The closest thing I had to a magic number was the value of the company stock I planned to cash out to set up my ER. While the other pieces of my ER plan were falling into place back in 2007-08. the company stock's value was zooming up even while the markets in general were falling. It actually hit my magic number in July, following its then-quarterly evaluations. But not all the rest of my ER plan had fallen into place quite yet, so it wasn't until the 3rd quarter evaluation came out in late September was I able to announce my ER. That third quarter evaluation was a little lower than the second quarter one, so I did cash it out just lower than its peak, around my magic number.