Hi y'all. 
Finally decided to introduce myself to the community after lurking in the shadows for several months. I’ve spent my time here reading and evaluating posts which seem even remotely relevant to my situation. It's amazing how much I've learned in this time as well as being entertained.
My story isn't that different from many others I've read here, except that I was oblivious to the possibility of early retirement before landing here.
I and my DW (56/54, no kids) have always been savers and lived within our means. Our retirement plans however were nebulous at best. We both participated in our 401k plans at work and had other savings but no pensions. Other than a mortgage, we stayed debt-free. We also spent freely on stuff - for ourselves, family and charity - really without considering the long-term value (or lack thereof) of the stuff we bought. We figured we’d pay off the house and retire at normal retirement age with SS and ample retirement accounts to last us. That was our plan - if you could call it a plan.
I don’t really know what brought it on, but around the time the mortgage was retired last year I began having thoughts about working less and doing more fun things. I discovered this forum and the Boglehead site. I discovered Firecalc and ORP. I realized that a not insignificant portion of our expenses were in fact wasteful spending that added no value to our lives. It was “convenience spending” to sooth the stress and fatigue from long work weeks. Seemingly all of a sudden, it became apparent that we didn’t necessarily have to work 10 more years before retiring. The premise that early retirement has as much or more to do with controlling expenses than with replacing income was an epiphany for me.
The past 20 years of our finances are logged in Quicken, but have rarely been given a second glance once the monthly statements were reconciled. For the last 9 months we’ve been tracking our expenses closely and have made modest efforts to reduce this “wasteful” spending with surprisingly good results. We want to determine what level of spending is required for a satisfying lifestyle and is sustainable with our resources. I am very apprehensive about drawing conclusions yet because this idea of early retirement still seems so new to me. It is not something I’ve been diligently planning for the last 15 years like so many here. For lack of a better term, I don’t feel like I’ve paid my FIRE dues yet. That being said, it definitely looks doable.
This long narrative leads up to these questions: For those who were latecomers to early retirement, how long did it take you to come to terms with the reality and feasibility of walking away from w*rk? Did you (have to) make a reduction in spending before pulling the plug? If so, has it been difficult to sustain this new spending level? Do you have any regret for not working a bit longer?
If you’ve read all this, thank you! Your comments will be appreciated.
Finally decided to introduce myself to the community after lurking in the shadows for several months. I’ve spent my time here reading and evaluating posts which seem even remotely relevant to my situation. It's amazing how much I've learned in this time as well as being entertained.
My story isn't that different from many others I've read here, except that I was oblivious to the possibility of early retirement before landing here.
I and my DW (56/54, no kids) have always been savers and lived within our means. Our retirement plans however were nebulous at best. We both participated in our 401k plans at work and had other savings but no pensions. Other than a mortgage, we stayed debt-free. We also spent freely on stuff - for ourselves, family and charity - really without considering the long-term value (or lack thereof) of the stuff we bought. We figured we’d pay off the house and retire at normal retirement age with SS and ample retirement accounts to last us. That was our plan - if you could call it a plan.
I don’t really know what brought it on, but around the time the mortgage was retired last year I began having thoughts about working less and doing more fun things. I discovered this forum and the Boglehead site. I discovered Firecalc and ORP. I realized that a not insignificant portion of our expenses were in fact wasteful spending that added no value to our lives. It was “convenience spending” to sooth the stress and fatigue from long work weeks. Seemingly all of a sudden, it became apparent that we didn’t necessarily have to work 10 more years before retiring. The premise that early retirement has as much or more to do with controlling expenses than with replacing income was an epiphany for me.
The past 20 years of our finances are logged in Quicken, but have rarely been given a second glance once the monthly statements were reconciled. For the last 9 months we’ve been tracking our expenses closely and have made modest efforts to reduce this “wasteful” spending with surprisingly good results. We want to determine what level of spending is required for a satisfying lifestyle and is sustainable with our resources. I am very apprehensive about drawing conclusions yet because this idea of early retirement still seems so new to me. It is not something I’ve been diligently planning for the last 15 years like so many here. For lack of a better term, I don’t feel like I’ve paid my FIRE dues yet. That being said, it definitely looks doable.
This long narrative leads up to these questions: For those who were latecomers to early retirement, how long did it take you to come to terms with the reality and feasibility of walking away from w*rk? Did you (have to) make a reduction in spending before pulling the plug? If so, has it been difficult to sustain this new spending level? Do you have any regret for not working a bit longer?
If you’ve read all this, thank you! Your comments will be appreciated.
