Share your FIRE Milestones - 2013- 2020
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W2R
Moderator Emeritus
Congratulations!!! Just 34 days to go. It's going to be a terrific summer for your and your DW.
Starting your retirement with a new car is great. That's what I did and it was nice to not worry about replacement costs for the next car, for the first decade anyway, until I was well past Sequence-Of-Returns concerns. I still haven't bought another one.
Dreaming of Freedom
Recycles dryer sheets
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My husband and I just hit another big net worth milestone, but I can't tell anyone I know, hubby is asleep, and the cats don't care. I know our net worth will dip beneath the milestone, but hitting it for the first time is so exciting! Now if I can just get my husband to retire this year and agree to one of my crazy plans where I can partially retire next year (the ability to obtain good PPO health insurance on our own is our big hurdle, not money).
ugeauxgirl
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Congratulations- glad to hear stories from the other side!
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Congratulations! Keep us posted.
Montecfo
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Congrats! My last day is under 3 weeks away and I have 3 trips booked starting right after. I find I am enjoying the days as they go by.
Montecfo
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Excellent. What did you order?
GoBears
Recycles dryer sheets
We hit $3M in net worth. $2.4M of that is in cash, stocks and bonds. Remainder is house equity. Goal is to retire with $2.5M and no mortgage - will probably direct all future retirement contributions to fixed income and slowly transition to a 50/50 asset allocation once we retire. Getting rid of the mortgage will require downsizing at some point.
Calgary_Girl
Full time employment: Posting here.
NW is at an all-time high of $2.9 million. On target to hit $3 million by the end of the year (fingers crossed) when DH turns 50.
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A Mini Cooper S. It is for the young wife. I will take over her Subaru Forester. (We also have a BMW Z3 roadster for the days when I want to drive something zippy.)
ugeauxgirl
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
We hit that magic number. 33 times somewhat inflated expected spending. I have 10 months before I qualify for the retirement package which includes 3-4 years pay (decreased but more than enough to live on). There will be more contributions, profit sharing, bonuses,etc. We won't need to touch the stash for at least 5 years. [emoji16][emoji16][emoji16]
Markola
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Wow! That sounds pretty bullet-proof. Congrats!
Shabby
Recycles dryer sheets
one step closer
For the past 6 years I have been working a 36/44 every two weeks with every other Friday off. Not a bad schedule overall. There were days that were tough because I umpire baseball games and ref volleyball matches after work. Those were some long days. Like yesterday: I was at work at 0530 and walked into the house at 2200 (had a state baseball playoff game 122 miles from home). Three weeks ago I spoke to my company about working 4 8's with every Friday off for a 32/32 schedule. 64 hours per pay period vice the usual 80. The company was ok with it. Now I had to ask the customer. I spoke with them last Thursday and they gave me the green light. I thought this new schedule would start in June but it turns out it started this week. So basically I have worked my last Friday! Yippee. Three day weekends every weekend. Also anything over 30 is still considered full-time so I keep the company beni's. Not my first step towards ER but this is a good slow down to see how I handle the extra time off. Already FI so need to focus on how to handle the mental aspects and scheduling of time during ER.
For the past 6 years I have been working a 36/44 every two weeks with every other Friday off. Not a bad schedule overall. There were days that were tough because I umpire baseball games and ref volleyball matches after work. Those were some long days. Like yesterday: I was at work at 0530 and walked into the house at 2200 (had a state baseball playoff game 122 miles from home). Three weeks ago I spoke to my company about working 4 8's with every Friday off for a 32/32 schedule. 64 hours per pay period vice the usual 80. The company was ok with it. Now I had to ask the customer. I spoke with them last Thursday and they gave me the green light. I thought this new schedule would start in June but it turns out it started this week. So basically I have worked my last Friday! Yippee. Three day weekends every weekend. Also anything over 30 is still considered full-time so I keep the company beni's. Not my first step towards ER but this is a good slow down to see how I handle the extra time off. Already FI so need to focus on how to handle the mental aspects and scheduling of time during ER.
ugeauxgirl
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Congratulations to you! I started taking Fridays off after a particularly stressful period at work in 2015. It improved my attitude significantly, and probably kept me from quitting. I relish my 3 day weekends- I hope you do too!
Thanks Yugo girl. LOL jk
davebarnes
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Not mine, but interesting.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/end-of...ts-11558436400?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=1
End of an Era as New York’s Budget Hotel King Calls It Quits
Savvy developer Sam Chang offered clean, reasonably priced rooms and built properties away from high-priced corners; on to racing pigeons
"Sam Chang has bought, built or sold more hotel rooms than just about anyone else in New York City. But last year he decided to wind down his business and devote more time to pigeon racing. The 58-year-old hotelier ... And there will be more time for racing pigeons, which he started doing as a boy in Taiwan. Mr. Chang owns a couple hundred homing pigeons in Taiwan and has spent as much as $25,000 on one bird. Thousands of pigeons are released hundreds of miles from their lofts during a series of races with prize money of $1 million or more."
https://www.wsj.com/articles/end-of...ts-11558436400?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=1
End of an Era as New York’s Budget Hotel King Calls It Quits
Savvy developer Sam Chang offered clean, reasonably priced rooms and built properties away from high-priced corners; on to racing pigeons
"Sam Chang has bought, built or sold more hotel rooms than just about anyone else in New York City. But last year he decided to wind down his business and devote more time to pigeon racing. The 58-year-old hotelier ... And there will be more time for racing pigeons, which he started doing as a boy in Taiwan. Mr. Chang owns a couple hundred homing pigeons in Taiwan and has spent as much as $25,000 on one bird. Thousands of pigeons are released hundreds of miles from their lofts during a series of races with prize money of $1 million or more."
2 piles
Our goal is to have "two piles" of income stream. One from our 30 unit rental portfolio, another from our 40/40/20 stock/bond/alt portfolio. right now the RE does give us about 100% of our living needs but we still have some decent sized capex projects so we'll have a couple down years. The regular portfolio is about 1/2 way. our desired income stream is 85K annual. I don't count my web business which gives an extra padding of about 10K annually.
I love this idea because if we have a market meltdown we can leave the portfolio alone and live off the RE, whereas if we want to "upgrade" some units in the buildings, we can take a break and live off our stocks and bonds.
The RE being sort of our "job" we're also able to have a lot of flexibility, and sort of kinda work a "four hour workweek"
Our goal is to have "two piles" of income stream. One from our 30 unit rental portfolio, another from our 40/40/20 stock/bond/alt portfolio. right now the RE does give us about 100% of our living needs but we still have some decent sized capex projects so we'll have a couple down years. The regular portfolio is about 1/2 way. our desired income stream is 85K annual. I don't count my web business which gives an extra padding of about 10K annually.
I love this idea because if we have a market meltdown we can leave the portfolio alone and live off the RE, whereas if we want to "upgrade" some units in the buildings, we can take a break and live off our stocks and bonds.
The RE being sort of our "job" we're also able to have a lot of flexibility, and sort of kinda work a "four hour workweek"
Nice work!
I find your AA a bit too conservative, your real estate portfolio is acting like a bond fund IMO.
Conservative
Thanks for the input. I do struggle with that concept of what asset class my real estate is. Is it bonds? Is it a business? It does sort of behave like a bond although the price doesn't fluctuate much but the income does. A big chunk of my 20% allocation to alternatives are very stock like, master limited partnerships, high yield REITs, etc., but I am going to revisit that notion and investigate a little and maybe tweak my stock allocation up with a little bit.
Thanks for the input. I do struggle with that concept of what asset class my real estate is. Is it bonds? Is it a business? It does sort of behave like a bond although the price doesn't fluctuate much but the income does. A big chunk of my 20% allocation to alternatives are very stock like, master limited partnerships, high yield REITs, etc., but I am going to revisit that notion and investigate a little and maybe tweak my stock allocation up with a little bit.
I do treat real estate as bond in my portfolio so my non-real estate portfolio is generally 90+10 stock/cash. My reasoning:
* RE provides regular interest (cashflow) in normal years
* There is a chance of "default" in RE if it stays unoccupied so I carry diversified RE portfolio: different size, location, kind, etc.
* Few of the up-sides on RE that makes it worth taking "default" risks:
1. Principle (equity) is inflation-protected
2. The default (unoccupied RE) is temporary and without any major loss of principle (equity)
3. Tax efficiency of a business.
PS: The real downside to RE is irreversible material changes to RE location/city/area resulting the RE price and rent going down permanently.
When I first started lurking on this site, I recall a spirited discussion on the term, "Critical Mass" and how it relates to the size of one's assets. There were many opinions and well reasoned points. I don't remember most, but I do remember figuring that my own definition would be $750k NW plus a paid off property. Which coincidentally was also my number for a spare, if not quite spartan, ER.
My current invested assets have reached this number today! A couple years late, but likely not too late. I plan on toiling full time for the foreseeable future for a few reasons: DW is currently not toiling and her meds are only affordable with health insurance; I'd like something more than a spare ER, I like travel and comfort; I've managed to empty my BS bucket by a few scoops and am not too near my limit; I've been deferring home maintenance the past few years and am a better engineer than roofer, plumber, mason, etc.; my car is 15 years old and in decent shape, but probably won't reach 30; my water heater and furnace are 20 years old and getting sketchy.
Still, Critical Mass is a huge milestone! Next steps are to slowly adjust my AA to 90/10 equities to cash; take some time off this Autumn to catch my breath; and start looking into getting a new furnace, water heater, and maybe even replumb the whole house from galv. pipe to PEX.
I hope to semi-FIRE in a couple-three years and start living on my own terms.
My current invested assets have reached this number today! A couple years late, but likely not too late. I plan on toiling full time for the foreseeable future for a few reasons: DW is currently not toiling and her meds are only affordable with health insurance; I'd like something more than a spare ER, I like travel and comfort; I've managed to empty my BS bucket by a few scoops and am not too near my limit; I've been deferring home maintenance the past few years and am a better engineer than roofer, plumber, mason, etc.; my car is 15 years old and in decent shape, but probably won't reach 30; my water heater and furnace are 20 years old and getting sketchy.
Still, Critical Mass is a huge milestone! Next steps are to slowly adjust my AA to 90/10 equities to cash; take some time off this Autumn to catch my breath; and start looking into getting a new furnace, water heater, and maybe even replumb the whole house from galv. pipe to PEX.
I hope to semi-FIRE in a couple-three years and start living on my own terms.
My milestone is bittersweet. I have been flying since 1972, and for the past 5 years been flying with my copilot, Jim.on Angel Flight missions.
He has Parkinson's and he is on a new med and his doctor grounded him. I have also started taking meds for hypertension.
With this harmonic convergence of events, plus the fact that DW does not want me flying alone, I will hang up my wings.
I recently joined the United Flying Octogenarians, and will keep my membership up with them.
To celebrate my 80th birthday last year, I was able to fly a P-51 WW2 fighter. Bucket list filled
He has Parkinson's and he is on a new med and his doctor grounded him. I have also started taking meds for hypertension.
With this harmonic convergence of events, plus the fact that DW does not want me flying alone, I will hang up my wings.
I recently joined the United Flying Octogenarians, and will keep my membership up with them.
To celebrate my 80th birthday last year, I was able to fly a P-51 WW2 fighter. Bucket list filled
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