The 3 year countdown has begun

[scfr]

I began my 3 year countdown to full retirement last week. I'm already transitioned to part-time and work 20-25 hours per week for pay.
Even though I don't have any questions right now, I feel like reaching the 3-years-to-go-mark is enough of a milestone to warrant an introduction even though I've been a member of these forums for nearly 4 years.

Because Roth conversions are currently at the top of my mind, what I'm doing right now to prepare for retirement is watching Laurence Kotlikoff's YouTube introduction to the new Roth Conversion Optimizer feature of his Maxifi Planner software. I don't currently have a Maxifi subscription, but I think next year may be a good year to get one.

 

[MarieIG]

Good luck with your transition phase!

 

[audreyh1]

Congrats on already reducing your hours!

 

[Closet_Gamer]

Congrats! Get a count down app for your phone.

 

[RxMan]

Congrats!

 

[pacergal]

My countdown started at 1000 days on my retirement countdown app on my phone, lol.
It goes faster than you think!
Congratulations.

 

[Koolau]

Congratulations on making your decision and starting your count down.

If I were ever to purchase financial planning software, I think it would be the Kotlikoff planner. Over the years, I've been very impressed with his writing(s). YMMV

 

[scfr]

I have a countdown app going on my phone - thanks for the suggestions. It will be fun seeing the numbers shrink!

 

[Koolau]

I had a countdown "clock" on my calendar at w*rk to "Financial Independence." Practically speaking, I knew I would be FI when my pension and Retiree Health Insurance vested and I knew the exact date that would happen. I did the "clock" manually and started at (wait for it) just over 14 years!

I did it in weeks. IIRC I started around 750 weeks! Each year when our desk calendars came out, I would update my countdown (each Friday clicked off another week.)

Why would I do something so "bizarre?" Good question. At that time, I was doing something that had been my favorite assignment so far. The powers that be decided that they no longer needed me there but needed me elsewhere.

The new assignment was just about as uninteresting as it was mindless yet outside my area of expertise. Imagine that you had been trained in university to design cars and your boss decided to have you design living-room furniture instead. My "transfer of assignment" didn't even make that much sense.

Long story short(er): After about 300 weeks or so, I finagled the perfect assignment - one that I created for myself. Then I "hood-winked" the powers that be into placing me in that assignment.

So, I stopped my week by week countdown.

FF several years past my FI date, the powers that be wanted to pull another strange assignment change on me. I left a week later. Heh, heh, no countdown needed. I had long since passed my FI date.

Just one more FIRE story out of millions here on the FIRE forum.

 

[scfr]

Thanks for sharing your experience @Koolau - what a great story!

 

[AudiDudi]

Congratulations on making your decision and starting your count down.

If I were ever to purchase financial planning software, I think it would be the Kotlikoff planner. Over the years, I've been very impressed with his writing(s). YMMV

I started reading his column long ago and credit him with my choice to have DW file at 62, ( we're both born before Jan 1, 1954) and me to take spousal at 66 and save my SS filing til 70. I also have his book, "Get What's Yours".