Finally FI
Dryer sheet aficionado
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2022
- Messages
- 39
Hello everyone!
I’ve been a saver for most of my life. I bought a house when I was 26, and became laser focused on becoming mortgage free. After some wonderful but costly relationship changes and some job and life related moves that resulted in buying progressively more expensive houses, I finally got there 23 years later.
I expected to spend more after that event, but my DW and I seem to be hardwired not to, stockpiling most of our income for the years since then with the only clear plan being sleeping better at night.
Then in 2020 I was introduced to FI, filling in the “what’s next?” and “how much do we need?” blanks. Through knowledge from multiple forums and podcasts and FIRECalc, it appeared we were already there. Since we mostly liked our jobs and coworkers, and suspected a market correction was coming, and had paranoia about what-ifs, we continued to work and stockpile.
But each year, we’ve experienced an increasing number of friends, family, and coworkers that have passed away or been diagnosed with something bad, and I’ve been finding myself less able to find time to do many things I’d like to.
So, I just pulled the trigger and began the retirement process at work. DW is younger and wants to keep working, but I want to make sure that’s optional in case she changes her mind.
I’ve tracked our spending by simply adding our monthly credit card, HSA account, and check totals. Annually we’ve been under $40k, including healthcare but not including health insurance, major home renovations, or vehicle replacements. Adding $20k for health insurance (completely a guess) and $5k for infrequent vehicle purchases (actual is probably lower) puts the annual total at under $65k.
Plugging our numbers today into FIRECalc Investigate shows 100% success for $126k. With about 2/3 of our investments pre-tax, that should put after-tax at over $100k.
According to history, can we really both stop working and spend more than twice what we’re used to ($35k more a year) and be fine? It’s really hard to wrap my mind around that.
Am I missing anything?
While I’m excited about the thought of having more time to do all the things I’d like to, the financial uncertainties are quite scary for me.
I’ve been a saver for most of my life. I bought a house when I was 26, and became laser focused on becoming mortgage free. After some wonderful but costly relationship changes and some job and life related moves that resulted in buying progressively more expensive houses, I finally got there 23 years later.
I expected to spend more after that event, but my DW and I seem to be hardwired not to, stockpiling most of our income for the years since then with the only clear plan being sleeping better at night.
Then in 2020 I was introduced to FI, filling in the “what’s next?” and “how much do we need?” blanks. Through knowledge from multiple forums and podcasts and FIRECalc, it appeared we were already there. Since we mostly liked our jobs and coworkers, and suspected a market correction was coming, and had paranoia about what-ifs, we continued to work and stockpile.
But each year, we’ve experienced an increasing number of friends, family, and coworkers that have passed away or been diagnosed with something bad, and I’ve been finding myself less able to find time to do many things I’d like to.
So, I just pulled the trigger and began the retirement process at work. DW is younger and wants to keep working, but I want to make sure that’s optional in case she changes her mind.
I’ve tracked our spending by simply adding our monthly credit card, HSA account, and check totals. Annually we’ve been under $40k, including healthcare but not including health insurance, major home renovations, or vehicle replacements. Adding $20k for health insurance (completely a guess) and $5k for infrequent vehicle purchases (actual is probably lower) puts the annual total at under $65k.
Plugging our numbers today into FIRECalc Investigate shows 100% success for $126k. With about 2/3 of our investments pre-tax, that should put after-tax at over $100k.
According to history, can we really both stop working and spend more than twice what we’re used to ($35k more a year) and be fine? It’s really hard to wrap my mind around that.
Am I missing anything?
While I’m excited about the thought of having more time to do all the things I’d like to, the financial uncertainties are quite scary for me.