brandywine
Dryer sheet wannabe
- Joined
- Jul 20, 2007
- Messages
- 11
Hi, everyone, I just discovered this forum yesterday and have really been enjoying reading through the threads. Sounds like all of us are pretty much on the same wavelength!
I'm 53, been living happily on my own for 10 years (one grown child), and now dreaming about taking the plunge towards FIRE, but making absolutely sure first that I have all my bases well covered, because to me there's no point in RE if I'm going to worry all the time (or even part of the time) about money. I'm pretty frugal, have no debts (even mortgage is paid off), and expect to need less than $30K/year initially for a very nice (if simple) lifestyle (kayaking, biking, hiking, gardening, reading). But my home-grown calculations always assume another $5K of unexpected annual expense, because you never know. I've got $1.1M so far, and FIRECalc says GO, and my own spreadsheets (extensive--I'm an Excel junkie) say GO, but I'm still hesitating about leaving all those salary $$$ (and future Social Security $$$) on the table (I've only had 10 years of decent income, so another 5+ would make a substantial difference). It's true the calculations show I don't need them, but it would be nice to have the extra $$$ to (for instance) help my daughter buy a house in a few years or create a college fund for my grandchildren. Plus of course I'd sleep even better with more than enough (as opposed to just enough) in the bank. So at the moment I've decided to hold off on RE until I hit $1.6M.
Meanwhile, I've bet a large percentage of my nest egg on a single small-cap stock (long story which I won't go into), and either $1.6M will happen next year, or I could end up more or less starting over and working until I'm 67. Stupid? Oh, yes. And if/when I get my money out, it's going straight into Vanguard index funds.
I'm 53, been living happily on my own for 10 years (one grown child), and now dreaming about taking the plunge towards FIRE, but making absolutely sure first that I have all my bases well covered, because to me there's no point in RE if I'm going to worry all the time (or even part of the time) about money. I'm pretty frugal, have no debts (even mortgage is paid off), and expect to need less than $30K/year initially for a very nice (if simple) lifestyle (kayaking, biking, hiking, gardening, reading). But my home-grown calculations always assume another $5K of unexpected annual expense, because you never know. I've got $1.1M so far, and FIRECalc says GO, and my own spreadsheets (extensive--I'm an Excel junkie) say GO, but I'm still hesitating about leaving all those salary $$$ (and future Social Security $$$) on the table (I've only had 10 years of decent income, so another 5+ would make a substantial difference). It's true the calculations show I don't need them, but it would be nice to have the extra $$$ to (for instance) help my daughter buy a house in a few years or create a college fund for my grandchildren. Plus of course I'd sleep even better with more than enough (as opposed to just enough) in the bank. So at the moment I've decided to hold off on RE until I hit $1.6M.
Meanwhile, I've bet a large percentage of my nest egg on a single small-cap stock (long story which I won't go into), and either $1.6M will happen next year, or I could end up more or less starting over and working until I'm 67. Stupid? Oh, yes. And if/when I get my money out, it's going straight into Vanguard index funds.