My plan was always that our lifestyle would have to be the same or better after we retired (at least as far as finances can make it so). I did not want to have to curtail our spending in any way just to retire. In fact, we anticipated several luxury trips every year above and beyond our usual summering in Maine and going to Italy every year (this year we only made it to Maine due to COVID). That's why I always ran FIRECalc with double spending, just so we could. To my mind, there was little point to retiring if we could not really enjoy all the freed up time. It helped, of course, that I enjoyed my work and had the option to stay as long as I wanted.
I'd have to work another 8 years to do that, so that won't work for me. I adjusted the base budget so we could be at 99%. We'll see how that goes. Somehow we will have to survive by only spending $4800 a year on clothes vs. $6,000. If that's all it takes to get me out of the rat race, I'm willing to have my wife make that sacrifice.
You'll probably be just fine. My young wife's spending on clothing so far in 2020 has been $363.88. Mine has been $36.75. We are finding that we simply have no need for new or additional clothes.
Clothes? Unless I pick up some new underwear before the year end, my clothing spending will be $0 this year.
Hmmm... Maybe I should look to see if I have some holey socks that need replacement too.
So is she on board with going from that to $2400 or $6000 (the two numbers you put in plans posted here), if need be? I assume the difference is the $33K pure fluff.I hear ya. We (and by we, I mean my wife) spent $10,100 on clothes in 2019 and $13,420 in 2018. YGTBSM!
So is she on board with going from that to $2400 or $6000 (the two numbers you put in plans posted here), if need be? I assume the difference is the $33K pure fluff.
She is because we have the fluff money. I like this approach because then she has to decide if spending $6k of our fluff money is worth it to buy clothes vs. maybe going on an extra vacation or buying a nicer car.
This is obviously a FIRECALC result - there are other calculators. Find one that gives you the answer you want or tweak the parameters until you get the answer you want.
I am with Old Shooter on this point: 90% vs 95% vs 85% are all about the same if you ask me in terms of what your particular future will look like.
This is obviously a FIRECALC result - there are other calculators. Find one that gives you the answer you want or tweak the parameters until you get the answer you want.
I am with Old Shooter on this point: 90% vs 95% vs 85% are all about the same if you ask me in terms of what your particular future will look like.
Yes, because the next RIF offer (if there is one) will likely be less or nothing at all.
I hear ya. We (and by we, I mean my wife) spent $10,100 on clothes in 2019 and $13,420 in 2018. YGTBSM!
I’m sure you probably covered this earlier but is she still working? I needed a pretty nice work wardrobe and spent about that every year on clothes. I cut it to 6k for retirement and so far this year that’s a big over estimation based on what I need.