Finally found a meaningful way to track progress to FIRE

[corn18]

I have so many spreadsheets, numbers, variables, calculators, tools etc... that sometimes I find it hard to see the big picture. I think I finally found something that can help guide me and my wife towards a happy FIRE.

I have a base budget well established that we are currently using for spending. I added funding for cars, taxes and added a reasonable cushion. Added it all up ($117k / year) and calculated our 99% success number. This does not include any money for travel or blow that dough kind of stuff, so I decided to track that against our planned savings and this popped out:

Now we can easily tell how we are doing. We don't quite have the base budget covered yet, so I will keep working. We are targeting $25k/year for blow that dough stuff, so it looks like Mar 2022 is our target date (was hoping for Mar 2021, but not to be). And we can easily tell what OMY will get us. I gotta say that Mar 2023 @ $46k / year looks sweet!

 

[wolf]

Interesting. Retired many year ago. Have no spread sheets. Just figured monthly living expenses. Added yearly expenses. (ie. Property tax, Auto/House insurance, Health insurance, est. income tax due, ...).. Added up the total. This gave monthly income required.

Then added, cushion. New car, repairs, travel, help kids, etc. Added this to my total.

Done. For me very simple. Not complicated. I think many on this forum do the same.

So long as my income covers my expenses. Done. Enjoy life.

Good luck.

 

[ncbill]

Interesting. Retired many year ago. Have no spread sheets. Just figured monthly living expenses. Added yearly expenses. (ie. Property tax, Auto/House insurance, Health insurance, est. income tax due, ...).. Added up the total. This gave monthly income required.

Then added, cushion. New car, repairs, travel, help kids, etc. Added this to my total.

Done. For me very simple. Not complicated. I think many on this forum do the same.

So long as my income covers my expenses. Done. Enjoy life.

Good luck.

Similar approach...used Maxifi specifying my "must-cover" non-discretionary expenses, plus some lump sums in the future (e.g. new vehicles) to have it calculate how much I could spend over and above the non-discretionary minimum, based on lifetime income projections.

Right now if I choose its "maximize" feature (which has me delay SS until age 70 & annuitize retirement savings around age 80) it projects I can discretionary spend around twice what I spend on non-discretionary every month.

 

[flyingaway]

Do you use the 4% rule in planning, after you figure out the expenses?

 

[corn18]

Do you use the 4% rule in planning, after you figure out the expenses?

Kindof. I used firecalc to estimate what I needed for the base budget. Then I subtract that number from what I have in retirement savings and multiply by 5%. I used 5% because this is fun money and does not need to last until I die. In execution, I think it will all end up being VPW, but this helps me see what OMY means.

 

[Steelart99]

I have found that I can port all my non-Fidelity financial data into Fidelity. Their Retirement planning tool takes a little bit of time to input all the expenses and other data, but does a good job of forecasting given future normal/poor market conditions. Just a thought

 

[ckelly78z]

It truly sounds like many here on this forum spend all day poring over $$ numbers, and spreadsheets, to get a comprehensive overview of each scenario possible in the future.

Loosen the collar a bit , and learn to live life even while working, YOLO. This is not to say we all shouldn't make plans, and budgets, but learn to chill, and roll with the punches.

 

[corn18]

It truly sounds like many here on this forum spend all day poring over $$ numbers, and spreadsheets, to get a comprehensive overview of each scenario possible in the future.

Loosen the collar a bit , and learn to live life even while working, YOLO. This is not to say we all shouldn't make plans, and budgets, but learn to chill, and roll with the punches.

True dat! (I'm trying to be more street hipster these days)

 

[GravitySucks]

I found a great way to track retirement too.
I put "how many days since 3/1/2013" into Google and it tells me how long I've enjoyed my freedom. ( minus the terrible 15 days I went back on contract.)