Join Early Retirement Today
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 04-18-2019, 09:19 AM   #61
Recycles dryer sheets
SnowBound's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: CarUpOnBlocks NY
Posts: 178
OP: Thanks for the update. May want to post something under the "Race to 2024" thread, sounds like your target year.

May/should do a spread sheet of expenses every year until you & DW start taking SS. Some things are going to be budget killers:

2026: Adding a teenage driver (maybe extra car).
2028: Stay on ACA with paying for college room/board
2040 - 2045: Health cost not covered by ACA
Paying for dental insurance or expenses (goes way up fast).
Also: Houses fall apart, especially bathrooms and kitchens. These will upset a tight budget.
Remember that inflation needs to vary by category: Food & Transportation goes up 2% a year, taxes maybe 5% a year
SnowBound is offline   Reply With Quote
Join the #1 Early Retirement and Financial Independence Forum Today - It's Totally Free!

Are you planning to be financially independent as early as possible so you can live life on your own terms? Discuss successful investing strategies, asset allocation models, tax strategies and other related topics in our online forum community. Our members range from young folks just starting their journey to financial independence, military retirees and even multimillionaires. No matter where you fit in you'll find that Early-Retirement.org is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with our members, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create a retirement blog, send private messages and so much, much more!

Old 04-18-2019, 11:25 AM   #62
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: May 2015
Posts: 143
The post retirement budget seems way unrealistic. Housing repairs & maintenance tend to run 1-2% of the homes value in the long run. A new roof can run $15-20k. HVAC overhaul $10k. And so on. No gifts, travel, eating out, new clothes, furniture, new electronics (really?) - yeah no way that's happening.

My suggestion is to start cutting expenses NOW (eg eating out) and move to a more stable, less stressful line of work. If you have a technical degree, take a coding bootcamp or get a certificate (or even a Masters) in software development. There will be some hurdles and pay cuts in the beginning but the can be overcome.

You are in your 30s, there is still time. IMO you will explode if you continue on this path. And even if your plan is perfectly executed, you will still encounter problems in the future (already discussed by many posters, no need for me to rehash).

I would also pay off kid's college. I don't want my kids slaving away paying interest and loans for years when I can pay them off with a single year (or less) salary.
sergio is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-18-2019, 08:03 PM   #63
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Oct 2018
Posts: 64
Thank you for the input. My house was recently built, so I don't see major expenses yet. I will leave some room for the repair cost. I also plan to move to Malaysia (where I am from) after FIRE and it can reduce my cost pretty significantly. I can rent a decent size apartment for about 700-1000 dollars and the medical cost is pretty low there. The international school is also cheap and kids can move back to US for college around 2030.

Quote:
Originally Posted by sergio View Post
The post retirement budget seems way unrealistic. Housing repairs & maintenance tend to run 1-2% of the homes value in the long run. A new roof can run $15-20k. HVAC overhaul $10k. And so on. No gifts, travel, eating out, new clothes, furniture, new electronics (really?) - yeah no way that's happening.

My suggestion is to start cutting expenses NOW (eg eating out) and move to a more stable, less stressful line of work. If you have a technical degree, take a coding bootcamp or get a certificate (or even a Masters) in software development. There will be some hurdles and pay cuts in the beginning but the can be overcome.

You are in your 30s, there is still time. IMO you will explode if you continue on this path. And even if your plan is perfectly executed, you will still encounter problems in the future (already discussed by many posters, no need for me to rehash).

I would also pay off kid's college. I don't want my kids slaving away paying interest and loans for years when I can pay them off with a single year (or less) salary.
chasedream2002 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-19-2019, 07:34 PM   #64
Dryer sheet aficionado
 
Join Date: Aug 2018
Posts: 43
Quote:
Originally Posted by chasedream2002 View Post
Thank you for the input. My house was recently built, so I don't see major expenses yet. I will leave some room for the repair cost. I also plan to move to Malaysia (where I am from) after FIRE and it can reduce my cost pretty significantly. I can rent a decent size apartment for about 700-1000 dollars and the medical cost is pretty low there. The international school is also cheap and kids can move back to US for college around 2030.
I’m getting confused at this point- your original post doesn’t include anything for renting an apartment. And you have a few other posts talking about how costs will go down when the mortgage is paid off. And you made another post about how you will be keeping the same house. But now you post about moving to another country and renting an apartment, while your kids are still in school....

You said your wife will continue working for several years after you FIRE. Will her job allow her to work from Malaysia? You also mentioned the international school is cheap- but I don’t recall seeing a budget item for paying for pre-college schooling either.

Am I missing something?
__________________
Building wealth has much less to do with how much you earn, and much more to do with how you use what you earn.


If only I had known at age 20 the things I know now...
MoneyChic is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-20-2019, 05:15 PM   #65
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Oct 2018
Posts: 64
Moving to Malaysia is my Plan B. If things don't work out in the next few years, I plan to move to lower cost cities in Malaysia and let the portfolio grow without withdrawing significant amount of money. My goal is to retire before 2024. If the portfolio is not big enough to support our cost in the US, we can move to Malaysia as Plan B. We will see how things go.

Quote:
Originally Posted by MoneyChic View Post
I’m getting confused at this point- your original post doesn’t include anything for renting an apartment. And you have a few other posts talking about how costs will go down when the mortgage is paid off. And you made another post about how you will be keeping the same house. But now you post about moving to another country and renting an apartment, while your kids are still in school....

You said your wife will continue working for several years after you FIRE. Will her job allow her to work from Malaysia? You also mentioned the international school is cheap- but I don’t recall seeing a budget item for paying for pre-college schooling either.

Am I missing something?
chasedream2002 is offline   Reply With Quote
Five years update
Old 02-29-2024, 02:51 PM   #66
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Oct 2018
Posts: 64
Five years update

Just want to provide a five years update. Networth reached 2.15 million (1.8m investment, 0.35m house equity), but not retiring as planned due to the high inflation and upcoming college cost in 5-10 years. I plan to save up to 3-4 million to give myself more wiggle room. It has been very tough during COVID. Both my wife and I had to stay home during 2020 without work. I explored side hustles such as food delivery and selling products online during COVID. My job is still very stressful/unstable. I plan to stay to the last day and do side hustles to pay for college cost.

Quote:
Originally Posted by chasedream2002 View Post
1. I am 38 and wife is 33. Both working. Two kids 3 and 8.
2. I am making 180k and wife is making 52k. Totally 232k, but my job is not stable. May have to take a lower pay job next spring.
3. Retirement account (IRA and 401k): 300K, taxable 150k, cash 150k, totally 600k savings, all the investment funds are from Vanguard.
4. House is 380k, mortgage balance is 180k, about 200k equity in the house. Currently the mortgage is 15 year, interest rate 3%, but keeping the mortgage may require a higher cash flow and I am afraid I won't be able to generate the cash flow with 1M investment. I am planning to accumulate 1M and pay off mortgage before FIRE.
5. I am contributing 18k into 401K (employer match 7k) and 5.5K into roth IRA, wife is contributing 12k into simple IRA (1k match from her employer). About 50k goes into taxable account each year.
6. My expenses are quite high due to mortgage, property tax and day care cost. Monthly I am spending about 7400 dollars. It can be reduced to less than 3000 after FIRE. I plan to pay off mortgage and won't have day care cost after FIRE.

Current Cost:

Mortgage 1620 (11 years left on mortgage at 3%)
Day Care 1600 (day care cost will be gone in 2 years)
Property Tax 1100
House Repair 50
Medical 200
Gas 250
Toll 100
Car Insurance/Repair 200
Water 100
Gas and Electricity 100
Cable and Phone 150
Grocery 800 (can reduce to 500)
Eat Out 500 (can reduce to 200)
Clothes 100
Vacation 100
Education 200
Gifts 50
Entertainment Toys 50
Electronics 50
Furnitture 50
Other 50
Total 7420

Reduced Cost after FIRE and paying off mortgage
Mortgage 0
Day Care 0
Property Tax 1100
House Repair 50
Medical 200
Gas 100
Toll 20
Car Insurance/Repair 200
Water 100
Gas and Electricity 100
Cable and Phone 90
Grocery 600
Eat Out 0
Clothes 0
Vacation 0
Education 100
Gifts 0
Entertainment Toys 0
Electronics 0
Furnitture 0
Other 0
Total 2660

Currently the job I have is not very stable and I may have to take an 80k job next year, so the total income will decrease to 134K, it will slow down my FIRE process significantly. I had a late start and had 0 networth six years ago. I don’t like the high stress jobs. I really want to achieve FIRE ASAP. Currently I am able to save about 10k per month, but I can only save about 3k per month after changing the job.

Based on my calculation, my total investment and saving can reach 1 million after working at the new job for 3-4 years. I may work for 1-2 years to pay down the mortgage, so totally I need at least 5 years to reach FIRE, around 2023. I will be around 43 years old and wife will be about 38 years old. My wife is on board and she is willing to work for a few additional years to 2028. Hopefully her pay can cover the living expenses between 2023 to 2028. The investment should be able to reach 1.5 M in 2028 and it should be able to generate 60k per year before she retires.

Please provide some input and let me know if any optimization can be done to my FIRE plan. Thank you!
chasedream2002 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-29-2024, 03:35 PM   #67
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: North
Posts: 4,029
Quote:
Originally Posted by chasedream2002 View Post
Just want to provide a five years update. Networth reached 2.15 million (1.8m investment, 0.35m house equity), but not retiring as planned due to the high inflation and upcoming college cost in 5-10 years. I plan to save up to 3-4 million to give myself more wiggle room. It has been very tough during COVID. Both my wife and I had to stay home during 2020 without work. I explored side hustles such as food delivery and selling products online during COVID. My job is still very stressful/unstable. I plan to stay to the last day and do side hustles to pay for college cost.
You should consider new employment.
kgtest is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-29-2024, 03:46 PM   #68
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 192
One concern I always have when someone proposes a very thin retirement is inflation. That $1million you may have in five years is really only worth about $900 thousand or less at that point because your costs will have increased by the rate of inflation.
marinauser is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-29-2024, 06:07 PM   #69
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Oct 2018
Posts: 64
I work in a very specialized field and only few companies do this kind of work. I feel like walking on thin ice for a long time.

Quote:
Originally Posted by kgtest View Post
You should consider new employment.
chasedream2002 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-29-2024, 06:13 PM   #70
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Oct 2018
Posts: 64
Yes, the high inflation in the past few years pushed me to change my original goal of 1.5m to 3m-4m. Once I get to 3m-4m, my after tax account's dividends will be sufficient for my living expenses. Currently my household income is about 270k and we spend about 5k a month. I hope to reach 3m-4m in the next 3-5 years if market cooperates. I also plan to move to a cheaper country to enjoy life more after I reach my goal. I plan to sell everything once kids go to college. I can live on 1k a month in southeast Asia. I will see how things go in the next 3-5 years. I will post my updates once a while.

Quote:
Originally Posted by marinauser View Post
One concern I always have when someone proposes a very thin retirement is inflation. That $1million you may have in five years is really only worth about $900 thousand or less at that point because your costs will have increased by the rate of inflation.
chasedream2002 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-29-2024, 06:31 PM   #71
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Dallas
Posts: 1,150
Quote:
Originally Posted by chasedream2002 View Post
I work in a very specialized field and only few companies do this kind of work. I feel like walking on thin ice for a long time.
I work in an industry where there are only 3 companies world wide. But I still was able to switch employment. It is possible. Just tap into the people you already know.
pjigar is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-29-2024, 08:35 PM   #72
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: SF Bay Area
Posts: 306
Quote:
Originally Posted by chasedream2002 View Post
Yes, the high inflation in the past few years pushed me to change my original goal of 1.5m to 3m-4m. Once I get to 3m-4m, my after tax account's dividends will be sufficient for my living expenses. Currently my household income is about 270k and we spend about 5k a month. I hope to reach 3m-4m in the next 3-5 years if market cooperates. I also plan to move to a cheaper country to enjoy life more after I reach my goal. I plan to sell everything once kids go to college. I can live on 1k a month in southeast Asia. I will see how things go in the next 3-5 years. I will post my updates once a while.
Is your wife on board with that plan? My wife said her family didn’t sacrifice to leave Asia (Philippines) to move back there. She’s shot down my suggestion to sell everything and travel the world. She wants the kids to always have a home base so selling our house in a HCOL are appears to be off the table.
anothercog is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-01-2024, 07:47 AM   #73
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Oct 2018
Posts: 64
Wife wants to move close to where the kids work in the future, so we may live in a small apartment in whatever new town the kids go.

I may do some travel overseas by my own. Life has been very stressful. I studied hard in college and grad school and worked hard in my career. I feel very tired of everything. I feel I never enjoyed life truly. I took my responsibilities too seriously. I do not hate my job, but the unstable nature caused the feeling of walking on thin ice everyday. I just want to have some personal time and travel by myself. Hopefully I can reach 3m when the first kid goes to college. I need this freedom.

Quote:
Originally Posted by anothercog View Post
Is your wife on board with that plan? My wife said her family didn’t sacrifice to leave Asia (Philippines) to move back there. She’s shot down my suggestion to sell everything and travel the world. She wants the kids to always have a home base so selling our house in a HCOL are appears to be off the table.
chasedream2002 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-01-2024, 07:49 AM   #74
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Oct 2018
Posts: 64
I am in a similar situation. I have some ex coworkers in a competitor company, but I don't want to piss off my boss and also the other companies are not stable either.

Quote:
Originally Posted by pjigar View Post
I work in an industry where there are only 3 companies world wide. But I still was able to switch employment. It is possible. Just tap into the people you already know.
chasedream2002 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-01-2024, 09:15 AM   #75
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: SF Bay Area
Posts: 306
Quote:
Originally Posted by chasedream2002 View Post
Wife wants to move close to where the kids work in the future, so we may live in a small apartment in whatever new town the kids go.

I may do some travel overseas by my own. Life has been very stressful. I studied hard in college and grad school and worked hard in my career. I feel very tired of everything. I feel I never enjoyed life truly. I took my responsibilities too seriously. I do not hate my job, but the unstable nature caused the feeling of walking on thin ice everyday. I just want to have some personal time and travel by myself. Hopefully I can reach 3m when the first kid goes to college. I need this freedom.
I totally get it. Back in 2008-2009 I was worried every day I was going to get laid off, coupled with the fact that my wife stopped working around that time after the birth of our third kid, I was extremely stressed.

Around 2014 it got even worse as I had issues with a co-worker that was trying to get me fired. I had a bit of a nervous breakdown but somehow made it through and developed a plan to clean up my co-worker's mess. Fast forward another year and they promoted me and made me the boss of my problem co-worker! They quit about six months later and I have enjoyed job security ever since.

However, it has come with more responsibility and more stress. I really don't want to die of a heart attack at my desk. I'm targeting early 2028 as my exit before I turn 58. I'll have one kid graduated from college and two in college at that point.

Good luck on your path.
anothercog is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-01-2024, 11:06 AM   #76
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Oct 2018
Posts: 64
Thank you.

I don't have issues with coworkers, the main cause was lack of work. My company does not have much work, but they keep hiring new people while telling old employees to use vacation hours. Also the incompetent workers use up budget without finishing deliverable and I am always told to clean up mess with minimal hours left. It is a ridiculous situation.

Wife is always complaining and also my teenager son always causes troubles. Overall my life sucks despite of my 2.15 million networth.

I just want to tell them I quit in one day.

Quote:
Originally Posted by anothercog View Post
I totally get it. Back in 2008-2009 I was worried every day I was going to get laid off, coupled with the fact that my wife stopped working around that time after the birth of our third kid, I was extremely stressed.

Around 2014 it got even worse as I had issues with a co-worker that was trying to get me fired. I had a bit of a nervous breakdown but somehow made it through and developed a plan to clean up my co-worker's mess. Fast forward another year and they promoted me and made me the boss of my problem co-worker! They quit about six months later and I have enjoyed job security ever since.

However, it has come with more responsibility and more stress. I really don't want to die of a heart attack at my desk. I'm targeting early 2028 as my exit before I turn 58. I'll have one kid graduated from college and two in college at that point.

Good luck on your path.
chasedream2002 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-01-2024, 02:53 PM   #77
Dryer sheet wannabe
 
Join Date: Feb 2021
Location: Louisville, KY
Posts: 11
Congratulations on hanging in there. I just now saw your original post today and didn't realize it was five years old until I got to the end. I was going to recommend stay in your current job until you accumulate what we all called "F**k You money" meaning you had enough net worth that you would be OK if you got fired or layed off. That amount is not necessarily enough to never had to work again, but could easily weather the storm. You have reached that point IMO.

You need to stop stressing out so much and enjoy your life. My boss who used to threaten to fire me weekly got so mad when he could tell I wasn't worried and was unfazed by his rants.

I believe you will look back and feel it was better to work fewer years in a high paying job than many, many years in low paying non-skilled labor part-time jobs.

You also need to relieve yourself of feeling the pressure of you being responsible for fulling funding your children's college. They should work towards scholarships and can work part-time while going to school. I think studies show those students who work do just as well in their classes.

I will also say time is just as valuable as things/possessions. Don't be so over conservative as to rob yourself of time with your parents or travel or hobbies, etc that you might do if you retire a few years earlier. It does sound like you are already leaning towards a simple lifestyle. Best of look and congratulations because you are on the other side of the toughest part.
KingMota is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-01-2024, 03:30 PM   #78
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Oct 2018
Posts: 64
Thank you very much for your comments.

Yes, I plan to suck it up for a few more years, but they may lay me off soon. Recently they hired a new manager, but we have no billable work. I may get forced out soon. I can find other lower pay jobs in the range of 70-100k. It won't be ideal. However, it will be better than nothing.

I totally agree with you on FU money. I feel less stressful about job loss after 5 years of accumulation. I looked at my old post five years ago and my investiable asset was just 600k and now I have 1.8M investible asset. If I can make to 3M, I will feel much more comfortable with stop working forever. Fingers crossed I can reach that goal.

I will try to enjoy life more. Currently I feel very depressed about mid-life. My family are not very supportive. My wife has tension with my parents. I feel my life is fked up. My parents also started having health issues in their late 60s. Anyway, there is not much I can do to change my life. The mid life stress is so high. I won't say my 2.15m networth made me a happy life, but my life could be worse without the accumulation in the past 10 years or so. My biggest regret is that I should have started investing in my 20s. At that time, I only focused on spending money to impress women. Not a single woman was impressed sadly. Just as Dave Ramsey said, I was driving a fancy car to impress people, but no one gave a fk. I lost almost 8 years of time before focusing on FU money accumulation.


Quote:
Originally Posted by KingMota View Post
Congratulations on hanging in there. I just now saw your original post today and didn't realize it was five years old until I got to the end. I was going to recommend stay in your current job until you accumulate what we all called "F**k You money" meaning you had enough net worth that you would be OK if you got fired or layed off. That amount is not necessarily enough to never had to work again, but could easily weather the storm. You have reached that point IMO.

You need to stop stressing out so much and enjoy your life. My boss who used to threaten to fire me weekly got so mad when he could tell I wasn't worried and was unfazed by his rants.

I believe you will look back and feel it was better to work fewer years in a high paying job than many, many years in low paying non-skilled labor part-time jobs.

You also need to relieve yourself of feeling the pressure of you being responsible for fulling funding your children's college. They should work towards scholarships and can work part-time while going to school. I think studies show those students who work do just as well in their classes.

I will also say time is just as valuable as things/possessions. Don't be so over conservative as to rob yourself of time with your parents or travel or hobbies, etc that you might do if you retire a few years earlier. It does sound like you are already leaning towards a simple lifestyle. Best of look and congratulations because you are on the other side of the toughest part.
chasedream2002 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
35 years old planning to retire in 15 years dk345 Hi, I am... 16 07-27-2020 05:20 AM
Hi - I'm 55 years old, could retire financially, just can't do it Francis Hi, I am... 49 12-01-2014 05:17 AM
52 years old; want to retire in 2-3 years Barb301 Hi, I am... 2 03-07-2008 08:02 AM
How early can I retire-50 years old? vicmost Young Dreamers 20 02-21-2006 08:57 AM
Can I retire in 7 seven years Outby7 Hi, I am... 5 11-23-2005 11:34 AM

» Quick Links

 
All times are GMT -6. The time now is 03:07 AM.
 
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.