Class of 2021

[Lawrencewendall]

Congrats! Welcome to the group. We need to encourage each other to hang in there.

 

[corn18]

Welcome aboard!

 

[davemd1820]

My target is December 2021, when I turn 60. So far, we seem to be on track.

 

[cynicalbuthopeful]

Welcome davemd -- stop in and introduce yourself at Hi, I am thread!

 

[corn18]

How's everyone doing? Ran the numbers this morning and we have a chance to be FI in 2021.

Target retirement income: $137,500k

$122,108 - Low end (0% nominal returns, no bonuses)
$136,024 - Most likely (4% nominal, bonuses)
$155,067 - High end (7% nominal returns, save all excess income)

So, we still have a shot for Mar 2021. OMY would put us over the top for sure. We'll see how the next three years go.

 

[cynicalbuthopeful]

how is everyone doing? Anyone else feeling a bit nervous? DH and I need the markets to continue to cooperate!

 

[COcheesehead]

I started backing down on equity exposure earlier this year and started “bucketizing” my first 3-4 years of retirement income in a bond ladder. Return sequence risk for our retirement class is very real after riding the rise in equities for the last 9 years. I am all about preserving capital now. I’ll rebalance later for continued growth.

 

[goingtotravel]

Almost the same strategy here as COcheesehead. Backed down on our equity allocation last year. Increased our savings amount but that money is going into a bucket to be used for our first few years of retirement or whenever the market corrects after retirement. Fully expecting some type of correction between now and 20121.

To answer cynicalbuthopeful's question. Vacillating between nervous and excited that 2021 is quickly approaching. Trying to calm down about it by looking at our budget and projected income and reassuring ourselves that there is wiggle room if needed.

 

[corn18]

I am cautiously optimistic. I am mostly aiming for FI in 2021 @ age 55. I have not been brave enough to commit to RE just yet. Still like my job and is allowing us to save boatloads of money, so OMY after FI would not be a deal breaker.

No change to my investing, though. 60/40 with 25% international all in index funds. Don't think I will ever change that. In reality, I just need to make it to 70 and SS as my COLA pension and SS will cover all our expenses. Anything left in the portfolio at that point will be blow that dough or inheritance.

 

[Lawrencewendall]

Sorry everyone. I'm bailing from the class of 2021 and moving to the class of 2019. I verbally told my manager yesterday that my last day will be 13 April. Numbers say I can. DW is currently in the hospital and SIL passed away this morning after a week of illness. Life is too short. My manager understood as her Father retired the day he turned 62. I hope this next phase in life is all that members here say.

 

[W2R]

Sorry everyone. I'm bailing from the class of 2021 and moving to the class of 2019. I verbally told my manager yesterday that my last day will be 13 April. Numbers say I can. DW is currently in the hospital and SIL passed away this morning after a week of illness. Life is too short. My manager understood as her Father retired the day he turned 62. I hope this next phase in life is all that members here say.

CONGRATULATIONS!! I hope you will find that retirement is better than expected; I did anyway.

 

[ChrisTexas]

Sorry everyone. I'm bailing from the class of 2021 and moving to the class of 2019. I verbally told my manager yesterday that my last day will be 13 April. Numbers say I can. DW is currently in the hospital and SIL passed away this morning after a week of illness. Life is too short. My manager understood as her Father retired the day he turned 62. I hope this next phase in life is all that members here say.

Congrats, exciting change in your life. 2 months to go! Let us know how it is going in 6 months.

 

[cynicalbuthopeful]

Congratulations

Sorry everyone. I'm bailing from the class of 2021 and moving to the class of 2019. I verbally told my manager yesterday that my last day will be 13 April. Numbers say I can. DW is currently in the hospital and SIL passed away this morning after a week of illness. Life is too short. My manager understood as her Father retired the day he turned 62. I hope this next phase in life is all that members here say.

Very sorry to hear about your DW and SIL -- but congratulations on the decision to accelerate your retirement. While my date can't move up, I am actively look for a role that would allow me to move to FL sooner rather than later. Please let us know how things go as you move into the next season of your life. Enjoy!

 

[Dinky]

I'm planning to graduate from the real world in January 2021 at the age of 56.
I'll have 33 years in with my employer at that time and am just feeling like it is time for me to go.
Funny thing is, when I first started I figured that I'd be here a couple of years to build up my resume and then would move onward and upward. Life intervened. Got married, had a couple of kids, worked my way up to middle management and in a blink of an eye, here we are.
The difficult part for me now is to stay focused and to continue to be a productive member of the team. Am really getting itchy to start the new phase of my life.

 

[HI Bill]

The difficult part for me now is to stay focused and to continue to be a productive member of the team. Am really getting itchy to start the new phase of my life.

The closer you get, the harder it becomes to w#-k!

 

[COZICAN]

I'll throw my hat into this ring. Wanted to RE at 57 but decided not to burn through 2.5 years of cash. March 1, 2021 I'll be 59.5 and will be my last day at w%$k.

Coz

 

[Dinky]

The closer you get, the harder it becomes to w#-k!

I'm finding that to be frustratingly true! Feel at times that I am not pulling my weight, which isn't fair to my employer or co-workers.
Am seriously considering getting out of here in January 2020 at 55, as I will be FI. However, leaving a year early would penalize my pension by a few hundred per month and would disqualify me from company retirement health insurance. However, was planning on going ACA anyway as that is the more affordable path. Faced with this decision gives me an appreciation for those who OMY. [emoji3]

 

[goingtotravel]

The closer you get, the harder it becomes to w#-k!

Yes! My office is planning for projects that go live in 2023 or later. Even if I decide to OMY that still means FIRE before that. Trying to find a balance between providing enough work contribution and letting the people who will be stuck supporting new efforts do the heavy lifting for those long term projects.

 

[Yodajazz]

I’m moving out of the class of ‘21 and into the class of ‘19! Yay!

 

[Robert the Red]

My plan is retire at the end of Jan 2021 - when I make 20 years in Federal service, the point at which the pension calculation jumps up by 10%. In my case, that will amount to about $3500 per year more than if I retire a month earlier. And by then I hope to have identified and trained my successor. As of this moment, the countdown app on my desktop says 653 days to go.

 

[Physics Guy]

I'll tentatively join this class! My earliest date is June 2021 just after youngest child graduates college. The finances are in order already to meet our modest $60k planned budget but DW will not budge on at least one of us having a (professional) job until he's out of college.

The flip side is that it's spring. Spring is when I always get bored with work and start longing for more time for hobbies. Talk to me in the fall and I might be all for pushing things to 2022 because I actually do enjoy my job most of the time. Plus, now that I've switched to working internationally I feel like I am getting some of the benefits of retirement (cheaper/shorter travel to some places + immersion in a different country) while still working.

 

[goingtotravel]

Congrats to YodaJazz for moving to the class of 2019!

Welcome to Robert the Red and Physics Guy. Class of 2021 doesn't sound so far off in the future now does it?

 

[lampshade]

Hard core class of 2020 here! However, will push it to 2021. Happy family occasions are on their way and I don't want to move out of state. As long as I'm living here I might as well be working here!

 

[Robert the Red]

Congrats to YodaJazz for moving to the class of 2019!

Welcome to Robert the Red and Physics Guy. Class of 2021 doesn't sound so far off in the future now does it?

Countdown app on my desktop say "649 Days left". I'm not expressing it in minutes (would be 933,344 - at least it's under a million now).

 

[Physics Guy]

2021 sounds oddly close and oddly far away. Roughly 15 years ago we planned to retire in 2018. DW has become less sanguine about tuition for the child still in college and I've found a job that feels roughly like a working retirement for now so we've pushed it off.

On the other hand it is amazing that the plan has come together so well over the last 25 years (we started the process well before we really set a date).