The rubber has officially hit the road for us today.
While I RE'd in mid-2016, DW just retired two weeks ago. I've been tracking our expenses for a number of years in anticipation of this day but there's always been a small component of fuzzy math, wishful thinking and excuse-making (i.e. "how often could you need a dental implant?", or "well, we won't always fly first class" or "I'll drive so much less when RE'd that those four new tires will last me 10 years!"). Suddenly it's all very, very REAL.
Being a newbie to this RE circumstance, my intentions are to apply - in a very rigorous fashion - everything I've learned through this forum and the research it has pointed me to. If I do, what could go wrong, right?
At the very least I'll apply everything that is convenient to my circumstance and ignore the rest (more of that excuse-making and fuzzy math).
The budget I've developed has us withdrawing 5% of our initial portfolio balance as of 12/31/17. My plan is to use the Guyton Klinger spending rules to determining future withdrawal amounts. The 5% will continue for nine and a half years when I'll hit 70 and my DW hits 62 (that happens in 2027 for both of us). At that point - assuming SS is still at current projected levels - our WD will be reduced to 2.6% of our current portfolio balance.
The whole plan feels slightly aggressive to me, but the one thing I hang my hat on is that 36% of our annual budget is for discretionary spending. I believe we could reduce our WD to 4% of current portfolio and still be comfortable (by our admittedly inflated standards).
So off we go!! Happy New Year to all of you!!