What's Your Number?

[Koolau]

My number?

867-5309.

Jenny! Is that you?

 

[Dtail]

My number?

867-5309.

Love that song..

 

[Koolau]

Love that song..

Tommy Heath of Tommy Tutone who was the lead singer on "Jenny" later became a computer analyst. I wonder if he FIRE'd. He's my age, so... I hope so.

 

[Dtail]

Tommy Heath of Tommy Tutone who was the lead singer on "Jenny" later became a computer analyst. I wonder if he FIRE'd. He's my age, so... I hope so.

Saw them in college. He was quite tall.

 

[Patience]

$2 mil lean fire, $5 mil fat fire

 

[pjigar]

How long of a retirement are you planning to fund (or what age are targeting retiring at)?

We are planning a perpetual (or inter-generational) retirement: 45 years for us and rest for special needs son.

 

[REIJM]

I retired at 58 and I'm now 77. I planned for a 30 year retirement (though my current plan at 4X goes out to 99.) I hope this is what you needed (with previous post.)

Thank you.

A planned 3% WR is definitely safe, some may say overly safe when running through various scenarios. But if you're happy with the retirement you've had thus far, it doesn't really matter, as it's better to have the funds than not.

 

[srblanco7]

$5M always felt like our number. We're now "safely" above that number and have transitioned to PT work.

 

[DrRoy]

You probably don't need $100K for travel. We travel like crazy for $50k/yr and take cruises, go to Europe, and have 4-5 trips per year including US driving ones.

 

[thefist]

My “number” was 25x expenses, not including SS. I had Enough at one point and retired a bit shy of that at 52, knowing SS would get me over the top.
Knowing your spending is key. You have 12yrs to understand that part. Define your necessities, then various discretionary levels above that.
Just from this forum alone, there is much more known about retirement planning than when I retired 6yrs ago.
With 12yrs to understand spending, healthcare, and tax efficient drawdown, you’ll be fine.

 

[Aerides]

$5.5 might sound like a lot, particularly to folks already retired, and 3+ decades older than the OP.

But as a 35-ish year old with a kids, planning for 12 years out? Eh, not a bad goal. Still probably a bit much, but posts are easy to move once they get in closer view. Just like their expenses may grow.

Our goal was 25x expenses, + a good chunk for leeway, and no factoring in SS (no pensions). Plus a paid off house.

If we didn't have a house paid for, and had two kids facing college, the number would have been a lot higher.

Fortunately, 8 years into retirement (and we retired at 47 like the OP's goal), our "Number" is well in the rearview mirror and we have about 40% more than we started with.

 

[FLSUnFIRE]

Retired at 47. My number was 33x of trailing 12 month actual expenses (accounting for accrual of lumpy stuff). FWIW, I've been in the mid 40s for most of my first 3 years of freedom -so far my portfolio has expanded faster than my spending.

 

[REIJM]

You probably don't need $100K for travel. We travel like crazy for $50k/yr and take cruises, go to Europe, and have 4-5 trips per year including US driving ones.

When we've done Europe in the past, it's always worked out to around $6-8k for us for 7-10 days.

But that's flying coach, and staying in hotels that are "fine" (personally, I view the hotel as a place to sleep at night, so as long as it's quiet and clean, I'd rather spend more money doing stuff on vacation than on a nicer hotel).

In retirement though, maybe instead of around a week long, we want to make it 2 or 3 weeks long, maybe we want to stay in nicer hotels, etc. Things like that are where I have the biggest question mark regarding spending in retirement.

Having said that, travel won't be that big of an issue in the early years of retirement since we'll still have a child in grade school, so vacation(s) will be limited to the ~2 months they have at home.

 

[REIJM]

$5M always felt like our number. We're now "safely" above that number and have transitioned to PT work.

Given that you're well above your number, what's the reason for PT work? Just something to keep you engaged mentally? Is it PT at your same job, or PT in a volunteering context?

 

[rodi]

Some thoughts about retiring with a kid under roof.

I retired at 52 (so a few years older than your plan), with 2 kids (ages 13 and 15 at the time). One of my concerns was making sure we had enough to fund their (public) education through a bachelors degree. It looks like we funded the 529's just about perfect... younger son graduates in June 25... older son had a few detours but still has more money in his 529, and graduates in June 26. We'll be within $5k of their overall college funding. (Thank you market).

I retired with less than your proposal (about 1.5M at the time - but paid off house), but had some other income sources (rental and DH's SS being the big ones). But my goal was to be 'in the kids business' when they were in middle/ high school - so this worked out well. Kids can get into a lot of trouble if you're not paying attention.

You are right about a kid under roof impacting travel plans. We were limited to summer vacations for the first several years - but managed to get a 9 week European vacation the year after I retired. Now that they're in college we don't include them and travel in our preferred shoulder seasons.

Another factor - but you have plenty of headroom in your budget... when your kid starts driving that means higher insurance and possibly an extra car.

My goal was to have the same lifestyle in retirement as while working... Yes, health insurance is a lot more, but I'm not paying payroll taxes or still contributing to my 401k...

Good luck to you!

 

[Unpaintedhuffhines]

Kids are expensive (but worth it!). Cars, insurance, sports, dance, band, football (either kind), clothes, electronics. When our kids were tiny (2-3 years old), we met with a FA. We were very young, and they did all kinds of predictions about value of accounts, growth of salary, etc. Most of them were wildly off, but one they got almost exactly was the cost of a 4-year college degree at a state school. At the time I said "there is no way in hell it's going to cost $125K to get a degree at a state school (including everything - books, tuition, room & board, ramen, travel to/from home, etc.). Thankfully we were able to give our children the gift of zero debt coming out of college.

I'd develop a budget accounting for all these things. If you buy a $50K car every five years, then budget $10K/year for a car. Add a budget for "unexpected expenses" (water heater, HVAC system, need a new roof, need to paint the house, you want to replace some furniture, want to go on a family vacation and pay for everyone). Our Unexpected Expense budget is $1000/month.

 

[kgtest]

Everytime I posted the split if my numbers into ER, folks would kindly guide me to strategize with a plan of more in Roth than what I had always had % wise. Well, at 43 we now have 80% of our invested assets into our Roth IRA, and you should too. DO the conversions now. Why wait?

Watch out for that tax torpedo.

 

[Koolau]

We retired with 2 kids in college and one as Sr. in HS. After 2 years, everyone was in college. Expensive, of course, but FAFSA showed a fair amount of help available. The other thing was they all went to the local State School and their grandparents helped out. It was all doable because we had planned for it.

 

[srblanco7]

Given that you're well above your number, what's the reason for PT work? Just something to keep you engaged mentally? Is it PT at your same job, or PT in a volunteering context?

Transitioned to RPT in May of this year (3 days/wk). With full recognition that I'm in no way indispensable, I'm allowing a reasonable runway to support my successor getting his feet under him in his new leadership role. In turn, it's allowing me to focus more time/energy on work that I enjoy. It's also giving DW and I a bit of time to practice living off our retirement budget (RPT wages being roughly equivalent to projected retirement spending budget) and filling our newly available time with other (non-work) activities.

Plan for full exit is end of 2025 though it could certainly come sooner.

 

[REIJM]

Some thoughts about retiring with a kid under roof.

I retired at 52 (so a few years older than your plan), with 2 kids (ages 13 and 15 at the time).

Thanks for all of this, it's helpful as our child will be right around that same age if we pull the trigger when we want to.

Their 529 is being funded (I put $25k in in to start it, and will do another $6k per year. It's invested 80/20 domestic/international equities.). Our house won't be paid off, but our actual mortgage payment is <$300 mo. due to refinancing it back in 2021, so I'm not concerned about that. The travel thing is what it is. The reduced spending on travel in those early years isn't necessarily a bad thing, especially when you factor in the price of a vehicle of a new driver.

I'm glad to hear that retiring with kids still in grade school wasn't too big of an issue, there aren't a lot of people in that scenario, so I appreciate you sharing your viewpoint on that.

 

[REIJM]

Everytime I posted the split if my numbers into ER, folks would kindly guide me to strategize with a plan of more in Roth than what I had always had % wise. Well, at 43 we now have 80% of our invested assets into our Roth IRA, and you should too. DO the conversions now. Why wait?

I'm waiting because right now, we're in the 24% marginal tax bracket (and that'll go up at the end of next year if the TCJA brackets expire and revert). Had I known all I know now, I would've contributed to a Roth 401k right out of college, as well as opening a Roth IRA earlier. But that's all water under the bridge.

By waiting until retirement to start our conversions, we can convert in the 10% & 12% brackets to minimize taxes, while living off our brokerage account (our funds would be about 45/45/10 between taxable brokerage, traditional 401k, Roth IRA).

 

[TheWizard]

My “number” was 25x expenses, not including SS. I had Enough at one point and retired a bit shy of that at 52, knowing SS would get me over the top.
Knowing your spending is key. You have 12yrs to understand that part. Define your necessities, then various discretionary levels above that.
Just from this forum alone, there is much more known about retirement planning than when I retired 6yrs ago.
With 12yrs to understand spending, healthcare, and tax efficient drawdown, you’ll be fine.

The " various discretionary levels" are the important part, especially if you want to do significant travel in retirement as many of us do...

 

[marinauser]

There is no such thing as too much. If you want to spend $100k on travel and can save enough to do that - that is great. I see people spend $20k a year and are happy and I know people that spend $300k a year in retirement and are equally happy and have the assets to support that life. Each individual/family has to decide what they want out of life and what they are willing to sacrifice. In my opinion, you should retire when two things happen - (1) you can afford to do what you want do and (2) you are mentally/emotionally ready to quit working.