The Money Mustache Community
General Discussion => Welcome and General Discussion => Topic started by: GreenShirt on November 01, 2016, 11:08:44 PM
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I did some quick searching and didn't see a 2028 FIRE thread - I guess I'm making this post!
So welcome, congrats on firing in 2028! Or if you're just passing by, hello to you too!
My wife and I did some fuzzy math the other day and found out that we will be financially independent by 2028. This is all very approximate, but all very exciting! The biggest recent lifestyle change for us has been that my wife started her job the other day (on Halloween, no less), which gave us a significant income boost, in effect reducing the number of years we're required to work by about 5 years. That's scary awesome!
Anybody else planning to FIRE in 2028?
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Nice. Congrats on heading that way. (I'm in the 2021 cohort, though)
There's a list of the classes/cohorts here:
http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/welcome-to-the-forum/'class-of'cohort-what-year-will-you-fire/
The 2028 one doesn't look all that active at 12 years out, but one person has posted there. You're probably better off to move there since that's where everybody else will be looking as the 2028 group starts talking.
http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/welcome-to-the-forum/2028-fire-cohort/
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Congrats, on taking the steps to set yourself up for FIRE in 2028. I've done some pretty conservative estimates and plan on being FI in 2028 as well, although I may not RE at that point. I discovered the MMM blog about 1.5 years ago, about the same time that I entered the work force post college, and FIRE has been my primary focus ever since. It's good to here from some fellow 2028 FIREees.
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This is in our ballpark. We refinanced this summer and with extra payments plan on having or house paid off in 2028, at which point I'll be 50. A little late to the early retirement party here, just started reading the blog in May! We've made done sold changes and started actually budgeting, but still getting settled with the changes, though we've always been relatively frugal.
Crossing my fingers that I'm being conservative on the twelve year goal though!
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Man, I had no idea there would be a cohort thread. This is really cool.
Mid-30's pharmacist shooting to retire near 45 (near 2028). I don't have the math 100% plotted out yet, but we're aggressively paying down debt and then socking away as much as we can every year until goal.
I'm still listening to podcasts and reading books and blogs like crazy trying to figure out how to make the money grow faster than if I were to put all of it into mutual funds. We'll venture into real estate eventually, but part of me wants to buy a Mexican restaurant instead. Why not both? ;)
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2028? Count me in! Setting the goal to retire by 35. I'm using the mad fientist's laboratory to help track, its pretty nifty. Any others use his tools?
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Hey, this is really cool! So awesome to hear everyone's short life story!
GreenMountainMillennial, yes and no :P
I briefly tried the Mad Fientist laboratory tools but haven't had time (okay, that's just an excuse) to fully investigate it. Have you tried any other tools to compare whether you more liked one or the other?
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I'm glad to find that 2028 is an active cohort already! I will retire with 20 years active duty in Sept 2028, and hopefully I'll be able to convince my husband to join me within a few years.
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+1
I just started so there is a long way to go and some ups and downs might change the year a bit :)
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I personally think anything more than 5 years out is pretty up in the air. A single market crash or rally will shave or add litterally years from/ to the plan.
It's good to pick a class of thread but maybe we should have a 5 to 7 year out, 3 to 4 year out ect ect and users can "graduate through those as needed...
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That makes you roughly the same age as me! I'm planning on 57 a5 2029 but you never know....
I am definitely planning and working towards 2028. I will be 56 years old and that is the age when my Dad retired early. My goal is to be just like him! We have a nice nest egg but I definitely have to dive into these calculators more and understand what I need to save each month. I have a small amount of debt that I need to get rid of (under $4k) and then I'm throwing as much as I can into retirement and non-retirement funds.
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I've done some fuzzy math before, but decided to sit back down and update it with current numbers. If we continue saving at our current rate, with no pay increases figured in, I should be able to FIRE in 2028 at age 53 - not nearly as early as some on here, but two years sooner than I had originally planned. My wife is 4 years younger than me, and our youngest should be well on his way to finishing off a degree at that point. Both our primary home and rental house should be paid off by then, too. I think I actually have a lot of buffer built in here since a) no pay increases figured, and b) assumes neither of us earn any income after FIRE. Hopefully will be able to shorten this then, but for now I'm satisfied with a 2028 target!
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Plan to be here (well, at least my wife, or to be FI...)
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I love the idea of this thread. 2028 is definitely within our reach, however we still have a lot of variables that may change things slightly. My wife will be going back to school which will increase our debt temporarily but also increase our income when she's finished.
What are your guy's current savings rate?
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I started the 2029 cohort thread and was hoping that'd be my go year. I think though, looking at all of our numbers again today, using several spreadsheets and online tools, that 6/1/28 will be my FIRE date. My Wife will go probably in June of '26 or '27 depending on a few factors. When I started this journey 11 months ago I was really really hoping for 2032. I've managed to shave 4 years off of that! Of course only time will tell, but as far as I can plan for these things, 6/1/28 looks like it's a go!
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Just 3,880 days until January 1, 2028!
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Throwing my lot in here with some very back of the napkin math :-)
My hubby will be 62 in 2028 so he will definitely be retiring then. I will be 49, and I'm hoping to follow him into the FIRE.
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My first post - I'm in! I'll be 62. That doesn't count as early retirement for most folks here, but it is about 8 years earlier than I had anticipated pre-MMM.
I hadn't calculated what year that would be, but now I know - hooray!
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Me too. really hope to make FIRE stage at 2028. No debt other than mortgage, decent savings. but currently spending too much money on eating out, kid and vacation. :-(
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Just 2,588 working days left until 1/1/28 - that is if you don't count weekends or American holidays.
Egad!
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Hello GreenShirt and everybody else shooting for 2028! Thanks for creating this cohort.
Currently 39 making extra payments (equity of 100K out of 300K) on mortgage, maxing out 401K, plan to do backdoor ROTH IRA and the rest going to stock (index funds).
Folks we have a long way to go, but at least I hope to reach FI by 2028, time will tell if I get to the RE part (average returns from market should get me to RE as long has we don't have a great depression). If I have a job I love I might continue working and we will see how the market helps (or not) with our investments.
Best of luck to all of you, looking forward to share status/concerns/ideas with youi.
Cheers.
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I'm in the 2030 Cohort but 2028 is my stretch goal. I turn 50 on Dec 20th 2028 so it would be great to Retire then. If I can increase my savings a little and decrease my spending a little more than I can hit this goal.
I just joined MMM in March/April of this year. I spend this year tracking spending and paying down debt. I set some small goals of basically just spend less than I did last month. 2018 will be my first year of tracking everything and setting a yearly spend goal which I will hopefully be able to keep as my yearly spend each year going forward (adjusting slightly for inflation)
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Hi, haypug16, pretty much same boat since I will be 50 by then as well. Currently making extra payments on mortgage to be completely debt free on FIRE target date. I am worrying too much about health insurance right now, I am telling myself that I am 10 years from it, it might be a totally different picture by then (I hope for the best).
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Bigote2032 - Same RE: Health Ins. I have no idea what to plan for so I'm just estimating based on a quote I got if I needed to buy Heath Ins now. I figure I'll just periodically re-check the numbers to see if they still make sense. You're right it could be totally difference in 10 years.
DH and I have started making twice a month payments to reduce the amount of Interest we end up paying on the Mortgage but DH is in the the "Don't pay off Mortgage" group since our Interest rate is very low (3.5% I think).
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Health care is one thing I feel pretty lucky about regarding my current job. If I can hang in there another 10 years to 2028, I'll be 55 and qualify to pay the same monthly premium every other employee pays, while my employer picks up the rest. We've got a (for the US anyway) pretty decent health plan too with not a lot of out of pocket expenses. My last surgery cost me $50 plus about $12 in prescriptions.
But that means that 2028 is the earliest I'll be able to retire too, as that's when I'll qualify for this perk.
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Health care is one thing I feel pretty lucky about regarding my current job. If I can hang in there another 10 years to 2028, I'll be 55 and qualify to pay the same monthly premium every other employee pays, while my employer picks up the rest. We've got a (for the US anyway) pretty decent health plan too with not a lot of out of pocket expenses. My last surgery cost me $50 plus about $12 in prescriptions.
But that means that 2028 is the earliest I'll be able to retire too, as that's when I'll qualify for this perk.
That's a pretty great perk to hang around for.
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Yes it is. I also shouldn't say it's the "one thing I feel pretty lucky about regarding my current job." I mean, the jobs more than tolerable, the work is interesting, the hours are good and I like most of the folks I work with. There are other benefits too.
Still, if I had my druthers, I'd be out sooner, but I can't do that without a fully stocked stash and a healthcare solution. Both of which will happen when I'm 55 (fingers crossed)!
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Great for you DeskJockey. My current job does not have that great perk but it's not the worst job I have ever had. It does not really get me excited to wake up every morning but it's Ok, great pay and the people around me are not too bad, not too much backstabbing and politics at the moment.
Good FU Money would allow me to quit anytime if things get bad or get some no tolerable job but hoping it never gets to that so I can keep contributing to stache.
Regarding the health insurance, me too, once in a while I get quotes from ehealthinsurance.org, premera.com, kaiserpermanente.org and even the religious thingie libertyhealthshare.org (not really religious but man, I would try it if I can save some good money).
Those are the main ones people use here in WA. I try at different dates to have an idea on budgeting.
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Hey everyone, stopping in to say hey and join the 2028 class!
I've been a lurker in the forums for several years now, ever since I started reading MMM in late 2015. Looking forward to getting to know everyone and continuing on this journey together!
In the interest of sparking up a conversation with other members of this cohort, what is your main driving force for working toward FIRE? For me it's mostly about achieving a lifestyle where I can be a fully present parent to my future children (coming in the next couple years, hopefully!). I'm getting married to my fairly frugal fiance next year, and we're both interested in a more independent lifestyle that allows us to be a closer family. Reason number two is to gain the freedom to get back into being a musician in a live band. My career makes it difficult to be a reliable band member, so I had to leave that side of my life behind when I started working after college. Looking to get back into live performances, there's nothing like it!
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I won't be retiring as early as many here on these forums - but compared to where I was a few years ago (thinking I'd retire between 67-70) I'm leaps and bounds ahead of my past self. I'll be looking to get out between 55 and 57 (2027-2029) depending on when my finances hit where I want them. Mid-2028 is most likely for me.
Why? Because I enjoy every day off about 100% more than my working days. Because I have a million things I want to do or try and enough time to indulge in perhaps 1 per day. Because I want the security with knowing that I'm not dependent on a large, heartless organization to eat and have a roof over my head. And I want to be there for my kids when or if they start having kids of their own.
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I plan to FIRE on 6/1/28 which happens to be exactly 10 years from today. My wife and I will both be 50 and our daughter will be 18.
I really like the idea of retiring as soon as our daughter is an adult. No more responsibilities, right?
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That's the exact same tentative date I have! 6/1/28!
I plan to FIRE on 6/1/28 which happens to be exactly 10 years from today. My wife and I will both be 50 and our daughter will be 18.
I really like the idea of retiring as soon as our daughter is an adult. No more responsibilities, right?
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2028? Count me in! Setting the goal to retire by 35. I'm using the mad fientist's laboratory to help track, its pretty nifty. Any others use his tools?
I tried using his tools! Seem a bit MAD though! I am mostly tracking using excel (I'll be 40 in 2028, so I am a digital native, but used to offline tools more than online). Where is Green Mountain?
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Joining the Class of 2028.... Hoping to coincide with my 25th year of marriage with a long celebratory vacation with the wife. Hopefully, daughter will be 23 and out of college and son will be 21 entering his senior year of college. I have a target retirement goal amount, so the actual date may vary depending on how well/poorly my portfolio is tracking.
Retiring in my mid-50s seems like early retirement to me, so I'm content with that decision....
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My wife and I did some fuzzy math the other day
I came here to see what was going on with the 2028ers, since I am currently aiming for 2027, and I find out that I've apparently been with Green Shirt, his wife, and ducky 19.
If there was ever a warm welcome, I guess this would be it! My oldest child should be in his last semester of college starting Jan 2028 and if I am still at my current job, it would benefit me to stay through January to get that last tuition reduction through.
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My wife and I did some fuzzy math the other day
I came here to see what was going on with the 2028ers, since I am currently aiming for 2027, and I find out that I've apparently been with Green Shirt, his wife, and ducky 19.
If there was ever a warm welcome, I guess this would be it! My oldest child should be in his last semester of college starting Jan 2028 and if I am still at my current job, it would benefit me to stay through January to get that last tuition reduction through.
I can't believe you don't remember that! It was a grand ole' time... ;)
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DH and I are targeting early to mid-2028. House should be paid off (only current debt), conservative projections say we should hit our target. But as others said above, ten years out is enough for a lot to happen, both good and bad!
The last two months have been spendy enough to make me question if we'll need to save a little more. Nothing outrageous, but several house, car, and medical issues that have all cost $1000 here, $2500 there, $4000 over there, oh look! there goes another $1500... Thankful for enough savings that these have all been minor annoyances rather than major concerns.
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Hello!
My husband and I plan to FIRE on July 1, 2028. He will be 56 and I will be 52. We got a late start, but we are here now and ready to learn.
We currently have $240,000 in retirement accounts. We are saving for a down payment on a house, while currently owning a condo. My plan has us buying and paying off our house by the end of 2024. By July of 2028,we should have $850,000 in our retirement accounts, using a 5% return rate. We should be able to live comfortably on a 3.5% withdrawal rate.
My main concern is healthcare. I was diagnosed with breast cancer at 40, despite being very healthy (I ran marathons!) and having no family history or genes for it. My husband was diagnosed with diabetes. We work out every morning and try to eat healthy, so we are controlling what we can. We just don't know what our national health insurance situation will be.
But, we are thankful everyday to be able to work to have three complete freedom to pursue our passions and spend time with our family and friends. I have learned that we may not get a long life and traditional retirement.
I am excited to learn from you. I want to stay focused on our goal, but also enjoy the ride.
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Hi, I'm officially joining this group! I'll be turning 43 in 2028. I'm a writer with an awesome/fun/flexible job that allows me to work from home and travel for work and take an absurd amount of vacation time, so I'm in no rush whatsoever to RE. I just want to have options, since mine is a volatile field, and FI would allow me to focus completely on the projects that are most important to me, and it's nice to have a specific goal. (Right now even a very non-FI cushion helps me feel a lot better about my future and options.) And I'm not constitutionally a spendypants anyway, so it's not a huge sacrifice.
I make anywhere from 60-90k before taxes (though this sometimes includes lots of reimbursed travel expenses), which will hopefully be going up a tad every year. Income may fluctuate even more in the future due to books. Right now I have 255k net worth (retirement accounts, hsa, taxable accounts, cash) and I hope to save at least 30k every year. I could probably be more extreme about it, but I really don't want the FI quest to take over my thoughts/life.
Nice to meet you, cohort!
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My wife and I did some fuzzy math the other day
I came here to see what was going on with the 2028ers, since I am currently aiming for 2027, and I find out that I've apparently been with Green Shirt, his wife, and ducky 19.
If there was ever a warm welcome, I guess this would be it! My oldest child should be in his last semester of college starting Jan 2028 and if I am still at my current job, it would benefit me to stay through January to get that last tuition reduction through.
I can't believe you don't remember that! It was a grand ole' time... ;)
I don't know if I would count ourselves special in that regard, @ducky19. It's pretty common on this forum, from that I've seen, to do fuzzy math (no offense). I've seen some posts about fuzzy math get pretty explicit when people start posting their numbers.
In other news, DW and I are still on track for 2028, although we'll see where life takes us in the next couple of years. We're thinking about getting a house, and so far haven't done the, ahem, fuzzy math on how that will affect our FIRE date (be it positive or negative).
It's been almost two years since I started this thread, which means that I first heard about MMM about two and three quarters' years ago. There have been ups and downs in the journey (though mostly ups. Mr. and Mrs. Market have been real kind lately), but it's incredible the amount of things that I've learned along the way, and the people I've met already. I can't wait for the next ten years!
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I could probably be more extreme about it, but I really don't want the FI quest to take over my thoughts/life.
Nice to meet you, cohort!
Nice to meet you as well! That's a good approach to it. Reaching FI is, in all likelihood, the single biggest goal that I've ever had, but it shouldn't be the single biggest factor in determining if I do something or not. There is a post on the r/financialindependence subreddit that echoes a similar mentality - that you shouldn't let the goal of FI prevent you from doing things today that you might enjoy
https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/comments/58j8pc/build_the_life_you_want_then_save_for_it/ (https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/comments/58j8pc/build_the_life_you_want_then_save_for_it/)
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Hi cohort! I'm 27, planning (loosely) to FIRE when I'm 37 in 2028. I only started seriously working towards that goal this year, so we'll see how it goes over the next ten!
In the interest of sparking up a conversation with other members of this cohort, what is your main driving force for working toward FIRE? For me it's mostly about achieving a lifestyle where I can be a fully present parent to my future children (coming in the next couple years, hopefully!). I'm getting married to my fairly frugal fiance next year, and we're both interested in a more independent lifestyle that allows us to be a closer family. Reason number two is to gain the freedom to get back into being a musician in a live band. My career makes it difficult to be a reliable band member, so I had to leave that side of my life behind when I started working after college. Looking to get back into live performances, there's nothing like it!
I have similar motivations, just replace being a musician with being a visual and sculptural artist (although I wouldn't mind more time for playing music, too :)). I spend some time on creative pursuits right now, but I would prefer to do my current full-time job as a very part time job, and have about half of my weekdays free for art. I love the parts of my day job where I work with people, but about half of my job is paperwork, which dampens my enthusiasm for doing it every day.
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I'm throwing my dart at the wall for 2028. That's what I think we're on track for now, maybe earlier if we can boost our savings rate. My motivation is plainly freedom. Good luck everyone! :)
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Yay for Gen X and 2028! Can’t believe we’re on the home stretch!
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I see several other cohorts starting to talk so I thought I'd give this thread a bump.
We're still hoping early to mid-2028. But I am currently exploring a new job opportunity that would be basically a wash pay wise, but in a higher COL area. While on paper it's not a great move, it has more of a chance of leading to a higher paying position in the future than my current role. Which is pretty stagnant growth wise. Part of the appeal of the move also is that my DH travels there for work frequently. What he does there can only be done there, what he does at his current home office could be done in the new area. So more time with DH and less travel for him is certainly a consideration. We'll see how it all works out!
Regardless, I expect 2028 would be our target.
Unless I cave and buy a Tesla. (I kid, I kid... sigh)
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I think 2028 is a reasonable projection based on current earnings and savings. Honestly, I'm hoping to shave a few years off by tweaking savings and earnings, but 2028 is the earliest reasonable goal for us right now.
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Goal here is also 2028.
Hello to my fellow cohort members!
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Bumping this thread... This seems the quietest of the cohorts! The job opportunity I explored earlier this year didn't pan out, which is fine! We've been able to increase retirement to fill the higher 401K/403B/IRA limits for 2019, but we haven't really been able to tweak much to get beyond that. Which is fine, we're still on track.
It's probably time to give the old budget/spending a harder look for a bit and tighten things back up. I feel like some purchases have been creeping in here and there that are probably unnecessary. Usually it's something like fast food because we're busy and haven't been planning well. I don't mind the occasional purchase of something extra for convenience, but not just because I'm too lazy to grocery shop and cook!
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I haven't posted in here in over a year. Yikes! 6/1/2028 is my hopeful retirement date. It may be possible to go a year earlier that, but that would be it. I'm guaranteed some pretty fantastic health care benefits if I stay until my age and service equal a certain number, which will happen in 2027.
Things are very much on autopilot for me right now. We don't really set much of a budget. I know how much should be going into retirement accounts and that's all configured to go into those accounts before I can even see it. We live off the rest. I'll tweak that a bit this coming October when I get my yearly raise so we're sending some more cash towards the mortgage. What's going to the retirement funds is a percentage of my whole earnings, so that'll go up slightly on it's own as well.
Other than that, we're trying to enjoy the summer, looking forward to a few trips and events we have planned later this year and of course, hoping that 2020 is the year we finally get jet packs and flying cars.
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Yeah, this is a very quiet cohort.
My work has become more interesting lately. So, although I had contemplated moving up to an earlier cohort, I’m going to stay here. I’ll be in my early 50s at that time and will have a nice stash to enjoy my retirement. In the meantime, I’m trying to avoid becoming obsessive with our NW, as we are just about to hit a nice milestone.
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Things are very much on autopilot for me right now. We don't really set much of a budget. I know how much should be going into retirement accounts and that's all configured to go into those accounts before I can even see it. We live off the rest. I'll tweak that a bit this coming October when I get my yearly raise so we're sending some more cash towards the mortgage. What's going to the retirement funds is a percentage of my whole earnings, so that'll go up slightly on it's own as well.
This might be why this is fairly quiet. I'm guessing most of us shooting for 2028 are on autopilot. All our retirement vehicles and HSA are automated... and we don't have a budget so much as buckets I keep an eye on every few months. But I feel like we could probably optimize a bit better and maybe start sticking a little extra on the mortgage or into a taxable account. Mostly just because it feels like we should/could be doing something. Maybe I just need a new hobby. ha!
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I founded the 2029 cohort thread as I thought that'd be when I was retiring a few years back. Managed to shave a year off though. That's a very active discussion compared to this one mostly because early on a bunch of us put a bit of work into it. We figured out various milestones based on when the cohort began its existence and have a countdown to 1/1/2029 as well as a check in once or twice a year when we hit a new percentage milestone. https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/welcome-to-the-forum/2029-fire-cohort/msg1534915/#msg1534915 is the latter if anyone wants to check it out.
Even there though discussion is tapering a bit as we slide into the long middle of saving and saving some more.
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I tend towards introverted, and I also have a lot of things on autopilot right now. Maybe the few of us in this cohort are just quiet? I'll probably just post a progress update at the end of the year and that will be good enough for me.
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Well, cohort peeps we just passed the $1M mark in net worth so I thought that was worth a post in here.
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Well, cohort peeps we just passed the $1M mark in net worth so I thought that was worth a post in here.
Congrats! You must have a high target number if you plan to work 9 more years. That will probably get you past the $2M mark.
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@efree , thanks for the congrats. And, yes the number I have in mind is just over $2M. We have a lot tied into our house (HCOH here) necessitating a high total net worth to be able to retire.
Luckily, I am currently enjoying my work and my husband is interested in working even longer than me.
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just checked，reached 1 million mark，without including house equity. Hope to reach 2 millions in 9 years. It would be tough as also need to pay kid's extra curriculum and college tuition between now and then.
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I am pretty sure this is going to be my cohort. I will be about 45, and my boyfriend will be able to retire with a pension this year. I am currently only at 7x my annual spending so I have a lot of work to do.
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This is my FI cohort, but I may decide to continue working a few additional years, to increase the stash!
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I'd like to join this group. We have decent income and savings but a huge annual spend currently but only because we are prioritizing convenience and sanity while our kids are growing up. In 2028 our youngest will be going to college and our budget should be slashed dramatically.
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I'm glad to find that 2028 is an active cohort already! I will retire with 20 years active duty in Sept 2028, and hopefully I'll be able to convince my husband to join me within a few years.
How is your journey going? I am pretty much in the same situation and timeline as you!
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We are a very quite bunch! Still looking at 2028, but progress is good and could be sooner - just hit 1.2M in net worth. But, my husband wants to work longer and I'm not sure I want to be retired too many years while he continues to work. Also, lots could happen in 8 years so this cohort is as good as any :)
How's everyone doing?
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2028 is my stretch goal. I'm in the 2030 cohort as my most likely FIRE year but I'm really hoping to retire on my 50th birthday 12/20/2028! Shaving 2 years off my FIRE date is not completely out of the question what will all the time ahead of me to get to work. I did recently discover that I could reduce my FIRE number by a small amount as our house will be paid off by 2033 (at the latest) unless we move to a much more expensive house (not likely!)
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Still saving, still on track, still worried I might need to save a bit more to offset the money pit of a house I seem to have purchased. It's not really a money pit... but at this rate in 2028 everything should be new within the past 10-15 years! Probably just in time to start replacing everything again. ha!
I had hoped by now to be saving a bit more (see aforementioned money pit), but the markets are making up for my lack of savings. So we'll keep chugging along and putting money in.
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My current plan is to FIRE on the 31th of May 2028.
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Hi everyone (waves),
I’d like to join this cohort retiring on 1st Jan 2028 if I may. This is a very quiet cohort compared with 2029 and 2030 but I notice many of the posters on page 1 haven’t logged in for well over a year. Hopefully there are loads of active 2028 forum members bubbling away in the background working diligently towards their goal.
I’ll be 50 (eek) in 2028 so I just wanted to beat that milestone and be able to say that I retired in my 40’s. I’m likely to be FI way before then but I’m using my RE date as the criteria for joining a cohort.
Months and months ago in my journal, I realised in talking through all this FIRE stuff, that I had two objectives. The first was to avoid having to work in my 50’s. I do feel that is largely a necessity rather than a luxury. I want to avoid stress, sitting at a desk and screen, deadlines and a lack of freedom when I move into that age group. The second objective was to ensure I could go part time as early as possible in my 40’s. I’m currently aiming for 44-45 for this objective.
Rather than FIRE I thought of this second milestone as Financial Accomplishment Reducing Time. I.e. FI hasn’t quite been achieved but nevertheless a significant financial accomplishment has been, and this would allow me to reduce to hopefully a 2.5 or 3 day working week. Unfortunately as an acronym this is FART rather than something cool like FIRE. I always seem to get unlucky on things like this. So I’m a wannabe FARTer and I’m proud of that what anyone says. We have to embrace what we are.
I have since learned there are phrases like CoastFI, SWAMI, lean FIRE etc. This sort of thing is all good! Basically I want to avoid grinding out a full time stressful position just to hit some number. I want to live as healthy a life as possible as soon as possible.
The additional years part time will help provide State Pension credits and basically means I’m spreading the amount I need to save over a longer time period to minimise the amount of full time years I work.
Let’s do this 2028ers!
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Welcome to the group @Polaria and @never give up ! I'm quietly chugging along towards FIRE in 2028 as well, hope everyone is doing well on their goals!
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Thanks for the welcome E.T. Glad you’re progressing well.
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Welcome!
Thank you for jump-starting a conversation again. The pandemic and working from home definitely reignited my desire to work towards financial independence. As I've stated before, my husband and I both have underlying health issues. When the pandemic first started, we were both faced with what happens if our jobs force us to go into the office. Realizing we had enough saved already to be able to walk away while it was unsafe for us was liberating, but also really made us realize how much we may be one serious health problem away from having to leave the workforce for good. We always *knew* that, but this situation made it real for us.
I will also say on the positive side, we both really liked working from home. We got to see each other all day and also able to do various projects around the house that we didn't really have time for when we were commuting to work everyday. So, our limited glimpse of being home was great.
I plan to go over all our 2020 expenses with a fine tooth comb while off on the holidays. I'd really like to see if we could tighten our belt a bit more and make sure we're on track for our July 1, 2028 date. Hope others are happy and healthy heading into 2021.
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I’ve enjoyed working from home too Otter+Badger. I don’t really want to go back. Good luck with the 2020 expenses. Mine are at record low. It’s been such a strange year.
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It’s been about 6 months since I last posted in here. Well, folks it’s been swell but I think I’m going to join an earlier cohort now.
Not sure yet which one, but I don’t see myself working this much until 2028. At our current pace, I’ll have enough somewhere between 2026 and 2027 to pull the plug.
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Congrats @LeftA !!! That's exciting to be bumping down! Can I ask--did you make any changes in your plan or your circumstances in the last year or two to shave off some time for you or was it all luck in the market?
I was curious how other people in this group was feeling about their 2028 date? When I run our numbers, our expenses have stablized and our investments are ahead of schedule. But, there are still a few big unknowns for us with seven years out that it still feels hard to project. I estamate we are about half way there, but hope to have more money to put into investments after next year. Are other people making any adjustments to their plans that they want to share?
I'm feeling both that seven years is a long way off and also that we're behind in planning for everything we can now. Lol. A good place to be.
Hope everyone is well!
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I’m still happy with my 2028 date Otter+Badger. I could achieve FIRE well before that date but have no desire to grind away in a full time job to achieve it. I’d rather stroll into it in a part time position. I must be about 70% of the way there I think. It’s impossible to know what markets will do of course during these next seven years.
With cash rates so low in the UK I am tweaking my asset allocation a little but not by much.
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@Otter+Badger , thank you! I AM excited. With our more recent progress, just feeling that 2026 is feasible for me. I wouldn’t says it’s luck in the market. It’s more about the differential between what we are earning vs. Spending leading to nice growth in our net worth, over time. Also, this is for me to give up working. husband still wants to work another 9 years more after I retire!
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I was in the 2035 cohort but moved up by 7 years and here I am now. :)
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I was in the 2035 cohort but moved up by 7 years and here I am now. :)
Congrats on shrinking your timeline! That's really great progress. If you don't mind sharing, was it a raise or new COL or some mix of the two? Welcome to the group.
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Congrats on shrinking your timeline! That's really great progress. If you don't mind sharing, was it a raise or new COL or some mix of the two? Welcome to the group.
Thank you.
It was 100% because of my pay raise as I changed jobs with FIRE in mind. I wasted too much time at my first job and did not realize that it was hurting me financially. I will ride this out until I FIRE. Also, I managed to keep my expenses the same resulting in the increase in my savings rate.
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It has been a minute since my last update... Still on track. We did reassess to a higher number after all the house issues. I'd hate to go through this stretch post retirement and feel better with a bit of a cushion. But the markets have helped keep things on track for 2028 even with a slightly higher goal.
Savings rate will be going up after July 1, first raise in over 3 years! Not big, but I'll take what I can get.
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I'm retiring on August 4, 2028. As a fed, that's when I have my 30 yrs--minimum age is only 4 months sooner so I'm staying until 57 and 4 months. Actually, I could leave on the 2nd, but since it's a Wednesday, I figured I could give them until Friday. Plus it's the end of a pay period.
By then the stash should be $1.5m, maybe. Doesn't matter. I'm leaving no matter what. I like my job but not enough to do it a day longer than I have to--well, I'm giving them two days so that's nice of me. At 57 I'll have the stash, a pension, and SS (feds get a supplement until 62). I'd leave now but I only have about $800K and that will only bring in 32K--that's barely state college tuition for 2 kids, both currently in college.
Dh can retire from teaching in 5 yrs, which he wants to do. He'd get a pension. He'd be 60. I guess he plans on staring into space for two yrs.
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Greetings Fellow 2028'ers,
I was reading on other threads about how many people are just leaving their jobs now after all the pandemic stress. It made me think about how long off 2028 seems. We had planned for July 1, 2028, so our seven year count down starts next week. Mr. Otter was talking this weekend about how if we have 7 years left, maybe he should think about making any big career change now. I was thinking how we should double down on the existing plan. lol. I guess this is why we compliment each other.
I really like how much working from home has made FI seem real and exciting. I'm worried that being pulled back into the office will likely be much more stressful again.
Are other people thinking about making a big changes with a timeline of seven years? Has the opening back up of your community and/or job helping or hurting your commitment to the FI plan? Has it made you consider doing more of a LeanFIRE or a coastfire scenario vs. whatever you had envisioned before?
On a positive note, I had my latest cancer check-in and I'm now at 3.5 NED! This news, along with the ACA surviving the Supreme Court again, makes me feel like I will be around and able to hit that July 1, 2028 date! Hope everyone is doing well too.
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Good to see everyone’s updates. Keep on keeping on.
Hi Otter+Badger (waves). Yes I’d heard about an increase in resignations mainly due to people searching out more suitable working environments due to the pandemic. Like you I’m not looking forward to going back to the office. Working from home has helped my stress levels.
I’m looking to go part time next year and cruise through to 2028 rather than slog on full time. That’s the main plan I have lined up. I may also quit the corporate world nearer the time and do something more fun for a couple of years.
I wish you all the positive news in the world health wise.
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Thanks @never give up! I'm been following your journal! I feel like a fan girl. *blushes*
I really appreciated all the different plans you've been contemplating. I feel like this is what I would like to do. When we got started with our FI plans, it was so far out, there wasn't much to really think too much about other than "Save. More. Money." Seven years starts to feel like things are getting real.
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Crumbs I’m honoured to have you following along Otter+Badger. Yes I do tend to plan quite a lot! You are right that just saving is all that exists to begin with but a few years in options and flexibility start to develop. It can be quite overwhelming but I’m trying to view it as the positive that it is.
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Yay on the positive health news @Otter+Badger!
I have been back in the office 3 days per week since last September. About to go back 4 days per week in July. When I started work from home, I NEVER wanted to come back to the office, but now, honestly? The change in scenery is nice. I think 3 days office/two days home is a really good fit for me, unfortunately I don't think that will be an option. But I also don't think a major career change is a likely option either. With my education and background, I'm looking at mostly lateral moves or a step back in pay somewhere else in hopes of a bigger long term payout. That may or may not come. And you know what? I'm okay with that. I realize I am taking the safe path, but the safe path has gotten me to where I am now and it's a pretty excellent place to be.
Markets willing, I am interested in switching to more of a part-time work/cruise FIRE in 4-5 year though. I might have to come find your journal @never give up to read some of those plans!
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You’d be very welcome hudsoncat. Yes it all depends on someone’s personal situation and preferences but my working environment has declined over the last few years. So why slog on full time for four or five years in that situation when the hours could be spread over six or seven years on a part time schedule instead.
The other advantages of this approach are:
1. More years of qualifying for the state pension (I’m in the UK).
2. No difficult transition from full time and saving aggressively to drawing on the stache. A middle ground of saving less or only meeting expenses with earned income would be helpful to me I think before I fully FIRE.
I’m also on a safe path. I hope your plans go well and you can obtain a good work from home balance.
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Thanks @hudsoncat!
You know, I never thought about what I have been pursuing as the safe path, but I guess it is. I value knowing I can take care of myself and my loved ones without compromising my values. I have thought about moving to different positions or taking more risks with my career, but at the end of the day, I like being left alone after hours. loll
I'm sure from a purely financial perspective, it is riskier to not have a more diverse set of skills and connections. I don't know. Maybe the closer I get, the less pressure I will feel to be safe and try for something that I always thought would be interesting but outside my current level of confidence. They say the more FU money you have, the more confident you become.
We just got a survey asking how we would like to return to work. Apparently the overwhelming consensus is that everyone wants a hybrid. So, we'll see how they respond.
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Jumping in with a random update. I'm at 20.88% of my FIRE number! 2028 was my stretch goal but now I am firmly in this Cohort. No way am I working to 2030. I'm using the 5% rule instead of the 4% knowing that we have a very small mortgage (which will be paid off in 15 years) and Mr. Pug will still be working for years to come, no plans for him to retire at all.
how is everyone else doing?
1496 working days left (or less ;P )
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I love the fact you know your progress to not one but two decimal places haypug16! That’s great. Hurrah for stretch goals and small mortgages!
I’m still stunned at how the markets are helping me. It’s like having a clone of me going out to work and giving me their salary each year. It’s a bit weird to get used to and I keep waiting for it all to go wrong.
I’m still pursuing and contemplating my plans to go part time. I haven’t been this indecisive over something since I was faced with rows and rows of underwear in my local store. Who knew there are so many fits!
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It’s like having a clone of me going out to work and giving me their salary each year.
Isn't it awesome! This year my dollars went to work for me and brought in $20k. Last year was $13k and the year before was $9k. It's so nice to see the market return increasing each year though I know this is not always going to be the case it's very motivating.
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I still can’t get my head around it haypug16. That’s really great progress you’re making there. I keep waiting for the inevitable fall but will definitely remain motivated either way.
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I'm joining this group now. In 2028 our son will be done grade 12, and I'd like to do a lot more traveling.
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Happy New year!!!
Just about 7 years left to go for me FIRE date planned for 12/20 which is my 50th birthday.
My retirement savings is at 21.28% of my goal as of YE 2021
Goal for this year is to end around 30%
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Happy 2022!
We just did our annual goal setting and budget this weekend. We ended the year 46% to our goal due to the stock market going gang busters. If we keep all our percentage contributions the same, I hope we will be 53% of our goal by the end of 2022 (assuming only 5% growth). DH had the opportunity to move into another department at his job that is his dream, but it necessitated a $10K drop in income. It was a no-brainer since this is the program he wanted to get back into for the last two years. He will be a case manager for people struggling with mental health crises who lack health insurance. With all the continued economic stress and uncertainty, his work is important than ever for those who lack health insurance and social support. It is a beneficial part of the F-You Money mentality that we can make happen to increase our quality of life now.
Our other main goal for this year is to get serious about our physical health. It is no use trying to get to 2028, if we come in all worn out and broken. So, we splurged a little bit on weights to complete our home gym and fitbits to track our movements. The daily accountability is very helpful--just like it was when we started tracking our finances.
My secondary goal for this year, will be to have a successful garden that we will be able to harvest and put up for next winter. Part of my 2028 FIRE plan is that we become self-sufficient where we can. I have mapped out all the skills and projects I would like to have mastered to feel extra-confident that we can handle anything that comes our way after we leave paid work. Last year was the first year we had a garden, so I learned a lot. But, I have to learn a lot more if I expect to be able to cover a sizeable portion of what we have to buy from the store now.
Hope you all are motivated and off to great start in the new year!
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Happy 2022 Otter+Badger and the other 2028ers.
Well done on the health and gardening goals. They are good ones and really good examples of goals to work towards well before FIRE. It’s all to easy to leave them until after FIRE has been achieved. A list of skills and projects to master sounds fantastic. Have you got any others you’d be willing to share?
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@Otter+Badger - I have a similar gardening goal. I recently picked up the book "The Self-Sufficient Backyard" it's by a couple that's been living off the grid since the 70s. It's a bit more hard core than I'm looking to go but I'm hoping it will give me some skills to be able to grow most of our own food.
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Thanks for the recommendation @haypug16 ! I will check that out. Winter is a perfect time to read up and plan for spring.
In thinking through my "2028 Freedom Plan", I tried to map out all the main areas where it would be good to increase our self-sufficiency. From there, I made a list of things under that concept that I'd like to learn. My goal was to pick a few to learn each year. Developing a working plan that we were implementing throughout the year really helped with the 'boring middle part' where we just set our financial contributions and then had nothing to do but wait. I always like MMM’s mantra that FI is a muscle and a mindset that is more than just money.
Here's the rough plan:
Housing
• Get an energy audit. Learn to weatherize the house for winter.
• Develop a house maintenance list and make sure we are doing our quarterly tasks.
• We bought an older house that needs a lot of cosmetic work--so learn how to do as much of it as possible.
• Repair small issues where we can—mostly, trying to figure it out before we just automatically call a professional.
• Slowly replacing disposable products with permanent ones. I’d like to be plastic-free by 2025.
Food
• Grow a garden with enough variety and amount to cover a good portion of our needs.
• Learn to can, dry, or preserve the various foods that we grow.
• Learn to save seeds so that we don’t have to continually buy new seeds or plants each year.
• Gradually learn to cook/bake as much of our food as possible so we’re not relying on convenience or prepackaged food.
Health
• Learn basic first aid and CPR.
• Discover more natural health remedies.
• Learn to meditate.
• Get a bike and learn basic maintenance.
• Go down to one car in retirement, so using the bus for other chores/social activities would be a good practice to establish now. Currently, I only take it to work.
• Invest regular time to spend getting to know our neighbors and time with our family and friends.
• Find at least two non-profits that we’d like to volunteer with that we already know we’d enjoy.
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Captain Pierogi reporting for 2028 Cohort duty. I'll be 55, spouse 59 - so not super early, but better than most. We're hoping for some CoastFIRE starting in 2026, but a lot can happen between now and then. As of the end of January 2022, we were at 67% of our RE goal. I don't even want to bother updating with the way the market's been going lately. Our hope is to hit goal by 2026, when our son heads off to college, and then we divert savings to his educational endeavors.
Not much more to add at this point because as someone said earlier, the point right now is to save, save, save. But the shift to more active planning will be coming soon, and it's good to be here with you all.
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Welcome Captain Pierogi!
It is exciting to have a plan--especially when things are so uncertain in the immediate.
If I understand your plan, you would hope to hit your goal by 2026, and but continue working for two extra years with your earnings going towards your son's education? That is an interesting way to plan. It made me start thinking about how much each extra year of work 'covers' an existing expense--not just a portion of the total. Currently, we're 50% to our FIRE goal, so we have our housing expenses and utilities covered. This year, I could imagine saving the annual food budget in FIRE.
I make the running joke to my husband if we are having a really rough time at work, "Well, we could retire now if you don't mind living on cat food." It helps me to think about how much we have covered already, but I like this concept of saving for some specific need each year. It is the creative ways to thin about how to measure things that keep me engaged.
I appreciate your perspective and glad you are here!
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Welcome Captain Pierogi and thanks for the reminder to post. I had meant to reply to Otter+Badger’s excellent “2028 Freedom Plan” from the post on the 12th January.
I like this a lot! It’s really great what you are doing here Otter+Badger, in being so proactive in looking at these things now and not waiting until the magical FIRE date. Your existing categories are great. Would tax be another or are these all non-financial items?
In a similar thought process I had thought of producing some sort of “wheel of joy” to help me. Picture if you can some sort of diagram with overlapping circles that cover aspects of our lives allowing us to live healthy and well-rounded lives. I was thinking of categories such as physical, mental, community, home, diet among others and then listing ways of spending my time that cover each one. For example physical would cover exercise such as walking, cycling, weights and yoga. Once the categories are padded out I then need to identify missing skills etc.
I may be waffling here or be describing something that already exists, but I do think it is important to be prepared for a drastically different phase of life that FIRE will bring. Your freedom plan is certainly doing this.
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Nice to see some updates!
We're planning for a couple years of "saving for a specfic need." Our RE plan is to have the house paid off in 2026 (I know the math, but it is a piece of mind decision for us... we're not paying extra actually, that is just when our OG 15 yr mortgage ends) and the plan is to use the additional two years of mortgage payments to fix/replace all the things in our house that maybe we've been coaxing along (Jokes on us, we've replaced almost all of those things in the last 5 years, ha!) and put whatever is left in a set aside saving account (as high yield as I can find at the time) for the eventual things that go wrong. I've joked on the forum (and I think in this thread) that our current house is a money pit... it's really not. But in the past five years we have replaced: HVAC, half the plumbing, hot water heater, main sewage line, lift station pump... the list goes on. Those are just some of the highest costing ones. I'm just a little gun shy about exactly how much homeownership costs. So... overkilling the house savings in 'safe' spot even if it costs us gains in the long run. Investments should be the same during that 2 year period though.
All this is predicated that we stay on the current path however. My work has become... less secure. And frankly a lot less enjoyable. We do not live in a great location for my particular career and Mr Hudsoncat makes significantly more than I do, so moving is not the most attractive option... A different job where we live to me would be a fairly big career switch that would likely result in a more entry level position to start and a pay cut. So.. we'll see!
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Thanks for the welcome. I know our savings plan seems a little unorthodox, but it's good to see someone else here thinking similarly. On paper, we have $0 saved for our son's education, but in reality, we have access to ROTH IRA principal, a small-ish 457, Stock options that will vest in a few years, and one of us turns 59.5 while he's in college. So there are options. It's just good to think of setting ourselves up first, especially because we're both in career situations where it's hard to regroup if something happens.
Good luck hudsoncat with the job situation. I have done the fairly big career switch multiple times (engineering, nonprofit management, public sector, and now higher ed. I'm eyeing a side gig that could turn me independent consultant.) It's definitely not easy, but it's usually worth it. And it's nice to have a significant other were more stability to work through the transitions.
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I'm going to guess at 2028 for retiring--decently far in the future that it doesn't feel like a huge commitment but also close enough that it feels exciting. I will throw out some big plans that should be funny to look back on in a few years.
- I will be 41 and wife will be 34.
- First baby is due in November this year and by 2028 we should have 3-4 total and be done.
- I hope to have maxed of use out of FMLA for those children, probably broadly spaced out over the year like every Friday off or something. So I will have only worked 4 days a week for most of the time between now and then.
- I will have enjoyed 5 years to no property tax and little state income tax due to Renaissance Zone process on my current residence.
- After retiring, I will build a substantial part of my own house on the property that I am currently close to closing on. Future me may think it is very hilarious to plan on building a house with 3-4 young kids.
- That will be 5-6 additional years of maxing out 401(k) plus growth so around $600k in retirement accounts.
- Continued movement of $100-150k per year average from high risk investments (crypto and private shares) into mostly index funds results in $700k taxable brokerage.
- $1.3m seems a little light on "normal" invested funds...going to have to think hard about that.
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Told my wife that I have a lofty goal of retiring in 2028...she's skeptical.
We are still pouring money into home improvements. The previously mentioned lot purchase is hilariously self-destructing.
So I've got a lot of cash sitting around not likely to be needed (still small chance). I made the first of what are for now planned to be monthly contributions of $10,000 to my taxable investment account. VTI.
Eligible for 401(k) in about 1 month so excited to start maxing that out.
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I have changed jobs... I now have a lengthy commute (we will hopefully move). It's an okay bump in pay, but will likely be balanced out with slightly higher cost of living when we relocate (i.e.- any house we buy will be much higher in cost than our current home and we will no longer have a our super sweet mortgage interest rate). It honestly doesn't make a ton of financial sense. It's likely a wash, it might even set us back slightly in the short term. But... my morning pep talk to get out the door each morning was verging on 15 minutes. I felt dread to the point of feeling almost ill every Sunday night... So here I am. New job. Long commute. Significantly happier. Significantly better opportunities to advance.
Otherwise we are on track to max all the things. Though I am watching closely on a few with the job change. The HSA at the new job has incentives, which of course I am trying to get by year end, but also want to make sure I max without going over.
Savings has gotten a nice bump with my vacation payout. Currently holding that and some other additional cash for a minute while we contemplate a move. But I admit... I sometimes wonder if buying a house is the right move given that we will not stay in this are after we retire. Housing is high now and we have a (hopefully) short timeline. So we'll see where/how we end up housing wise.
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Congrats on the new job and good luck with sorting the other things out.
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I'm going to guess at 2028 for retiring--decently far in the future that it doesn't feel like a huge commitment but also close enough that it feels exciting. I will throw out some big plans that should be funny to look back on in a few years.
- I will be 41 and wife will be 34.
- First baby is due in November this year and by 2028 we should have 3-4 total and be done.
- I hope to have maxed of use out of FMLA for those children, probably broadly spaced out over the year like every Friday off or something. So I will have only worked 4 days a week for most of the time between now and then.
- I will have enjoyed 5 years to no property tax and little state income tax due to Renaissance Zone process on my current residence.
- After retiring, I will build a substantial part of my own house on the property that I am currently close to closing on. Future me may think it is very hilarious to plan on building a house with 3-4 young kids.
- That will be 5-6 additional years of maxing out 401(k) plus growth so around $600k in retirement accounts.
- Continued movement of $100-150k per year average from high risk investments (crypto and private shares) into mostly index funds results in $700k taxable brokerage.
- $1.3m seems a little light on "normal" invested funds...going to have to think hard about that.
Hopefully your wife knows about the 3-4 kid plan! Seriously though, why so many? Congratulations on the first. Don't be surprised if you end up reconsidering this large number of children and go for like 1 or 2, that would change your financial assumptions. Children are expensive (not to mention bad for the environment). I do think 1.3 million is low for 5 people when there is so much unknown. I subscribe to the philosophy that if you bring them into the world you should assume responsibility for life (consider the possibilities of lifetime support of your children due to disabilities both at birth and after). If you or your partner are working at home as the childcare provider then that cuts down on childcare costs, but one of you will be losing your earning potential. Like it or not, SAHP are discriminated against (in the US anyway). FMLA is an Obama era policy and as politics can fluctuate, it may or may not be with us in the future.
It's cool that you have invested in a Renaissance zone, I don't know if there is any financial risk to buying properties in those types of areas but I appreciate that some states are investing in this way.
For the record, I'm officially signed up for the 2027 cohort, but I check all these other ones often enough.
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Hopefully your wife knows about the 3-4 kid plan!
She knows and is on board with 3-4. Though she frequently changes her mind on many things, so I will take what I can get.
Seriously though, why so many?
- I currently believe that the proliferation of life is the closest thing I have found to the meaning of life.
- I believe that 3-4 is the quantity that I will find most rewarding. Admittedly heavily biased by having grown up in a successful 4 children household.
- I believe that we will be able to raise above-average quality children.
Children are expensive (not to mention bad for the environment). I do think 1.3 million is low for 5 people when there is so much unknown. I subscribe to the philosophy that if you bring them into the world you should assume responsibility for life (consider the possibilities of lifetime support of your children due to disabilities both at birth and after). If you or your partner are working at home as the childcare provider then that cuts down on childcare costs, but one of you will be losing your earning potential. Like it or not, SAHP are discriminated against (in the US anyway). FMLA is an Obama era policy and as politics can fluctuate, it may or may not be with us in the future.
"One can always make more money" (probably). Haha but seriously, I hope that my family is my life's crowning achievement and I will work hard to make it happen. Separately (I think?), environmental impact is overall not a concern to me in planning quantity of children.
My wife is already stay-at-home lol. She had a seasonal job and then returned to finish college...then dropped out because she got pregnant (basically...and it is funny to say that's what happened to someone in their mid-twenties). She has been nannying for my sister so she is at least doing something. TBH she doesn't have very strong near-term earning potential so here's hoping she is successful at the SAHM thing!
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- I currently believe that the proliferation of life is the closest thing I have found to the meaning of life.
- I believe that 3-4 is the quantity that I will find most rewarding. Admittedly heavily biased by having grown up in a successful 4 children household.
- I believe that we will be able to raise above-average quality children.
"One can always make more money" (probably). Haha but seriously, I hope that my family is my life's crowning achievement and I will work hard to make it happen. Separately (I think?), environmental impact is overall not a concern to me in planning quantity of children.
Good for you! We need more people willing to have kids
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Hello Class of 28,
Technically my retirement date is December 31, 2027, but I feel more comfortable joining this cohort since January 1, 2028 is easier to track. I'm looking forward to the 5 year countdown and really trying to maximize my savings these last 5 working years.
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5 year countdown has started!
I'm aiming for Sept/Oct 2027 for my last possible day of actual work. However, it has occurred to me that if I make it that long I'll still have one last earned income check coming in 2028. I'll have the right combination of factors to qualify for a pro-rated bonus for 2027, and that will pay out in March 2028.
Not sure where the Internet Retirement Police would put that for actual retirement date, but I am going to have to account for that in deciding what I'm doing about health insurance for the first year.
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Welcome!
It was exciting to realize on New Year's that we are at the five year countdown mark. One of our goals in 2023, is to begin test driving our expected post-retirement budget to see how restrictive it actually feels. We have two years of our budget in the house/neighborhood we are currently in. While we were aggressively saving, we also didn't really restrict ourselves for any spending--particularly for house improvements or family travel/gifts. Naturally, when we finished tallying our expenses for the year, we were about $10K higher than what we're 'budgeting' for our FIRE lifestyle. It made me realize we should really be more diligent about observing how well we are able to consistently meet our desired monthly budgets while we still have a good long ramp to figure out if we need to be making serious adjustments.
I'm just curious how many folks are already living at the expected FIRE Budget? Any other big things people are thinking about 5 years out that seem more pressing than they did at six?
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Hi Otter+Badger and others (waves). Happy 2023 to the 2028ers. 5 years to go is quite the milestone. I have a feeling I will hit FI and continue working part time for a period of time as I don't believe I'm the personality type to ever believe fully in the numbers. So, I don't know if I should belong to a cohort year for when I will become FI or when I finally finish working for pay.
Anyway, putting that aside, I definitely think it is worth living at your target number for a sustained period, as defining enough and our relationship with money is key to all of this. I'm actually the other way around as I'm only living on 50-60% of my target number as I'm trying to make up for lost time, and earn myself some options. I'm also keeping a very close eye on inflation and how that impacts my spending. My core expenses rose by just over 5% last year which is good compared to the headline rates.
I do need to start spending a little more though to check my intended budget is enough.
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Loving the new job from September. Commute is... fine. We continue to hesitate on buying a new home closer to my job. Housing prices have calmed down... but interest rates are still double than our current rate. And we still do not plan to stay in this area once we FIRE... Also our current home will be paid off in three years (I know... but the spouse likes the security of it. It would already be paid off if spouse had their way... paying out the 15 year mortgage we took out pre-FIRE planning was the compromise). Sigh. So many considerations. TBD on that front.
Should be fine to max all the retirement things even with the increase in limits. So there we just keep on, keeping on...
Our year over year spending is pretty in-line with what are target yearly spend in retirement will be. But even 5 years out it still feels like so much can change! So who knows if I am realistic? Some times I feel like I have less of a handle on all this than I did when we set the plan. But at least in the short term, the saving/spending is dialed in. And that's important.
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We are beginning to live on our proposed budget. It has been eye opening and we really want to ensure that we have enough money so we may have to make changes to our budget or work a wee bit longer.
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We are beginning to live on our proposed budget. It has been eye opening and we really want to ensure that we have enough money so we may have to make changes to our budget or work a wee bit longer.
I feel like this is my biggest weakness in this field; figuring out, tracking, and planning our spend just seems so difficult and elusive. It's frustrating, as I know this is ultimately how you figure out your "number" for retirement. Hoping it gets easier to spend the time on this after I start downshifting.
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Hello all! I've been crunching numbers in various retirement calculators and am fairly confident we will be firmly FIRE'd by 2028 so I thought I would add myself to the cohort.
My wife and I have a daughter with special needs and are looking forward to when we can step back from work to focus on her care and building a stronger family foundation. My wife and I are both in the rat race and are feeling burnt out and we're both ready to start a new chapter of our lives.
I've been using YNAB for a few years so have an idea of what our expenses look like. Although, it's really varied by year and we are definitely feeling some inflationary pressures of late. We've also had a string of unexpected major home expenditures recently, so are trying err on the side of caution when estimating retirement expenses.
My wife doesn't want to entirely hang it up, so thankfully she should be able to easily find some part-time work-at-home consulting gigs in her field. I think I'm going to be just fine without a job for while. Also my industry doesn't have a lot of part-time or consulting work available so I'd have to look outside my normal wheelhouse. We should be comfortable enough by 2028 to have to flexibility to work, or not work as we see fit.
We both have golden handcuffs in the form of significant defined benefit pensions coming. I can begin taking an early withdrawal around 2035 and my wife in 2036. So we're in a fortunate situation, but it's been difficult to figure out exactly how much to save on top of the pensions since we plan to exit 5-10 years before we are eligible to start drawing. Again, we are erring on the side of caution and should probably be able to manage with just our investments, but once the pensions hit, we'll be pretty comfortable. That will also allow us to establish a nice nest egg in a trust for our daughter after we pass (which is our biggest priority).
I would quit today if I could, but the years are going by quick. 5 years ago seems like yesterday so we're just trying to keep our heads down, make long-term plans and keep socking away the investments every week while not telling our bosses FU!
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Hello Class of 2028
i have decided that i would like to wake up on my 63rd birthday knowing that I am retired, so that would move me up to the 2025 cohort. I do have mixed feelings about retirement being only two years away. I feel like I sacrificed a lot for my career, so it is hard to give it up. Like it or not, a lot of my identity is tied up in being a lawyer. I will also be leaving a fair amount of pension money on the table. But my husband and I just spent six great days visiting my adult sons in Alberta, and I want the freedom to be able to visit them or other far flung family members any time I want.
I have made so many financial mistakes over the years, and spent far more on my kids' activities than was really necessary, but looking back now I don't have any regrets. I have loved every moment spent on family vacations. We put four kids through university or college and made sure that they graduated without any debt (keep in mind this is in Canada, so not quite as expensive, although one was a professional degree and four times as much per year as the others). I did insist that each one contribute as much as they could towards the costs. I worry a bit that maybe we gave too much to them, but I realize that the desire to spend or save seems to be innate - each of my kids has very different attitudes towards money. And honestly - none of them really want my advice, at least when it is unsolicited.
Good luck to the Class of 2028 - but be sure to enjoy the next few years and treat yourselves now and then. I can't believe I am 60 years old - and one day you too will wake up on your 60th birthday and wonder how the fuck the time went by so quickly.
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Hi Class of 2028....Would like to throw my possibly over optimistic hat into the ring to be FI at age 50 and by August 2028.
I am selling a portfolio of properties with a modest profit as i am quite highly leveraged and suffering due to the relatively high interest rates in the U.K.
I am also downsizing to realise a sum of cash to kick start my 'stache and am then looking to try and save about £2k / month for 5 years into a low rate ETF (either FTSE 100 or S & P 500 or a mix of both).
I have worked in my current job in automotive manufacturing for the last 22 years and have become very stale and unmotivated. Recent friends and family cancer scares and deaths have really kick started my desire to have a much better life with my family, partner and 3 boys and 2 step children.
The extra complication is that my partner of of 15 years decided last year that she wanted to quit as a teacher and go back to Uni to do a psychology degree that obviously scuppers our finances hugely but I need to support her in her dreams.
Good luck to all and lets see how it pans out!
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Hello 2028 crew. I should have added my name here a few years ago, but I am planning to retire in June 2028 from teaching at the age of 52. My wife, also a teacher will be 55 and she will be eligible to start drawing her pension that year. June 2028 is also the year that our kid will be graduating from high school, so it seems like the perfect time to say goodbye to the Monday to Friday workforce.
Over the past few years I've taken two half year leaves of absence for travel and life enjoyment purposes and while they have been amazing, they have also shown to me that I'm not ready to retire yet. Having some structure to my day is still important to me, so once again I'm back in the classroom, only this time both my wife and I have dropped down to working 50%. I think this is the ultimate balance, I still get to do something I love (teaching) but have way more time for everything else in life.
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Looks like a lot of the cohort threads have some end of the year posting happening, so I thought I'd revive this thread.
I love how in my January update I was all, "Savings/spending dialed in!" and proceeded be a spendy, spendy pants. We traveled A LOT this year. Both planned and unplanned. We splurged on some experiences. Treated nieces and nephews a bit more than normal. So yeah... Some of the extra of that was certainly due to rising costs, but really most of it has been spent on fun. And that's fine! Most of it will dial itself back down in 2024 naturally (less travel planned, a couple of the 2023 splurged experiences are actually happening in 2024, we just paid for the tickets already). To be clear, we did all the extra spending with eyes wide open and most of it was saved for... but it still feels shocking that we've spent THIS much. Retirement savings was dialed in fine for the year, maxed all the things (401k, 457b, HSAs, IRAs). See no reason 2024 won't be the same. The market has been kind this year and that is always fun to watch.
Still commuting. We still think occasionally about relocating closer, but the right opportunity has not come up yet and the drive isn't bad. My local library has a robust audio book library through Libby I have been enjoying. I've negotiated 1-2 WFH days per week. We're basically in the boring middle. Assuming our spending calms down (we are going to track a little tighter in 2024) and the market does it's thing, we are still on track for 2028.
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It sounds as though you have had a good year hudsoncat. Congrats.
The recent market bump has me at an all-time high and I can see that even my general level of incompetence isn't enough to overcome the power of living below my means and having the confidence to invest the rest. I may just succeed at this FIRE lark!
In 2028 I will commiserate celebrate my 50th birthday. I'd love to be made redundant hand my notice in while still in my 40's.
2023 has seen me move from a 5 day to a 4 day working week, with 3 of those being allowed from home. It's been a large step towards the benefits of full FIRE far sooner. Got to keep going!
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Woohoo!
My DH has finally agreed to retire early from his federal government position and is aiming for 2028 retirement at the age of 55. We're just in the process of figuring out the best strategy of using leave available to him to maximize his pension, which will be a deferred annuity that starts paying when he's 60.
I medically retired in 2020, but after a few years off and then a few years retraining, I'm going back to work this year, but very part time, and work that I want to do indefinitely.
We have savings and real estate investments, that could bridge the 5 year gap, but my part time income will also more than cover our expenses. DH will also likely pick up pretty lucrative consulting work.
However, him retiring from government will open up an enormous amount of flexibility and freedom for us. We always planned to do fun, part time, remote work in "retirement" anyway, so this will really mark the date where we both feel "retired," because we'll be able to move on with a whole new stage of life.
The biggest differences will be DH no longer having a set 8-4 work schedule, and no longer tethered to any given region for his work. He currently works from home, but has limits as to what his location can be.
We're considering doing winters in Mexico because I have a lot of family there.
I am SUPER JAZZED about this because he has been insistent that he wants to work until 60 because he really loves what he works on, but the prospect of more flexible, autonomous consulting work has finally piqued his interest.
He hasn't been worn down by the day-job grind, but I have. After several years of living a more flexible lifestyle, I'm finding his rigid schedule really tedious. Like the fact that even if he's done, he has to stand in front of his computer and log off at exactly 4pm just seems so stupid.
So I'm beyond thrilled to add him to this cohort.
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That's great @Metalcat !
I see there's been a few new people joining in since I last checked in here. Welcome everybody to our quiet little cohort. :)
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I think I am officially aiming for mid-March 2028 (after bonus) to be out at 50 and fat fired. We'll see if I make it. If not, could be as early as 2026.
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I got jealous of seeing other cohorts get activity recently, so I thought I'd provide an update after two years. It feels like just yesterday I joined this group.
We're at roughly 80% of our FIRE goal. If life were set-it-and-forget-it, I'd be very confident in reaching our 2028 goal. But it's not. I'm contemplating some job retraining soon, which would only take a year, but that's still a hit financially. So for now, we're still 2028, but if it doesn't work out, it was done with intentionality and purpose. Which I guess is the whole point. In the meantime, continue the boring accumulation phase!