ER in 9 years and scared to death

[HadEnuff]

When I first read the original post (yesterday) I did not realize that it was 2 years old. As I thought about this thread through the course of the day I came to the conclusion that your (OP's)problem isn't a financial problem, it's a psychological problem.

To be "scared sh!tless" over a decision that is 9 years away, and that you don't really even have to make if you don't want to, is, well, nuts. My guess is that between the time of writing that post, and the time you actually decide to retire, your plan will be rewritten many times. You may well decide you need less money than you think you need, or you may need more money than you think you need, or that you may find some different formula for the "work-play" ratio, or BS bucket may get filled up sooner than you thought, or illness and injury make you see life differently.
This is a great time to ponder John Lennon's quote, "Life is what happens while you are busy making plans", or the old yiddish saying, "Man plans while God laughs"...

It's great to have a plan, but don't let your plans make you miserable with fear.

Subsequent posts from the OP make me think you've started to figure things out differently, and I hope, with more joy for what you've accomplished, what you are accomplishing, and less fear about trying to figure out today exactly what you will want in 7 years.

Good Luck!

 

[MichaelL]

@PLEX
I feel like I can just put the money into Vanguard funds and feel like I don't need an advisor for actual investments. I just wanted to ask about putting it all in at once or over time and peoples thoughts. I will reach out though to a consultation with a professional advisor and see what they think as it can't hurt.

I have the same problem as I accumulated money from bonuses and stock grants at work but was too busy or preoccupied to invest it. I also feel that the stock market is high but know that we can't really time the market. I'm spending time researching investments and I have invested some since I left my job. I'm investing it in chunks of about 2% of net worth at a time. I think that spreading it out over 6 months to a year is a good idea as that gives me time to research and see how the market goes and get comfortable with my decisions. It is difficult to find investments that have low fees, acceptable risk and good returns. I'm finding it hard to find fixed income investments that are worth owning. At this point rental property seems to offer the best returns.