Class of 2027

[COcheesehead]

Hi everyone! I just wanted to check in with those of you that might also be considering retirement around the year 2027. My phone countdown app is now saying just over 4 years (actually 4 years and 28 days) which means this time next month that counter wil actually be under 4 years.

I’m still trying to recover losses from the last 18 months but I feel I’m still on track for a target date around 2027 for retirement. Things could definitely push that date out a little but I’d like to start creating a more concrete plan that targets this time of year in 2027 for retirement. I just turned 49 last month so that would mean a retirement at the age of 53 if I can make 2027 work.

My main goal has been to build my retirement accounts. I’m also taking advantage of the Roth 401k I now have access to at work to divert more of my 401k savings into verses putting it all into the traditional 401k side of the account.

I’m concerned about the growth prospects of my retirement accounts in the next two years. We’ll see how it all works out but I plan to just keep saving and hope for the best. At this point in my journey the markets will drive my account more than my savings rate.

I can’t yet say with 100% certainty that I will be retiring in 4 years but the likelihood is very good. If things get pushed out a year or two that’s OK. It still means I don’t have a terribly long wait until I reach the finish line which is exciting and a little terrifying at the same time. I hope everyone else is still on track to meet whatever goals you’ve set. Good luck everyone!

At that retirement age, make sure you have enough in taxable accounts to bridge to having penalty free access to your other funds.

 

[Lazyfabs]

I am looking at or around this timeframe as well. Of all the different modeling programs/apps/etc, which one are you all using, like better, and think shows the 'best/worst' scenarios to pull the trigger?

 

[RxMan]

At that retirement age, make sure you have enough in taxable accounts to bridge to having penalty free access to your other funds.

Yes, thank you for the reminder. This is one of the big considerations I will review as we develop our retirement plan. I think we’re covered but I want to run some numbers to make sure we’re good to go until the retirement funds become available.

 

[Youngblood]

I can’t yet say with 100% certainty that I will be retiring in 4 years but the likelihood is very good. If things get pushed out a year or two that’s OK. It still means I don’t have a terribly long wait until I reach the finish line which is exciting and a little terrifying at the same time. I hope everyone else is still on track to meet whatever goals you’ve set. Good luck everyone!

As of right now, I'm on schedule to retire at the very end of 2027. A lot can happen from now until then, but I'm chugging along.

Like you mentioned above, I need to get my taxable account back in shape. I used those assets to help fund the brewery I invested in. So far, the Brewery is still doing well and growing. However, I would like to have a few years of living expenses in my taxable account set aside before I retire. If the brewery can start paying me dividends by the time I want to retire, then that is just frosting on the cake.

 

[Omalley]

I was a originally a member of the Class of 2022, but Megacorp golden handcuffs has me now planning on 2027. Like Rxman, I am planning on 4/30/2027 so a little under 4 years to go. Cash flowing college for two daughters, so it is easy to spend extra cash these days..

 

[RxMan]

I wanted to check in to see if anyone still has the timetable to retire in 2027. I hadn’t posted here in three years.

My wife and I met with a financial advisor at the end of last week. This was a preliminary meeting and he was analyzing our finances to assess the feasibility of retiring within the next few years.

He said a statement to us early in this meeting that was music to my ears:

“If you told me you wanted to quit work tomorrow, I wouldn’t argue with you.” I joked that I was going to tune things out for the rest of the meeting.

We’ve done well thanks to continued savings and a good market. One main factor impacting our plan is the desire to buy a house in the near future around the time of retirement.

Our plan worked based on his analysis and assumptions with or without a home purchase factored into the plan, but the results looked much better without the big purchase of a home.

For multiple reasons, my wife may want to work for about 3-5 more years. She’s much younger than I am and she has financial incentives to stay employed a few more years. She’s also pretty happy with her job and isn’t overly eager to leave work as soon as possible.

My situation is slightly different. I’m 52 years old and while I don’t hate my job, I don’t like the restrictions on my time a full time job entails. I’m also recognizing that my healthy years will start to diminish relatively soon.

We have over a third of our investable assets in taxable accounts. This helps with the reality of paying for retirement until you have access to your retirement accounts penalty free if you retire early.

I still like the idea of retiring early in 2027. That retirement countdown on my phone now reads a little more than 11 months.

Knowing that if I lost my job tomorrow I would be fine never working again is a relief. Staying the course a little longer makes our retirement plan a little more comfortable even with a house purchase right around retirement.

At this point, every paycheck I receive after that financial meeting is just gravy. My only concern now is the risk of simply checking out mentally from work responsibilities simply because I know that work is now options.

I hope everyone who was considering retirement in 2027 is still on track for that timetable. As it stands now, I may very well leave work on the exact date I entered into a countdown app on my phone years ago.

 

[Youngblood]

Congrats, RxMan! It must be a great feeling to be in coast mode. I feel the same about my job. I don't hate it, but I'm not challenged by it anymore. Everyday feels like grounds hog day, lol. I was discussing with my friends that I just want to retire so I don't have to plan around work all the time.

I had to push my date to the end of 2028. I made a risky investment into a Brewery that did not work out. I knew it was a risk and was comfortable with it. If it failed, I knew it would only push me out 1 year. With that said, the plan is to pull the plug sometime in the last quarter of 2028. I'm 88% of the way to my high target and 98% to my low target. I'm very close to coast mode

 

[hmrambling]

My eligibility date is 1/2/27. I don't think I'm returning after 12/23, though. I'll keep a part-time job so I'll still be able to contribute to my Roth IRA.

 

[OK EE]

I have been targeting 55 as a nice age to retire, which coincides with 2027. It's been the plan since 2018 at least, which coincides nicely with the thread starter in 2019. As it so happens, I've been keeping track of assets since 2019. We've been targeting needing to replace 90K worth of pre-retirement expenses and of course health care costs, taxes, and extra travel for a 150K/yr budget. At a very conservative 3.5% WR that's roughly 4.25M. Due to market performance we've gone past that, but we also want to build a second home somewhere where the weather doesn't try to kill you in the winter so that is OK.

Since this is an anonymous forum, I'll share my numbers for anyone that's interested. These are DW and I combined #s.

2019:
401K: 881K Brokerage: 60K Pension: 85K Roth: 18K HSA: 28K Total: 1.07M

Today (wife's 401K split to an IRA when megacorp got sold):
401K: 1.63M IRA: 1.18M Brokerage: 907K Pension: 632K Roth: 227K HSA: 150K Total: 4.7M

Safe to say we've made it. I will put in my retirement letter shortly after new years in 2027. DW will probably work a little longer while I supervise the home build out of state. We're excited about the next chapter.

 

[Surewhitey]

Been around here for 15 years now and DW is finally getting into the idea. Here's the skinny on us & looking at 2027 all of a sudden.

I stepped out of the office and started my custom cabinetry biz as a coast career. That was 2019...DW went back to big-insurance 2018. We were at 1.25 M total NW then.


Fast forward to now, we're at
55 & 61
$550k home, no mortgage
$1.2 M after tax brokerage / CDs (~$50k income is coming from this currently)
$1.6 M pre-tax
$100k HSA

Spending is at an all time high of $78k, all in. Basics are ~$50k. No debt with 2012&18 Toyotas.

DW wants to wait for March bonuses and then jump in. We'll likely be well past the 3M liquid at that point. First year we'll bite the bullet on Cobra unless we can stay under the cliff (not likely). After year 1, ACA is our plan as we have plenty of after tax funds to balance MAGI.

Roth conversions really kick in when we get to 65 & Medicare. Probably starting smaller ones until then.

Travel is our thing and we already do 3-4 week trips a couple of times annually. This is the plan going forward & possibly longer.

Home is well maintained and small with little maintenance. Maybe a car purchase is in the near future & thinking of going to 1 car as we did last the last time we took 4 years hiatus and worked fine.

 

[RxMan]

Congrats, RxMan! It must be a great feeling to be in coast mode. I feel the same about my job. I don't hate it, but I'm not challenged by it anymore. Everyday feels like grounds hog day, lol. I was discussing with my friends that I just want to retire so I don't have to plan around work all the time.

I had to push my date to the end of 2028. I made a risky investment into a Brewery that did not work out. I knew it was a risk and was comfortable with it. If it failed, I knew it would only push me out 1 year. With that said, the plan is to pull the plug sometime in the last quarter of 2028. I'm 88% of the way to my high target and 98% to my low target. I'm very close to coast mode

Congratulations on being 98% towards your target. Sorry to hear about the brewery but if it’s only going to delay your plans for one year that’s not too bad.

 

[RxMan]

I have been targeting 55 as a nice age to retire, which coincides with 2027. It's been the plan since 2018 at least, which coincides nicely with the thread starter in 2019. As it so happens, I've been keeping track of assets since 2019. We've been targeting needing to replace 90K worth of pre-retirement expenses and of course health care costs, taxes, and extra travel for a 150K/yr budget. At a very conservative 3.5% WR that's roughly 4.25M. Due to market performance we've gone past that, but we also want to build a second home somewhere where the weather doesn't try to kill you in the winter so that is OK.

Since this is an anonymous forum, I'll share my numbers for anyone that's interested. These are DW and I combined #s.

2019:
401K: 881K Brokerage: 60K Pension: 85K Roth: 18K HSA: 28K Total: 1.07M

Today (wife's 401K split to an IRA when megacorp got sold):
401K: 1.63M IRA: 1.18M Brokerage: 907K Pension: 632K Roth: 227K HSA: 150K Total: 4.7M

Safe to say we've made it. I will put in my retirement letter shortly after new years in 2027. DW will probably work a little longer while I supervise the home build out of state. We're excited about the next chapter.

Congratulations! That’s quite a lot of growth in 7 years. I’m wondering if 2027 is my year as well. I’m trying to schedule the next meeting with the financial advisor. I’ll ask about how things look retiring in early 2027 (maybe March or April).

 

[RxMan]

Been around here for 15 years now and DW is finally getting into the idea. Here's the skinny on us & looking at 2027 all of a sudden.

I stepped out of the office and started my custom cabinetry biz as a coast career. That was 2019...DW went back to big-insurance 2018. We were at 1.25 M total NW then.


Fast forward to now, we're at
55 & 61
$550k home, no mortgage
$1.2 M after tax brokerage / CDs (~$50k income is coming from this currently)
$1.6 M pre-tax
$100k HSA

Spending is at an all time high of $78k, all in. Basics are ~$50k. No debt with 2012&18 Toyotas.

DW wants to wait for March bonuses and then jump in. We'll likely be well past the 3M liquid at that point. First year we'll bite the bullet on Cobra unless we can stay under the cliff (not likely). After year 1, ACA is our plan as we have plenty of after tax funds to balance MAGI.

Roth conversions really kick in when we get to 65 & Medicare. Probably starting smaller ones until then.

Travel is our thing and we already do 3-4 week trips a couple of times annually. This is the plan going forward & possibly longer.

Home is well maintained and small with little maintenance. Maybe a car purchase is in the near future & thinking of going to 1 car as we did last the last time we took 4 years hiatus and worked fine.

Congratulations! It sounds like everything is working out well for you.

 

[RxMan]

My eligibility date is 1/2/27. I don't think I'm returning after 12/23, though. I'll keep a part-time job so I'll still be able to contribute to my Roth IRA.

Congratulations! You don’t have much longer. Any big plans for 2027?

I’m wondering if I should schedule a trip right after my retirement date once I figure that out. It’s something to make the transition to the next phase of my life real. Maybe a cruise, who knows.

 

[hmrambling]

Congratulations! You don’t have much longer. Any big plans for 2027?

I’m wondering if I should schedule a trip right after my retirement date once I figure that out. It’s something to make the transition to the next phase of my life real. Maybe a cruise, who knows.

I have a cruise planned for next May. I don't have anything planned right after retirement. My wife works three hours away and rents a place near a lake. I'll probably spend some time on a pier fishing and spend more weekends up there, ultimately decreasing her travel times.

 

[RxMan]

Second meeting with our new financial advisor went well. We’re on our own timetable to retire.

I may work until later this year or the spring of 2027. I don’t see myself wanting to do more than one year. My wife might work a little longer but it’s highly unlikely that she will work beyond two more years.

The only caveat would be if I lose my job for any reason. If that happens I will not be looking for another job.

 

[Diogenes]

Once again I am deeply impressed with how much progress folks have been able to achieve over the past 5-10 years. What was a relatively unimpressive ratio of portfolio-size to annual income, some 5 or 7 years ago, is now an impressive number indeed... a combination, one supposes, of aggressive earnings and shrewd investments.

But one supposes that there is selection bias. We hear the success stories. We hear less from... others. People who were doing relatively well 5-10 years ago, but who haven't improved their position markedly, are presumably silent; or revising their retirement-date to a more distant future.

 

[Surewhitey]

Once again I am deeply impressed with how much progress folks have been able to achieve over the past 5-10 years. What was a relatively unimpressive ratio of portfolio-size to annual income, some 5 or 7 years ago, is now an impressive number indeed... a combination, one supposes, of aggressive earnings and shrewd investments.

But one supposes that there is selection bias. We hear the success stories. We hear less from... others. People who were doing relatively well 5-10 years ago, but who haven't improved their position markedly, are presumably silent; or revising their retirement-date to a more distant future.

Our $1M in the S&P from 2015-now should be $3.9M. We did poorly, not selection bias. Not to mention how much additional we contributed... We should be way better than just "good enough".

 

[OK EE]

The only caveat would be if I lose my job for any reason. If that happens I will not be looking for another job.

I got to that point a couple years ago. Now with roughly 10 months to go, I definitely wouldn't.

Once again I am deeply impressed with how much progress folks have been able to achieve over the past 5-10 years. What was a relatively unimpressive ratio of portfolio-size to annual income, some 5 or 7 years ago, is now an impressive number indeed... a combination, one supposes, of aggressive earnings and shrewd investments.

But one supposes that there is selection bias. We hear the success stories. We hear less from... others. People who were doing relatively well 5-10 years ago, but who haven't improved their position markedly, are presumably silent; or revising their retirement-date to a more distant future.

It amazes me how many people still don't have even a basic understanding of saving for retirement. There is no excuse for it. Back when I started my professional career in 1995 there was really no internet (email and usenet groups were a thing, but not much else). It was difficult to find information. Short of going to the library and browsing investing magazines, you were on your own. Today you can type in "retirement savings" into YouTube and you get dozens of channels that will explain the nuts and bolts of where to put your next savings dollar. If all you do is dump money into your 401K and put it in a target date fund you can do better than 90% of the people out there, and the performance is going to be most of what a finely tuned plan can do.

I casually make it known at work that I've researched and have a really good understanding of investing for retirement and only one person has reached out for help. We got him squared away (he was mostly in a good place already, I just explained that you can take your HSA and invest most of it in the market to capture gains). I'm at an engineering firm, people make good money there, and I constantly hear how they're living paycheck to paycheck. Shiny new $75K pickup in the parking lot tho.

 

[Youngblood]

It amazes me how many people still don't have even a basic understanding of saving for retirement. There is no excuse for it. Back when I started my professional career in 1995 there was really no internet (email and usenet groups were a thing, but not much else). It was difficult to find information. Short of going to the library and browsing investing magazines, you were on your own. Today you can type in "retirement savings" into YouTube and you get dozens of channels that will explain the nuts and bolts of where to put your next savings dollar. If all you do is dump money into your 401K and put it in a target date fund you can do better than 90% of the people out there, and the performance is going to be most of what a finely tuned plan can do.

I casually make it known at work that I've researched and have a really good understanding of investing for retirement and only one person has reached out for help. We got him squared away (he was mostly in a good place already, I just explained that you can take your HSA and invest most of it in the market to capture gains). I'm at an engineering firm, people make good money there, and I constantly hear how they're living paycheck to paycheck. Shiny new $75K pickup in the parking lot tho.

Some folks at work know I plan on retiring in the near future (to be fair, I usually tell them around 5 years, when it's really closer to 2 years). A younger member in his 30's reached out to me for some pointers with his portfolio and roll over from another company. I kept it simple for him and just recommend he research the bogle head 3 fund strategy through Vanguard (My work retirement is funded through Vanguard). I didn't want to tell him how to invest his money but at least offer him path to follow if he wanted to.

 

[hmrambling]

It amazes me how many people still don't have even a basic understanding of saving for retirement. There is no excuse for it. Back when I started my professional career in 1995 there was really no internet (email and usenet groups were a thing, but not much else). It was difficult to find information. Short of going to the library and browsing investing magazines, you were on your own.

In 1997, I worked a 12 hour night shift at a prison as security. Outside of the times that we patrolled the halls and conducted headcount, my time was mine to read or whatever. I sought out More Wealth Without Risk and Charles Givens would point me to American Century Investments. Over the years, the information became dated and I had to seek out more updated and relevant information. Baffling how much I had to want it to get it but it's readily available for others and they either don't look or don't apply it.

With my final months winding down, my wife is glum when I discuss retirement. Reality is setting in about how much time remains before she's eligible for retirement (without it being reduced) and how she hasn't saved. Here's irony: I held a monthly financial planning workshop every month in 2025, in which I detailed a process diagram based on Bogle, in which she attended a couple. Additionally, I've been completely transparent about my intent to retire early since I met her.