DW (55) is out of mega-corp for good in February. I (57) have been in the large law firm business, for better and for worse, for 27 years. I plan to open a solo part time practice in January. Income will be a fraction of current. And if it still drives me crazy might bag it for good.
We live in upstate NY, in the fourth cheapest area for houses according to a recent Money report. Mortgage is paid off and only 1.5 years of college left.
Firecalc shows that at 4%-4.5% we can afford to FIRE based on our entire portfolio.
57% of our investment assets are in non-retirement accounts and available for use. 18.6% of our investment assets are in DW's 401(k) and IRA plans and a similar 18.6% of our investment assets are in my 401(k) and IRA plans. The balance is in a pension annuity for DW that we cannot touch until age 65. We have it all (except the annuity) in an integrated plan at Vanguard at 50% equities (with a nice mix) and 50% bonds.Vanguard did the allocation plan for us.
The non-retirement funds are sufficient for us to FIRE, but we would exceed the 4% from those accounts, but not the 4% overall.
My concern is the impact of drawing from the non-retirement funds until my retirement funds are available in 2010 and DW's are available in 2011. Will our overall plan be hurt by first drawing down from these nonretirement assets? Or is that the best way to do it in any event. I looked at a lot of threads and could not find one on the best order of use. So a direction to a thread would also help.
One last question. What am I not thinking about? What issues come up in early retirement that might surprise me?
Thanks for the help.
Zman
We live in upstate NY, in the fourth cheapest area for houses according to a recent Money report. Mortgage is paid off and only 1.5 years of college left.
Firecalc shows that at 4%-4.5% we can afford to FIRE based on our entire portfolio.
57% of our investment assets are in non-retirement accounts and available for use. 18.6% of our investment assets are in DW's 401(k) and IRA plans and a similar 18.6% of our investment assets are in my 401(k) and IRA plans. The balance is in a pension annuity for DW that we cannot touch until age 65. We have it all (except the annuity) in an integrated plan at Vanguard at 50% equities (with a nice mix) and 50% bonds.Vanguard did the allocation plan for us.
The non-retirement funds are sufficient for us to FIRE, but we would exceed the 4% from those accounts, but not the 4% overall.
My concern is the impact of drawing from the non-retirement funds until my retirement funds are available in 2010 and DW's are available in 2011. Will our overall plan be hurt by first drawing down from these nonretirement assets? Or is that the best way to do it in any event. I looked at a lot of threads and could not find one on the best order of use. So a direction to a thread would also help.
One last question. What am I not thinking about? What issues come up in early retirement that might surprise me?
Thanks for the help.
Zman
Last edited: