We hope to make the Class of 2016, when we will be 54 and 55. We are hopeful we will be FI by then, but want to do alot of travel up front, so we may stay on our gerbil wheels at megacorps for a year (or two?) extra to save up some play money to use for travel, and then RE. Time and the markets will tell.
We think we will need to pull about $50k after taxes from the portfolio (funny how many people have similar numbers), but this may be above the 3% withdrawal rate some of you are planning. How comfortable would you be to pull 5% from the portfolio starting at 54 & 55 until SS kicks in for us both at 62, and then reduce the portfolio withdrawal by the SS amount? We should each get about $20k/year from SS at 62 based on current projections.
This is such a fabulous forum full of great stories and great wisdom, and I am truly inspired by you all. I have been reading here and drawing inspiration for several years.