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Old 01-18-2016, 09:59 AM   #21
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Photo guy - quick Q. Was your planned WR at 3% and DW unplanned consulting gig extra income knocks that down to 2% ?

Or you went in to FIRE planning for 2% and the consulting income takes portfolio and dividend dependence WR to less than that ?

Is your WR inclusive of dividends or just what gets drawn down from principle. ?

I got confused. Sorry.
We don't have a rigid withdrawal plan yet but we have been planning to spend anywhere from 2-3% of our stash (total NW including taxable and tax deferred) per year. Currently we just spend what we need/feel like but I want to formalize this into a mechanical withdrawal (to avoid both over and under spending).

In 2015 our expenses totaled 2% of our the portfolio value at the start of the year. DW income covered 1/2 of our expenses, so I guess you could say we withdrew 1%. Note that the 2% is our expenses on a cash basis and does NOT include accruals for capital expenses (like a new car) or lumpy medical costs.

I have no idea how long she will want to continue part time consulting, she might end this year or she might continue for several years. She has found that when she gets to work on her terms it is not that onerous. Plus as we are moving around a lot it give her some additional social interaction (it takes a while to develop new friends). However, we made our plans assuming no other income streams so this is just a bonus.

We're total return investors and don't make a distinction between dividends and principle. But since we only spent 2%, this is well within the range of dividends for an all equity portfolio. However ~1/2 of our portfolio is in tax-deferred accounts so we couldn't access those dividends for living expenses.
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Old 01-18-2016, 11:28 AM   #22
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Yes. Good point scrabbler1. That approach is very conservative.

When you state a portfolio WR is that a mental exercise to base it on non IRA assets ? Or X percent is X percent of everything ?

It's a critical element to have sources of money prior to that magic age of 59.5 outside of IRA's or be willing to pull a 72T
When I state a WR, it is based on my entire portfolio including the IRA. I do keep track of the WR based only on the taxable investments, though.

As my signature line suggests, I cashed out the company stock in my former company's savings plan when I left the company. That basically reversed my AA between the taxable accounts and the retirement account. It was about 2:1 in favor of the retirement accounts but then went to 2:1 in favor of the taxable accounts because I needed the extra money now even if I had to take a tax hit on it. Most of the stock's value was NUA so the tax hit was fairly light, about 25% overall (federal and state).
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Old 01-18-2016, 05:03 PM   #23
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This Q is targeted at those FIREd retirees who are 15 or more years out from collection of annuity, social security , and do not have a pension at all coming in today and will not have a sizable pension way out in time.. Ie, You rely on what assets you have right now.
We retired a little over 2 years ago. DW and I are both in our early 40s so SS is a long way out for us. We have no annuities or pensions, but I will most likely start laddering some small SPIAs in the future. Since I have a lot of $0 years for SS earnings, our SS won't be enormous and I'd like our portfolio to become more pension-like over time. By the time we are in our 70s, I'd like at least half of our basic expenses to be covered by SS and SPIAs.

Are you doing anything differently now that the market has corrected?

Nope. Our plan is our plan...If our plan was at risk for derailment after a minor correction, then we'd probably have bigger financial problems than the correction

What is your source of living expenses?

Dividends and interest in our taxable accounts cover ~85% of our expenses. We include expenditures for taxes and accruals for big ticket items like vehicles and medical expenses in our annual budget. Whatever we don't spend each year goes into a virtual "bucket" in one of my spreadsheets and we dip into that bucket whenever we have a big expense. That helps us smooth out the impact of large expected (or unexpected) expenses when we budget.

The remaining 15% of our budget comes from a pool of cash that I replenish whenever I rebalance our portfolio. We are big fans of total return.

Are you selling anything. or spending principle (cash) or only living on dividend and interest income.

We can almost, but not quite, live solely on dividends and interest. Our withdrawal rates for 2014 and 2015 were 2.44% and 2.46% respectively and we can't quite get there with our current portfolio's dividends/interest. I top off a cash pool whenever I rebalance and we use that to supplement what our portfolio brings in. I haven't had to explicitly sell anything though outside of our planned rebalancing.

Any other sources of passive ( you're retired right) income such as real estate or hobby income?

A friend and former co-worker asked me to do 2 days of consulting with his company last year. Other than those 2 days of "work", we haven't had any outside income for 2+ years of retirement. I'd have done the work for free because I mainly just wanted to catch up with my old colleagues, but don't tell my friend that

At what market level from the top do you start to be very concerned about capital preservation in the short run ? Down 10-20-30-50-66 percent etc

I don't focus much on the exact levels of the market. My criteria is based on the current withdrawal rate for our expenses. If the market goes down, that makes our WR increase. However, we have control over our spending so we can tweak discretionary spending to bring WR back down if necessary. Our plan is to start cutting back on discretionary spending if our WR hits 3.5% and for me to start looking for w*rk if our WR hits 5%. That would require our fairly conservative portfolio to drop well over 50% (probably closer to 60% if we cut discretionary spending) so hopefully I'll never need to brush off my resume.

What's your asset allocation ?

Our current AA is 57/40/3, but that is a little misleading. A big chunk of the 40% fixed income block is actually in short-term bonds that I can snag without much penalty for emergencies or to avoid selling equity during a downturn. Also, we are gradually moving our non-inflation adjusted bond holdings to inflation-adjusted holdings. By the time we hit 70, I'd like to have roughly half of our bond holdings be inflation-adjusted.
  • Equity (domestic): 35%
  • Equity (foreign): 17%
  • Equity (REITs): 5%
  • Bonds (non-inflation adjusted): 26%
  • Bonds (inflation adjusted): 14%
  • Cash: 3%

How many years of "cash" do you need to feel secure - for living expenses

I keep enough "cash" to cover our annual dividend/interest shortfall for 5 years. That includes a chunk of short-term bonds that I can tap if necessary.

Do u have dry powder to throw at the market if so what percent of portfolio ?

Not really. At this point, I just rebalance as necessary when our AA drifts more than 5% in either direction. I don't like keeping "dry powder" around since I prefer my money to be at work earning me more money.

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Younger retirees... Your game plan?
Old 01-18-2016, 06:41 PM   #24
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Younger retirees... Your game plan?

Excellent replies. Very good insight.
Scrabbler - I'm working on my responses too. I actually intended to post what I'm doing as well but got side tracked. Stand by - on the way

It's insightful how the WR is in the low or mid 2's for those of us who grew up working without any promise of a pension and skepticism that SS will be there in full when we hit full Retirement Age.

More conservatism needed than the ones who retire early by a few years to be able to go a few decades early!

The percentage difference is big - Looking like a 50 percent or larger portfolio/ egg needed to FIRE "early early".
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Old 01-18-2016, 10:06 PM   #25
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I'm 35 so a little over 30 years from collecting SS at full retirement age.

Are you doing anything differently now that the market has corrected?
Not yet, but see my comments at the end of this post. Ask me after another 30% drop and I'll probably change my tune.

What is your source of living expenses?
$1.x million portfolio covers living expenses at a 2-3% withdrawal rate (div yield > avg 2014-2015 expenses). I also started a blog and some other side projects post-FIRE and it covers ~100% of living expenses. Wife is also still working (but not for long) which covers 100%+ of living expenses.

Are you selling anything. or spending principle (cash) or only living on dividend and interest income.
So far other income streams cover living expenses so not selling anything. I collect dividends from taxable account and they cover 25-30% of living expenses (and the checking account keeps growing).

Any other sources of passive ( you're retired right) income such as real estate or hobby income?
I started a blog and some other side projects post-FIRE and it covers ~100% of living expenses.

At what market level from the top do you start to be very concerned about capital preservation in the short run ? Down 10-20-30-50-66 percent etc
My gut says 40% or so I would get worried about where my money would come from after 1-3 years (once the cash/bonds on hand is depleted). It looks like we're down 12-13% from our peak, and I'm about 1.5% worried right now (aka sleeping like a plump well fed baby at night).

Even with a 40% drop from the peak, we can take a 4% withdrawal on the portfolio value (under the variable portfolio withdrawal model) and still cover our 2015 budget which includes about 75% necessities and 25% purely discretionary spending. I'm planning on going to a 4% variable withdrawal (or less if we don't need it) so this will be a good test. We could sustain a 55% drop from the peak and still have a 4% variable withdrawal cover all of our core expenses plus some small fun money. I'm also not averse to working a few more hours per week to bring in another $10-15k/yr if it's uglay.



What's your asset allocation ?
97% equities, 1% bonds, 2% cash

How many years of "cash" do you need to feel secure - for living expenses
1-2 years

Do u have dry powder to throw at the market if so what percent of portfolio ?
No, but I might toss some of my living expenses cash into the market if the market does a March 2009 on me. I might also consider margin borrowing, cash out refi-ing the house, or cash out financing a car (if we had one worth anything). Nothing crazy - perhaps 10-15% of total portfolio value.

I put together a 2016 budget to help us spend more money and so far I'm planning on sticking with it. The budget includes a lot of extra discretionary spending including more on travel. I'm not sure we actually want to do another multi-month trip this summer, so the $ is likely to get diverted to buying a new(er) car instead. And then do a relatively inexpensive and shorter road trip in the new(er) car.

Barring abnormally high unexpected expenses or us tackling some known home improvement tasks, I doubt we'll be able to spend our upgraded budget which is 21% higher than 2015's budget. If we see another 20-30% drop in portfolio value, I will certainly re-examine our budget and consider cutting costs, including postponing the new(er) car purchase. It's really only going to be used for road trips and we have a perfectly adequate car for that right now (but why not splurge on a nice ride if you've got the $).

Then again, if my side hustle income keeps gushing in like it did in 2015, I might proceed with plans to spend the full 2016 budget and then some. Especially if we start seeing discounted recession-like pricing on home improvement and travel.
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Old 01-18-2016, 11:10 PM   #26
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It's insightful how the WR is in the low or mid 2's for those of us who grew up working without any promise of a pension and skepticism that SS will be there in full when we hit full Retirement Age.
My WR is currently just under 3% but will be permanently reset to the low 2's next year when we move to a lower cost of living area.
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Old 01-19-2016, 05:34 AM   #27
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Fuego. Thanks for chiming in. Great response. Nice to hear from our 30 and 40's FIREd members

A follow up question for clarity:

What is your source of living expenses?
*$1.x million portfolio covers living expenses at a 2-3% withdrawal rate (div yield > avg 2014-2015 expenses).

So expenses are approx 30k per year? Fully covered by dividends ? Anything unique about your portfolio - dividend Titans or utilities or just broad market stuff like SP500 etc? Do you reinvest dividends now or hold as cash ?

Fuego: also started a blog and some other side projects post-FIRE and it covers ~100% of living expenses.

So blog income also generates 30k per year above the dividend income. ?

Fuego: Wife is also still working (but not for long) which covers 100%+ of living expenses.* for now, DW's income covers 100%+ of annual expenses.

So in effect you have at this point 3x the income vs expenses annually ??
If yes, I can see why you have attempted to adjust the spending upward ...

Quite different from dividends + blog + wife working sum of which just covering 1x expenses.

Nice. Sounds like you're still very much in accumulation phase of early early retirement !!!
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Old 01-19-2016, 01:43 PM   #28
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Papadad, you got it. Our budget for 2015 was $32.4k, but we only spent $25k. Div income was just short of $30k. Blog/freelance/consulting income grossed a little over $30k, probably under 30 after SE taxes. DW's net was probably in the $60k range.

So our income is ~4x our expenses. DW is barely working now (1-2 days/wk) and her income will end in 2016. I have no clue how much my side hustles will bring in (since I'm not really focusing any energy on growing the biz).

In spite of our efforts, we're still accumulating right now.
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Old 01-19-2016, 04:51 PM   #29
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Background: I FIRED in 2015 at 45. 2 kids. No pension ever. SS is 22 years out. who knows what we'll get by then...if anything.

What we have is...what we have. FWIW no trust fund or big inheritance either.... and...damn it... I wasn't one of the powerball winners either!


Are you doing anything differently now that the market has corrected?

Nothing different except turning off CNBC. Actually I think the overly bearish sentiment by everyone on wall street is good for the market....waiting for the covers of Newsweek and Time to know when this down spell is about over.

What is your source of living expenses? Need about 3% WR to cover our basics. 3.5% to cover basics+accruals for long term capital outlays.

2016-2017: deferred comp fm mega corp net of taxes should fully fund
2018: draw from taxable account - dividend income should cover approx 3/4 of our annual "base" needs.

The other 1/4 of income needs (plus extras like new car etc) in 2018 will come from a combination of some or all of the following:

A) selling / spending principle.... either taxable or maybe a 72T from IRA depending on tax efficiency....
B) hobby income (at best, covers 10% of annual expenses) and
C) rental income (at best, covers 10% of annual expenses) or
D) DW may take on some part time work
E) I am currently swapping my time (teaching part time) for health insurance and free university tuition... assuming degree completion, University might offer me a role instead of payment-in-kind. Sounds like work though...so not so fast to go forth.....

Note: Base budgetary needs do not include large 1x capital expenditures like new roof, new car, or high OOP medical deductibles. Covering those would require a dip into principle.

Note: College tuition x 2 kids x 4 yrs are already tucked away via 529 etc and when that is spent the DK's are on their own to pay for school. Not spending principle for their tuition.

At the rate gas prices are headed - there is some built in cost savings happening in multiple budget place and that could allow as much as 5% reduction in total base annual spend.

Are you selling anything. or spending principle (cash) or only living on dividend and interest income.

See above...

Any other sources of passive ( you're retired right) income such as real estate or hobby income? see above

At what market level from the top do you start to be very concerned about capital preservation in the short run ? Down 10-20-30-50-66 percent etc

I believe 30% down from the all time highs of 2131 will make me nervous. That's a 650 point drop in the SP500.. down to 1500. That would take us below the highs of October 2007. I start to get concerned at that level because we're already in a bear market and we have already been in negative REAL market returns through the entirety of the last year ( 2015)...A serious and significant sequence of returns risk is already happening.

What's your asset allocation ?
Currently: 87% equities / 13% cash (I dont hold bonds at all). Domestic 80% and International is 20% Couch potato 2 fund portfolio. I have a mad money trading account and just play short term with that.

my preferred AA is 90/10. At my age, I believe both sequence of returns risk as well as inflation risk are real and thus the higher equity allocation.

Note: I was 80% cash in 2007 through 2009. Missed some big gains in 2010 and 2011.... I wont try to time the market again... felt good when everyone else was down but I didn't get back in soon enough. fear and greed...fear and greed.


How many years of "cash" do you need to feel secure - for living expenses
I would speculate that if I had 10 years of cash beyond dividend income, to cover the basics, that would help me sleep at night but also know holding that much cash is detrimental to total return on portfolio due to inflation. Dont see how people can hold 40% in bonds when bonds earn so little now days...but that's just me.


I hold somewhere between 4 - 6 years of "what I need in cash above my dividend income to cover all our base expenses"....

Note that I settled on 4-6 years because the avg duration of bear markets across the globe tend to be 4-6 years. USA bears tend to be shorter but I think we could face a protracted down turn like the 1930s or a Japan, Latin America, or Russia market some day too... hence cash.


Do u have dry powder to throw at the market if so what percent of portfolio. Per my AA, I'm a little higher on cash than ideal, but not enough to make me do any sort of rebalance to equities now. If we see another 10% down, I'll put that 3% into equities --
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Old 01-19-2016, 06:46 PM   #30
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Dont see how people can hold 40% in bonds when bonds earn so little now days...but that's just me. [/COLOR]
It depends how well capitalized you are. With a low 2% WR all in (for basics and accruals like new cars, home repairs, healthcare OOPC, etc...), we have enough capital to reach our mid 80s (further still with SS), even if our investments just keep up with inflation. It should be more than doable even with a fairly conservative 50/50 AA. We also have non-retirement assets that could be liquidated in a pinch.

A recent article by Swedroe painted a pretty gloomy pictures of future returns for both bonds and stocks, yet under his rather pessimistic scenario a 50/50 AA should still be able to return around 2% real - in line with my expected WR, and enough to more or less preserve my capital in real terms without touching the non-retirement assets.

The biggest danger to our retirement is making a big mistake like taking more risk than we can bear and then freak out when the market inevitably corrects and sell at exactly the wrong time.
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Old 01-19-2016, 07:06 PM   #31
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It depends how well capitalized you are. With a low 2% WR all in (for basics and accruals like new cars, home repairs, healthcare OOPC, etc...), we have enough capital to reach our mid 80s (further still with SS), even if our investments just keep up with inflation. It should be more than doable even with a fairly conservative 50/50 AA. We also have non-retirement assets that could be liquidated in a pinch.





The biggest danger to our retirement is making a big mistake like taking more risk than we can bear and then freak out when the market inevitably corrects and sell at exactly the wrong time.
Recalling the 1970s, I would suspect risk of inflation is a far bigger danger systemically than selling at a market bottom. If you adopt the "never sell" strategy and continue to live in a 2-3 percent WR, your money in absolute and real terms should last forever. 2 percent bonds are gonna suck when global inflation returns - why not just hold dividend paying equities -- at least they tend to rise during inflation. Then again you did say you were swapping in TIPS so maybe you are well diversified against inflation too.

Your response got me thinking ....
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Old 01-19-2016, 07:35 PM   #32
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Papadad, you got it. Our budget for 2015 was $32.4k, but we only spent $25k. Div income was just short of $30k. Blog/freelance/consulting income grossed a little over $30k, probably under 30 after SE taxes. DW's net was probably in the $60k range.

So our income is ~4x our expenses. DW is barely working now (1-2 days/wk) and her income will end in 2016. I have no clue how much my side hustles will bring in (since I'm not really focusing any energy on growing the biz).

In spite of our efforts, we're still accumulating right now.

If things ever get tight for me, I am going to have you show me the ropes on living on 25k, Fuego. Very impressive! But I am afraid what you tell me may not be what I want to hear. Or at least what my GF wont want to hear me tell her, as that is where my budget "leakage" occurs I am pretty sure.


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Old 01-19-2016, 08:17 PM   #33
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Recalling the 1970s, I would suspect risk of inflation is a far bigger danger systemically than selling at a market bottom. If you adopt the "never sell" strategy and continue to live in a 2-3 percent WR, your money in absolute and real terms should last forever. 2 percent bonds are gonna suck when global inflation returns - why not just hold dividend paying equities -- at least they tend to rise during inflation. Then again you did say you were swapping in TIPS so maybe you are well diversified against inflation too.

Your response got me thinking ....
Stocks usually more than keep up with inflation over the long term (and remember I still have half of my portfolio invested in stocks for inflation protection), but they don't necessarily do well in a high inflationary environment. Check out those poor market returns in the 1970s! On the bond sides, I might trail inflation but if I stick to i-Bonds, TIPS held to maturities, as well as shorter term bonds or CDs, I should be able to limit the carnage. Personally, I think that deflationary pressures will still be the main concern for some time.
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Old 01-19-2016, 08:39 PM   #34
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If things ever get tight for me, I am going to have you show me the ropes on living on 25k, Fuego. Very impressive! But I am afraid what you tell me may not be what I want to hear. Or at least what my GF wont want to hear me tell her, as that is where my budget "leakage" occurs I am pretty sure.
Yeah, she probably won't want to hear it. I lucked out with a frugal wife. And she reminds me of my good fortune frequently!

$25k will probably be one of our lowest spending years while the kids are still in the house. We didn't have any major capital items in 2015, which helped. 2014 included an $8k major home improvement project (new siding, new windows, roof repair) and the spending showed it at $34k. 2016 is likely to be in the $34-40k range since we're trying to upgrade from a 15 year old sedan to a 6-8 year old minivan ($7-10k cost after selling the old car).

2015 was also lower than average since we didn't have any significant OOP medical or dental bills.
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Old 01-19-2016, 09:04 PM   #35
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The biggest danger to our retirement is making a big mistake like taking more risk than we can bear and then freak out when the market inevitably corrects and sell at exactly the wrong time.
+1

Our goal in investing is to avoid strikeouts and not necessarily hit homeruns. A bad investing mistake could terminate early retirement but what does hitting a homerun mean to us? maybe we fly business instead of coach or we get a nicer car.

Also I think it is a mistake to look at the low returns of bonds independently of everything else in your portfolio. High quality bonds (i.e. US treasuries) usually behave nicely when equities tank. Bonds are essentially the "dry powder" to throw into the market.

Last year one of my best performing asset classes were CDs (I lump this with bonds). And of course this year bonds are doing well.
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Younger retirees... Your game plan?
Old 01-20-2016, 04:54 AM   #36
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Younger retirees... Your game plan?

Yes. Not making a mistake - not selling at a market bottom. But again in a "never sell" mentality which is the case if WR is down at the dividend yield rate.... That won't happen. Much bigger risk is inflation even at 2 percent will erode principle and your bond face value amount over the long term

Recall here that we are fired and so not in accumulation phase. Money is either in the left pocket in equities or right pocket in bonds. No new money flowing into either pocket. (Assume we are spending the dividends or coupons to live off of).

So aside looking at the account balance at a particular point in time, being in your 40s meaning you hope to live another 40-50 years, I don't see why one would limit their upside potential of principle by being in bonds at such a young age, especially when yield covers expenses. Just live on that yield/ dividends, wait for the market increases.... It always does. At least in modern times. The daily monthly or yearly fluctuation doesn't matter much.

That's a better shot than buying bonds, holding to maturity, earning a return that barely covers long run rates of inflation but having to spend it to live on. At the end of 40 years and having spent the bond coupon /interest, you're left with dollars returned that are seriously devalued due to inflation. Your principle is intact but it's worth way less ... Equities at least have a fighting chance over the long term to increase your principle return equal to or maybe a little beyond inflation.

Long term , equities simply outperform.

So .... With such a long time horizon, why the conservatism? Unless the reality is one needs to spend principle too... Early on in retirement. Like during the 50s or early 60s.... Or If dividends are at risk...or the actual WR is moving higher than just the dividend yield due to lifestyle spending creep.

Otherwise I just don't get it. Perhaps it's the sleep at night factor that I'm missing.

Or the desire to draw down principle and buy that big house/car/yacht etc at a moments notice rather than treat the principle sorta like a permanent and untouchable investment with a stream of cash flows like an annuity .

I see a different scenario toward older age where you may have huge expenses for health care beyond dividend yield amount and need that principle. That's when you might want or need some bond assets or cash - in 60s and 70s ... And then SPIA in 80s for longevity insurance.

Good discussion. I historically was overly conservative but have changed my habits over time... Maybe I'm overly aggressive now holding just stocks in broad market funds and some cash ...

Early early retirement is truly unique with long long time horizons to manage, little if any safety nets such as defined pensions , and even uncertainty about SS...
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Old 01-20-2016, 07:51 AM   #37
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I am not quite FIRE’d yet, but will be in a few months.

Are you doing anything differently now that the market has corrected?
No, just continue to buy. January I actually buy just a bit more, due to Roth and my 401K match. I typically buy ~$10-11K a month of an S&P equivalent

What is your source of living expenses?
I will use rental income for 100% of my living expenses. I hope too still be able to invest ~$5K month for a few years.

Are you selling anything. or spending principle (cash) or only living on dividend and interest income.
No selling is planned for a few years, strictly reinvesting dividends. When I do sell, I plan on using only dividend income from my IVV and IVW ETFs. Leaving the principal intact.

Any other sources of passive (you’re retired right) income such as real estate or hobby income?
Rental income. ~$150K+ a year. I do have a real estate license so I may sell a few homes each year to tenants of mine that leave.


At what market level from the top do you start to be very concerned about capital preservation in the short run? Down 10-20-30-50-66 percent etc.
1%... But I rely on 130+ year of market history, and my own inept historical trading to know I must sit tight.


What's your asset allocation?
90%+ US Equities. Large cap. My rentals are my bond portfolio. When I sell those, I will buy more fixed income vehicles.

How many years of "cash" do you need to feel secure - for living expenses
I keep about a year of a minimal existence on hand for any emergencies. I can always generate quite a bit from my rentals, so I need less than many people..

Do u have dry powder to throw at the market if so what percent of portfolio ?
I can generate a bit of extra cash monthly, so I maintain a regular investment schedule.
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Old 01-20-2016, 08:00 AM   #38
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There's a relevant piece in the Economist about stock/bond returns and whether equities are always the best investment for the long run. We've had 30 year periods (latest ending in 2011) where US equities actually underperformed bonds. Anyway, story at:

Investing: Stocks for the long run? | The Economist

If you hit a paywall, search for "Stocks for the long run?" in your favorite search engine and click the first economist link to read the full article.
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Old 01-20-2016, 08:02 AM   #39
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AnonEMouse View Post
There's a relevant piece in the Economist about stock/bond returns and whether equities are always the best investment for the long run. We've had 30 year periods (latest ending in 2011) where US equities actually underperformed bonds. Anyway, story at:

Investing: Stocks for the long run? | The Economist

If you hit a paywall, search for "Stocks for the long run?" in your favorite search engine and click the first economist link to read the full article.
Another case for a well-balanced AA...
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Old 01-20-2016, 09:05 AM   #40
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Originally Posted by AnonEMouse View Post
There's a relevant piece in the Economist about stock/bond returns and whether equities are always the best investment for the long run. We've had 30 year periods (latest ending in 2011) where US equities actually underperformed bonds. Anyway, story at:

Investing: Stocks for the long run? | The Economist

If you hit a paywall, search for "Stocks for the long run?" in your favorite search engine and click the first economist link to read the full article.

Good article. Thanks for sharing.
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