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Old 10-09-2021, 05:15 PM   #121
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I was making 90,000 . My husband had a pension plan and was he was making 70,000 . I had 401k and we made several moves to downsize and pay off debt .

I’m scared to death , could we do this ?

But we still made the best decision in April of 2021.
We retired early and we have health care for three years . When it ends we will be 62 . We will have to pay for it . That’s factored in our plan .

Do you need a million dollars? It depends on how you want to live in retirement .

I can tell you we don’t have a million dollars .
But we have no debt . Zero . Okay ,I have a small Mtg of 78,000 . I need a write off .
But no car payments or student loans or crushing cc debt . Do I live in a big house ? No

I live in a two and one bungalow with a large yard by a bay . We get to travel a little , although covid put a wrench in some of our plans

It’s all about how you want to live out your days .
I had a health scare a year before retirement .
It made me understand that priorities in my life had to shift or I was going to die.

You either make more money or spend less
Either way you have to make the best decision for you , your family and your health .

I sat on the beach yesterday in October ,writing on the beach ,pursuing my dreams of writing .
Good luck !
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Old 10-09-2021, 09:15 PM   #122
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Good to hear. I see you are not living in Mexico anymore.

Not currently. Wandering around in an RV, avoiding large crowds. But as soon as things settle down we're back to Mexico, and South America, and Europe...
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Old 10-10-2021, 05:48 AM   #123
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Enough to live comfortably for 35+ years, with fabulous vacations every other year, and great vacations in between. Saved over 33% of salary since megacorp hire, and 40% of DW's salary, once the kids were in school. Retired at 56, through God's good graces and probably will die before all the money is spent/given away.
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Old 10-10-2021, 06:54 AM   #124
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Originally Posted by Firezone View Post
I was making 90,000 . My husband had a pension plan and was he was making 70,000 . I had 401k and we made several moves to downsize and pay off debt .

I’m scared to death , could we do this ?

But we still made the best decision in April of 2021.
We retired early and we have health care for three years . When it ends we will be 62 . We will have to pay for it . That’s factored in our plan .

Do you need a million dollars? It depends on how you want to live in retirement .

I can tell you we don’t have a million dollars .
But we have no debt . Zero . Okay ,I have a small Mtg of 78,000 . I need a write off .
But no car payments or student loans or crushing cc debt . Do I live in a big house ? No

I live in a two and one bungalow with a large yard by a bay . We get to travel a little , although covid put a wrench in some of our plans

It’s all about how you want to live out your days .
I had a health scare a year before retirement .
It made me understand that priorities in my life had to shift or I was going to die.

You either make more money or spend less
Either way you have to make the best decision for you , your family and your health .

I sat on the beach yesterday in October ,writing on the beach ,pursuing my dreams of writing .
Good luck !
Congrats! Looks like you have your priorities straight.
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Old 10-10-2021, 10:22 AM   #125
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The number is all relevant. My past accountant would mention how some of his very high earning clients didn't have a pot to piss in, they lived so high above their means and didn't save much. While on the other hand, some of his clients who make $60K, have great retirement savings.

As someone had posted on this site or another one, "It's not how much you make, it's how much you keep!"
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Old 10-11-2021, 04:40 AM   #126
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Didn’t start working until 32 after finishing grad school. Played around before then (except for grad school) and didn’t have much to show for it.
Started working in R&D for a big company and averaged $106 for the five years there 2007-2012. Next big MC product development job I’ve averaged $133 for the last nine years. I was just promoted (staying in the same role) and my salary is now 2x my starting salary 14 years ago.
Since DW retirement to stay home with kids nine years ago we have been putting away 50% of my salary. We want to spend more than 50% of my salary, so not quite done yet.

Rental property incomes have us at FI now at our desired spend level, but no security blanket so I will work a couple of years still.
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Old 10-11-2021, 04:59 AM   #127
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I never was 'pursuing' FIRE until three months before when I was first told of my involuntary departure. I was just saving and investing for the previous 35 years because "that's what you do".
same here
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Old 10-11-2021, 06:26 AM   #128
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IMO two things stand out on this thread:

The large number of people who RE'd making under $100K (congrats!) and the number of people who have no idea how much they were making pre-ER.

To get granular on the OP's question, I never was 'pursuing' FIRE until three months before when I was first told of my involuntary departure. I was just saving and investing for the previous 35 years because "that's what you do".
+1
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Old 10-11-2021, 06:49 AM   #129
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We have always saved and invested, but had different reasons for doing so at different times in our lives. In the early days of our marriage, we saved and invested because that just seemed a smart thing to do. Then, we both decided to return to school, so we saved for that. Finally, in our 30's, we started to save and invest for retirement.
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Old 10-11-2021, 05:59 PM   #130
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I tell DW that I was very lucky.

DW tells me that I was not....it was just a lot of hard work, travel, long hours, and some relo.

The reality is that I was fortunate...I never noticed any of that. I was too busy enjoying my job, the challenges, my colleagues, the industry, and our customers/clients.

Perhaps it was good luck. It paid the bills and then some. And then they paid to take an early retirement. It was all good.
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Old 10-12-2021, 03:46 PM   #131
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My income ranged from$18K to $430K. Average income isn't very pertinent unless you adjust it for inflation.
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Old 10-12-2021, 04:12 PM   #132
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I'm still working on the "Retire Early" part. I averaged around $50K per year for the last decade. DW averaged around $15K.
Hoping to be done in a little over 3 years when I'm 54.
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Old 10-12-2021, 04:58 PM   #133
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same here
Yup. I learned of FIRE maybe 5 years before I retired. All it really did was give me a lot of tools to verify that I was on track. I WISH I HAD heard of it sooner, but didn’t. Many mistakes could have been avoided. I wasn’t as concerned about it because I always assumed I would work to age 65 for my full pension and make sure I had enough saved. The last 5 years saw my portfolio and salary rise faster than I ever thought, and I realized that by 61, my pension was already higher than I had planned and if I stayed 4 more years I wasn’t really going to live any better as I had settled in to my lifestyle. Really just more money to be left to heirs. 39 years of greater than max FICA salary, the last salaried year was highest & something over $200k. More than half of those years over $100k. First engineering job was $21,500/yr. Take home now in retirement is way more than any years net pay, after subtracting FICA, Medicare, Taxes, Insurances, and Savings. We could easily live on just pensions and SS. We will be working it to keep below the first IRMMA level, and that is plenty for me. I won’t know until I am 72 if RMDs will drive us over. Hopefully IRMMA Levels keep rising so it won’t be an annoyance.
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Old 10-12-2021, 05:55 PM   #134
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20 years in the military I made $1,837,928 in today's dollars (average $91,896 / year).

13 years at megacorp I made $8,156,177 in today's dollars (average $627,398).

I had a lot of fun doing both. Retired this past Mar @ 55. Life is good.
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Old 10-12-2021, 06:20 PM   #135
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Started off making about 40k, average over 21 year career was maybe 475-500k, last 5 years Ave about 900k. RE last year.
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Old 10-12-2021, 06:27 PM   #136
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In reflection, I really wasn't pursuing FIRE, but it happened anyway.
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Old 10-15-2021, 02:26 PM   #137
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My average yearly indexed earnings for the 30 years I was saving for FIRE was $110,000. I was fortunate to sort of fall into a computer science degree in the late 80's, and that together with a previously unhelpful graduate degree in the liberal arts set me up for a career in technology management.


The other helpful thing was having a dad who taught and modeled LBYM.
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Old 10-15-2021, 03:59 PM   #138
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Including annual bonuses I topped out at about $150K
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Old 10-15-2021, 04:04 PM   #139
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Some very high income earners. To average over 100K a year is great! If I would have averaged over 100K a year for 35 years I could have retired really early. Lucky I inherited the frugal genes.
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Old 10-16-2021, 04:39 PM   #140
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If I would have averaged over 100K a year for 35 years I could have retired really early.
How can you retire really early if you work 35 years? 😄
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