My wife and I have saved and invested with the goal of early retirement since we were married. We are now 41, with a 12 year old child. FI has finally been reached. We find ourselves in the position that our investments, at a 4% withdrawal rate, will replace our current after-savings income (As an aside, this is as much a reflection on the fact that we save 50% of our after tax income as it is a reflection on a large investment portfolio).
We are now facing the reality of RE. It was much simpler as a theoretical goal than reality. We are currently leaning toward waiting until my son enters into college (7 years). This would give us more savings and hence a larger standard of living in retirement, probably replacing 100% of or pre-retirement income. This makes both of us more comfortable. FI was actually a bigger goal the RE, and right now we are about as bullet-proof as possible. Retiring would reduce the FI aspect of things, which makes us nervous.
Alternatively, we could loosen up and spend a bit more since our retirement nest-egg is already established (perhaps dangerous as it is easy grow spending, but difficult to reduce).
What I would really like to do right now is reduce my workload to 3 days a week, but this is not possible since I am a partner in my firm and that-is-not-done. I will mention that I have a low-stress, flexible job, and like what I do, which makes it much easier to work. My wife does not want to quit unless I do so, as she has no interest in being a housewife (no offense, this is an important position; it just is not for her).
The question here, and there is one, is how did you decide when it was the right time to RE? I know that no one can answer this question for me, but for yourself, how did you make this decision? Did you make this plunge without being certain that it was the right thing? Were you certain? How can I convince myself and my wife that retiring is the right thing to do? I feel safe in assuming that I am not the only one facing this problem when the possibility of RE became the reality of RE. Please note that I am not complaining as I am very grateful to have this dilemma.
I will add that I am certain I want to retire, I have many outside interest (travel, backpacking, kayaking, reading, writing, gardening, shooting, woodworking, metal working, boat building, coding, rock climbing, etc, etc.) and they will keep me as busy as I want to be. Anyway, please forgive my rambling, and please comment on what I can do to make myself feel more secure about moving forward with RE.
BBuzzard (long-time lurker, first post)
We are now facing the reality of RE. It was much simpler as a theoretical goal than reality. We are currently leaning toward waiting until my son enters into college (7 years). This would give us more savings and hence a larger standard of living in retirement, probably replacing 100% of or pre-retirement income. This makes both of us more comfortable. FI was actually a bigger goal the RE, and right now we are about as bullet-proof as possible. Retiring would reduce the FI aspect of things, which makes us nervous.
Alternatively, we could loosen up and spend a bit more since our retirement nest-egg is already established (perhaps dangerous as it is easy grow spending, but difficult to reduce).
What I would really like to do right now is reduce my workload to 3 days a week, but this is not possible since I am a partner in my firm and that-is-not-done. I will mention that I have a low-stress, flexible job, and like what I do, which makes it much easier to work. My wife does not want to quit unless I do so, as she has no interest in being a housewife (no offense, this is an important position; it just is not for her).
The question here, and there is one, is how did you decide when it was the right time to RE? I know that no one can answer this question for me, but for yourself, how did you make this decision? Did you make this plunge without being certain that it was the right thing? Were you certain? How can I convince myself and my wife that retiring is the right thing to do? I feel safe in assuming that I am not the only one facing this problem when the possibility of RE became the reality of RE. Please note that I am not complaining as I am very grateful to have this dilemma.
I will add that I am certain I want to retire, I have many outside interest (travel, backpacking, kayaking, reading, writing, gardening, shooting, woodworking, metal working, boat building, coding, rock climbing, etc, etc.) and they will keep me as busy as I want to be. Anyway, please forgive my rambling, and please comment on what I can do to make myself feel more secure about moving forward with RE.
BBuzzard (long-time lurker, first post)