3 Years to Go!

[Gone4Good]

After much noodling, soul searching, calculating, and reading these boards I've been able to narrow my previously indeterminate retirement date (. . . Yrs to Go) down to a more definitive "3 Yrs to Go"

Thanks to everyone here for your help.

 

[laurence]

Congrats! I'm jealous, and at home I have to deal with DW counting down to retirement in days!

 

[Sisyphus]

Congrats, 3!

That is excellent!!! It will go by before you know it.

 

[Jay_Gatsby]

Congrats!  I'm jealous, and at home I have to deal with DW counting down to retirement in days! 

Yes, but in her case, it's not really a true "retirement".

 

[brewer12345]

Yes, but in her case, it's not really a true "retirement".

Maybe, maybe not. My wife has told me more than once that she is living the life she would choose if we had won the lottery, with the exception of my absence during working hours.

Congrats, 3 Yrs. Must be nice to be in the homestretch. Have you figured out what you want to do once you have your liberty?

 

[dunc0029]

I'll add my congratulations!  It must be great to have a pretty solid "light at the end of the tunnel".  I'm looking at roughly 9 years to go, but there are tons of x-factors.  Best wishes...

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Maybe, maybe not. My wife has told me more than once that she is living the life she would choose if we had won the lottery, with the exception of my absence during working hours.

Let me guess...she'd have the absences run a little longer?

 

[brewer12345]

Let me guess...she'd have the absences run a little longer?

Since that would mean no reprieve from daily toddler wrangling duties, I can safely say that she'd rather have me around more.

 

[SteveR]

Ok, to commemorate my 1000th post, I decided to post my "final" time-frame for ER.

DW will ER September 9, 2007 at age 55 with 22 years of dedicated service.

I will ER (second time) on August 31 at age 55 with 33 years in this industry.

We plan on a big party that will last the whole weekend followed by an extended "vacation" of sleeping late, goofing off, burning old w#rk files and generally learning to entertain our selves.

Shortly thereafter, we will start taking our See America road trips and plan on sponging off visiting family members in different parts of the country. We will do a New Years Eve cruise in the Caribbean followed by more family visits outside the snow belt for extended periods until Spring. After that, we plan of starting our volunteer activities and planning our goofing off schedule around our taking it easy schedule.

Our spending plans start off high and taper off as debt is eliminated over the next 6 years. We can do it while in ER so why w@rk during this time if we don’t need to? Spending will be about 60% of current income but will drop to 40% by year 7. That is still a nice chunk of change and will allow a lot of extras that we plan on taking advantage of while we still can. As it is, we will still give our kids a nice estate tax problem to deal with.

Looking forward to counting down the days once we pass 12 months to go.

Good luck to all you guys in your journey to FI and ER

 

[HFWR]

There are some days at w*** when tomorrow seems like too long, and dumpster diving has appeal...

But, I'm above all that...

 

[captain_krunk]

Congrats Yrs to go, How'd you do it?

 

[Gone4Good]

Congrats Yrs to go, How'd you do it?

Well, its not done yet, although it looks good on paper.

I'd like to say that we did it by careful planning, scrupulous savings, and above average investment prowess . . . but that's not the truth. The reality is that most of the heavy lifting was accomplished by making some good career choices.

In retrospect, some aspects of my job that could be considered "negatives" probably helped guide me toward financial independence. For example, I don't have, nor could I ever expect, a company provided pension. But the absence of a pension has always been a primary driver behind my decision to save (or not spend). Although I never had a detailed retirement plan, I knew that if I ever wanted to retire I needed to save - a lot. Lack of job security also encouraged savings, while a compensation structure heavily weighted toward annual, lump-sum, bonuses made savings easier. I decided early on to save 100% of each year's bonus, which now account for about 80% of my total compensation.

About 2 years ago my wife quit her office job to pursue a freelance writing career. She's made very good progress and is beginning to break into travel writing. With a laptop and a cell phone she can work anywhere in the world, and spin some extra cash out of our leisure pursuits. Our intention is to do that part-time so we don't have to lean on our portfolio quite so hard - at least initially. It's also something that can be ramped up or down depending on how the market and inflation are treating us.

All things considered, 3 years seems like it strikes a reasonable balance. We've got enough padding built into the plan so it should stand up against some unforeseen events but not so much that we're working extra years just to see the pile grow.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Since that would mean no reprieve from daily toddler wrangling duties, I can safely say that she'd rather have me around more.

I'm familiar with it. In fact, the wifes 10 minutes late coming home right now. She better be bringing home food...

 

[HFWR]

Or baring gifts...

 

[Nords]

Or baring gifts... 

Hey, don't start him on that train of thought, with TH & Gabe in the world already the last thing we need to do is keep propagating those genes...

 

[HFWR]

Based on his history in that arena... 

HFWR, the other slut

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Jumbo cheeseburger WITH bacon. And that other thing too. Well worth the extra 15 minutes of babysitting.

Wifes actually pressing for a second one. AIYEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

 

[Arif]

Wifes actually pressing for a second one. AIYEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Yeah my wife was after the same thing. So, I waited until our son was acting like a REAL two year old and said to her "Gee just think about going through this with another baby!" Repeat 5-10 times and she'll be cured

 

[justin]

Jumbo cheeseburger WITH bacon. And that other thing too. Well worth the extra 15 minutes of babysitting.

Wifes actually pressing for a second one. AIYEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

A second baby, or Jumbo Cheeseburger with bacon?

 

[Nords]

Wifes actually pressing for a second one.  AIYEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Who is she pressing?  Is she planning on involving you with the project, too, or is she going to "outsource"?

I don't know if you've done the math already, but two grownups :: one kid means that you're already outnumbered and undergunned... and the ratio of more kids is at least a cube.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Oh she wouldnt outsource. Not a chance. Look at how well the gene pool mixed the first time...

He's already starting to get 'minxy' and get into stuff...looking right at us with a big smile while he does exactly what he knows he's not supposed to do.

It'll work itself out in a couple of months.

 

[Nords]

He's already starting to get 'minxy' and get into stuff...looking right at us with a big smile while he does exactly what he knows he's not supposed to do.
It'll work itself out in a couple of months.

Good luck with that. (Sheryl would note the lack of a sarcasm smiley face!)

Our 13-year-old is doing exactly the same thing with exactly the same expression.

Maybe it's like a boat-- the best days are when you bring them into the house and the day when they leave it "forever".

Jarhead, how'd that parenting problem work out for you guys? When does it get better?

 

[Jarhead*]

Jarhead, how'd that parenting problem work out for you guys?  When does it get better?

Nords: Raising teenagers? (We had two that were close in age).

Given the choice of 4 Mos. of Boot Camp, and a month of Advanced Infantry training, followed by being an uninvited "guest" of the North Koreans, or raising teenagers, I consider too close to call.

Be prepared for a lot of grunting, rolling of eyes,
and the general attitude that if you and your wife aren't the dumbest people on the planet, you are at least in the running.

My wife got the brunt of this, as she was a stay at home mom.

However, like many unpleasant periods in ones life, this too will pass.

Unfortunantly, when they are finally through this period, (and you can stand them again), they leave home. (A cruel trick ).

Worthwhile? (Absolutely, at least for my wife and I).

Good luck to you, your wife and your "teenager", just remember, this too
will pass

Jarhead

 

[Sheryl]

My wife has told me more than once that she is living the life she would choose if we had won the lottery, with the exception of my absence during working hours.

That's so sweet!

 

[Nords]

Be prepared for a lot of grunting, rolling of eyes, and the general attitude that if you and your wife aren't the dumbest people on the planet, you are at least in the running.

Boy, you can get a lot off those satellite surveillance cameras these days!

Thanks, it's beginning to look as if we'll make it. Summer 2010!