Can I retire early before age 60?

[chassis]

There were indeed some posts removed from this thread.

[F.I.R.E User]

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Originally Posted by chassis There were indeed some posts removed from this thread.

Do you know why and what was it about?

[Aerides]

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Originally Posted by MichaelB No posts have been removed from this thread.

Correct

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Originally Posted by chassis There were indeed some posts removed from this thread.

False

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Originally Posted by F.I.R.E User Do you know why and what was it about?

Enough already. No posts were removed. Not by the posters themselves or mods. Zero. Not in this thread. However, future posts may well be, per community rules.

If any of you would like to question moderator actions, or lack thereof, in-thread is not the place for it. Contact any of the mod team directly, and maybe, re-read the community rules.

[chassis]

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Originally Posted by Aerides Correct False Enough already. No posts were removed. Not by the posters themselves or mods. Zero. Not in this thread. However, future posts may well be, per community rules. If any of you would like to question moderator actions, or lack thereof, in-thread is not the place for it. Contact any of the mod team directly, and maybe, re-read the community rules.

@Aerides I stand corrected, my apologies.

[F.I.R.E User]

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Originally Posted by Aerides Correct False Enough already. No posts were removed. Not by the posters themselves or mods. Zero. Not in this thread. However, future posts may well be, per community rules. If any of you would like to question moderator actions, or lack thereof, in-thread is not the place for it. Contact any of the mod team directly, and maybe, re-read the community rules.

Thanks for the clarification.

[jollystomper]

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Originally Posted by mrfeh I don't think there's much point in asking this question, as it is 15 years out. Just save/invest as much as you can without depriving yourself. When the day comes that you have "enough", you'll know.

+1

It is tough to plan for what changes might occur in 15 years. So keep it simple and re-assess every few years or so. As long as you focus on those things you can control (which you are already doing), you likely will be fine. I was 43 in 2001 with a lower net worth than you, married, with multiple kids college bills about to hit in the mid-2000s. But by sticking to LBYM and doing the types of things mentioned in the OP's first post, getting to that comfortable asset level was doable before 60.

[F.I.R.E User]

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Originally Posted by jollystomper +1 It is tough to plan for what changes might occur in 15 years. So keep it simple and re-assess every few years or so. As long as you focus on those things you can control (which you are already doing), you likely will be fine. I was 43 in 2001 with a lower net worth than you, married, with multiple kids college bills about to hit in the mid-2000s. But by sticking to LBYM and doing the types of things mentioned in the OP's first post, getting to that comfortable asset level was doable before 60.

When did you retire?

[jollystomper]

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Originally Posted by F.I.R.E User When did you retire?

June 2018, age 60 (see my signature line for exact date ).


By 2012, all calculators I used and Megacorp financial advisor indicated I could retire. But I decided I wanted a very comfortable, do-not-need-work-at-all-for-money type of retirement, so I simply kept accumulating to build up a buffer (Lucky timing since 2012-2017 was a very good time to be in the market, and the majority of college bills went away, so more to save/invest ) .

[F.I.R.E User]

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Originally Posted by jollystomper June 2018, age 60 (see my signature line for exact date ). By 2012, all calculators I used and Megacorp financial advisor indicated I could retire. But I decided I wanted a very comfortable, do-not-need-work-at-all-for-money type of retirement, so I simply kept accumulating to build up a buffer (Lucky timing since 2012-2017 was a very good time to be in the market, and the majority of college bills went away, so more to save/invest ) .

With how much?

[LarryMelman]

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Originally Posted by F.I.R.E User With how much?

34.75. 29 1/2. Pi-over-eleventy-six.

For Pete's sake, would you PLEASE get it through your head that you have to decide your own numbers. No one else's numbers mean anything.

You've been shown where the calculators are. You've been shown how to use them, by people with amazing and limitless grace and patience.

Now please go do the work.

And if you are just not capable, then you need to sign your affairs over to someone who is.

[F.I.R.E User]

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Originally Posted by LarryMelman 34.75. 29 1/2. Pi-over-eleventy-six. For Pete's sake, would you PLEASE get it through your head that you have to decide your own numbers. No one else's numbers mean anything. You've been shown where the calculators are. You've been shown how to use them, by people with amazing and limitless grace and patience. Now please go do the work. And if you are just not capable, then you need to sign your affairs over to someone who is.

I am working on the advice given so far.

[jollystomper]

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Originally Posted by F.I.R.E User With how much?

I'll put it this way . I strove for a 100% success rate in FireCALC with annual expenses retirement expense starting at a minimum of $125-$130K (including taxes) to 100 years old (HA!) projection, and was able to achieve above that, in my situation (which may not be fully applicable to yours, which is why the recommendations to use the tools for you own), with 3 sources of income: pension, savings/investments, and (future, not taken yet) SS.

When I reached that goal, I was comfortable to retire, though I did have a "glide path" for a couple of years after that, you can peruse it here at https://www.early-retirement.org/for...ans-81406.html). You can also, if interested, read my 3 year post-retirement summary at https://www.early-retirement.org/for...th-109967.html

As I mentioned above, continue to do what you are doing - I am a better saver than an investor, so I always believe saving is primary - keep it simple, use the tools to ensure you are staying on track, and you will be fine .

[F.I.R.E User]

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Originally Posted by jollystomper I'll put it this way . I strove for a 100% success rate in FireCALC with annual expenses retirement expense starting at a minimum of $125-$130K (including taxes) to 100 years old (HA!) projection, and was able to achieve above that, in my situation (which may not be fully applicable to yours, which is why the recommendations to use the tools for you own), with 3 sources of income: pension, savings/investments, and (future, not taken yet) SS. When I reached that goal, I was comfortable to retire, though I did have a "glide path" for a couple of years after that, you can peruse it here at https://www.early-retirement.org/for...ans-81406.html). You can also, if interested, read my 3 year post-retirement summary at https://www.early-retirement.org/for...th-109967.html As I mentioned above, continue to do what you are doing - I am a better saver than an investor, so I always believe saving is primary - keep it simple, use the tools to ensure you are staying on track, and you will be fine .

If FireCalc says 90% success rate. That’s pretty good too right? What if you live pass 100? I will not get pension. When do you plan to get SS?

[jollystomper]

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Originally Posted by F.I.R.E User If FireCalc says 90% success rate. That’s pretty good too right? What if you live pass 100? I will not get pension. When do you plan to get SS?

It is as good as the risk you are willing to take . I wanted to see what the 100% success line gave me, others will consider a different rate. There is not a "right" answer.

I currently plan to get SS sometime between 65 and 70. This is something FireCALC lets you model to see the difference in ones projections (of course there are other more detailed models for SS such as opensocialsecurity.com). The major factor in my case maximizing SS for my DW in the likely event that I die first. A minor factor is not taking it gives me more room for any tIRA->Roth conversions I choose to do. The impact on our spending is a very minor consideration. These are all very specific situations and there have been a plethora of threads here "debating" when to take SS and on tIRA->Roth conversions.

[F.I.R.E User]

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Originally Posted by jollystomper It is as good as the risk you are willing to take . I wanted to see what the 100% success line gave me, others will consider a different rate. There is not a "right" answer. I currently plan to get SS sometime between 65 and 70. This is something FireCALC lets you model to see the difference in ones projections (of course there are other more detailed models for SS such as opensocialsecurity.com). The major factor in my case maximizing SS for my DW in the likely event that I die first. A minor factor is not taking it gives me more room for any tIRA->Roth conversions I choose to do. The impact on our spending is a very minor consideration. These are all very specific situations and there have been a plethora of threads here "debating" when to take SS and on tIRA->Roth conversions.

Is 100% recommended?

When should I tap into SS? At 70, my SS online account shows $2,543 per month.

[F.I.R.E User]

FIRECalc Results:

Following the "95% Rule," from Work Less, Live More, each subsequent annual withdrawal will be the greater of 4% of your previous year's withdrawal, or 3.0% of your current portfolio, with no adjustment for inflation (unlike the normal FIRECalc behavior, which uses your starting portfolio, and makes adjustments for inflation). Although the calculations are based on unadjusted withdrawals, the charted withdrawals are shown using 2021 dollars.
Because you indicated a future retirement date (2038), the withdrawals won't start until that year. Your contributions will continue until then. The tested period is 17 years of preretirement plus 13 years of retirement, or 30 years.

FIRECalc looked at the 121 possible 30 year periods in the available data, starting with a portfolio of $2,000,000 and spending your specified amounts each year thereafter.

Here is how your portfolio would have fared in each of the 121 cycles. The lowest and highest portfolio balance at the end of your retirement was $2,000,000 to $25,413,787, with an average at the end of $11,115,766. (Note: this is looking at all the possible periods; values are in terms of the dollars as of the beginning of the retirement period for each cycle.)

So I could expire with an average portfolio of over $11M at age 90?

[Whisper66]

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Originally Posted by F.I.R.E User So I could expire with an average portfolio of over $11M at age 90?

Yes. And your results show no failures in any of the runs. So the next thing to do is to go to the "investigate" tab and choose "spending level" for 95% success rate and rerun the program. That will give you an idea of how much more you could spend and still have excellent success. Lastly you could just run your case for retiring earlier than you have planned and see if you need to continue working so long. Those are things running your own numbers can do for you. Enjoy the tool and get what you can out of it.

[F.I.R.E User]

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Originally Posted by Whisper66 Yes. And your results show no failures in any of the runs. So the next thing to do is to go to the "investigate" tab and choose "spending level" for 95% success rate and rerun the program. That will give you an idea of how much more you could spend and still have excellent success. Lastly you could just run your case for retiring earlier than you have planned and see if you need to continue working so long. Those are things running your own numbers can do for you. Enjoy the tool and get what you can out of it.

I did use the 95% option. It is kinda complicated.

[Whisper66]

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Originally Posted by F.I.R.E User I did use the 95% option. It is kinda complicated.

No it's not complicated. And no you didn't run a case to determine acceptable expenses for a 95% success rate. You really need to spend more time reading comments closer, reading the program help comments more and playing with your numbers. I am out again.

[F.I.R.E User]

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Originally Posted by Whisper66 No it's not complicated. And no you didn't run a case to determine acceptable expenses for a 95% success rate. You really need to spend more time reading comments closer, reading the program help comments more and playing with your numbers. I am out again.

I checked the box about 95% on the last tab.