We have chosen a seemingly novel "scenic route to retirement." I am a bit uncomfortable with the novelty factor and I am really hoping for feedback from somebody who has made similar choices. (If I'm honest I am also looking for some validation from strangers on the internet, even though I know how that usually ends!)
We are 40 years old and settled down in Switzerland with two preschool children. I am working as a contractor/consultant on an irregular project-to-project basis, currently working half-time. I split the remainder of my time between professional development (~10h/week) and taking care of the kids. (I'm focusing the details of this post on myself rather than DW.)
We have $1.2M in a balanced portfolio of index funds and our annual expenses are currently $100K/year but should decrease to $70-80K once the children start school. We we have a $200K mortgage on our home.
Financially we have accumulated approximately 60% of our FIRE number. In Switzerland our costs for healthcare and university are bounded and we have no major expenses/purchases on the horizon.
The big question in our lives is: How should we think about FIRE? On the one hand we could be "Mustachians" by moving to a less expensive country and FIRE tomorrow (easy for us as expats.) On the other hand we could be "Bogleheads" by working hard, focus on accumulation, and retiring rich here in Switzerland at 50-55. However neither alternative quite suits us and we are looking for a middle path that is reasonably responsible and allows us to enjoy working on our own terms, pursuing our own interests, taking professional risks with our time and energy.
What we have have decided to do is "Barista FIRE" here in Switzerland. We will start immediately withdrawing ~$50K/year from our portfolio (VPW method) to cover around half of our living costs. We will then work enough to cover the remainder of our expenses, which in practice requires about quarter-time engagement on average. This will leave us with a lot of free time that we will use for spending time with the kids and also pursuing our own personal and professional interests (naturally more of the latter once the kids are in school.)
We genuinely enjoy working, when we can do it on our own terms, and we have entrepreneurial spirits. My intuition is that our extra-curricular activities will generate enough irregular income to fill up our retirement accounts so that we can retire fully at 50-55. I also accept that this may not be the case, in which case we would have to choose between staying in the workforce for longer or moving to a less expensive country where we can FIRE.
My question is really: does this make sense to anybody? Have other people taking the same approach? Are there better ways to take the "scenic route to retirement" for people who enjoy working but want to do it on their own terms?
Thank you, and apologies for the long rambling post!
We are 40 years old and settled down in Switzerland with two preschool children. I am working as a contractor/consultant on an irregular project-to-project basis, currently working half-time. I split the remainder of my time between professional development (~10h/week) and taking care of the kids. (I'm focusing the details of this post on myself rather than DW.)
We have $1.2M in a balanced portfolio of index funds and our annual expenses are currently $100K/year but should decrease to $70-80K once the children start school. We we have a $200K mortgage on our home.
Financially we have accumulated approximately 60% of our FIRE number. In Switzerland our costs for healthcare and university are bounded and we have no major expenses/purchases on the horizon.
The big question in our lives is: How should we think about FIRE? On the one hand we could be "Mustachians" by moving to a less expensive country and FIRE tomorrow (easy for us as expats.) On the other hand we could be "Bogleheads" by working hard, focus on accumulation, and retiring rich here in Switzerland at 50-55. However neither alternative quite suits us and we are looking for a middle path that is reasonably responsible and allows us to enjoy working on our own terms, pursuing our own interests, taking professional risks with our time and energy.
What we have have decided to do is "Barista FIRE" here in Switzerland. We will start immediately withdrawing ~$50K/year from our portfolio (VPW method) to cover around half of our living costs. We will then work enough to cover the remainder of our expenses, which in practice requires about quarter-time engagement on average. This will leave us with a lot of free time that we will use for spending time with the kids and also pursuing our own personal and professional interests (naturally more of the latter once the kids are in school.)
We genuinely enjoy working, when we can do it on our own terms, and we have entrepreneurial spirits. My intuition is that our extra-curricular activities will generate enough irregular income to fill up our retirement accounts so that we can retire fully at 50-55. I also accept that this may not be the case, in which case we would have to choose between staying in the workforce for longer or moving to a less expensive country where we can FIRE.
My question is really: does this make sense to anybody? Have other people taking the same approach? Are there better ways to take the "scenic route to retirement" for people who enjoy working but want to do it on their own terms?
Thank you, and apologies for the long rambling post!