60 and change and looking forward to FIRE

[kens450r]

Hello all,
I've been lurking in the shadows for quite sometime and it has come to the point that I'm going to need input as the the wife and I take the leap into early retirement here in a couple of years at age 62 or 63. We've didn't make much money in our younger years and focused on paying off the house to eliminate debt. Investing more back then instead would be been the better choice but oh well. In our 40;s and 50's our incomes took some nice jumps so we started saving pretty hard and maxing out 401s and then transitioning to Roth's once we understood the need for those. That level of saving was only possible on our incomes by living a rather frugal, almost too frugal lifestyle... Over time the stock markets have been good to us by staying in the game using target date funds through our work and then into Van Guard target date funds.

My current employment is likely to end in 2025 maybe 2026 as the company winds down so planning to call it a day when that occurs. The wife's job is stressful at times and quite sure if we said we are retiring at the end of this year she would be all in...

 

[pacergal]

Welcome to the Forum!
Have you run firecalc?

 

[HI Bill]

Welcome! If you've run FIRECALC and come up with 90%+ success rate, I'd say you're good to go! If you have more than enough, consider ER this year!

 

[kens450r]

Yes, I have run Firecalc and it looks good...
We do have some income streams coming online in 5-10 years that makes the crystal ball a bit hazy but it's coming in at 100% and at spend levels higher than what we are living at right now...

I do wish there were some detailed instructions somewhere just to make sure I'm filling things out correctly and interpreting settings properly. After all I'm sure there are quite a few that base their retirement planning off Firecalc in determining if its time to FIRE.

We do plan to ramp up for some domestic travel and up the spending up a level or two. We have always been heavy savers so this will be a bit of a transition..

My company has been very good to me over the years so I'll probably hold in there for at least two years... If the wife's job gets any more stressful it may be time for alternate employment and going to part time. I carry the insurance so that's doable.

 

[38Chevy454]

Welcome out of lurking and to the forum. Sounds like you have done well to prepare for retirement soon. You can also run Fidelity Retirement Planner or other retirement tools to check your status and expected results.

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

Welcome aboard!

 

[Wile E. Coyote]

Welcome to the Forum!
Have you run firecalc?

I just ran it for the first time a couple of days ago. I find the calculator exceedingly buggy. I had to continually go back to the home page though it saved my entries it kept knocking me out of where I was inputting. Then, when you go to the input page it shows the default amount of 750,000, 30 years and 75% stocks even though I input all my own %'s and amounts. I experienced the bugginess even after creating an account.

It is so buggy I cannot rely on it.

Perhaps the FICalc App is more stable and more accurate?

 

[braumeister]

I just ran it for the first time a couple of days ago. I find the calculator exceedingly buggy.

That's a highly unusual reaction.

To get the most out of FIRECalc, it's important to actually read the instructions.
https://firecalc.com
Including this page:
https://firecalc.com/intro.php

 

[Wile E. Coyote]

That's a highly unusual reaction.

To get the most out of FIRECalc, it's important to actually read the instructions.
https://firecalc.com
Including this page:
https://firecalc.com/intro.php

I got it to work if I did not complete the entire thing. If I left out SS and pension, etc. If I just put the portfolio portion in. However, the program is still very buggy and won't sit still to put the entries in and keeps continually going back to home page every 5 seconds.

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

I have never experienced anything remotely like that. Perhaps you could try a different browser?

 

[Tetto]

I just ran it for the first time a couple of days ago. I find the calculator exceedingly buggy. I had to continually go back to the home page though it saved my entries it kept knocking me out of where I was inputting. Then, when you go to the input page it shows the default amount of 750,000, 30 years and 75% stocks even though I input all my own %'s and amounts. I experienced the bugginess even after creating an account.

It is so buggy I cannot rely on it.

Perhaps the FICalc App is more stable and more accurate?

That's interesting- I've never even had one problem with it.

 

[kens450r]

I actually do like it and am fairly comfortable in using it at this point. I've run scenarios to see what my spend rate can be and still hit 100%

 

[HI Bill]

It's really an iterative process. Each time you you finish input on one page, a new page opens with results. You have to go back to the original page, then click on the next applicable tab and enter new data. Then a new results page opens. And you have to go back to the original page and click on the next applicable page. It's functioning as designed, but it's not intuitive at first.

 

[Wile E. Coyote]

It's really an iterative process. Each time you you finish input on one page, a new page opens with results. You have to go back to the original page, then click on the next applicable tab and enter new data. Then a new results page opens. And you have to go back to the original page and click on the next applicable page. It's functioning as designed, but it's not intuitive at first.

It does not even let me finish inputting. It assumes I am finished. I think it is on a timer.

 

[DrRoy]

Do ramp up the travel while you have the energy for it. You don’t have to wait for Fire either.

 

[Koolau]

It does not even let me finish inputting. It assumes I am finished. I think it is on a timer.

It's been a while, but I just never had such issues with it. Obviously, YMMV.