2027 FIRE Cohort

[talltexan]

Market is dropping like a stone today; several more days like this, and TomTX might come back :-)

[Vasilisa]

@fuzzy math congrats! And I feel ya, these long term financial goals are rather boring in the sense that what you set things in motion, not much to do!

But thanks for pointing out how far you are towards FIRE! Made me do the math too and we are about 25% there as well. Good job us.

[fuzzy math]

Market is dropping like a stone today; several more days like this, and TomTX might come back :-)

Lol. Will we accept him back? Looks like it only dropped 300 points. Would have been nicer before my contribution went in at the higher price. Dear universe - the market is allowed to drop precipitously every month from the 29 - 31 and sometimes the 1st. thanks.

@Vasilisa good job too!!! It's the little mental tricks to partition things that make the journey more enjoyable.

[jimmyshutter]

2027 is likely my target date depending on how the market does. I'll be an old man compared to most of you guys/gals here but younger than most of my coworkers.

[Vasilisa]

@jimmyshutter welcome! Hey, we get around to financial freedom when we do. As they say, we're all on separate journeys.

We're in it for the long term financial goals and to celebrate our milestones. A big milestone for me in 2018 will be maxing out my Roth IRA contribution for the first time (just opened it in 2017!). 2019 I want to work on maxing out my 401k contributions.

What's everybody else working on?

[Viking Thor]

Hi everyone, I've been a fairly silent group member checking back in. Still a ways to go for us all but glad everyone is making progress.

A goal for me now is to build up more after-tax savings. Right now I'm doing pretty well with pretax but maxing it out and it's 90+% of my investments.

So in addition to being the only way I can save more, I want to have more flexibility for withdrawals in early retirement stage (I'll be 53 in 2027).

[talltexan]

I ratched down my retirement contributions to a level sufficient for matching in order to knock out some short-term debt. I know it's not mathematically optimal, but it seems dumb to have these little debts and be in seven digits. I figure if there's a large market drop, I can increase the debt to re-enter then.

[TomTX]

Market is dropping like a stone today; several more days like this, and TomTX might come back :-)

Pfft. I need a bigger drop than that. And hopefully prolonged enough for my upcoming contributions to get into the market.

Come on 50% market crash!

I still love you guys, I'm just not gonna keep working that long. I hope.

[LateToTheParty]

Hi all!  Officially joining in on the cohort. I will be 55 in 2027, and the golden handcuffs will keep me in place until then. We are lean FI now, and I hope to downshift to part time in in the next few years, and coast to fatFIRE.   DH will FIRE around the time I downshift.
We are simple people who are not planning to lifestyle inflate.  Rather, going for extra budget padding due to unknown future expenses for healthcare and long term care (I have an expensive progressive chronic healthcare condition).

Looking forward to sharing the journey with you all.

Graph below is for 25x in equities, our standard FI number.   We hope to hit that number by 2021.

[TomTX]

Hi all!  Officially joining in on the cohort. I will be 55 in 2027, and the golden handcuffs will keep me in place until then. We are lean FI now, and I hope to downshift to part time in in the next few years, and coast to fatFIRE.   DH will FIRE around the time I downshift.
We are simple people who are not planning to lifestyle inflate.  Rather, going for extra budget padding due to unknown future expenses for healthcare and long term care (I have an expensive progressive chronic healthcare condition).

Looking forward to sharing the journey with you all.

Are you really, really sure you want to wait that long? This thread changed my mind about waiting for my pension in 2027:

https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/welcome-to-the-forum/rich-broke-or-dead-visualizing-probabilities-of-outcomes-in-early-retirement/

You're ahead of me in the "outside assets" department, and I have recently jumped ship for the 2025 group with a stretch goal of 2023.

[LateToTheParty]

Hi all!  Officially joining in on the cohort. I will be 55 in 2027, and the golden handcuffs will keep me in place until then. We are lean FI now, and I hope to downshift to part time in in the next few years, and coast to fatFIRE.   DH will FIRE around the time I downshift.
We are simple people who are not planning to lifestyle inflate.  Rather, going for extra budget padding due to unknown future expenses for healthcare and long term care (I have an expensive progressive chronic healthcare condition).

Looking forward to sharing the journey with you all.

Are you really, really sure you want to wait that long? This thread changed my mind about waiting for my pension in 2027:

https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/welcome-to-the-forum/rich-broke-or-dead-visualizing-probabilities-of-outcomes-in-early-retirement/

You're ahead of me in the "outside assets" department, and I have recently jumped ship for the 2025 group with a stretch goal of 2023.

Ha ha!  You are so right, TomTx. I have crunched those Maizeman graphs.  And cFIREsim with 100% probability of success at 2023. I fluctuate between pulling the lever in 2022 (the earliest I would be comfortable considering FIRE) vs going all the way to 2027 (2XFI).
What happens with healthcare is the unknown that I am closely following.

[Loretta]

What's everybody else working on?

I’m going to have surgery to greatly improve my physical health (that’s the plan anyway!) so gearing up for that in December.  It should give me some much needed energy to finish up my remaining 9 years in the workforce with a better amount of energy and also some mental health improvement.  I must say, work has really sucked lately and zapping the situation with my optimism gun has not been too fruitful. 

[talltexan]

I, too, have started to worry that I've been on-top of things financially, but neglecting health.

[Vasilisa]

@LateToTheParty welcome! Looking forward to hearing everyone's progress as well.

@LorettaLynn good for you! Here's hoping for a successful surgery for you! Work has been pretty rough for me as well, and boy does that motivate me towards FIRE! I could see even dropping to part-time would improve things if I had the means to do so.

Oh man, @talltexan better take care of yourself! What are we going to do in retirement if we don't have our good health?

I put together a personal investment policy statement the other day to discuss with the DH and it felt so good to put together goals, numbers, info all into one place. Felt like I was putting energy into Us, LLC. Still quite a few things up in the air but hoping as the dust settles in the next few months we will have a strong plan in place to kick the savings percentage into high gear.

[fuzzy math]

Bump!

Exciting news today, I finally got up the courage to speak to my big manager about trying to achieve goals for a higher raise next year. My work (healthcare) has a standard on track raise, and a "role model" certification. I felt like a goober asking how I could be considered for it, and it turns out it's fairly easy but requires a lot of paperwork documenting beyond the norm work. So manager will assist me, and hopefully come next summer I'll get 5% instead of 2%.

Trying to get as many health related things seen in 2018 as we've maxed out our OOP for the year. Need to start planning to reset contributions for Jan 2019 so I can max out 2018 Roths for DH and I.

Now that the market is down a bit I sure wish I could contribute more but we keep things pretty slim round here 24/7.

We're getting awfully close to the 8 yr mark til 2027. cheers everyone

[Tortoise Banker]

2027 is looking like my year to FIRE!  My wife and I will be 40, and our two kid will be 13 and 11.

Mortgage is paid off.

We currently have ~450k invested,  Planning to end up with around $850k stash.

Current net worth: $850k @ 31 years old.

[Vasilisa]

@Tortoise Banker welcome! Congrats on having your mortgage paid off and a clear stash goal.

Feeling rather stalled out on my financial goals at the moment. Looking forward to maxing out Roth IRA this year and aiming to max out both Roth and 401(k) next year. House stuff is still a couple months out of settling. I have a few things on my "optimize" list I should tackle (cell phone; gifting car; adjusting contributions; reviewing spending).

How's everyone else doing? Any small or large goals completed or changes made you want to brag about?

[talltexan]

Lately I've focused more on debt-pay-down than 'stache-building. I checked mint yesterday, and finally got all debt below $200,000 (mortgage is slightly less than 90% of that total)

[Faramir]

I hope to join the 2027 cohort aged 47.  We plan to retire when our son finishes high school in early Dec 2027 (end of NZ school year).

We hope to do 4 months travel/sabbatical in 2021 and drop down to part-time work after that but we'll see.

Currently we have a paid off house + about US$200K invested.  Currently saving 50%, I'm at fulltime, wife at 60% FTE.

I get excited reading the 2018 & 2019 cohort threads.

[Vasilisa]

Congrats on your progress @Faramir! And reading the currently Fire-ing threads are so inspiring!

I have big news: WE PAID OFF OUR MORTGAGE this morning!! We are now a one house, one car, no debt family! It's such an amazing feeling! I'm so excited and just wish I could be yelling this at everyone today.

Will be blasting this in this office and adapting the lyrics to: ain't got no house note! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXXH4Fm9qh8

[talltexan]

Congratulations!

What will you be doing with that monthly flow that was going toward the mortgage?

[Vasilisa]

@talltexan maxing out Roth IRA, 401(k) and then moving onto a taxable account!

Haven't quite figured out the numbers yet, if I'm going to do a lump sum to Roth, or a percentage from each pay period. For 401(k) I just need to tell my boss to increase my contribution (oddly nervous about that judgement, are they going to shoot down a raise if I'm saving 30% to 401(k)??). I need to setup a taxable account and set up some automatic contributions- it's great to just have that money whisked away towards FIRE goals.

Is it odd that the extra savings has been harder to figure out for me than the debt repayment or budgeting? Maybe because those are more finite goals? How is everyone else dealing with throwing more money towards retirement?

[Vasilisa]

@rockstache thank you! And thanks for the response too. I forgot DH has his HSA he maxes out too. Do you calculate your savings rate or a set number to allocate towards your retirement buckets?

Yes, boss is directly involved with 401(k) contribution, no HR department- we're a tiny office and he deals with that change to payroll. Awkward.... I've tried logging in and I can't make the change.

[Vasilisa]

@rockstache Thanks for your break down of info!

And sorry to be unclear, just trying to get my head around how best to max out our stash. Your equation of "anything we make - anything we spend = retirement savings" makes sense. That's how I tend to think of it but was also playing around with  "anything we make - retirement savings= anything we spend (ie. needs, wants and vacations)".

I've tended to do well with a zero-based budget, everything allocated so the "wants" category doesn't inflate too much and lifestyle inflation of buying shredded cheese kicks in. Ha!

[SKL-HOU]

2027 is my super optimistic goal to cut back to 20-hour part time in engineering. I will be 50 years old with a kid in high school.

[frugalecon]

If 2027 turns out to be my "pull the ripcord year," my countdown clock tells me I have exactly 3000 days to go as of today.

But here's hoping that 2025 will work...

[Vasilisa]

Welcome to @SKL-HOU (love your user name!). Let's go for super optimistic- why not?? As we accomplish little goals on the way to FIRE it gets easier and easier, right?

Welcome to @frugalecon ugh... trying not to think of 3000 more days in my current job. Must. Find. Other work! If you need to jump ship to the 2025 thread we'll understand!

Had some great frugal "wins" this week of doing some meal planning and making a big batch of enchiladas for lunches and dinners as well as prepping salads to go with them. Also had a wonderful gardening session with my DH on Wednesday- we're working on a community garden project together and managed to get in an hour before it was dark. Just made me so happy to be outside in the dirt with him.

Any great moments this week for anyone else?

[TomTX]

Welcome, new folks!

...from the ghost of goals past....

[Vasilisa]

Maxed out 2019 Roth contribution today. Stoked to have been able to do it in one lump sum this year.

Only eight more years to go 2027 FIRE folks! 

How are other people doing on their goals?

[talltexan]

I'm still waiting on income guidance for Tax Year 2018 before I finalize my Roth plans: I may have to convert those 2018 contributions into 2019 contributions. It's a nice problem to have.

[Loretta]

Now that it’s 2019, 2027 is sounding much closer! 

This year I am going to focus on my mortgage and my retirement accounts.  I’m doing the Frugalwoods Challenge and this is the area where I need to focus my efforts.  I’ll be getting a govt pension (Lord willin’, haha) and my plan is to sell my suburban condo and move to Florida or Louisiana.  Maybe sell Mickey pretzels at Disney, or volunteer at the WWII museum in NOLA. 

[fuzzy math]

Welcome to the new joiners and congrats to all everyone's recent savings and payoff milestones!!

I'm anxiously awaiting the last couple forms to arrive so I can file my 2018 taxes and generate the $$ needed to fill out DH/my IRAs. Its always the tail wagging the dog I swear. Steal from this year's refund to fund last year's IRA.

Some exciting news (that was required for me to remain in 2027), my DH is now working after 11 yrs as a SAHD!!! Got himself a local govt job, and he's trying to maintain his schedule to finish his BA this year. His schooling is self paced and with the 50 hrs he's gone a week now (commute sucks) I fear he's going to fall behind and we'd have to pay for another semester. Its been an adjustment for everyone, but its fabulous and neither of us were honestly expecting that he'd find worthwhile enough work before graduating. So once a few full paychecks roll in, I'm going to cFiresim the heck out of our new status. Can't quite tell yet.

I'm still treading water at exactly 25% (5 yrs expenses) after the turmoil of the market the past few months. Looking forward to another dip now that we have 2 earners, then hopefully enough of a recovery to see that hard work pay off.

Lets make 2019 a truly memorable year towards our goals everyone!!!

[talltexan]

I updated my numbers--today is actually my birthday--and it's looking like I'm going to have to join 2029. My horribly extravagant lifestyle has gotten out of hand. You guys have been good to me, thank you!

[fuzzy math]

@talltexan don't let pesky projections get in the way of your dreams!! We're still so far out that I like to think that any setbacks (market, personal crisis, spending etc) will be fixed by outrageous optimism :D


As for me, I arbitrarily chose April 30 as my "can't take it any more" date for calculation purposes and it appears I have 1886 regular work days excluding any sick time I find reason to take. This also excludes any random days off that my schedule allows and any random call days (weekend and holidays) that I might have to do. I am pleased that although there are 3000 days until the end of April that in reality only ~62.8% of them are being dedicated to the man.

[talltexan]

Thanks for the encouragement. Mrs. TallTexan is considering a new job offer right now, we might be back in business soon.

[Glenstache]

@talltexan don't let pesky projections get in the way of your dreams!! We're still so far out that I like to think that any setbacks (market, personal crisis, spending etc) will be fixed by outrageous optimism :D

This. My FI date shifts quite a bit based on what assumptions I feed into my plans. Do I buy a house here in a HCOL area? What do I want my post FI income to be? What if I go part time before FI? etc. Mostly the average date ends up around 2027, which is a long ways and many twists and turns from now.

[SKL-HOU]

Thanks for the encouragement. Mrs. TallTexan is considering a new job offer right now, we might be back in business soon.

Woohoo!!!

I think mine is a pretty stretch goal to be in this group because I plan on potentially going down to 20-hour PT at this date (for a few years) instead of quitting. But too many unknowns at this point (son's college, healthcare, my actual savings, etc.). But I am going to stay in this group :)

[fuzzy math]

@talltexan don't let pesky projections get in the way of your dreams!! We're still so far out that I like to think that any setbacks (market, personal crisis, spending etc) will be fixed by outrageous optimism :D

This. My FI date shifts quite a bit based on what assumptions I feed into my plans. Do I buy a house here in a HCOL area? What do I want my post FI income to be? What if I go part time before FI? etc. Mostly the average date ends up around 2027, which is a long ways and many twists and turns from now.

My most cherry picked assumptions keep me in 2027, not the average ones... I figure moving at any point would force me to make housing decisions that wont derail me too much. I might favorite the fancy houses when idly searching for FIRE locations but Ive never bought any of them when faced with real move prospects.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Faramir]

I hope to join the 2027 cohort aged 47.  We plan to retire when our son finishes high school in early Dec 2027 (end of NZ school year).

We hope to do 4 months travel/sabbatical in 2021 and drop down to part-time work after that but we'll see.

Currently we have a paid off house + about US$200K invested.  Currently saving 50%, I'm at fulltime, wife at 60% FTE.

I get excited reading the 2018 & 2019 cohort threads.

Work have agreed to allow me 4 weeks' unpaid leave per year on top of my current 4 weeks' paid leave per year.  This should make the next few years of work more bearable.  I feel like this is the start of the long slow downshift.  Combined savings rate will drop to about 45% from 50% but will be worth it for an increase in quality of life.

[NonprofitER]

Hi!
Throwing my hat in as well.
Our current plan is to FIRE in August 2027. Our child will have just graduated high school, our home will be paid off (worth conservatively ~$500k by then) and our stash goal is about $800k by then. We will likely both still dabble in PT work for another few years, but also will evaluate selling our house/downsizing and traveling. 

Current net worth of $323k, not including equity is just over $100k (not including our emergency fund and cash we're sitting on to invest in RE).

We are planning to invest in real estate (rentals, duplexes) as part of accelerating our strategy. Thus, our stash might be smaller but balanced with rentals throwing off passive income that are back of the napkin equivalent to our stash/withdrawal goals.

Is anyone else in the 2027 cohort investing in RE? We've been sitting on the sidelines for a few years due to our local markets being ridiculously hot, but we're seeing things soften and have widened our search to other cities. Looking forward to pushing some cash in as markets are cooling.   

[Valvore]

Hi Everyone!

November 2027 is my goal FIRE date. I will be 35 and DH will be 39. We need a stache of 425K (4% is 17K) and will rely on passive income of 33K/year (non-taxable income). We will start getting a pension of 17K/year in 2054 when I am age 62. DH and I will also be eligible for a pension medical plan in which the cost will be covered by the pension.

We have a fairly complicated FIRE plan... but consistently spend 50K with mortgage and 35K without mortgage annually. We are both willing to, and likely to work part time most years in FIRE.

Currently 21.2% of the way there!

401K - 10.5K
457b - 41.5K
IRA - 16.1
DH IRA - 8.8K
HSA - 9.1K
Savings - 4K
TOTAL: $90,000

[fuzzy math]

Welcome nonprofit and Firery!!

I wish I had a stronger composure for real estate. Not sure we will stay here forever and my FIRE locations are not ideal for Rentals.

Firery, where is your other $33k coming from? Doesn't appear to be listed.

[Valvore]

@fuzzy math My husband receives VA disability benefits for service connected disability. I actually debated mentioning it by name because I feel sort of strange about it. Yes, my husband has issues from his service and I feel he should be compensated but all the benefits of the payment baffle me and makes me feel sort of guilty. His issues will never get better so the payments are guaranteed for life. And the money is non-taxable income. Which is huge for our FIRE plans because the amount we plan to withdraw from various accounts (17K) keeps us in the 10% tax bracket and eligible for a bunch of other benefits (which we don't plan on taking).

That's part of the reason our FIRE plan is complicated. We rely on the disability but also have various accounts that we will pull from and let others grow and then switch. Starting with IRA, then to 457b, then back to IRA and then old 401K.

In case anyone is wondering, the disability is 100% my DH's. If he passes or we get divorced, it goes away for me. It is risky but he is my life-love partner (divorce unlikely) and we have a life insurance policy for him so hopefully I'm covered. But it would seriously alter my FIRE plans. Not to mention we want to FIRE together!

[fuzzy math]

@fuzzy math My husband receives VA disability benefits for service connected disability. I actually debated mentioning it by name because I feel sort of strange about it. Yes, my husband has issues from his service and I feel he should be compensated but all the benefits of the payment baffle me and makes me feel sort of guilty. His issues will never get better so the payments are guaranteed for life. And the money is non-taxable income. Which is huge for our FIRE plans because the amount we plan to withdraw from various accounts (17K) keeps us in the 10% tax bracket and eligible for a bunch of other benefits (which we don't plan on taking).

That's part of the reason our FIRE plan is complicated. We rely on the disability but also have various accounts that we will pull from and let others grow and then switch. Starting with IRA, then to 457b, then back to IRA and then old 401K.

In case anyone is wondering, the disability is 100% my DH's. If he passes or we get divorced, it goes away for me. It is risky but he is my life-love partner (divorce unlikely) and we have a life insurance policy for him so hopefully I'm covered. But it would seriously alter my FIRE plans. Not to mention we want to FIRE together!

I get it, it can be a contentious thing and definitely something that us non military peeps have a harder time comprehending. My in laws are all military people and have disability payments. My FIL  gets one for his sleep apnea and other aging related conditions. I asked him how they could prove sleep apnea was military related (he was an officer, never saw combat) - he responded with "well how can they prove it isn't?"  Considering my husband has sleep apnea too, I'm pretty sure he (my DH) didn't get it from living on base. But those are the rules, and they are well intentioned rules and one of the few redeeming things that can come from a lifetime of sacrifices.

Its a great situation for your family because it doesn't prevent your DH from working. I hope he is physically well enough not to be suffering too terribly from whatever. Use what you've got to your advantage! It will certainly help you achieve FIRE much faster and provide a lot of stability if the market goes wonky around your FIRE date. 

Depending on the terms of your accounts (and since I'm in a similar position), it might be better to consider getting into your 457 first before the IRAs. I plan on heavily converting our IRAs to Roths once FIREd.

[imperfect]

Hey, checking in for class of 2027.  I'll be 55 then, and like some others, a pension benefit is the big factor in choosing that age.

My personal savings rate is about 60% (but hasn't always been).  Between the pension, 401k, and an after tax brokerage account, if my math is correct I'll have a nice cushion on my expected expenses then.

Setting a reminder to check back in here at least once a year to see if my plan is on track.

Fingers crossed!

[TomTX]

Welcome!

[frugalecon]

Passed a birthday, which caused my counter app to roll over to 7 years, 11 months, and change. Seems almost doable. (Though I haven’t given up on the 2025 cohort.)

[MikeO]

I'm a newbie here, but have been following MMM for a Little while now.

I'm a 2027 ish guy. 

Currently 46 years old, with $600,000 saved we currently save just over 50% of our take-home pay and live off of $50,000 a year. 

We stay quite busy having fun, traveling etc but also save more than most people make in a year (or two).  My philosophy is gotta live today like tomorrow may never come because to be honest it might not, but at the same time i so badly want to be FI and work because i want to not because i have to. 

Good thing is i love my job and it's afford me lots of time off.  So once i get to FI/FU I'll stop working overtime and give up the supervisor position to just work the line giving us even more time to enjoy life.  (7 days on 7 days off with 4 weeks of vacation a year. 1 week of vacation equals 3 weeks off!)

Medical will be the big deciding factor if i quit all together or work a little. 

I could probably stop sooner but the pessemist in me thinks i need more money  just in case, once i quit i don't want to have to do the walk off shame back to work. 

[fuzzy math]

I'm a newbie here, but have been following MMM for a Little while now.

I'm a 2027 ish guy. 

Currently 46 years old, with $600,000 saved we currently save just over 50% of our take-home pay and live off of $50,000 a year. 

We stay quite busy having fun, traveling etc but also save more than most people make in a year (or two).  My philosophy is gotta live today like tomorrow may never come because to be honest it might not, but at the same time i so badly want to be FI and work because i want to not because i have to. 

Good thing is i love my job and it's afford me lots of time off.  So once i get to FI/FU I'll stop working overtime and give up the supervisor position to just work the line giving us even more time to enjoy life.  (7 days on 7 days off with 4 weeks of vacation a year. 1 week of vacation equals 3 weeks off!)

Medical will be the big deciding factor if i quit all together or work a little. 

I could probably stop sooner but the pessemist in me thinks i need more money  just in case, once i quit i don't want to have to do the walk off shame back to work.

Welcome Mike! My spend and save rates are about the same as yours, but I'm 9 years younger and have saved half of what you save. By your retirement age, you will be within 15 years of social security. Are you anticipating a much higher annual spend than what you have now?

Go curry cracker just wrote a new article about the value of social security that I've been musing over a bunch. It seems relevant to your situation
https://www.gocurrycracker.com/spending-future-social-security-income-now/

[frugalecon]

Passed a birthday, which caused my counter app to roll over to 7 years, 11 months, and change. Seems almost doable. (Though I haven’t given up on the 2025 cohort.)

After some reflection and analysis, I am officially decamping for the 2025 cohort. I won’t return to 2027 unless there really is a financial market meltdown. Best wishes to all!