What is your "weakest link" to ER??

[Ally]

Too conservative investing and wanting to get our savings and my husband's pension a bit higher, because its not subject to COLA. We are both under an incredible amount of stress at work and hate it. We are also waiting to see how much the his retirement healthcare premium (which I can also join) will increase. As soon as we can, we are getting OUT.

[JoeWras]

#A: following the Joneses.

What I mean by this is doing what your neighbors/friends/family do. You know, you saw Sara Jones work until 65, so that must be your fate too, right?

This is ignorance. And it can go in many ways. Both in spending patterns (the most common use of the phrase "Keeping up with the Joneses"), but it can be more than that, including the retirement pattern.

#B: you mentioned sickness. Let me get more specific. Addiction. Name your poison, it doesn't matter. Don't let it in your life.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MooreBonds Is it possible for DW to get a job in private industry, even though she loves her position, or does her 30 year tenure give her a good position that would be tough to match (ignoring her pension which she qualifies for now, but which might not give her much more benefit if she stays in). A higher salary for DW in private/other settings might help boost the portfolio a bit more and let both of you RE sooner rather than hinging on the uncertainty of pension changes.

But be careful, private industry is full of weasels too.

[LChaim]

For those of you that chose 7) Too conservative in investing, what was your asset allocation?

[Ally]

I took ours all out before the last crash and put it in a general account that paid 3%. I know that's good for a guaranteed rate. But we were afraid to put any back in until a year or so ago, and then only 25%. I feel like we could have reached our goals by now if we wouldn't have waited so long. However we are ok.

[Rambler]

I didn't hate most of what I did. In fact, I liked it pretty well until the politics got too bad. But really, my reason for staying as long as I did was succession planning. That, and the fact that shiny bracelets were offered as an enticement to stick around until mega was certain the succession was going to work. It's a good thing the vesting on the shinies was coming when it did. I don't think I would have made it OMY past my ER date last December.

R

[truenorth418]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MooreBonds ...I'm still single. I'm looking for a future Dear Wife that can live a simple life yet enjoy some nicer things (so still need to grow the portfolio a bit)...but things are difficult enough in the dating world without answering the occupation question with "professional investor" or "Oh, I'm retired". ... Many people have no concept of what it takes to invest or amass wealth.

Amen brother!

[Meadbh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MooreBonds ...I'm still single. I'm looking for a future Dear Wife that can live a simple life yet enjoy some nicer things (so still need to grow the portfolio a bit)...but things are difficult enough in the dating world without answering the occupation question with "professional investor" or "Oh, I'm retired". Most women (and men) simply spend too much and have no concept of what it would take to retire on a modestly fun budget, and would incorrectly assume that I must be a trust fund baby with $10MM in the bank to be retired at this age...and probably would act however they need to in order to convince me they're the right gal just long enough to wind up married. One real-world example: one woman I dated, I merely said that "I made a lot of sacrifices in my 20s so my future wife and I could have a more secure life later on". Later on in the relationship, when we shared some financial info, she was shocked to learn I "only" had $800k or so (this was at March 2009, at the very bottom of the crash). She assumed that when I said "I made a lot of sacrifices" that I had about $2MM in the bank - despite being only about 32 at the time! I never told her how much income I earned, but even if I invested like Warren Buffet, I would have had to had earnings of about $300k/year every year straight out of college to amass $2MM in my early 30s! Many people have no concept of what it takes to invest or amass wealth. If I retired today, I could draw off 2.75% of my invested net worth and have double my annual 'basic needs plus some decent fun times'....but add in a future wife and kids, and some kickass trips around the globe, and my current stash would be lucky to just barely fully fund that at a 2.75% WR.

MooreBonds, where were you when I was 30?

[photoguy]

Biggest obstacles that we've overcome are (1) obtaining health care at reasonable cost. I think PPACA solves this as an issue for us. (2) Amassing a large enough portfolio to have a reasonable WR. This has been difficult with a delayed start due to grad school but we recently hit our number.

Now the biggest obstacles left are (1) not being chicken and being able to pull the trigger. (2) navigating a move away from the bay area (for cost of living reasons). With visits to family taking up a chunk of vacation we have very little time left over to check out alternative cities/areas (and our short list is way too long).

[48Fire]

Co-worker's DW put the brakes on his plans, so another category is D-spouse. As for me, DW is not a big fan of listening me ramble on about Monte Carlo analysis. She has been ready for a while.

[bo_knows]

This thread seems a bit more gear to folks fairly close to retirement, but I'll bite:

The 2 biggest things I'd say are our "weakest links" are saving for children's education (which we most certainly want to do) and deciding whether or not to cut some work hours during our prime earning years (now, I guess) to feel less burnt out. If we cut hours more, we'd certainly come to ER a bit slower.

Though, even at my conservative projections, my spreadsheets tell me that I could cut my hours by 20% today, and we'd be FI in 12 years versus 10 if I didn't. Also, after FI, we'll probably do a number of years at 50% employment until the kids are off to college anyways, so it seems like a moot point.

I'm convincing myself more and more to make this "weak link" a reality

[militaryman]

"Bronze handcuffs" keep me working until 57 when I will be good to go financially

If I was offered an early out now (45yo with 27 years service in FedGov) then I would probably have to pass because I still have about 3 years until the youngest DD will have her 4yr degree and be self sufficient.

Outside of that it would be dependent on whether I wanted to live a pretty trim budget but very early retirement or continue to W*rk and be able to retire to the beach community that we dream about daily.....

I think that as long as we have parents living ( 4 in their 70's ) that need our help from time to time we will continue to work and forgo any early retirement offers. It just makes it so much easier to help people when you LBYM and have a "gob" of extra every month to save or spend on others as needs arise.

I think ultimately that will be the biggest thing that holds me back even when I reach the age (57) that I am allowed to retire. If I still have family with legitimate needs (that were not created by their own negligence) then I will feel compelled to stay onboard awhile longer to help knowing that the retirement budget will not have anywhere near the same flexibilities.

[omni550]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meadbh MooreBonds, where were you when I was 30?

+1

[cinman2000]

For me, college expenses for the kids and unclear healthcare expenses prior to age 65. Plus a lot of dreams for a busy lifestyle in RE (travel and entertainment).