JoeWras
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2012
- Messages
- 11,702
Hi All. Been lurking on and off for a few years ever since I typed in a search on "retirement health insurance" and found this board. I think the good stock market this last year has gotten me thinking about FIRE more and more.
So, my DW and I are both 49. We're in good shape. We have about 2.5M saved, with an allocation of 45% equities, and the rest split between bonds and cash. Actually, I didn't realize how conservative it was until I looked up the numbers last night for this posting. Might be making some changes now that I'm paying more attention, although at this high stock market, not sure if I want to rebalance right this moment.
We have no pensions. The above is our pension. About 800k is in IRA/401k, the rest taxable. If we FIRE before 55, then we can let the 401k/IRA ride until 59.5.
How did we get here? LBOM. DW and I are one and alike. We met 3 years after college, but in those 3 years, we lived alike -- like college students even though we had great jobs. So, at 28 or 29, we had a great start, even though we drove junkers, had hand-down furniture, and watched TV on a 12" B/W set. We both brought that to the union. Once we saved enough, then everything but the house was bought with cash. Cars, furniture, everything. I can't impress on the youngsters reading this board how much you get ahead if you do this. We didn't even find it to be a problem, it was just like college, except now we were saving 60% of our take home pay. Less as we finally bought a few things.
Second good move was paying off that death-measure (mort-gage). During the internet bubble, I got a bit lucky with a decent bonus of about 50k. I just dumped it into the mortgage. 2 years later, that sucker was gone. I did this despite pleading from professionals to do the "right" thing and "invest" it while taking my tax break. I guess it would have padded their pockets too with commissions. Had friends who did such (invested back into tech) and nearly lost it all. Look, there is no feeling better than having that roof over your head, free and clear. I still remember the people at the county office stamping that note and actually clapping for me with a hearty "congratulations." Very nice of them to be of the same mind.
Anyway, DW and are both targeting 55. But with a conservative spending estimate of 100k per year, we could probably FIRE now. We've never spent 80k in a year, and 20k of that was charity. (BTW, another good discipline, giving money away.)
Health insurance is a concern. I have 4 months until I can buy into my BigCo plan at their cost - about 7k per year single. DW doesn't have that, but I could put her on for another 7k. However, at 55 she gets a sweet bene with really low cost HI, but who knows what happens with HI by then?
I think 55 is still our plan, but if either of us are offered an ER, we're gone. Or maybe the boss just has had enough or visa versa. Basically, work is fun knowing you can just walk if you had to. Also, we've vowed to take all our vacation and smell the roses. No more falling on swords for The Man. And those vacations? Simple. We love to walk in the National Parks. Nothing better.
I plan to stick around here. I like the ideas people have. It is good to see similar thoughts. Seems like everyone around me at w*rk is still fighting The Man for more cash because they have just bought a second home at the lake, mountain or ocean. Nothing against second homes, but man, they really crimp ER. My second home at the ocean is called Hampton Inn, and I'm fine with that.
So, my DW and I are both 49. We're in good shape. We have about 2.5M saved, with an allocation of 45% equities, and the rest split between bonds and cash. Actually, I didn't realize how conservative it was until I looked up the numbers last night for this posting. Might be making some changes now that I'm paying more attention, although at this high stock market, not sure if I want to rebalance right this moment.
We have no pensions. The above is our pension. About 800k is in IRA/401k, the rest taxable. If we FIRE before 55, then we can let the 401k/IRA ride until 59.5.
How did we get here? LBOM. DW and I are one and alike. We met 3 years after college, but in those 3 years, we lived alike -- like college students even though we had great jobs. So, at 28 or 29, we had a great start, even though we drove junkers, had hand-down furniture, and watched TV on a 12" B/W set. We both brought that to the union. Once we saved enough, then everything but the house was bought with cash. Cars, furniture, everything. I can't impress on the youngsters reading this board how much you get ahead if you do this. We didn't even find it to be a problem, it was just like college, except now we were saving 60% of our take home pay. Less as we finally bought a few things.
Second good move was paying off that death-measure (mort-gage). During the internet bubble, I got a bit lucky with a decent bonus of about 50k. I just dumped it into the mortgage. 2 years later, that sucker was gone. I did this despite pleading from professionals to do the "right" thing and "invest" it while taking my tax break. I guess it would have padded their pockets too with commissions. Had friends who did such (invested back into tech) and nearly lost it all. Look, there is no feeling better than having that roof over your head, free and clear. I still remember the people at the county office stamping that note and actually clapping for me with a hearty "congratulations." Very nice of them to be of the same mind.
Anyway, DW and are both targeting 55. But with a conservative spending estimate of 100k per year, we could probably FIRE now. We've never spent 80k in a year, and 20k of that was charity. (BTW, another good discipline, giving money away.)
Health insurance is a concern. I have 4 months until I can buy into my BigCo plan at their cost - about 7k per year single. DW doesn't have that, but I could put her on for another 7k. However, at 55 she gets a sweet bene with really low cost HI, but who knows what happens with HI by then?
I think 55 is still our plan, but if either of us are offered an ER, we're gone. Or maybe the boss just has had enough or visa versa. Basically, work is fun knowing you can just walk if you had to. Also, we've vowed to take all our vacation and smell the roses. No more falling on swords for The Man. And those vacations? Simple. We love to walk in the National Parks. Nothing better.
I plan to stick around here. I like the ideas people have. It is good to see similar thoughts. Seems like everyone around me at w*rk is still fighting The Man for more cash because they have just bought a second home at the lake, mountain or ocean. Nothing against second homes, but man, they really crimp ER. My second home at the ocean is called Hampton Inn, and I'm fine with that.