Poll: How long did it take you to save for FIRE

[RedHawk]

Just curious how long it took people to reach their FIRE goals. People who have a plan in place but not yet FIRE'd can vote on how many years they anticipate it will take.

 

[grumpy]

I answered 10 - 15 but that's not the full story. We always LBYM. We had no debt except a small ($63K) mortgage and we made extra payments of principle such that the mortgage would be paid off by the time I was 53. The college funds for the 2 kids were fully funded but we had saved very little towards retirement. DW went back to work full time once kids were out of elementary school. She then worked for 15 years before retiring. Since all other savings needs were covered, we saved all of her earnings and a portion of mine toward FIRE. 15 years was plenty of time to save enough for FIRE since we were living on approximtely half of total income and saving the rest.

Grumpy

 

[ex_CFO_now_RVer]

25 years. We married at age 25, $1,500 net worth. Always LBYM, lived off DW's paycheck and saved mine. Retired FI 25 years later at age 50.

Dave

 

[Peaceful_Warrior]

I first decided on FIRE at 18, but didn't actually start working towards it until I was 23. Now 29, I've already reached my first milestones and still think I'll be FIRE by 40 though the current numbers don't add up. (Basically, at my current income I'll probably FIRE by 50 instead of 40, so I need multiple streams of income to reach my goals).

Not quite the answer you were looking for since I'm not FIRE yet, but still topically relevant.

 

[d]

as Grumpy suggests, it actually starts sooner than it starts! keeping debt down early on was key for me, and that started about the time i received my first paycheck.

 

[grumpy]

it actually starts sooner than it starts!

d,

I like that! Wish I had thought of expressing it that way.

Grumpy

 

[tryan]

Took me 20 ... spent the first 10 spinning my wheels (recession in the early 90's put me in the hole - negative NW) then finally got some traction in the second decade.

 

[igsoy]

I had to think through life events to remember when we started planning.

Married at 22/23 after grad school. bought used car to share, got apartment, got job, started 401k.

First, we had to pay off 30,000 student loans and save up for our house down payment. That took 2 years. Then we had to pay back parents for half the downpament. That took 1 year. (Still living like students, no new furniture to go with house, etc.)
Then we finished paying the mortgage off. That took 6 1/2 more years. At that point, our 401k and other savings may have totalled an unstable six figures with the market problems then, but we did buy some stocks on sale.
Then we really got started putting away 60% of our after tax income and 6 yrs. later we are 2/3s of the way to FI. (We still have the same garage sale furniture, 1380sf house, have 10 and 7 year old cars.) (I totalled our household gross income for those 15 years [from the SS statement] and while it was quite low to start and higher now, the average per year was just under 100k combined.)

So it should be another 2-3 years and we'll be where we want to be (thinking 1.2) somewhere between ages 40-42.

 

[kumquat]

I answered 25+ but I'm not sure the real answer. Started working full time at 17 in 1967. Dropped to part time for a few years to complete my degree. Got a job with pension plan in 1974, that is the start date I guess. Save a bit but not a lot. Payed mortgage on house in 1980. Saved some more, not a lot, DC pension funds grew. Educated kids by 2000, DC pension fund grew, quit saving, probably near FI but didn't really think about it. 2004-2005, options from mega-corp went from near zero to 40% of net worth. Today, certainly FI, and will probably ER in 07 (if I can just bring myself to do it).

 

[terminator]

Almost exactly 15 years. Started saving at age 14 and reached "FIRE status" at age 29. Accomplished via LBYM, a decent income, constantly saving and marrying a like-minded (although not wealthy) spouse. As my dad likes to say "Live like no one else today so you can live like no one else tomorrow." (A Dave Ramsey paraphrase, I believe.)

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Two years.

 

[Khan]

I had always been LBYM and putting money into the TSP. Then in 2000 I turned 50 , which made me eligible for early retirement.

I also ran across REHP/Motley Fool and realized it could be done.

Went into serious frugal mode and started saving about 50%.

 

[Donzo]

23 years - not that bad...the first 17-18 were fun..... then my BS threshhold started running out

 

[d]

Two years.

... there should be a law!

 

[Empty Pockets]

I started on a 30 year plan in 1984, I'm just starting year 23 and am right on track to pull the pin on 12/31/2014.

 

[maddythebeagle]

... there should be a law!

a law? against finding a working spouse so you can stay at home posting on the internet?….I know…CFB was a big earner…

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

... there should be a law!

There is, its called the federal tax law. Otherwise I could have done it in one year.

Gee whilickers Maddy, you're awful funny.

 

[albundyz]

I chose less than 10 years only because more than 50% of my ET will be funded by my lump sum retirement from Megacorp. There was no real planning on our part other than having no debt other than our mortgage.

Actually, it was only 5-6 years ago that I became aware that I might get a lump sum retirement distribution. So we've been preparing for this for the last 5-6 years.

 

[jdw_fire]

As my dad likes to say "Live like no one else today so you can live like no one else tomorrow." (A Dave Ramsey paraphrase, I believe.)

"Live like no one else will for 5 years and then live like everyone else wants to for the rest of your life" Robert Allen

 

[free4now]

I got serious about FIRE in the late 90's when my stock options were going through the roof and suddenly it looked like it might be possible any day. I remember a period where my net worth was increasing about 5% per day for more than a couple of weeks. Then of course there was the period where I lost quite a bit in the crash. That was quite a roller coaster. It took me until about a year ago to diversify, muddle through the declines, cash out tax efficiently, and wait for everything to be vested.

I've always had a LBYM approach and that is why I'm now free and my coworkers who literally had the same options are still working to pay for the Mercedes and Armani.

 

[SteveR]

Thinking about it and gett'n 'er done can be some years apart. I thought about FIRE in my very early 20's but could not make it happen with my first wife. You both have to be playing on the same team...or at least in the same ballpark to make it happen. Once the divorce was over it was time to see what was possible.

1991 $100k+ in debt.
2002 First RE and moved to different state. FI was very close but the company moved me and I owned them 12 months to not have to pay them back for headhunter fees and moving cost (combined >$130k). Things happened and I needed to work to keep my sanity.

Now I am feathering my nest and waiting for the vacation home to sell. We are FI now...ER is near.

So, technically, I could have FIRED in 2002 so figure 10-11 years to get out from under the prior marriage debt and to build a seven figure nest egg. Life event unrelated to money in the past few years have prevented a full FIRE until all the smoke settled. Now the personal issues are set and understood and the clock has been restarted to ER by midyear. And I did not make anywhere near where CFB and some others did in income.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

i never saved for er & never--not once--thought about it. coming out of high school i put myself on track to be fabulously wealthy. i read all the material i could find on people who became multi-millionaires by age 35 but my goal then had nothing to do with not working. not working was just something some grandparents did.

once in college, i discovered socialism and before long the only thing i could remember of my research on the wealthy was that the most successful of these were those who gave back to their community. by around 20, i found myself working during summer breaks with bucky fuller's nephew and then when school cranked up again i was pretty happy handing out pamplets on bucky's televised world symposium on peace. i quit researching anything business related & started hanging out with the hari chrisnas for free vegetarian lunches. i had a lot of fun.

after college, work was just something i did--between parties--to pay my bills. i never worked towards retirement but also i never went into debt and always put money away. lbym was not a concept i was aware of. saving money for a rainy day, for me, was as much of a required expense as food, housing & utilities. i never got off on shopping. i never required things to make me happy.

just realizing i had the capacity to retire came less as a pleasant surprise to meone day in despair, and more as a reprieve. i looked at my net worth and at what i would be inheriting. i compared that with what seemed to be my meager earning power & put all that in light of how depressing my life had gotten and how awful my job had become. i simply jumped ship.

i'm not yet sure where i've landed, but i've no doubt that when i'm ready, i'll find the party again.

 

[mh]

Until about 3 years ago i never gave a thought about FIRE (well at least the RE part)
I think i had the FI part in mind since day one out of college. Luckily, I did most of the right
things due to my parents upbringing. They were always LBYM-ers. Didn't seem to stick
with any of my siblings though. I never even got a credit card until i was about 35 or so..

 

[califdreamer]

Late 70s/early 80s college
half a dozen years of OK pay
two years of grad school
early 90s slammed by recession
mid 90s fed up and caught real estate bug
today just about, but maybe not quite, FI
probably need 3 to 5 more years to comfortably FIRE unless I blow it
so I figure 10-15 years

 

[poyet]

23 years ! but I keep adding to the stash though ER at only 46 1/2 yo.