Hi, I'm pretty new to the boards and have posted a few times in the last couple of weeks -- yet I never did the formal intro!
I'm 49, married, have 2 kids 11 and 13. I work in middle management at a high tech company that is a leader in its field. My wife is a stay at home mom. We own a house and due to luck of stock options over the last 10 years, I have a substantial diversified portfolio of about $3-4MM; more of it in taxable than in retirement accounts.
So you're probably thinking - why am I not already ER'd? Well, we do have a somewhat expensive lifestyle, but much of that is the value of the current house (California), and the wife's desire to send the kids to private schools. Given some recent tough decision-making, we are sending the kids to schools that cost about the equivalent of college. So I'm essentially needing to cover college equivalent costs for 2 kids for the next 8-10 years. Even if we have the kids borrow some money in college, that's still a lot.
Lately work has taken a turn for the worse in terms of the BS bucket. I'm actively looking for a transfer at my current job to a different role. I've even considered a drop in grade level to get something I enjoy - the loss of even 30% income to a lower level would not be a huge problem, and I would still get the excellent medical and other benefits. Plus every year I work increases our nest egg and retired standard of living. One of the things that is interesting is that once you have a lot of savings, the amount you can save yearly is not a big factor in where you'll end up - the biggest factor is the growth of the current nest egg. Even though I save max 401K and max on our company stock purchase plan, that is still a much smaller factor than the annual appreciation of our assetts. So investment choices become very important.
My current thought is that I'll RE in about two years. That could end up as early as this year if I get too disgusted with work, or much longer if I find a role I truly enjoy much more.
These are great forums and it's wonderful to have this as a resource. Thanks to all for your being here!
I'm 49, married, have 2 kids 11 and 13. I work in middle management at a high tech company that is a leader in its field. My wife is a stay at home mom. We own a house and due to luck of stock options over the last 10 years, I have a substantial diversified portfolio of about $3-4MM; more of it in taxable than in retirement accounts.
So you're probably thinking - why am I not already ER'd? Well, we do have a somewhat expensive lifestyle, but much of that is the value of the current house (California), and the wife's desire to send the kids to private schools. Given some recent tough decision-making, we are sending the kids to schools that cost about the equivalent of college. So I'm essentially needing to cover college equivalent costs for 2 kids for the next 8-10 years. Even if we have the kids borrow some money in college, that's still a lot.
Lately work has taken a turn for the worse in terms of the BS bucket. I'm actively looking for a transfer at my current job to a different role. I've even considered a drop in grade level to get something I enjoy - the loss of even 30% income to a lower level would not be a huge problem, and I would still get the excellent medical and other benefits. Plus every year I work increases our nest egg and retired standard of living. One of the things that is interesting is that once you have a lot of savings, the amount you can save yearly is not a big factor in where you'll end up - the biggest factor is the growth of the current nest egg. Even though I save max 401K and max on our company stock purchase plan, that is still a much smaller factor than the annual appreciation of our assetts. So investment choices become very important.
My current thought is that I'll RE in about two years. That could end up as early as this year if I get too disgusted with work, or much longer if I find a role I truly enjoy much more.
These are great forums and it's wonderful to have this as a resource. Thanks to all for your being here!