NW-Bound
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- Jul 3, 2008
- Messages
- 35,712
So, we have W2R who retired in the terrible year of 2009, and Lsbcal in an also trough year of 2003, and the market shot up from there. REWahoo did not do as well, but he still retired in a middle of a bull market.
I hope not to sound too pessimistic, but we like to hear from someone who retired at the top of the market, such as 2000 or 2007.
That brings to mind an immediate question. Are we at a market top right now? I guess we will not know until another 5 years have passed.
If the market does not do well, I myself may have an interesting story to tell. You see, I retired in 2012, not a bad year. However, I turned into a spendthrift, and my expenses scale up with the rising portfolio, instead of with inflation as FIRECalc assumes. If the latter, my WR would be lower in terms of percentage of present portfolio.
Because I am drawing constant WR of the current portfolio, I am in the same boat as someone who retires right now. If I do not scale back, I may be in trouble. Or I may have to draw SS before 70.
I hope not to sound too pessimistic, but we like to hear from someone who retired at the top of the market, such as 2000 or 2007.
That brings to mind an immediate question. Are we at a market top right now? I guess we will not know until another 5 years have passed.
If the market does not do well, I myself may have an interesting story to tell. You see, I retired in 2012, not a bad year. However, I turned into a spendthrift, and my expenses scale up with the rising portfolio, instead of with inflation as FIRECalc assumes. If the latter, my WR would be lower in terms of percentage of present portfolio.
Because I am drawing constant WR of the current portfolio, I am in the same boat as someone who retires right now. If I do not scale back, I may be in trouble. Or I may have to draw SS before 70.