Class of 2025

[ArmchairMillionaire23]

I didn't see a specific thread for Class of 2025 when I searched so I thought I'd start one.

I was born in 1970. When I was 30, my original plan was just to save up $1,000,000.00 by the time I was 50. Back then that seemed like a lofty, but do-able goal if I kept on living below my means like I had for the past few years. A few years back when I read about the IRS "Rule of 55" I started doing some calculations and realized that might be applicable to my situation.

Then, earlier this year I discovered this site (who says nothing good happened in 2020?) and found out there were a lot of people here with dreams and aspirations similar to mine and by reading a lot of the stories and asking some questions of my own I was able to come up with a plan that should let me retire anytime after January 1st, 2025.

I turned 50 this year and was able to max-out my 401(k) contributions this year even with the extra catch-up contributions. (the nice thing about 2020 and 2021 is that $19,500 + $6,500 = $26,000 ÷ 52 = $500 every week which makes the math easy and I don't have to worry about contribution percentages) I plan on continuing to max out every year through 2024 if possible as well as maxing out my Roth IRA, my wife's IRA and my H.S.A contributions, too.

Thanks to responses from people on this site I was able to do some research involving my employee manual and figure out that they do have an 'early retirement' plan and also research my retirement account (John Hancock Retirement) and found that my plan does offer distributions once a person reaches 55 (or anytime that year) and they do not require a 'lump sum distribution' but will let a person take periodic withdrawals, as long as it's at least $5,000.

So it looks like I'm hopefully going to make it into the 'Class of 2025".

Any others?

 

[RxMan]

I haven’t yet narrowed down my retirement year enough to know exactly when but 2025 is a possibility. It’s probably an aggressive goal for us so 2026-2028 is more likely. You never know what will happen so I’ll follow along with this thread.

I’m going to do a full end of year assessment of all of our assets. Then I’ll try to make some reasonable growth assumptions factoring in future retirement contributions. Hopefully that will give me a clearer picture of an estimated retirement date.

I also want to focus on building our taxable funds going forward. I want a better balance between tax deferred retirement savings and taxable account savings.

2025 isn’t that far away. It’s exciting to think of the possibility of retiring in a few years but I’m trying to focus on the present.

Good luck to you and the rest of the Class of 2025! Hopefully I will put myself in a financial position to potentially join you.

 

[ArmchairMillionaire23]

Good luck to you and the rest of the Class of 2025! Hopefully I will put myself in a financial position to potentially join you.

Thank you and good luck to you as well.

 

[HenryD]

So it looks like I'm hopefully going to make it into the 'Class of 2025".

Any others?

Congrats on your 2025 goal!

Born in 1969 here, DW is 1971. Right now the countdown clock in our home office is showing 1538 days until 3/14/2025. That should be the day DW gets her annual bonus for 2024 and we pull the pin. If things go better than planned we'll do it sooner.

Thanks in part to this forum I'm feeling good about my own 'separation from employment at 55' 401k strategy. Didn't quite manage the catch-up max this year, but still managed to max the HSA, put $19.5K into my 401k, and $27K with match into DW's. I have until April to keep hitting the employer contribution on mine as a self-employed person.

One reason we failed to hit our 2020 savings targets was the purchase of our starter boat, but since we'll be living on one in ER we want to gain the experience. According to my spreadsheet, the purchase cost us $18K for this year and next. A terrible financial decision that is nonetheless an integral part of our plan. We still managed a 21% increase in NW and topped $1M.

 

[ArmchairMillionaire23]

Congrats on your 2025 goal!

Born in 1969 here, DW is 1971. Right now the countdown clock in our home office is showing 1538 days until 3/14/2025. That should be the day DW gets her annual bonus for 2024 and we pull the pin.

We still managed a 21% increase in NW and topped $1M.

Awesome! Congrats on the 'starter boat' purchase. We topped $1M for the first time this year as well and started looking for our 'starter boat' too. Of course, DW likes vintage things so we tried to find a small (14-15') aluminum runabout from the '50s through the '70s but were unable to find what we were looking for this year. Maybe in May once the ice is off the lakes we'll start looking again. We don't ever plan on living on a boat but we would like to have a vintage one to cruise around the lakes during our short summer season.

3/14/25 is around the time (middle of March, anyway) I should get my annual bonus from my employer as well but according to my most recent conversation with our CFO I only have to be employed as of the end of 2024 to qualify for the profit sharing. As long as I am still enrolled in the retirement plan I will still receive the profit sharing 'bonus' if there is one that year.

If things go better than planned we'll do it sooner.

Best of luck with that! Any time in 2025 would be nice but the earlier the better, right?

 

[RxMan]

Just curious- are your time of year estimates for your retirement target dates based on financial incentives from your employer, weather considerations, or other factors. I’ve always thought the spring would be a great time of year to retire based on good weather and the desire to be outdoors.

 

[ArmchairMillionaire23]

Just curious- are your time of year estimates for your retirement target dates based on financial incentives from your employer, weather considerations, or other factors. I’ve always thought the spring would be a great time of year to retire based on good weather and the desire to be outdoors.

Where I live, weather will definitely be a factor. I'm hoping for the first week of 2025 but you're right. If it's -20F for a few weeks it'd be too cold to enjoy my newfound time off all that much.

But on the other hand, not having to get up to go to a j*b anymore might be enjoyment enough.

At least until the weather warms up in May.

 

[Fire26]

I am undecided between 25 or 26, depends on how my youngest is doing after high school. Financially I think I could retire now but my idea of retirement involves extend overseas travel so that doesn't work well with a kid in school.
For context, I will be 52 in Feb and my youngest is in 8th grade.

 

[anothercog]

I'm going to join this class. I'm not 100% sure 2025 will be the year I pull the plug but I'm hoping I will meet my FI goals and if my Company offers me a severance package that year, I will take it.

 

[ArmchairMillionaire23]

I'm going to join this class. I'm not 100% sure 2025 will be the year I pull the plug but I'm hoping I will meet my FI goals and if my Company offers me a severance package that year, I will take it.

Wishing you the best of luck.

 

[kingfisher]

I am targeting 2025 as well, it would be 1 year before my son goes to college. If he ends up to a very expansive school, we might have to delay it for a year or two.

 

[ArmchairMillionaire23]

If he ends up to a very expansive school, we might have to delay it for a year or two.

Some public colleges are very expansive but don't cost nearly as much as smaller private colleges. An expansive campus might not be as expensive
U-Mass (Amherst) sits on 1,450 acres with a tuition of $14K while MIT has a less expansive campus size of 168 acres yet the tuition there is over $46K.

In all seriousness, though, good luck on achieving your goal in 2025.

 

[Extra Medium]

I could be in this class, or 2026. It’ll be fun to find out!

 

[GRR1865]

I’m 100% a July 2025, either the 16th or the 25th, it depends on if I will give the Federal government my labor until the end of the pay period. I’m a special category employee so the 16th is my 25 years since I won’t be 50 yet. I’ve gotten lucky with timing on house sales and the market since 2013 so with my pension and a taxable account with vanguard I have enough to cover the gap until 59.5 without Roth conversions or 72t. (Still might do some of the later but it might not be worth it with my taxable pension).