's.
DW sort of has a harder time envisioning herself stopping full-time work so early in life, but also doesn't want to wait until her mid- to late-60's to gear down. We both have livelihoods where it's conceivable that we could both do some consulting work and still draw some income, if we wanted to.
Ideal retirement for us would involve some travel, but we live fairly simply. Other than eating out and maybe 2 trips per year, I don't think we'd spend extravagantly in retirement. We have not thought much about long-term care insurance or other types of costs that will probably loom large for us one day.
I feel like we're on a good path to retire in our 50's, but for all I know, maybe we're still being wildly optimistic about how quickly we'll chew through our savings if we stop working in 15 years. I welcome all opinions and advice. Thank you for having me!