Funny how I found this forum

Found this place from the IRV2 forum ( same owners) my retirement plan was sell everything buy an RV and travel and work camp during summer months in the area we chose to explore to break even on expenses.
lurked here for many years before joining, surfed here during lunch at work making my plans.

we are 2 years in, plan is on track, NW has gone up rethinking the working during summer, but my cheapass likes the break even part, being a cheapass is how I got to ER.
 
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:)
 
Hello! I retired at 53 about 14 months ago. Shortly after I found this forum after similar “can I really be retiring early” anxiety searches. I still can’t believe all the people my age doing this. It’s been very comforting— and not just from the finance side but lifestyle side.
 
Welcome! I retired at 56 and never looked back. That was 19 years ago. You'll get a lot of great advice here!
 
Hi everyone. Just saying hi and to mention how I found the forum.

So, I have started to seriously think about retirement for about 2 years (been prepping with EXCEL for 25 years) and now I am looking at 5 months until the target date. At 56 and a handful of months I am double-guessing if that is too young to retire. However, these days I find myself thinking more about time rather than $ balances. In my quest to ease my mind I just searched the internet for 'is retiring at 57 a bad idea' and voila, here I am. :greetings10:

I am looking forward to read your posts and browse past posts in an attempt to find information that may serve me well. See you all online....

Welcome! I first found both this forum and bogleheads when I found myself between jobs for about 10 months in 2013/14 and was seriously wondering if that was going to be the end of working for me. (it wasn't). So glad I did, though. I've learned a ton, but among the things I learned is that personal finance is just that - personal. There are an infinite number of things that are going to work for you - the trick is to find something that suits you and not necessarily strangers on the internet. And it's perfectly natural for your views to evolve over time as you learn more and take time to process what you've learned.

Work finally did end in June 2023 and we're enjoying the fruits of what we've learned.

Cheers and welcome!
 
We started our countdown Jan 1st, 150 days. Both the wife and I are expecting to retire the same day! She is definitely ready. I, on the other hand, am not. I am the one that does the budgeting and financial planning and I am always second guessing all options and calculations.
 
We started our countdown Jan 1st, 150 days. Both the wife and I are expecting to retire the same day! She is definitely ready. I, on the other hand, am not. I am the one that does the budgeting and financial planning and I am always second guessing all options and calculations.
I haven't followed close enough, but have you run FIRECalc yet? It's a very good tool to help you decide if you are financially ready to retire.

If other issues are making you hesitate, feel free to share them here. We do hear from a lot of folks who are hesitant.

I Found this site over 20 years ago. IIRC I was surfing for "early retirement" (since I was in my early 50s at the time.) I found John Greaney's site and from there, this site. I lurked until after I retired at 58. I was financially independent at 51 but stayed at Megacorp until 58 because I was having fun. The DAY it was no longer fun, I told my boss that my last day would be the next Friday. By then FIRECalc was telling me I was golden. Some 19 years later, it turns out that FIRECalc was right (and then some.)

Welcome to the Forum!
 
Welcome, great group of folks here.

I spent a few years being active on Bogleheads, great group too, then found this group, think we have a lot of cross contamination between the 2 sites:)

I keep finding myself back at this site, think it's just a better fit for me. Seems to be more people in that 1-3 mil range and willing to cut the cord and jump with a 3-4%WR. Have zero data to back that up, it just feel that way, you millage may vary, both this site and bogleheads are true treasures.
 
Welcome, great group of folks here.

I spent a few years being active on Bogleheads, great group too, then found this group, think we have a lot of cross contamination between the 2 sites:)

I keep finding myself back at this site, think it's just a better fit for me. Seems to be more people in that 1-3 mil range and willing to cut the cord and jump with a 3-4%WR. Have zero data to back that up, it just feel that way, you millage may vary, both this site and bogleheads are true treasures.

You might also want to add rationalreminder.ca as a 3rd site with cross contamination. Different vibes between the 3 of them but also a lot of overlap. Some (not me) keep their same userID across all 3 sites.
 
Welcome, great group of folks here.

I spent a few years being active on Bogleheads, great group too, then found this group, think we have a lot of cross contamination between the 2 sites:)

I keep finding myself back at this site, think it's just a better fit for me. Seems to be more people in that 1-3 mil range and willing to cut the cord and jump with a 3-4%WR. Have zero data to back that up, it just feel that way, you millage may vary, both this site and bogleheads are true treasures.
Yes, there is cross-contamination. That gave me quite a chuckle.
 
You might also want to add rationalreminder.ca as a 3rd site with cross contamination. Different vibes between the 3 of them but also a lot of overlap. Some (not me) keep their same userID across all 3 sites.
Apparently requires you to join to even view. Nope.

One of the things that attracted me to our Forum was the ability to stick my toe in the water first and check it out as a lurker.

Heh, heh, the rest is history all these years later.
 
Apparently requires you to join to even view. Nope.

One of the things that attracted me to our Forum was the ability to stick my toe in the water first and check it out as a lurker.

Heh, heh, the rest is history all these years later.
I get that. Not everybody wants yet another account lying around. On the other hand, there's no obligation to actually post anything if you join - I joined and lurked there for a couple of years until I decided it was yet another forum I was interested in and started participating. They also send out a decent digest once a week.
But to each his/her own.

Cheers.
 
I think you're well ahead of most people your age to be appreciating the value of time as much, if not more than finances!

It's true that there's a certain amount of money needed to keep the lights on food on the table, but I tend to have a more lean FIREy mindset than many (not that I'm right and they're not). Anyhow, welcome and there are some smart people here (smarter than me) who will give you some perspective to think about.
 
I get that. Not everybody wants yet another account lying around. On the other hand, there's no obligation to actually post anything if you join - I joined and lurked there for a couple of years until I decided it was yet another forum I was interested in and started participating. They also send out a decent digest once a week.
But to each his/her own.

Cheers.
What was the old joke about "not belonging to any 'club' that would have me."
 
I joined this forum for sensible financial advice. I stay for that and other reasons such as good travel advice and good home repair and upkeep advice. Oh, good advice on making sourdough bread also. :)
 
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Retired @ 57 in 2017. Portfolio up over a million since. Only regret is I did not leave 5 years sooner.
 
Retired @ 57 in 2017. Portfolio up over a million since. Only regret is I did not leave 5 years sooner.
Heh, heh, we hear that a lot here. (I'm sure I've said it myself a time or two).
 
I think 56 is great! Do IT! I am feeling too young to retire at 46 but hope to this next year!
Same age and same sentiment! I don’t know if I can make it to 50 lol. I don’t think I’ll have a choice either. Between this site (infrequent) and bogleheads.org (frequent) I have found my people! Thinking about dealing with corp BS for longer than a year or two makes my stomach hurt!
 
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