Race to 2024 - please join :)

[cyber888]

Was thinking of 2023, but I think 2023.5 is more like it when I turn 59.5 years old, and that's when my work contract ends or gets renewed. 2024 - I turn 60. I don't think I will retire beyond 60 years old. So count me in for 2024.

Networth now is $1.2 million. Hoping to get to around $1.8 million by 2024 when I turn 60. The $1.8 m NW = Hoping for $1.3 million in stock investments & cash, $500K for house, cars, & other assets (home paid off). My yearly expense is about $50K with a paid of home. Planning to take SS at 62.

 

[brokrken]

Net Worth Excluding Real Estate and Personal Property
06/20/2017 - $1,205k
10/02/2017 - $1,273k - Nice little quarter, I would say.
1/1/2018 - $1,354k - Still headed in the right direction. Let's see what 2018 has to offer.
4/1/2018 - $1,398k - Smaller increase this quarter as the market hasn't helped. Luckily my contributions more than made up for the lack of market returns.
07/02/2018 - $1,461k - Q2 was similar story to Q1. Moving in the right direction though.
10/01/2018 - $1,537k
01/01/2019 - $1,328k - Ouch, what a terrible December
04/01/2019 - $1,520k - Q1 got back much of what Q4 lost!
07/01/2019 - $1,576k - Nice quarter and a new high. Still chugging along.
10/01/2019 - $1,594k - While I'm way up from January. I'm not that far up from same period prior year. But, I'll keep piling it in and hope the market helps me along the way.
01/01/2020 - $1,729 - Excellent Q4 for 2019, which more than made up for Q4 2018. Here's hoping 2020 brings more of the same.
04/01/2020 - $1,453k - Wow, the last 3 weeks have been brutal. Down $276k from last quarter and $67k from last year!
07/01/2020 - $1,763k - Amazing that this market has been so resilient and I am grateful for it. However, I am still expecting a W recovery, at best. All the money that was lost in Q2 is gone forever, unemployment is still extremely high and our deficits are out of control. You all may have even seen in a different thread that I have recently purchased October SPY puts with the thought that once Q2 earnings are realized and valuations are proven to be out of whack, we'll have a retest.

10/01/2020 - $1,948k - Well, those SPY puts haven't worked out so well. Finally closed them out at a loss a few weeks back. Anyway, another good, yet mystifying quarter. I did a separate thread where I celebrated eclipsing $2M. That lasted for about 2 days and I still haven't gotten back. Hopefully for the year end update I'll make it. Considering where my portfolio was on March 23, this update is really remarkable.

 

[Exit 2024]

We closed Q3 at $1,912k, that is 63.7% of our FIRE target.

 

[Exit 2024]

I did a separate thread where I celebrated eclipsing $2M. That lasted for about 2 days and I still haven't gotten back. Hopefully for the year end update I'll make it. Considering where my portfolio was on March 23, this update is really remarkable.

Congratulation on crossing $2M, even if that is for 2 days - you still reached it

 

[NgineER]

43.7% - investments and cash only
83.5% of target when including cash flow from properties

Properties net 2/3's of current spend, but we'd like to spend more in retirement, kids in college...

42.3% - investments and cash only
80.5% of target when including cash flow from properties

I'd like to see the investments and cash portion go up above 50% again, but on the other hand we are doing well with the rental properties over all. Not comfortable getting back in again after the quick runup during Q2/Q3.

2nd unit in reno project rented out, for more than I thought I would get for it. Holding off on third unit reno to catch up on projects at home and wait out the economy a bit.

Refinancing one property, the monthly savings is equivalent to a door net income, Getting 3.5% on 30 year for an income property - this is a fantastic rate.

10 out of 11 tenants are paying on time, one tenant in trouble and i don't see it improving. She is an inherited tenant, 16 years in the property, but she has issues and would not pass our screening criteria. I'm working with the county to get her help, but she is not cooperating. I can't do anything about it at this point...

 

[Sniggle]

I have pretty much decided that 2024 will be it for me, 4/30/2024 to be exact. I will be 60 and a few months then, my DW 54 and a few months. Once I put that date down, the pre-preplanning really began in my brain.

Let me first lay out my key dates:
- June 30, 2023 I hit 25 years pension eligible years service (26 total) with megacorp, allowing me to collect pension at 62 (pension did freeze end of 2019, but mega was nice enough not to freeze ability to earn early retirement in it).
- August 2023 I hit 59.5, and can access my 401K
- January 31, 2024 I become eligible for Tricare, and start drawing a modest army pension.
- After bonuses in March 2024, give notice
- April 30, 2024 turn in my stuff and be done

The path to get here has been long, and not super easy as the DW does not make money (she works to take care of me, the house, and rides horses), and my salary has never eclipsed $150K. Where I am right now:

- 401K - $1,875,000
- Roth IRAs - $150,000
- HSA - $27000
- House equity - $300000
- mecacorp pension - $40,000 (access February 2026)
- Army pension $20,000 (access February 2024)
- SSN at 67 for me, and 65 for DW (access 6/31 for me)
- No debt except current mortgage.

We have 1 child (18), and he chose to go into the military, lifting for now any college burden, and most of any future burden with the GI Bill.

So DW and I have started to dream a little, and our retirement dream involves a nice house on a nice piece of land, a couple horses out back, just doing our own thing mostly, with some travel and other entertainment. We would like a modern ranch house, 2500-sq. ft.ish, on 10+ acres, where exactly we have not decided yet (VA, NC, GA, TN area). We may build to get exactly what we want, unless we find something great or at a great price. The house will be the big nut heading into retirement, as I am looking at a $900,000 price tag, with a 30-year mortgage on it (mortgage kept just below Jumbo) (I know this is an anathema to some on this site, but why not spend on a house you truly enjoy for your retirement, as long as it is doable?). I do not care about a mortgage in retirement. The tricky part is finding the right location, and then figuring out how to accomplish this (timing of selling existing house, buying land, building new house, moving).

Has anyone else done the buy land, build house, sell existing house shuffle? I would love any advice or wisdom on the process, balancing the money challenges, or the like.

We are casually looking now, and plan to do some trips to various areas over the next year, and then start to get serious early 2022.

(I think I may have put something in this thread a few years ago, but thought I would update as it is more real now)

 

[pjigar]

We bought land 5 years ago and slowly built the house from after tax savings. Selling, building and buying in one go was to much with school age kids. You OTOH can swing it if you stay in RV for a year.

 

[Camellia]

Just checked, and we've made it to 62.5% of 3.2M goal, aka a cool 2 million in investable assets!

Planning to spend a chunk of it this winter on home renovations, but until then it's a pretty round number.

 

[pjigar]

Invested capital 55% of target now. FIREcalc date back to 2024!

* Invested capital is at 65% of the target. Thanks for huge runup in equity and real estate. I may have to increase my target! Still on track for 2024.

 

[SnowBound]

* Invested capital is at 65% of the target. Thanks for huge runup in equity and real estate. I may have to increase my target! Still on track for 2024.

It has been 25 days of a crazy November. Looks like I'm 4% closer to FIRE so far this month. Probably a good time to hide...

 

[exnavynuke]

69.7% of total goal, 49.4% investments completed. This year should put me close to 60% of investments.

I wasn't very good at saving my OT money this past year thanks to taking care of some family stuff and buying a significant amount of equipment for hobbies, all of which should be expenses I'm not paying again anytime soon, so I'm hoping to do better this year with my contributions.

Currently 75% of total goal, 58.2% of investments (original projection was 58.6% by year end, so I could realistically beat that by the end of the month depending on what the market does over the next few weeks). Despite Covid killing my OT for this year (and probably the foreseeable future really), I'm still close to where I was expecting to get by the end of the year with the rest of the month still ahead of me so that's pretty good. I also spent quite a bit more on my diving hobby this year that originally planned, but I expect I'll be making a bit of money off of it by the end of next year.

 

[brokrken]

Net Worth Excluding Real Estate and Personal Property
06/20/2017 - $1,205k
10/02/2017 - $1,273k - Nice little quarter, I would say.
1/1/2018 - $1,354k - Still headed in the right direction. Let's see what 2018 has to offer.
4/1/2018 - $1,398k - Smaller increase this quarter as the market hasn't helped. Luckily my contributions more than made up for the lack of market returns.
07/02/2018 - $1,461k - Q2 was similar story to Q1. Moving in the right direction though.
10/01/2018 - $1,537k
01/01/2019 - $1,328k - Ouch, what a terrible December
04/01/2019 - $1,520k - Q1 got back much of what Q4 lost!
07/01/2019 - $1,576k - Nice quarter and a new high. Still chugging along.
10/01/2019 - $1,594k - While I'm way up from January. I'm not that far up from same period prior year. But, I'll keep piling it in and hope the market helps me along the way.
01/01/2020 - $1,729 - Excellent Q4 for 2019, which more than made up for Q4 2018. Here's hoping 2020 brings more of the same.
04/01/2020 - $1,453k - Wow, the last 3 weeks have been brutal. Down $276k from last quarter and $67k from last year!
07/01/2020 - $1,763k - Amazing that this market has been so resilient and I am grateful for it. However, I am still expecting a W recovery, at best. All the money that was lost in Q2 is gone forever, unemployment is still extremely high and our deficits are out of control. You all may have even seen in a different thread that I have recently purchased October SPY puts with the thought that once Q2 earnings are realized and valuations are proven to be out of whack, we'll have a retest.
10/01/2020 - $1,948k - Well, those SPY puts haven't worked out so well. Finally closed them out at a loss a few weeks back. Anyway, another good, yet mystifying quarter. I did a separate thread where I celebrated eclipsing $2M. That lasted for about 2 days and I still haven't gotten back. Hopefully for the year end update I'll make it. Considering where my portfolio was on March 23, this update is really remarkable.

01/01/2021 - $2,194k - What an absolute mess of a year. While very thankful for how my portfolio performed, it is completely illogical. While the rest of the world was burning down, stocks marched higher. I'm fearful that 2021 takes it all back. That being said, I hope I am once again wrong, as doing so seems to be very profitable... And, I wish you all a very Happy New Year and Cheers to (fingers crossed) life getting back to normal

 

[Love This Community]

01/01/2021 - $2,193k - What an absolute mess of a year. While very thankful for how my portfolio performed, it is completely illogical. While the rest of the world was burning down, stocks marched higher. I'm fearful that 2021 takes it all back. That being said, I hope I am once again wrong, as doing so seems to be very profitable... And, I wish you all a very Happy New Year and Cheers to (fingers crossed) life getting back to normal

Nice update brokerken. Great to see the upward trajectory. Here’s to hoping you’re wrong about 2021. Happy new year!

 

[Exit 2024]

brokrken, thanks for update , you really had blockbuster year, congratulations

About projections for 2021, great if you are wrong but I am personally counting on big downturn in 2021-22, it will be hard to see portfolio to go down but will give us all opportunity to invest at much lower prices before 2024 FIRE. Honestly my biggest concern is that if we will not have cyclical recession before 2024 and then it will hit right after we call it quit. I would really prefer to retire while markets not at all time highs an just started to recover from the bottoms, but if 2021 will bring big gains again - I will take them for sure

 

[Exit 2024]

About our own update, we also crossed $2M mark on out NW in Q4 and now at 67.6% of out FIRE target. Not complaining at all Currently all new money are going into bonds as I am trying to hold at 65/35 stock/bonds AA. Hope that also will help with possible downturns as all those bonds will be moved to stocks at lower prices.

 

[NgineER]

43.7% - investments and cash only
83.5% of target when including cash flow from properties

47.9% investments and cash only
92.0% of target when including cash flow from properties

Hit $1.4M invested assets, $2.2M net worth including real estate.

29% Rental Equity
30% traditional IRA+401k
32% Roth
7% Home Equity
2% ESPP

Don’t have much in traditional brokerage accounts, need to boost that position before retirement. Although half of my planned spend comes from rental property cash flow, so it might not be as big of a deal.
We are almost at $1M invested in vanguard, that will be a nice milestone to pass when we get there.

 

[pjigar]

47.9% investments and cash only
92.0% of target when including cash flow from properties

Hit $1.4M invested assets, $2.2M net worth including real estate.

29% Rental Equity
30% traditional IRA+401k
32% Roth
7% Home Equity
2% ESPP

Don’t have much in traditional brokerage accounts, need to boost that position before retirement. Although half of my planned spend comes from rental property cash flow, so it might not be as big of a deal.
We are almost at $1M invested in vanguard, that will be a nice milestone to pass when we get there.

I have no brokerage either. Cashflow from rental. I am not worried at all. My plan is to create multiple passive cashflows. So far I have some from single family and some from multi-family partnerships. I want to add couple of more in different domains before I am done. That way I can weather bad times better. E.g. I just started building commercial RE cashflow with couple of small shares in partnerships before COVID hit and those cashflows are down the drain right now!

 

[Yoheadden]

I am officially joining the class and I must admit it, it feels a little scary saying it out loud. So much to do between now and then. It looks like so many of you have been doing very well. You have to love compounding

 

[christinarobert]

The plan is for 2060 where I have successfully become a VP or CEO of a company or at least built my own company. Plan to purchase a beautiful house with a pool and garden without having to pay for mortgages every month. Finally the final idea is to travel the world and try to complete my bucket list

 

[Dtail]

The plan is for 2060 where I have successfully become a VP or CEO of a company or at least built my own company. Plan to purchase a beautiful house with a pool and garden without having to pay for mortgages every month. Finally the final idea is to travel the world and try to complete my bucket list

2060? would put you at what age currently?

 

[Errollyn]

Hopping on the 2024 train.


Married with no kids.
46 yrs old.
NW at the start of 2021 was $1.36 mil.
Zero debt, including my home.
House contributes $230,000 to NW, with the rest being investments or savings.

It's possible, but not guaranteed, I can start drawing a pension in 2023 or 2024. If so, I'm definitely retiring early (48-49 yrs old at that point). If the pension isn't available, I'll have to do some serious thinking about whether I'd want to quit anyway, or try to stick it out to see if the pension offer comes later.

In 2020, I tracked every cent we spent to gauge what we might need in retirement, assuming we do the 4% rule. I know there are tons of variables that shift this number up and down, but based on my 2020 spend rate I'd need about $1.8 mil in investable assets. So we're not there yet, but we're heavy savers so hopefully we can reach that number plus a sizable cushion by 2024. (Notably, this minimum requirement of $1.8 mil does NOT factor in any pension--with a small pension I could be getting, my minimum investable asset requirement would drop to about $1.4 mil.)

My wife and I both would like to continue working into our 50s in some capacity. For me, any job would have to be a labor of love and on my own terms, and would therefore likely be part-time and low-paying. But even a little income through those years should reduce the draw on our investments and free up that money for later in life.

My biggest wildcards right now are...
- If/when my employer will offer me an early retirement pension.
- Whether we end up moving. I currently live in Missouri. I moved here for work, but I don't like it. Moving could impact my finances if we end up buying a house that's worth more than the one we're in now.
- (EDIT to add) Health care costs. With an early retirement offer, I get a good health plan through my employer. If I have to buy health coverage on the market, those costs shoot up significantly.

 

[Yoheadden]

Welcome to the club Errollyn
For your age, sounds like you guys are doing everything right.
A pension would be a game changer. Hope it comes your way.
Healthcare is definitely an issue for ERs.
Lots to consider with a move. Yes the move can add up. What size house where to move?
It doesn’t sound like you hate your job. Would you be forced out with the pension or is it just there if you decide to take it?

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

Welcome, Errollyn! It sounds like you have a good grip on where you are and where you want to be, that's a great start!
I suggest posting in the "Hi, I am" forum, too, when you get a chance, to introduce yourself to the rest of the board, not just us hoping to be in the class of 2024!

If you're planning for your retirement funds to last you 40 or more years instead of the typical 20, you should aim for either a 3-3.5% withdrawal rate (WR), or make sure you have a lot of fat in your budget that you can cut if there is a recession/depression. However, if your pension pans out you're probably fine, guaranteed income is a wonderful safety net! But I'd plan as if you won't have it for now, until you know that you do. That way you're fine either way.

 

[Yoheadden]

The DW and I are both currently 50, with no debt, house is paid off, no kids and just under 1.3M in investable assets.
Here are some things that have been going through my mind as I plan our departure from the involuntary working world and I’m curious how some of you are taking these things into consideration.
1. Health Care- it seems that unless u are covered by your previous employer, the ACA, is the way to go. I’m a Vet, so I’m thinking of just using the VA for myself which would save us considerable. We know a couple that retired where the husband was old enough for Medicare, but the younger wife had catastrophe insurance.
2. SS- Right now considering letting both build until we are 70 or taking 1 early and letting the other wait. Either the lower one or the DWs, since she would more than likely outlive me. When checking your SS benefits, make sure you check the one for ER, otherwise it assumes u will work until full retirement age.
3. Roth Conversions- it would be good to start partials now if we do. Have to see how it affects Medicare payments & SS. Plus, consider future tax rates.
4. AA- we are pretty aggressive at 85/15. Probably should lower the stocks a little, but a 40-50 year timeframe worries me. I’ve read in posts here that a 60/40 portfolio is around the sweet spot.
5. WR- 4% is the rule of thumb, but 3% would be better. Really comes down to budget, what you really need to live on, + adding in savings for big picture items like car replacement, roof, windows, etc. it’s really easy to make the figures to your favor, but you aren’t doing yourself any favors in doing so.
6. Relocating - Hmm, where to go. I know you really should spend considerable time wherever you are thinking of going, but you have to add that into the budget as well.
7. RMDs- Do I need to lower these to save on taxes and if so, what’s the best choice. How do these fit into your future income plan ?
8. Income Plan- up until retirement, your paycheck was the income plan. Now, When, how much and from which sources income will need to come from to cover fixed expenses and discretionary spending. Time to look at the big picture.

Sorry if I rambled a bit. These are some things going through my head and plan to work on. I am curious to hear others thoughts on the above and anything else I probably missed.

 

[Errollyn]

Welcome to the club Errollyn
For your age, sounds like you guys are doing everything right.
A pension would be a game changer. Hope it comes your way.
Healthcare is definitely an issue for ERs.
Lots to consider with a move. Yes the move can add up. What size house where to move?
It doesn’t sound like you hate your job. Would you be forced out with the pension or is it just there if you decide to take it?

Thanks for the welcome. With regard to house size and location...without being too much off a bore, we did build our "perfect" house here in in Missouri a few years ago (and paid for it as we built it, so we have no mortgage). It's a little log cabin in the country on an acreage. Probably a dumb move building this house, but I didn't realize at the time that I might not want to stay in this area. As we get older, what's starting to appeal to me is a little colonial house in a New England town with easy walkability to the market, parks, etc. I'm hoping to make a road trip this year to explore that area, but that's kinda dependent on whether I'm vaccinated (got my first shot yesterday!).

I don't hate my job at all. I've been doing it for 28 years now, and at its core I love it. But I do hate my commute, and I do dislike that my job ties me to this area, and I am growing tired of spending most of my waking hours in a cubicle. And the early retirement pension wouldn't be forced on me--they offer it occasionally to get old, expensive employees off the payroll to free up money for hiring young, cheap employees.