I Yam What I Yam
Dryer sheet wannabe
I've been a long time lurker. In a little over a month I will be free from the megacorp life at the age of 51. My wife left the rat race in 2020.
My wife and I have been super savers since we first invested in 1995. In our last year where we both were employed (2019), our living expenses were roughly 15% of our gross income (excluding taxes). Our tax rate was around 23% so that ate up a good chunk of change. This year was an experiment for us as we decided to invest my salary, treat it as if it didn't exist, and do a practice run by living off the dividends and interest from our brokerage accounts. Our 2021 spending (including taxes) looks to be about 1% of our portfolio so it doesn't appear money will be an issue for the future. Our biggest expense is medical insurance and the second biggest is travel. We recently blowed that dough and paid cash to have our house built on some property we owned. While we could have made more $$$$ if we got a mortgage and invested the money, there was some peace of mind for my wife to have the house paid for. One thing I have learned over the years is the math is important, but peace of mind sometimes dictates we deviate from the path laid out by the math. In fact, the mental aspect of money and retirement is one of the most interesting aspects to me. If you have any good books around this topic, please let me know.
Our plan is to primarily live off the dividends and interest from our brokerage accounts which are about 60% of our portfolio. We also plan to start some IRA conversions to a Roth as my wife is older than I am and we don't want to get a big tax surprise due to RMDs as they will kick us up a tax bracket.
I'm excited to be able to enjoy the freedom that comes along with retirement. I have grand plans for volunteering and travel. In fact, we have 4 cruises scheduled through the end of 2022. We also plan to start more day trips and weekend trips to discover more of this beautiful country.
My wife and I have been super savers since we first invested in 1995. In our last year where we both were employed (2019), our living expenses were roughly 15% of our gross income (excluding taxes). Our tax rate was around 23% so that ate up a good chunk of change. This year was an experiment for us as we decided to invest my salary, treat it as if it didn't exist, and do a practice run by living off the dividends and interest from our brokerage accounts. Our 2021 spending (including taxes) looks to be about 1% of our portfolio so it doesn't appear money will be an issue for the future. Our biggest expense is medical insurance and the second biggest is travel. We recently blowed that dough and paid cash to have our house built on some property we owned. While we could have made more $$$$ if we got a mortgage and invested the money, there was some peace of mind for my wife to have the house paid for. One thing I have learned over the years is the math is important, but peace of mind sometimes dictates we deviate from the path laid out by the math. In fact, the mental aspect of money and retirement is one of the most interesting aspects to me. If you have any good books around this topic, please let me know.
Our plan is to primarily live off the dividends and interest from our brokerage accounts which are about 60% of our portfolio. We also plan to start some IRA conversions to a Roth as my wife is older than I am and we don't want to get a big tax surprise due to RMDs as they will kick us up a tax bracket.
I'm excited to be able to enjoy the freedom that comes along with retirement. I have grand plans for volunteering and travel. In fact, we have 4 cruises scheduled through the end of 2022. We also plan to start more day trips and weekend trips to discover more of this beautiful country.
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