I'm 56, DW is 53 and we have 2 kids, one a junior in college and the other a senior in HS (who will go to college). Over the past year or so, I've found myself increasingly tired of life at MegaCorp - maybe as I've aged, I've noticed more and more that the BS percentage of my work time is way too high.
As you'll see from the numbers below, I'm pretty sure I'm in a position to FIRE, but, being someone who is pretty conservative financially (thanks, Dad, for instilling the LBYM philosophy), I just can't seem to get all of the worst-case "what-ifs" out of my head. I'm a plan-for-the-worst kind of guy, but we all know that you can't plan for everything. I'm trying to convince myself that we have a good plan in place that will cover any reasonable future situation, but that little voice in my head keeps saying "but what about this extreme situation....?" Am I alone in my uncertainty? Deep down inside, I know that thinking this way means that I'd never retire. I guess, I want to be absolutely, positively sure that nothing will go wrong, but I know that it's impossible to know the future.
Now the numbers:
No debt, $275K house paid off
Kids college funded through Texas Tomorrow guaranteed tuition plan and $75K in other 529 accounts for room/board, books, etc. Public schools.
DW income is $25K/year and she'll continue to work, at least for a few years
Pre-tax savings (401K, etc) $1.2MM
After tax savings (mutual funds, cash) $4.4MM, probably a little conservative with 50% in equities with balance in bonds funds and cash/CDs
No pensions
Expected expenses $85K/year, which does not include college expenses (see above - those are funded separately) but includes $24K/year for health care and accruals for major items such as cars/major home repairs, etc.
We'll both (supposedly) get SS, me $2600/mo at FRA and she'll be at ~1/2 of that
FIREcalc with any reasonable assumptions shows a 100% success rate.
As you'll see from the numbers below, I'm pretty sure I'm in a position to FIRE, but, being someone who is pretty conservative financially (thanks, Dad, for instilling the LBYM philosophy), I just can't seem to get all of the worst-case "what-ifs" out of my head. I'm a plan-for-the-worst kind of guy, but we all know that you can't plan for everything. I'm trying to convince myself that we have a good plan in place that will cover any reasonable future situation, but that little voice in my head keeps saying "but what about this extreme situation....?" Am I alone in my uncertainty? Deep down inside, I know that thinking this way means that I'd never retire. I guess, I want to be absolutely, positively sure that nothing will go wrong, but I know that it's impossible to know the future.
Now the numbers:
No debt, $275K house paid off
Kids college funded through Texas Tomorrow guaranteed tuition plan and $75K in other 529 accounts for room/board, books, etc. Public schools.
DW income is $25K/year and she'll continue to work, at least for a few years
Pre-tax savings (401K, etc) $1.2MM
After tax savings (mutual funds, cash) $4.4MM, probably a little conservative with 50% in equities with balance in bonds funds and cash/CDs
No pensions
Expected expenses $85K/year, which does not include college expenses (see above - those are funded separately) but includes $24K/year for health care and accruals for major items such as cars/major home repairs, etc.
We'll both (supposedly) get SS, me $2600/mo at FRA and she'll be at ~1/2 of that
FIREcalc with any reasonable assumptions shows a 100% success rate.
