3 months into FIRE...

[bradaz2488]

Simple example /. With a 2.0m portfolio but

Generally 50K x 36 times = 1.8m in today's dollar is probably the lowest I would feel comfortable retiring on today and having money last 40+ years ....and the buffer would be SS if there is any at that stage. That also assumes possibility of near-full spend down and not leaving assets to heirs ...

Anyway, you are not exactly being a pain by not sharing. Just less insightful to fellow voyeurs/ readers- since many do share those details.

Finally - Well done. Congrats. Do you wake up with a different outlook on life ?

Thanks for the feedback biker4life.... I agree with your simple example using the 36X of funds with the assumption of no SS and near-to-full spend down. For us no kids = no heirs and I been told you can not take it with you ... I have only found this site and been a member for 20 days so I guess I will need more time to become comfortable with full discloser...

As far as having a different outlook on life post ER.... Well it's still a very strange feeling and I'm still in the last stages of detoxing from the corporate world.. The closet thing I can compare it to is when I was a kid at the start of the long summer vacation. The feeling of complete freedom and being able to what I want (within the budget). I did not have a post ER plan of what I was going to do with the my life which is unlike me since I tend to be a over planner. I still have no regrets about leaving my job. I do miss the people, but not corporate life. It's a great feeling waking up each day like it is a Saturday. The challenge will be to make sure my days do not end of like the movie Groundhogs Day ....

 

[MichaelB]

It's a great feeling waking up each day like it is a Saturday. The challenge will be to make sure my days do not end of like the movie Groundhogs Day ....

For me work was like the movie, and retiring was like the ending. Still is.

 

[bradaz2488]

For me work was like the movie, and retiring was like the ending. Still is.

You are so right... I did not think of it that way. I guess my subconscious was making sure I did not fall back into the life.. Good catch...

 

[truenorth418]

It's a great feeling waking up each day like it is a Saturday. The challenge will be to make sure my days do not end of like the movie Groundhogs Day ....

A little off topic, but I actually think "Groundhog Day" is a great movie to help people get their minds around ER. I watched it earlier this year when I was hitting a dry spell in my own ER experience and, though I'd seen the film many times, it had a particularly big impact on me when I considered it through an ER lens.

Remember.. when the Bill Murray character initially finds himself repeating the same day he undergoes several of the classic Kubler-Ross stages of grief such as anger, depression, bargaining, etc. He over-indulges and loses himself. He tries to kill himself. Ultimately, however, he accepts his situation and decides to make the most of it. He realizes that he has been given a unique gift and commits himself to making the most of it through self-improvement and connecting with others.

There is a scene where he is sitting quietly in the coffee shop reading poetry and he hears some piano music in the background. This inspires him to take up piano lessons, and by the end of the movie he has become an expert pianist! He makes friends in the town. He tries to save an old man's life.

His situation is similar to some of the retirement stories I have read here where the new retiree is lost at first, depressed, maybe bored. But the successful retiree learns that free time is actually a precious gift which can be used to better oneself, take up some new hobbies, become a happier, self-fulfilled person. And maybe even date Andie McDowell

 

[bradaz2488]

A little off topic, but I actually think "Groundhog Day" is a great movie to help people get their minds around ER. I watched it earlier this year when I was hitting a dry spell in my own ER experience and, though I'd seen the film many times, it had a particularly big impact on me when I considered it through an ER lens.

Thanks for giving me a different perspective on this movie. In my circle we would refer to "Groundhog Day" as a repetitive and mind numbing experience. The merry-go-round of normal life. I really did not think of the deeper meaning/message of the movie. It has been a long time since I watched it. I'll have to watch it again with my new ER lenses ... Maybe on Saturday ...

 

[papadad111]

How is retirement going ? Would love to get an update ? What have been your key learnings?


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[bradaz2488]

Hello papadad... Well it was 1 year into ER on May 1st and I still have no regrets leaving the Megacorp world. The new found freedom I experience everyday is worth more then the big paycheck I gave up. My mental and physical health has shown significant improvements as well as my relationship with DW has gotten better. It took me about 8 months to detox from the Megacorp culture. Since we have no kids my j*b defined who I was and it was hard to get over that mindset. It was hard to convince myself that it is okay to do "nothing" and just enjoy the freedom. As far as key learnings from my first year of ER I would say that I should have spent more time planning what I would do with the extra time. I just assume I would find things to do to occupy my time, but some days it is a struggle to find things to do. DW did quit her j*b and it is nice having her around the house, but she plans to go back to wo*k after the summer. I do see myself going back into the wo*k world (part time) sometime in the future, but I'm not there yet .... The ER financial plan is right on track. First year WR was 2.5% and it is not a challenge to stay on our planned budget. My next challenge is to figure out the healthcare insurance game. Looks like I'll have to enter the ACA system next year and I hope the cost w/ subsidies will be about the same I'm paying now with BCBS. Not looking forward to playing this game .... So my first year of ER was great. I know I'm still a ER rookie and have much more to learn as the unexpected realities of life take us down roads that you just can not plan for... Thanks for checking in on me....

BTW: As a fellow "blue badge" I hope the resent increase is stock price has put you closer to your ER goal ... take care..

 

[papadad111]

To be honest, I quit holding all but a few company shares after the Enron incident.

I thus remain very diversified so do not rely on company stock gains.

It's great when things are up but the past 15+ years have been very meager in terms of real appreciation gains (although dividend yield has historically been relatively good).

Congrats on 1 year. What are you considering as part time work? Any hobbies that transition to income ?


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[bradaz2488]

Same here.. I sold most of my shares ~10 years ago, but that was after the bubble burst. Lost $1M on paper with NQ stock options after the tech bubble burst. Could have retired at 37 vs. 49 ... Big lesson learn during that time: Do not keep all eggs in one basket (diversified AA) and try not to be greedy.

As far as what I want to do for part time work, I'm still trying to figure that out and I'm not ready to be on someone else's time schedule.. Love my freedom too much. I really have no hobbies that can converted to income. I know I do NOT what to do:
1) Work in a cube
2) Go to and/or chair meetings all day. Write up detail minutes that no one reads.
3) Prepare endless foil sets for upper management which in the end accomplish nothing.
4) Manage people: Write-up and deliver performance reviews.
5) Thinking about work 24/7. Always in "fire fighting mode". Waking up at 2am thinking about work.
6) Wake up every morning dredging going into work.....

Okay that's enough, I'm starting to get stressed out ....

 

[papadad111]

Ha ha. Good one. Yes I agree knowing what you DONT want to do is important.

I am kicking around the idea of a small business post retirement. I have a couple of ideas for which I Have a business plan , but no time to really do adequate customer and market research yet. Hope to get to that in 2015.

Any pitfalls to the annual / monthly post retirement budget ? That's my biggest concern with kids headed to college soon and aging parents ...

Are you leveraging cobra or already into ACA / Obamacare ? I can tell you that the estimates for insurance into budget keep going up and up. It's a worry for me and probably the biggest reason to seek some form of post FIRE "active" income.




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[bradaz2488]

No surprises with the post ER budget. I have kept very accurate records of expenses since 1999 so I know our spending habits. My goal was to ER with the same life style we had during work, but that means no extra travel and no new expensive hobbies. This years big ticket items for 2014 were painting the house and buying patio furniture and we are still on track to be on budget this year. We can cut our budget by 20% very easily if we had to w/o going back to work and even 30% if we sold the 2600sft house and down scaled to a small condo, I think (know) this would be much harder to do if we had kids.

The health insurance game was (is) one of my biggest pre/post ER variables. I did not go with Cobra because it was ~2x the cost I could get from an individual health insurance policy. We are both healthy and have no pre-existing conditions. We found a high deductible BCBS policy ($8K max OOP) for $410/month. I need to check if they are going to allow the 2 year extension, but I'm thinking I will need to shop on the ACA website for 2015 HC coverage. Based on the information I collected for 2014 coverage we could actually get a ACA policy w/ lower deductible and lower monthly payments (w/ subsidies), but sounds like premiums may go up significantly for 2015. We will have to see... Unfortunately healthcare will always be one of the BIG unknowns for all retires (young and old) and will require everyone to adjust their planned annual expenses as things change....

Good luck on your small business plan & goal... I wish I had that much ambition

 

[papadad111]

Same issue and fully agree. For me, A family of 4 for ACA without subsidies this year was quoted at 1400/month for a silver plan. The agent I talked to suspects it could go as high as 1750 in 2015 and 2100 by 2018 based on what he is hearing. That's a lot of money if not getting a subsidy.

I expect/planning my budget to be without subsidy for at least the first couple of years ( due to a prior deferred comp program that will pay out after leaving full time employment which will push income up above the ACA subsidy threshold) . By year 3, I suspect will be eligible for subsidies as the law today is written, but I fear the subsidies will be diminished or go away via law changes - just can't see how the system can support the subsidies at 400x poverty limit ... So guess it's good to plan for the worst and hope for something better than that !

At that rate healthcare would be nearly 50 percent of our budget- more if OOPocket fees are high ... Scary


We did a pre-emptive downsize a few years ago as the market was bottoming. Sold our big-ish house for a smaller one with some land and paid it off. It was really triggered by aging parents and seeing how they struggled living and maintaining a larger home with stairs to climb etc. Really got us thinking differently ...about what we need as our kids move to college and (hopefully) out on their own. For us it was a small 3 bedroom single story ranch...

Thanks for the insights. Feels like you are a person to have coffee with some time if I ever get to AZ! Take care and keep us all updates.... And congrats again for a great first year of FIRE




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[papadad111]

Brad !

Wonder how year 2 is going ??

What was your result with health insurance - did you go for ACA signup or did you continue on Blue Cross ?

How's the budget holding up ?

 

[Quantum Sufficit]

Congratulations Brad,


My situation is very similar. I am 49 and we are pulling the plug at 49, 3 weeks from now. Will have a little part time thing going just to keep busy but lots of swimming, sunshine, reading, home projects, RELAXATION in my future. Congrats. I too am at 38 x expenses. I saw a lot of us in your post. You engineering, me medicine. Either way, too stressful...too many bottom feeders to fend off. looking forward to what lies ahead...

 

[bradaz2488]

Hi bike4life.. Thanks for checking in on me. Yes, my 2 year anniversary of freedom from Megacorp will be May 1st. Time still flies even when you are retired. It took me about 8 months to fully detox form corporate life & culture. I was able to keep my BCBS heath insurance for 2015, but it went from $182/mo to $240/mo. Will not know until Nov if I will be able to keep this policy for 2016. Since AZ is one of the states that does not have it own exchange so the ACA subsidies are an unknown. On the budget side I'm actually $4K under "plan" for the pat 2 years and I do not feel like my lifestyle has change at all. My portfolio is $100k over "plan", but that can change any day with a healthy correction in the markets ... I have finally stopped running the various RE tools (weekly) to verify that my plan works under different scenarios. The biggest surprise for me is that I have no desire to find part-time work. I thought after 2 years I would want to find a no-stress part-time job but the thought of having to be back on a schedule makes me ill .... I still get that childhood excitement every Sunday night knowing I do not have to get up and go to w*rk Monday morning ...

 

[Palmtree]

Brad, as someone who is planning on retirement at 54 in two months, I'm pleased to see that your plans are working out even better than you had hoped for. I'm looking forward to Life- version 2.0.

 

[papadad111]

Brad. Congrats and great update. Nice to know your plan is working and the 38x figure seems to be ok !

What health insurance did you go with ? An Obamacare ACA high deductible policy ?

Interesting too reference the zero desire to go back to work.

Keep us all posted.

 

[big-papa]

Wow - I felt like I just read my own post.
Me: 30 years in semiconductor (and still there) - sole breadwinner
1 kid @ 13 yrs
Moved from design management to project management last year and don't care for it at all. Stress is pretty high. I don't want to relocate and here in Austin and the design manager/director jobs come along rarely.
Most calculators show us to be in decent shape - decent enough that I've been considering bailing and either RE'ing or just doing something else.

Big-Papa