So after a couple of years of absorbing the wisdom from many of you on this site, I have adjusted my old way of thinking in many ways in an effort to hit my long term RE objectives. That being said, I find myself (in a good way) at a new crossroad I would be interested to get some advice on. First, a few pieces of background which may help...
- 53 yr old, self-employed single earner, SAHW, 4 kids (all out of college in 2 yrs, 2 married).
- My business is and has been very lucrative/enjoyable/flexible and my plans would be to keep doing it while it is essentially that way, however, my crystal ball says it may turn the opposite in 2 yrs or so.
- Good news is my strategy to potentially launch into RE would tie into last kid graduating and my business no longer being "fun".
- Ratcheted down my previous aggressive allocation from 80/20 to 60/40 about 18 months ago. Models all seem to say I am/will be good to hit my projected income goals in 2 yrs, maybe sooner.
- Plan is to pay off house and have 0 debt by RE and have the 2 remaining girl's wedding $ in the bank. That being said, I have somewhat lofty RE income "wants", so will have plenty of room to cut back expenses if things go south.
So based on the above, here are the questions...
- I will essentially hit my "number" if my portfolio grows another 10% total over the next 2 yrs, excluding any contributions. If my business stays strong over the next 1 - 2 yrs I may be able to contribute 5% - 8% pure cash to the pot basically minimizing much needed portfolio return. My fear is our market may be in extra innings which has me thinking about my strategy and should I play more defense over the next 2 years. Would you just stay the course and follow your AA allocation (in my case 60/40) from now into/thru my RE years? If your this close to having "won the game", would you ratchet down the AA (i.e. 40/60, 50/50) and then maybe move back up to 60/40 once I launce?
I know there are different thoughts here. It's just interesting that now that I can finally see the finish line, I don't want to trip before I get there! Thoughts?
- 53 yr old, self-employed single earner, SAHW, 4 kids (all out of college in 2 yrs, 2 married).
- My business is and has been very lucrative/enjoyable/flexible and my plans would be to keep doing it while it is essentially that way, however, my crystal ball says it may turn the opposite in 2 yrs or so.
- Good news is my strategy to potentially launch into RE would tie into last kid graduating and my business no longer being "fun".
- Ratcheted down my previous aggressive allocation from 80/20 to 60/40 about 18 months ago. Models all seem to say I am/will be good to hit my projected income goals in 2 yrs, maybe sooner.
- Plan is to pay off house and have 0 debt by RE and have the 2 remaining girl's wedding $ in the bank. That being said, I have somewhat lofty RE income "wants", so will have plenty of room to cut back expenses if things go south.
So based on the above, here are the questions...
- I will essentially hit my "number" if my portfolio grows another 10% total over the next 2 yrs, excluding any contributions. If my business stays strong over the next 1 - 2 yrs I may be able to contribute 5% - 8% pure cash to the pot basically minimizing much needed portfolio return. My fear is our market may be in extra innings which has me thinking about my strategy and should I play more defense over the next 2 years. Would you just stay the course and follow your AA allocation (in my case 60/40) from now into/thru my RE years? If your this close to having "won the game", would you ratchet down the AA (i.e. 40/60, 50/50) and then maybe move back up to 60/40 once I launce?
I know there are different thoughts here. It's just interesting that now that I can finally see the finish line, I don't want to trip before I get there! Thoughts?