50 and getting a push to FIRE?

[Terhathum123]

How liquid are your alternative investments and how much are you allocating for bad debt losses on those assets? How much, if any income do those investments throw off or is the ultimate return on those assets based on potential capital gains?

I am surprised at the bitcoin holding given your apparent environmental concerns and the high energy consumption involved with bitcoins from what I have read. On the surface, it appears that you only have $1.6 million or so in liquid assets and you expect to spend nearly one third of that on near term big ticket items.

Yes, agreed re: bitcoin. I haven't purchased any in quite a long time. The coins I have I've held for a very long time. Not buying more at the moment.

Also agree with you regarding the amount of liquid assets - I'm planning to spend quite a bit in the next few years and that makes me nervous.

Thanks!

 

[viking111]

I've been a long-time member here and have learned from, and taken action on, some of the advice I've gleaned from the many posts I've read here and other sites.

I'm working in corporate America in an industry that has become morally repugnant to me. IMO, much of our economy is based on morally questionable activities (extraction - oil, gas, mining - corporate farming, insurance, prison industrial complex, plastics, general consumer marketing, importing cheap products using cheap 3rd world labor . . . pick your poison).

I'm expecting to be laid off or moved to another division of the company I'm working for within 6 months. This company move towards lay off, or a different division, may be the push I need to finally quit the corporate world. I'm Posting here as I've been the 3rd party beneficiary of some great advice from this Early-Retirement.org crowd.

I'm 50 and my DW is 54. We have one kid starting college in 2023 and another in 2026. We live in Wisconsin.

I'd like to "retire" in 2023.

Assets:
Taxable stock market based - $1,450,000.00
Alternatives (private real estate lps, crowd funded real estate, debt funds) - $1,600,000.00
Crypto - $130,000.00
Cash - $175,000.00
Personal Investment Real Estate - $600,000.00
Personal Home - $650,000.00


Debts:
$80,000.00 mortgage for personal Investment Real Estate
$220,000.00 mortgage personal home

Net worth is roughly $4,300,000.00.

My wife and I are both driving old beater cars. I am expecting to have roughly $120,000.00 in cost to get new cars for us sometime in the next year. I've driven my current 2006 F150 truck for 260,000 miles, my wife's station wagon is a 2003 model with 300,000 miles on it. I expect the next vehicles we buy will last us another 20 years i.e. the way we treat our vehicles we may never need to buy another.

My other big known expense is college tuition. I expect to have expenses of around $400,000.00 over the next 8 years paying for their college/university degrees.

Total known big expenses of roughly $500,000.00 over the next few years.

Our budget for daily life (including health insurance) is roughly $90,000.00 per year.

So, my costs over the next decade are roughly $1,400,000.00 to live, buy vehicles and put two kids through college.

Current annual Revenue:
DW small parttime business - $25,000.00
Personal Investment Real Estate - $25,000.00
My corporate job - $100,000.00

FIRE calc says I've got enough to retire, but the big expenses (cars and college) have me spooked.

I've read the experiences from some similar profiles who seem to have successfully "retired". I don't think I'm going to completely quit earning money, but, I'd like to feel confident that I can quit if I want to.

What am I forgetting?

Thanks much!

I retired a couple of years ago at 52. I was in about the same position but no kids. I too was nervous about the whole thing. Still am a to a point.

You mentioned cars as a concern. What kind of car are you thinking of buying?

 

[gauss]

Agreed, but, I needed some group support to actually take the plunge! Thanks!

Your numbers look very good to me.

Remember, you don't know how many good years of life you and your spouse have remaining.

If you get a significant amount of positive energy from your work, then you could consider continuing, but reading your intro suggests otherwise.

FWIW - I left the w*rkforce around age 47 or so. I took an unpaid leave of absence to care for my mother after a serious operation. The terms of the leave at the Megacorp did not include pay or insurance, but I was basically guaranteed a job upon the expiration of the leave (in my case 12 months).
Being away from the grind for 12 months gave me all the confidence that I needed that not going back was going to be the right and an easy decision. Many ER's find this out only after pulling the trigger. For me it was clear in advance fortunately.

Just a few things to think about to get the emotional part of your mind around this.

-gauss

 

[livingalmostlarge]

Good to go. i think you've punched your ticket and are ready to set sail.

 

[Anthonyin2022]

I was in a similar situation last year when I left. Still a bit scary, but I feel soooo much better mentally/physically and it sinks in more each day - see below for more detail.

Your financials look solid and you have flexibility "built in" to tighten things up, if needed. For example, buy much less expensive cars, budget less expensive schools or some college loans, PT consulting work, etc. The only advice I have there is to make sure you have a basic plan for how to handle health insurance coverage.

IMO, the biggest thing you need to figure out is your BS factor - Is work really messing you up enough to walk away from the nice pay checks? Are you impacted physically and/or mentally, or maybe you are just bored and/or disgusted with your company culture. If the latter, then maybe do some interviews when you get the layoff/transfer feedback and see if a new place would refresh you.

If you know you are ready, then you just need to do it. It is scary - especially in this environment, but there is no way to know 100% for sure. You just have to do it and let it sink in.

My similar situation:

I am 47, DW is 51. Born/raised/live in Midwest. Two kids, 13 and 15. Approx. $4.6 in invested/liquid assets, with a similar expense profile. I was in a high stress, Big Tech environment for 20+ years that payed insanely well, but was chock full of back-stabbing drama and constantly dealing with (IMO) completely fake, holier-than-thou West Coast Tech Bros. It impacted me mentally and physically, especially the last 3-4 years.

So I left in Jan. when I truly realized/accepted that I was not getting any younger and enjoying the next 10-20 years (before I started really slowing down) was WAY more important than padding the bank accounts even more.

Given the economy and a little irrational fear of some black swan event, I still think about going back to work a little and I passively listen to offers thrown my way, but unless something completely insane comes up, I will never go back. Every day I just feel so relaxed and happy. Being there for my family 100%, doing what I want to do when I want to do it, taking big and little trips when we want to, etc. It feels sooo great!

It was very difficult for me to shift from a very busy schedule with a hectic work mindset to a completely open one, so I would highly recommend you plan what your day-to-day may look like when you retire. All that free time is a great problem to have, but definitely something I am still figuring out - even with multiple hobbies. My newest project: trying to find an old Chevy S10 ZR2 or similar GMC Sonoma 4x4 in decent shape to restore with my kids.

In a nutshell - your financials are solid. You just gotta figure out when you've really had enough and go for it!

Finally, an amazing resource for me to really grasp the value of my time over making more money - especially how the value of time decreases significantly as you get older, was the book "Die With Nothing". Very quick and light read.