FedRetired50
Recycles dryer sheets
I retired last July at 50 and enjoyed striking things off of my to-do list for 4 months (as I added 2 more things for every item I crossed off). They convinced me to come back for 6 months; I figured an infusion of cash couldn't hurt while the markets are down, not that my financial plan required it. As of June 2nd I'll walk out the door for the last time. Again. I've been saying for a year I might get a job with a local or state park, so that might take up some of my future time.
I started saving for retirement at 22 and later rolled that 401k into the TSP when I became a Fed. I did all the right stuff other than just starting early - increasing savings with each raise, keeping it in stocks, etc. I plan to start tapping that keg via SEPP in the next few months. I've been getting a pension since last August. This will cover my living expenses. Down the road I'll use my home to buy into a retirement community, but not for another 25-30 years!
Finally I have a Vanguard account where lately I've been aggressively buying stocks that are only down because of inflation/recession/Putin fears, but are otherwise strong. That's my fun money, both fun investing and then fun vacations in the future. Realized gains since last summer are $74k, which I plowed back into the market. Unrealized gains are currently about $90k since last summer and I expect that to hit 10x that amount in the next year or two. And before you ask, I didn't just start playing the markets last summer, I had a +40% year back around 1997.
Edit: I plugged my numbers into FIRECalc last week and came up with a 99.1% success rate over 35 years (1 failure), based on today's numbers and not on the future market recovery.
I started saving for retirement at 22 and later rolled that 401k into the TSP when I became a Fed. I did all the right stuff other than just starting early - increasing savings with each raise, keeping it in stocks, etc. I plan to start tapping that keg via SEPP in the next few months. I've been getting a pension since last August. This will cover my living expenses. Down the road I'll use my home to buy into a retirement community, but not for another 25-30 years!
Finally I have a Vanguard account where lately I've been aggressively buying stocks that are only down because of inflation/recession/Putin fears, but are otherwise strong. That's my fun money, both fun investing and then fun vacations in the future. Realized gains since last summer are $74k, which I plowed back into the market. Unrealized gains are currently about $90k since last summer and I expect that to hit 10x that amount in the next year or two. And before you ask, I didn't just start playing the markets last summer, I had a +40% year back around 1997.
Edit: I plugged my numbers into FIRECalc last week and came up with a 99.1% success rate over 35 years (1 failure), based on today's numbers and not on the future market recovery.
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