More new withdrawal schemes

[FUEGO]

I may be a bit off the mark here with my comment, but with three young kids $32K seems very low, even for a LBYM type. It is barely above the poverty level and in 10 years you will have the first of three kids starting college. In my experience kids don't get cheaper as they get older.

Also at 33 you could just be entering the rising part of your career, which could bring your earnings up quite substantially. And of course staying out of the workplace too long has ramifications for this. Another 10 years of earnings with your kind of savings rate could get you past all of this, and you could still retire early and comfortably.

If it were just the two of you, then it would be fine, but I would be very worried if I were in your position quitting work now with only $32K and three young kids.

It's hard to believe the Federal Poverty Level is so high!

We live in North Carolina, and it just isn't that expensive here. I've spent a lot of time tweaking the budget, and put enough fun money in there that could be cut if we needed to. Or diverted to kid expenses should they grow to the moon.

I didn't add in a bunch of additional expense for their teen years, but I figure you might have a point there. But with the way kids are shunning driver's licenses and cars these days, I don't know how much those expenses will really be. And we use the car so infrequently, it might just be a few thousand $$ for insurance.

College is somewhat of a question mark, but we have about half the necessary tuition saved up in a 529. There's lots of other ways to pay for college or reduce the costs, and we have two great local universities that offer in-state tuition.

As for peak income years, I don't know how much higher my income would go. In my branch of engineering, there seems to be a cliff around the $70-80k mark where I was. You could work more or travel more and make more. No thanks to both!

Funny you mention 10 more years of earnings to set me right. I'll just enjoy 10 more years of retirement and then see if we are multi-millionaires or destitute paupers. Maybe I'll go back to work then. Not a whole lot has changed in my field in 10 years, so I figure in another 10, I can always jump back in. Just have to be a little, what is it one poster used to say, "agile, mobile, and hostile"? Money is pretty easy to make, especially when you only need $32k to live the good life!

My cover story will be "hey I was a stay at home dad for the last X years. My kids were important to me. Look how awesome they turned out, now that they are in college. Now hire me and let's build $hit together!". Or I'll just start my own company, hustle up some business, and make my next million that way. I have capital and standing offers from friends that want to go out on their own but like the security blanket of a paycheck a bit too much.