46 YO looking to retire within the year

[StuckinCT]

Hi and welcome to the forum. We have similar circumstances financially, but I have three kids and live in an expensive house in the Northeast that I can't sell! I envy your ability to be content on such a modest income relative to your net worth. Curious about where you live and if you plan to stay there.


I am 44, have three kids but have $1.1mm set aside for them which hopefully should be enough for college etc. The no kids factor certainly helps from a planning perspective in your situation and there is no doubt you can retire- I have run the numbers many times on many calculators. The sustainable yield for people our age is as high as 3.3% I believe, but you have to be comfortable with equity volatility. Much of our stuff is in Dow 30 stocks, ETFs with an 85% equity weighting. People always warn me about equity volatility but if the Dow fails to come back, we have bigger problems and many areas of fixed income are a guaranteed loss in real terms for the next decade. Anyhow, good luck and if I were you it would be an easy decision based on your net worth, cost of living and kid factor- if I could unload my house and buy a $900k house somewhere I would also call it quits, life is too short.

 

[Racer X]

Hi and welcome to the forum. We have similar circumstances financially, but I have three kids and live in an expensive house in the Northeast that I can't sell! I envy your ability to be content on such a modest income relative to your net worth. Curious about where you live and if you plan to stay there.


I am 44, have three kids but have $1.1mm set aside for them which hopefully should be enough for college etc. The no kids factor certainly helps from a planning perspective in your situation and there is no doubt you can retire- I have run the numbers many times on many calculators. The sustainable yield for people our age is as high as 3.3% I believe, but you have to be comfortable with equity volatility. Much of our stuff is in Dow 30 stocks, ETFs with an 85% equity weighting. People always warn me about equity volatility but if the Dow fails to come back, we have bigger problems and many areas of fixed income are a guaranteed loss in real terms for the next decade. Anyhow, good luck and if I were you it would be an easy decision based on your net worth, cost of living and kid factor- if I could unload my house and buy a $900k house somewhere I would also call it quits, life is too short.

Having in-laws in Connecticut, I understand your frustration. Not a cheap place to live, by any means. I am in Michigan with no immediate plans to relocate anytime soon, but I'd never say never, either.

I gave my notice about an hour ago. I thought I'd be nervous or panicky. I think this is the best I've felt in 6 months. Now I just need to see if the Powers That Be want me to transition things out in an orderly fashion over the next two weeks, or if security is going to come by and rough me up on the way out. I think I'm good either way.

 

[jabbahop]

Nice!


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[ChiSaver]

Very excited for you!! Congratulations!

 

[Travelwanted]

Congrats, Racer X...good for you!

 

[StuckinCT]

Having in-laws in Connecticut, I understand your frustration. Not a cheap place to live, by any means. I am in Michigan with no immediate plans to relocate anytime soon, but I'd never say never, either.

I gave my notice about an hour ago. I thought I'd be nervous or panicky. I think this is the best I've felt in 6 months. Now I just need to see if the Powers That Be want me to transition things out in an orderly fashion over the next two weeks, or if security is going to come by and rough me up on the way out. I think I'm good either way.

That's got to be a good feeling, you can tell Lumbergh to take those TPS reports and shove it!

 

[Racer X]

Thanks everyone. I survived notice + day 1. No regrets, no worries.

I did learn something interesting today, though. As I was planning FIRE, I always kind of chuckled at the "epic FU" stories, or SMH at the people who made up outlandish stories to contain their true actions of early retirement.

I was wrong.

I've been with my company for 12 years. I know literally hundreds of people here. Some I consider personal friends. We've been through the trenches together. These people need a story. Just telling these folks "Hey, I'm tired of this place, I've got some money, I'm outta here" wouldn't fly. Not only would it feel like a bit of a professional betrayal to them, but I think it would also invalidate some of their own life and career decisions - and apparently I cannot do that to these people. So I might have exaggerated some small truths into a cohesive story that allows people to process my departure. "How can you leave us?" becomes "Oh that's so cool, I am so happy for you." I didn't intend to do this. I intended to be proud of my accomplishments and look people straight in the eye when I'd tell them "I'm not going anywhere - I'm retiring." But I didn't consider the other person's reaction to that as an explanation. An exaggeration here, a wishful hope there, tied together in a nice easy digestible story, makes the medicine go down well for all involved.

Hey - look at me - day 1 and already I'm rethinking my world outlook.

 

[Racer X]

I did it! I sent a nice goodbye note to a few co-workers, turned in my laptop, turned in my badge, and that was it! I'm pretty happy. Monday morning will be strange - first time in 25 years that I won't have to get up and go to work.

 

[Sojourner]

Congrats, Racer! I know exactly what you mean about Monday morning, and it did indeed feel very strange. All day long on my first day not in the office, when I knew everyone else was there plugging away in their cubicles just like always, I kept having these thoughts of "Shouldn't I be somewhere right now?" It nagged at me all day and in the days following for a while, but now -- a few years later -- everything feels perfectly natural. It's a process, so just take it as it comes and try not to overthink it or get too stressed.