Elroy, I am 43 too. I received a 401K statement in the mail and had to file it last night. I looked back at what was happening in 2001-2002. Be glad we aren't in the middle of that trying to ER. Things may get worse than they are now or they may keep chugging along. Regardless, you are 25% there. You've accumulated 300K and you know where you want to go. You are doing good. How can you tell? Ask someone your age that you go to lunch with (unless you brown bag it, which is even better) when they are going to retire. Not many in their early 40's are thinking retirement.
Want more proof things are headed in the right direction? You use coffehouse, right? I use that model as the basis for my retirement investments too. It has averaged around 10% for the last 15 or 16 years. If your 300K earns 10% (big assumption, I'd be happy with 8%) and you don't do anything else to it (no additions, no subtractions) you'll hit 1 million in 12 or 13 years. I assume you will keep working (and contributing to your savings) for a while, so you could hit the million mark in 10 or 11 years. And don't forget the equity in your home. If you live in the high cotton district, you can always downsize when you ER. That frees up a lot of $$ and expenses. My last house had 3 air conditioners. Now I have one. Two less things to worry about. And if all this isn't enough to get you pumped up to the point of contributing 25% of your salary, just remember that football season is only 3 months away.
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