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View Poll Results: When $ will you/did you retire?
I accepted a reduction in living expenses to retire as soon as I could. 55 34.81%
I waited until I could match my pre-retirement living expenses. 86 54.43%
I worked as long I could to increase my retirement living expenses or security. 17 10.76%
Voters: 158. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 10-02-2009, 11:06 AM   #41
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I have a mixture of things....I still live like a poor college student, have no debt, and bought the car outright. I have a modest nest egg, changed careers, paid cash for school. I need to get back to saving more and investing more....took a hiatus for a year while living off of savings.
I have semi-retired at 34.....work 25-30 hours doing something I love.
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Old 10-02-2009, 11:58 AM   #42
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Rich
Tampa, FL (13.1% retired)


Yay!!!!!! You even stretched it out to 13.1!
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Old 10-02-2009, 12:45 PM   #43
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Rich
Tampa, FL (13.1% retired)


Yay!!!!!! You even stretched it out to 13.1!
You sure don't miss much ...

It increased that last .01% because at the moment I am relaxing at a beautiful campground on Sanibel, having just finished a long bike ride to the beach, lunch, and am gearing up for a power nap (not easy work, you know). I have to fit in a Dairy Queen run before it gets too close to dinner.

The result of all that recreation increased my FIRE motivation, explaining the increment. Thanks for noticing (love the emoticons). DW and I will take pictures this evening if we can.
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Old 10-02-2009, 01:00 PM   #44
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Face it Rich, you're just fiddling with the numbers and fooling yourself. Vacations and long weekends are the working man's way of fantasizing about what retirement might actually be like - not that it appears you'll ever know.

That said, I hope you are enjoying your time off.
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Old 10-02-2009, 01:18 PM   #45
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I chose #1. We had intended to wait until DH was 55 yrs--because then he would get his tiny Alaska pension($300/month) plus free retiree (and family) health insurance, including free prescription drugs.
Well, when DH was 51 yrs old, it suddenly occurred to us that he could have taken early retirement at 50 yrs and still get the same great health insurance deal. The pension would be "slashed" to $250/ month--but with fully-paid health insurance--who cares about that!
So we figured out how much money we would have to live on with our reduced savings and pensions if both of us retired right away. We decided we could do it, and so we both retired Jan. 2008. We spend less money than when we were working: we eat out less, buy fewer "things"--but we go hiking, camping, and RVing for fun...so we don't miss not being able to eat out very much.
Our frugal early RE has worked out great for both of us ! --and we don't regret retiring when we did at all. Our health has improved and our stress levels are low. We're having a blast !
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Old 10-02-2009, 02:14 PM   #46
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My situation doesn't fit the poll so I didn't vote. I quit when I had the opportunity without even knowing what a SWR was (I just celebrated 10 years of this yeaterday - see the thread here http://www.early-retirement.org/foru...ars-46564.html )

We are spending less now but our standard of living has improved. But if I had to choose today between lowering our standard or returning to work, I wouldn't go back to work. The RE part of FIRE is jsut too good.
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Old 10-02-2009, 02:31 PM   #47
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Originally Posted by Rich_in_Tampa View Post
You sure don't miss much ...

It increased that last .01% because at the moment I am relaxing at a beautiful campground on Sanibel, having just finished a long bike ride to the beach, lunch, and am gearing up for a power nap (not easy work, you know). I have to fit in a Dairy Queen run before it gets too close to dinner.

The result of all that recreation increased my FIRE motivation, explaining the increment. Thanks for noticing (love the emoticons). DW and I will take pictures this evening if we can.
Rich, DW and I are down the road from you in Englewood for two weeks. The sunsets have been very good again this year. Had a great day of Saltwater fishing in the bay and a little ways out in the ocean. We even saw a bald eagle take a fish that happened to appear for it!

To not high jack the thread we are just ESR'd so I do not really know how to respond to the poll. we could retire at Just under 4% now but DW and I with kids are a little young and not ready for that since the work is my part time business and allows for all the travel we can squeeze when schools out.
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Old 10-02-2009, 02:43 PM   #48
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Option #2 seems to be optimal for us. Our target is 3% SWR to support $60K of living expenses.
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Old 10-02-2009, 03:26 PM   #49
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Face it Rich, you're just fiddling with the numbers and fooling yourself. Vacations and long weekends are the working man's way of fantasizing about what retirement might actually be like - not that it appears you'll ever know.
Ouch.

Yeah, it really sucks to like your job. .
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Old 10-02-2009, 03:30 PM   #50
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Ouch.

Yeah, it really sucks to like your job. .
Didn't mean to be so harsh. Heck, I know you're gonna retire - in just one more year.
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Old 10-02-2009, 03:48 PM   #51
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heh heh heh - I was a legend in my own mind when it came to cheap, frugal, tightwaditis, etc.
Take it easy greasy. Nobody likes a skinflint show-off!
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Old 10-02-2009, 05:15 PM   #52
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Hey, in Rich's line of work he really just got started. After all he was in school for 30 years.
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Old 10-02-2009, 05:23 PM   #53
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Goooal!

Door no. 3?
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Old 10-02-2009, 10:01 PM   #54
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You sure don't miss much ...
Kinda scary ain't it?
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It increased that last .01% because at the moment I am relaxing at a beautiful campground on Sanibel, having just finished a long bike ride to the beach, lunch, and am gearing up for a power nap (not easy work, you know). I have to fit in a Dairy Queen run before it gets too close to dinner.

The result of all that recreation increased my FIRE motivation, explaining the increment. Thanks for noticing (love the emoticons). DW and I will take pictures this evening if we can.
That sounds lovely Rich....I'm so glad y'all are having a good time. With the holidays coming up, you just might squeeze out an additional 1%, but I won't hold your feet to the FIRE fire.....
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Old 10-03-2009, 08:05 AM   #55
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How much one needs for FIRE is about money, but it's also about oneself. Three questions come to mind

How well do do deal with uncertainty?
How flexible are your and your finances?
Do you have options in case things don't work out?

I suspect that 4% is reasonable and 3% is much safer, but the difference between the two isn't worth the additional effort for some while others won't rest easy even with 3%. If you don't know yourself before FIRE you certainly will afterward.
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Old 10-03-2009, 10:12 AM   #56
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Yesterday at the gym one of the women was talking to me about her late husband and she said " We were married 44 years but because I was always working we really never knew each other ". This struck me as the saddest thing I have ever heard and certainly a reason to back away from your job .
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Old 10-03-2009, 04:58 PM   #57
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I wasn't quite sure how to respond to the poll because my expenses went down substantially after ER on account of no mortgage ( bought a smaller house on acreage with money left over from sale of the bigger house) and not contributing anymore to retirement programs. I chose door # 1 but I guess door #2 would be equally applicable since expenses on other stuff did not change much.
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Old 10-03-2009, 05:29 PM   #58
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I voted door #2. My goal is NW CDN$3m for a 2% SWR of $60K, which is about what I spend now. No pension, which is why I am going for 2% SWR.
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Old 10-03-2009, 06:41 PM   #59
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I voted door #2. My goal is NW CDN$3m for a 2% SWR of $60K, which is about what I spend now. No pension, which is why I am going for 2% SWR.
"Physician, heal thyself" - Don't you pretty much have that big bugaboo medical care that scares the rest of us kind of doubly wrapped up, being Canadian and all?
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Old 10-03-2009, 06:50 PM   #60
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I voted door #2. My goal is NW CDN$3m for a 2% SWR of $60K, which is about what I spend now. No pension, which is why I am going for 2% SWR.

Since you are only going for 2% if you need someone to leave all the excess to I'd be glad to oblige .
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