I tried replying to one of my first timer posts from 2010, but it was too old! Blast from the past...still a lurker 13 years later. I now have a low 7 figure portfolio with my now husband and a 5 year old (was on the fence for a while). Currently in OMY syndrome (working from home during covid kept me in the work force)....hard to give up generally easy high income but still tired of the corp environment and crappy raises. Need a nudge...any advice on taking the plunge? My husband will continue to work...for now. A reduced portfolio and inflation have me second guessing the timing and if it is "enough".
13 years later...need a push
- Thread starter lilly
- Start date
If the numbers work, you do it! Time or Money? It's that simple but maybe not easy.
At some point you have to trust your planning. If you don't trust your planning, keep planning/saving until you are comfortable. There is no trick and no one is going to push you (I guess you could try retiring in place and getting terminated). Not retiring because of current market shenanigans is, in a way, a version of market timing... if the market was up you'd likely worry about retiring right before a crash. It's always something.
At some point you have to trust your planning. If you don't trust your planning, keep planning/saving until you are comfortable. There is no trick and no one is going to push you (I guess you could try retiring in place and getting terminated). Not retiring because of current market shenanigans is, in a way, a version of market timing... if the market was up you'd likely worry about retiring right before a crash. It's always something.
You are absolutely correct! The market dip was actually a bit welcome since I felt it was due to come anyway. Thanks for the reminder.
One other thing that might help comfort you... is go back and read posts of people that have made the leap and see how many regretted leaving (if you can find them as they are few and far between) and how many rejoice that they took the leap... and how many regret having waited too long.
Trust your Cape!
Trust your Cape!
Its just like parachuting.... Scary but exhilarating... If you think your chute is ready.... JUMP and enjoy the view...
If ya hit the ground to fast.. get back on the plane and try again....
Surewhitey
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
I left in 2018 the office and started a small business (part time mostly) and doing what I enjoy. Still going (DW too, home office and "easy money" syndrome). We travel a lot and fill time with 2DGK's who live 1 street over.
Nothing wrong with gliding in imo. Waiting for DW's pulling her cord before the splat day...
Nothing wrong with gliding in imo. Waiting for DW's pulling her cord before the splat day...
pb4uski
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Another option that may or may not be available to you but that worked great for me was to downshift to part-time work. I downshifted to 50% for a while, then increased it to 80% for a year to serve on an important client project, then back to 50% for a while. My firm had a program where if you were 50% or more then everyting was pro-rated (salary, bonuses, vacation accruals, etc) and medical insurance was the same if you were between 100% and 50%, and not available if you were less than 50%.
If you're going to quit anyway it wouldn't hurt to have a conversation. Your employer may decide that 50% or 75% of lilly is better than 0% of lilly.
If you're going to quit anyway it wouldn't hurt to have a conversation. Your employer may decide that 50% or 75% of lilly is better than 0% of lilly.
street
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Sounds like you may be getting closer to ER since you are asking and leaning that way now. I think there is a lot of things you want to think about and I'm sure you already have.
Like some already have said, run your number know your yearly/monthly expenses get those things hashed out. Have a plan for bridging from now till SS or how you will motivate through the ups and downs in markets.
Your age and what you want to do in ER is very important on making a decision. Sonds like with a 5-year-old you won't have any trouble staying busy.
With your husband still working that is a big deal in the big picture. If things seem to work out number wise, I don't think you will ever regret living life for you not for someone else.
Midpack
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Of course those who regret retiring (too) early are FAR less likely to post, heh, I screwed up. Reading past posts is a biased sample. And this is a self selected audience, not the mainstream.
For all of us the time to pull the trigger will vary, it’s not just “the number.” Job BS? What are you retiring to? Risk tolerance? Longevity expectations? Probability of success YOU need to sleep at night? And on and on. What someone else says or does is of limited use…
The OP will know when they’re ready to make the leap, and retirement will probably be long no matter when they start.
Last edited:
Andre1969
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
If it's any consolation, I'm in a similar situation, and I'm sure plenty of others are, as well. I was getting myself mentally geared up to retire in April 2020. It would have been a 50th birthday present to myself. I had hit "my number" early in 2020, and figured if the market stayed the same between then and my birthday, I would have announced my retirement.
But, COVID had other plans. By the time my birthday had rolled around, I was off my peak about 25%. Although, that was an improvement from the bottom, 3/23/2020, when I was down about 34%.
The whole work-from-home aspect also took a lot of the aggravation out of work. The market bounced back quickly; my portfolio was back to new highs by November of 2000. But, then I started the process of getting a large garage built. The initial estimate of that was around $70-75K, so I figured I'd keep working until that was done. Well, with supply/labor shortages, and the spike in lumber prices, and other little mis-haps along the way, the garage ended up being more like $90-95K, and took a lot longer than anticipated to finish.
By the end of 2021, I was starting to seriously think about retiring again. But then I really started noticing the inflation numbers, and 2022 was "good", for maybe three days. So once again, I put off any notions of retiring.
And now, I just had a video meeting with my manager, concerning our annual raises. Mine was crap, 3%. But I guess that's still better than what a lot of people are getting. My manager said that everybody who matters is happy with me, and they don't have any plans to change anything. She knows I have retirement on the brain, so she did ask me about that. I said something like, "Well, I told you the concept of the BS Buckets, right?" She thought for a second, and then rolled her eyes, made sort of a funny facial expression, and said "Yeeeeah". And I just said that right now, they're balanced pretty well, but if the BS picks up too much, I'm outta there. And she said don't worry, we're not planning on changing ANYTHING.
So, I'm reasonably content right now with the balance between work and freedom. Eventually though, I think it's going to really sink in, that I only have so many good years left, and that might prompt me to, as Vicki Lawrence once said to Carol Burnette, "Sing or Get off the Pot!"
I'm going to be 53 in a few weeks, and notice that I'm becoming more and more aware of each passing year. Moreso than when I was in my 30s or 40s. And, in a few years, I'll be in range of when my grandparents retired. They went out at 55, 56, 57, and 60, respectively. Although the one that went out at 55, my maternal Granddad, took early retirement from the federal gov't to take care of Grandmom's Aunt Helen. She died within a year, but Granddad never went back to work, and also said he never regretted retiring early. Grandmom went out at age 56, but it was years later, as there was an 8-year age difference between the two. She also retired from the federal government, but was a workaholic, and went back to work off and on part time/on-call (although often nearly full-time hours) until age 70.
Anyway, my goal has always been to retire younger than my grandparents' age. So, maybe it really IS time for me to sing or get off the pot!
But, COVID had other plans. By the time my birthday had rolled around, I was off my peak about 25%. Although, that was an improvement from the bottom, 3/23/2020, when I was down about 34%.
The whole work-from-home aspect also took a lot of the aggravation out of work. The market bounced back quickly; my portfolio was back to new highs by November of 2000. But, then I started the process of getting a large garage built. The initial estimate of that was around $70-75K, so I figured I'd keep working until that was done. Well, with supply/labor shortages, and the spike in lumber prices, and other little mis-haps along the way, the garage ended up being more like $90-95K, and took a lot longer than anticipated to finish.
By the end of 2021, I was starting to seriously think about retiring again. But then I really started noticing the inflation numbers, and 2022 was "good", for maybe three days. So once again, I put off any notions of retiring.
And now, I just had a video meeting with my manager, concerning our annual raises. Mine was crap, 3%. But I guess that's still better than what a lot of people are getting. My manager said that everybody who matters is happy with me, and they don't have any plans to change anything. She knows I have retirement on the brain, so she did ask me about that. I said something like, "Well, I told you the concept of the BS Buckets, right?" She thought for a second, and then rolled her eyes, made sort of a funny facial expression, and said "Yeeeeah". And I just said that right now, they're balanced pretty well, but if the BS picks up too much, I'm outta there. And she said don't worry, we're not planning on changing ANYTHING.
So, I'm reasonably content right now with the balance between work and freedom. Eventually though, I think it's going to really sink in, that I only have so many good years left, and that might prompt me to, as Vicki Lawrence once said to Carol Burnette, "Sing or Get off the Pot!"
I'm going to be 53 in a few weeks, and notice that I'm becoming more and more aware of each passing year. Moreso than when I was in my 30s or 40s. And, in a few years, I'll be in range of when my grandparents retired. They went out at 55, 56, 57, and 60, respectively. Although the one that went out at 55, my maternal Granddad, took early retirement from the federal gov't to take care of Grandmom's Aunt Helen. She died within a year, but Granddad never went back to work, and also said he never regretted retiring early. Grandmom went out at age 56, but it was years later, as there was an 8-year age difference between the two. She also retired from the federal government, but was a workaholic, and went back to work off and on part time/on-call (although often nearly full-time hours) until age 70.
Anyway, my goal has always been to retire younger than my grandparents' age. So, maybe it really IS time for me to sing or get off the pot!
pacergal
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Welcome back.
Most everyone questions and second guesses about retirement readiness.
It comes down to the same questions-
What does firecalc say you can spend and does that match your expense analysis?
What are you retiring too? Although with a 5 year old, that is an easy question to answer!
Most everyone questions and second guesses about retirement readiness.
It comes down to the same questions-
What does firecalc say you can spend and does that match your expense analysis?
What are you retiring too? Although with a 5 year old, that is an easy question to answer!
Thank you all for the replies...it does help to know I am not alone in the overthinking.
Of course over the past years I have monitored our budget and progression closely. I am not a risk taker, so the unknown is hard for me but I have a lot of contingency planned in and continue to remind myself nothing has to be permanent. Of course we can not know the future so eventually I need to find that comfort to go for it.
As most of you picked up on, the kiddo will keep me busy for sure. In old posts I was concerned about the impact of a kiddo on early retirement, but it may be just the thing to actually get me to do it sooner then later. By saving early and having compounding on our side, the kid cost is not really of much impact at all.
Of course over the past years I have monitored our budget and progression closely. I am not a risk taker, so the unknown is hard for me but I have a lot of contingency planned in and continue to remind myself nothing has to be permanent. Of course we can not know the future so eventually I need to find that comfort to go for it.
As most of you picked up on, the kiddo will keep me busy for sure. In old posts I was concerned about the impact of a kiddo on early retirement, but it may be just the thing to actually get me to do it sooner then later. By saving early and having compounding on our side, the kid cost is not really of much impact at all.
I also used to be fairly active but now mostly lurk here. I joined in 2015 and your post inspired me to re-view my first post 8 years ago. I was single, renting, unmarried and had no kids. My net worth was a whopping $46k and my dream was to retire in my early 40s.
Now I am married, three kids, paid off home and two cars and we just broke $1m in net worth last week (and that's with the market being 10% off it's high). It's crazy seeing my 401k at $8k in 2015 and now it's $305k. And we've always had a combined income in the $150-180k/yr range, no super high earners here and we've had lots of expenses (daycare, traveling to visit family overseas, immigration fees for my wife, medical bills, etc.) and feel like we aren't exactly scrimping pennies either - can go out to eat, pay for kid's camps, private school etc.
Our dream now is no longer retiring in our early 40s, but being financially independent in our mid 40s and maybe semi-retiring in our 50s. We definitely want to save enough to give the kids a nice start. $100k in "seed money" for each of them to either pay off student loans or use towards a housing downpayment could be worth a small fortune to them in the long run in reduced interest payments, reduced rent, early opportunities for them to invest, etc.
You seem like you are doing great and glad you posted this as it caused me to really re-examine my situation as well.
Now I am married, three kids, paid off home and two cars and we just broke $1m in net worth last week (and that's with the market being 10% off it's high). It's crazy seeing my 401k at $8k in 2015 and now it's $305k. And we've always had a combined income in the $150-180k/yr range, no super high earners here and we've had lots of expenses (daycare, traveling to visit family overseas, immigration fees for my wife, medical bills, etc.) and feel like we aren't exactly scrimping pennies either - can go out to eat, pay for kid's camps, private school etc.
Our dream now is no longer retiring in our early 40s, but being financially independent in our mid 40s and maybe semi-retiring in our 50s. We definitely want to save enough to give the kids a nice start. $100k in "seed money" for each of them to either pay off student loans or use towards a housing downpayment could be worth a small fortune to them in the long run in reduced interest payments, reduced rent, early opportunities for them to invest, etc.
You seem like you are doing great and glad you posted this as it caused me to really re-examine my situation as well.
Last edited:
Koolau
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
That's what I'm thinking. A lot of folks would give a lot to be able to be there for their 5 year old. I think this is your chance. You can go back to w*rk some day if you want/need to IMHO. Good luck.
