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Nice reading this thread and regular progress updates!

You are golden brotha or sista. Enjoy Jammin’ those Lemons!

Brilliant, curious to understand how you’ve been managing expenses. Have you been using dividends? Selling bonds/stock? Just trying to get an idea. Well done!

I like your thought process Wilie! I fear for my life retiring first, so I think this is the only way :) We both want to enjoy travel, so the dream is we’re both in a position to retire in 2029 (if DW hasn’t already!)

Salute, HI Bill. First, I hope that you regain your health so travel is possible again (if not already healthy). My father got sick at 58 and passed away at the ironic (to me) age of 59.5 :facepalm: I’ve learned to put family and leisure first, before work. But work still gets in the way. I’ve...

A glide would be ideal. The corp industry I’m in doesn’t entertain any slowing down (at least not officially). So it’s pedal to the metal and than a screeching halt I believe.

Great points. Ideally we could take longer breaks and go back to work when we feel like it. Corporate life generally does not align with that thinking! So, even though I feel like I need a long break right now. Work and school prohibits this. We’ve been good to do what we can though. Upcoming...

Brilliant, I feel exactly the same way! Honestly, I feel some what shackled to our town. A great town, but been in the same place for 20+ years. Definitely a yearning to explore much more with hopefully time, money and health.

55 sounds a long time away. I’ll be 46 this year. I consider myself home bound right now with two school age kids. I feel like it will be like summer break/true freedom once both kids are out of grade school. I’d rather have 100% of my time, bumming around at home, traveling etc. It’s truly a...

We’ve thought hard about this. Given family in the area we will not sell soon. We like our area in general. Longer term, if the kids are not in the area/not using the house and neither are we, we could sell. Very unlikely though imo. It’s going to be our home base.

Thanks for the validation NginER. You and everyone here is awesome!

I really like the Die with Zero book. I’m a fan of the concept. Love the quote you mention above too. The book reaffirmed my ER goals. My father getting sick and passing away before age 60 just rubber stamps the why. I know I don’t have to sell that much on this forum ;) I will play seriously...

Yep, I do need to double check. But I’m pretty sure I’m being conservative with my estimates given we’ll be working for another 5 years.

Great, thanks FedRetired50! I just signed up to receive the latest guide.

Thanks. I think this is only valid if I’m still at the company the year I turn 55. I doubt I want to carry on working for that long. My wife will be closer, being older. So that could be an option, or something to wait for on her side.

Thank you! I will look at both of those calculators. Is there one that tops your list? I am both lazy and cheap, but willing to spend some $ on a tool like this. SS: good question. I’ve worked 23 years at or close to max SS earnings. Wife similar at 20 years. My basic (underestimate) assumption...

Thanks for laying this out! So in year 2029, would it look something like this? 1. Assume no earned income. 2. Do a Roth conversion from TIra, as your table states. Pay taxes as needed from my taxable account. Hopefully minimal given no earned income. 3. Utilize contributions from MBDR to fund...

Thanks NgineER (like the name ;)) Appreciate the validation to continue as-is. I don’t have catch up contributions as we’re both under 50. I need to look into Roth conversion ladder. Any pointers to the best source to learn this? Cheers!

Thanks BigDawg. I don’t have a HSA. My rough account numbers are here. I’m curious what you would do/change with my future investment picture. Close to $2.5M in 401k and Roth IRA’s. Roth IRA: $300k, Roth 401k (using MBDR): $400k, regular 401k: $1.8M. Taxable brokerage account: $850k. Current...

Thanks brydanger! Seems you are living the kind of retirement life I aspire to! I look at how pricey Bay Area is and cringe most days (even with close to zero debt). $10 coffee. $12 craft beer. Groceries, gas and not to mention knock on effects to restaurants! Yes, as an example, staying in...

Thanks for asking :) DW and I have this topic largely worked out. Neither of us is type A/want to work/super passionate about our jobs etc. First phase of early retirement will be long stay travel once kids are no longer at home full time. Think 4-6 weeks in Italy, same in Spain and Thailand...

Ok, thanks. This topic makes my brain hurt. Current MFJ tax bracket : fed: 35% CA: 9.3% Retirement tax bracket in ER: ?? 0% ?? My taxable dividends and interest etc will def be under $50k given smallish taxable account. I guess this is the time to do Roth conversions. Retirement tax bracket in...

Thank you pacergal! I will discuss with my partner as you mention and check out the faq here. One of my conundrum questions is should I ratchet down the retirement account savings? For example skip backdoor roth this year? With the goal of bumping up taxable account savings for ER between...

Ha. Tuition at public UC and/or state college schools is reasonable. Getting into competitive schools seems hard, so we’re seeing folks choose non CA schools too. Moreover, living costs in CA for college kids can be very high. Ymmv.

Thanks for these tips!