2018 FIRE cohort

[Will]

D'oh!  I can't believe I didn't think this out better...

I converted too much of my Traditional IRA over to Roth, so now I have taxes to pay.  It isn't a crazy amount or anything, but I feel silly.  It isn't like I am going to need that money anytime soon.  Oh well, now I know.

Speaking of having money to spend:  How are you all doing now that we are "spenders" instead of "savers"?  I'm nowhere close to spending 4% each year.  I'm not even at 2%, but I am so used to living frugally now that spending more feels odd.

[Linea_Norway]

Wow!  I was going to go in 2018 and here I am still working.  I am writing this working out of town from a less expensive hotel room.  I could be at home living the good life that I read about continuously on this forum.  The current project ends in April.  No more OMY and no more TMYs.

@pecunia Welcome to the 2020 cohort.

[SwissMiss]

Speaking of having money to spend:  How are you all doing now that we are "spenders" instead of "savers"?  I'm nowhere close to spending 4% each year.  I'm not even at 2%, but I am so used to living frugally now that spending more feels odd.

We’re in the same boat: our spending is not even at 1%. So all good. FIRE is amazing!

@Mr Mark: thanks for the update!

[pecunia]

Finally pulled the plug a few weeks ago.  Two years late.  I'm sort of glad I did right now.  Those extra two years of money should help me weather this pandemic and recover from the big value drop in my retirement savings.  Lots of smart people warning that the financial situation is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.  However, even in normal times there are a lot of smart people warning that the financial situation is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

[CowboyAndIndian]

Finally pulled the plug a few weeks ago.  Two years late.  I'm sort of glad I did right now.  Those extra two years of money should help me weather this pandemic and recover from the big value drop in my retirement savings.  Lots of smart people warning that the financial situation is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.  However, even in normal times there are a lot of smart people warning that the financial situation is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

Better late than never.

Welcome to FIRE!

[Cherry Lane]

Finally pulled the plug a few weeks ago.  Two years late.  I'm sort of glad I did right now.  Those extra two years of money should help me weather this pandemic and recover from the big value drop in my retirement savings.  Lots of smart people warning that the financial situation is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.  However, even in normal times there are a lot of smart people warning that the financial situation is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

Congratulations! 

I haven't been following the 2020 cohort, but I'm guessing there is a lot of OMY going on over there.  It takes guts to retire early, and even more to do so while watching your stash shrink.  So good for you!

[TartanTallulah]

Finally pulled the plug a few weeks ago.  Two years late.  I'm sort of glad I did right now.  Those extra two years of money should help me weather this pandemic and recover from the big value drop in my retirement savings.  Lots of smart people warning that the financial situation is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.  However, even in normal times there are a lot of smart people warning that the financial situation is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

Congratulations 🎊

[Will]

... recover from the big value drop in my retirement savings. 

I have more money now than when I retired two years ago, and more money than even a year ago.

[SwordGuy]

... recover from the big value drop in my retirement savings. 

I have more money now than when I retired two years ago, and more money than even a year ago.

We're down about $54,000 since we retired 2 years ago, but that's just a smidge above what we gave to our son to help with our grandson's medical bills.   

[Buffaloski Boris]

Just dropped by to say Hi! and confirm FIRE is freaking awesome. Lots of travel. Family super happy, SO has been able to go back to school and is about to graduate top of her class with some certificates. She'll then be able to pick up the work she wants to do but with lots of flexibility for vacations and other adventures.

As noted, the market has been more than kind, plus my tenants are paying on time every month and looking after the place. Last year I made at least 3 times more money after tax not working than I would have made working full time in my old mega-corp job. And I'm pretty sure it's only thanks to MMM and JR Collins that I had the balls to hold my nose, ignore the pundits, and put my huge redundancy payout into the market at a 70/30 split last January as soon as the cheque cleared.

And I must say the retired life is damn good. I love the feeling of having a nice relaxed lunch at our local art museum's restaurant, say at about 1:30pm on a Thursday, sipping a glass of sav blanc over my delicious spinach salad, and knowing all is well. Or being able to splurge on upgrades to business class on our next trip because it was a great deal and not having to blink when paying off the credit card.

It's strange I now spend hardly any time back on the forum. Too much other shit to do! Plus, the huge amount of investing research I used to do & enjoy is totally moot - I'm gradually moving to a 'pure' 70/30 ratio using total market and total bond admirals (although included in the bonds % is about 2 years expenses in ultra-short term bonds) as per JL Collins. He was right all along I reckon... now the game is more about tax optimization and finessing the health care system.

Hope everyone else is enjoying being part of the 2018 cohort! Woohoo!!

This is a great tale and I wish I saw you on the forum more often. You have some good insights.

[sui generis]

Today is my 2 year anniversary!

At this point, I've almost forgotten what it was like to have a job.  It's actually a scary thought to think about some terrible circumstance in which I have to report in for a regular job again and deal with all the hassles and politics of the workplace.

I'm keeping busy with volunteering and rather appreciating that travel isn't so possible right now, given the pandemic.  I'm too busy to do much and am glad I don't feel like I'm missing out.  Also, I haven't been to an airport in over 6 months and I couldn't be happier.  Not sure what this says for my future travel after pandemic worries ramp down.  Perhaps less international travel and more backpacking than I had planned.

Speaking of backpacking, a year ago right now I was on the John Muir Trail.  I did this trail solo in 21 days and just over 221 miles altogether.  It was one of the big reasons I wanted to retire early.  To find out if I liked backpacking for that long a time.  And just as an accomplishment.  It was honestly one of the best things I've ever done.  The JMT is a particularly easy long-distance trail, I suspect (the weather in the Sierras can't really be beat, easy resupplies for my hiking style, etc.) so I'm not sure this means I'll do other longer trails in this country, but I could spend a lifetime in the Sierras alone (as Mr. Muir in fact did), so that bodes well for my hiking future...as long as this old body holds up.  Extra glad I retired at 41 to maximize that.

One question I have for folks here:  After spending so much time in spreadsheets before retirement, I now just update my expenses each month to see that I'm staying on budget and check my net worth every...6 months? Year even?  It's nice not to be too obsessed.  But, one thing I need to look into after November 3...how do you all monitor whether you are "on track"?  Do you just trust in the calculations and risks you evaluated before retiring and as long as you are sticking to your own SWR, you are happy?  I'd like to track how my NW is doing as compared to the simulations I did, as I progress through retirement.  See which scenarios I'm most closely following and what the eventual outcome of those are.  Is there a way any of you do that?

[SwordGuy]

@sui generis , I check our net worth every month and track it to monitor overall trends.

As for overall long term plans, I update our plan on www.cfiresim.com as things change.

For the short term, I have a cash flow spreadsheet for the next year or so.    I track when the various bills and estimated incomes will come in.   That way, I'm unlikely to be surprised with the "sudden" need for cash.   (We owned 9 houses at the start of the year, so our home insurance and property tax bills are non-trivial to plan for.  Thankfully we should be down to 5 soon, so I've redone a new cash flow plan for next year when we've sold the excess houses and paid off the mortgages.)   Each month has two columns, one for the 1st-15th, the other for the 16th to the end of the month.   I track income as available if it came in before the first day of the half-month.   I track expenses in the half-month they will come due.    It lets me know which months are budget busters so I plan for covering them.   September is the worst because that's when all the property tax is due.

[markbike528CBX]

@sui generis , I check our net worth every month and track it to monitor overall trends.

As for overall long term plans, I update our plan on www.cfirsim.com as things change.

For the short term, I have a cash flow spreadsheet for the next year or so.    I track when the various bills and estimated incomes will come in.   That way, I'm unlikely to be surprised with the "sudden" need for cash.   (We owned 9 houses at the start of the year, so our home insurance and property tax bills are non-trivial to plan for.  Thankfully we should be down to 5 soon, so I've redone a new cash flow plan for next year when we've sold the excess houses and paid off the mortgages.)   Each month has two columns, one for the 1st-15th, the other for the 16th to the end of the month.   I track income as available if it came in before the first day of the half-month.   I track expenses in the half-month they will come due.    It lets me know which months are budget busters so I plan for covering them.   September is the worst because that's when all the property tax is due.

@SwordGuy , did you mean http://www.cfiresim.com/   ? missed the "e" ?

I update the spreadsheet that I used to obsess over (at work no less) on a weekly to monthly basis.    It updates the future value (FV, in a spreadsheet) of the taxable and non-taxable, gives a combined total that I then plug into various calculators.   
Despite its very conservative values for stock gains (low), taxes(high), etc. , I kinda like https://www.marketwatch.com/calculator/retirement/retirement-planning-calculator, as it is nicely graphical, easy to show DW.

[Monkey Uncle]

Today is my 2 year anniversary!

At this point, I've almost forgotten what it was like to have a job.  It's actually a scary thought to think about some terrible circumstance in which I have to report in for a regular job again and deal with all the hassles and politics of the workplace.

I'm keeping busy with volunteering and rather appreciating that travel isn't so possible right now, given the pandemic.  I'm too busy to do much and am glad I don't feel like I'm missing out.  Also, I haven't been to an airport in over 6 months and I couldn't be happier.  Not sure what this says for my future travel after pandemic worries ramp down.  Perhaps less international travel and more backpacking than I had planned.

Speaking of backpacking, a year ago right now I was on the John Muir Trail.  I did this trail solo in 21 days and just over 221 miles altogether.  It was one of the big reasons I wanted to retire early.  To find out if I liked backpacking for that long a time.  And just as an accomplishment.  It was honestly one of the best things I've ever done.  The JMT is a particularly easy long-distance trail, I suspect (the weather in the Sierras can't really be beat, easy resupplies for my hiking style, etc.) so I'm not sure this means I'll do other longer trails in this country, but I could spend a lifetime in the Sierras alone (as Mr. Muir in fact did), so that bodes well for my hiking future...as long as this old body holds up.  Extra glad I retired at 41 to maximize that.

One question I have for folks here:  After spending so much time in spreadsheets before retirement, I now just update my expenses each month to see that I'm staying on budget and check my net worth every...6 months? Year even?  It's nice not to be too obsessed.  But, one thing I need to look into after November 3...how do you all monitor whether you are "on track"?  Do you just trust in the calculations and risks you evaluated before retiring and as long as you are sticking to your own SWR, you are happy?  I'd like to track how my NW is doing as compared to the simulations I did, as I progress through retirement.  See which scenarios I'm most closely following and what the eventual outcome of those are.  Is there a way any of you do that?

I still track my expenses down to the individual item.  It isn't a hassle as long as I keep up with data entry daily or nearly daily.  I suppose I don't really need to track expenses so closely any more, given that we had our basic expenses dialed in a long time ago.  But I like knowing where we stand in relation to our allowable annual spend.  Our assets need to last another 30-40 years, so I consider it pretty important not to overspend in the early years.

I'm not as anal about tracking net worth.  I'm pretty confident that our allowable spend is safe, so as long as we have spending under control and we're maintaining our target asset allocation, I don't stress too much over whether the stash is going up or down.  I do update the net worth spreadsheet a couple of times per quarter, more out of curiosity that anything else.  So far I haven't had to do any rebalancing.

Congrats on the backpacking trip.  Sounds like you have an idea of what life is about now.  I'm still working out what I want to be when I grow up (though I'm pretty sure it doesn't involve doing full time career work ever again).  The wife and I have done a couple of trips, and would like to do more traveling, but of course that is on hold for now.  We're also doing a bit of volunteer work.  Life has thrown us a couple of serious curve balls this past year (in addition to the pandemic stuff), so we're feeling a bit disjointed, but we're hopeful that we're reaching the point where we can focus on the good stuff again.

[SugarMountain]

I haven't actually retired yet.  After I turned in my notice they countered with a change in role so I've been OMM'ing it and suspect I'll slide into 2019 depending on how this goes. 

I ultimately TMY'ed it, but I've now FIRE'd myself in the middle of a pandemic as part of the 2020 cohort because why not? As of this past Monday I am done.  Still doesn't seem real.

Our stache increased by about 30% in that time, which is nice.  I guess once I get into being FIRE'd I'll have to decide whether the TMY were worth it.  Actually, I doubt I'll think about it much and just look forward.

[Cherry Lane]

Congratulations and welcome to the club!

[CowboyAndIndian]

I haven't actually retired yet.  After I turned in my notice they countered with a change in role so I've been OMM'ing it and suspect I'll slide into 2019 depending on how this goes. 

I ultimately TMY'ed it, but I've now FIRE'd myself in the middle of a pandemic as part of the 2020 cohort because why not? As of this past Monday I am done.  Still doesn't seem real.

Our stache increased by about 30% in that time, which is nice.  I guess once I get into being FIRE'd I'll have to decide whether the TMY were worth it.  Actually, I doubt I'll think about it much and just look forward.

Welcome to FIRE @SugarMountain!

Well before FIRE, I checked my portfolio almost every day/week. During the last couple of years, the checks were once a month. After FIRE, I think I check once in 6 months or so. 

TMY is done, don't worry about it. Go ahead and complete your decompression period. You do not have to do anything. 6 months from now, you will get up when your body has had enough of sleep and you are not obsessing about tasks to do,  you know decompression has ended! Enjoy FIRE!

[pecunia]

I haven't actually retired yet.  After I turned in my notice they countered with a change in role so I've been OMM'ing it and suspect I'll slide into 2019 depending on how this goes. 

I ultimately TMY'ed it, but I've now FIRE'd myself in the middle of a pandemic as part of the 2020 cohort because why not? As of this past Monday I am done.  Still doesn't seem real.

Our stache increased by about 30% in that time, which is nice.  I guess once I get into being FIRE'd I'll have to decide whether the TMY were worth it.  Actually, I doubt I'll think about it much and just look forward.

Congrats!  You made it.

I did the two more year thing myself.  It's been almost 4 months now and decompression is going along pretty well.  I do not miss work!

[SwordGuy]

Bought a new, awesome home last January.  My BIL refers to it as "the estate".   Just sold a few houses we bought on a temporary basis to help some folks out.    Went on SS early last January also.   Paid off the new home mortgage.

Our living expenses, with the removal of both mortgages and the carrying costs of the houses we sold, just dropped about $55K a year.   Our planned SWR based on our generous budget is around negative 1%.

I think we'll do ok.  :)

[Patches]

Hey folks, next month will be my 3 year anniversary and time has flown.  This year we left Seattle and bought a rural home with some land.  Learning about home repair and maintenance has been fun.  I've dug a half mile of trail my 2 year old can handle and have put in a huge garden. We're going to try our hand at having a no-till market garden.  Should we have a bounty I'll probably start a CSA. We're very much enjoying being out of the city and closer to family. I don't get on here much and I just did some scrolling through.  It was fun seeing all your familiar handles again.  I only check my financial situation twice a year and we continue to have more money than we need.  I don't have anything unique or interesting to say so I'll just echo the sentiment that retirement suits us and we'll keep it going for the foreseeable future. I'll also echo the experience that people think it's strange for a 36 y/o to be retired and it generally creates confusion that I'm less than graceful at diffusing.  Keep on keeping on!

[markbike528CBX]

Thanks for the update fellow cohort-ees.  It has been so long I'd forgotten that I FIREd with this cohort, but was OP for 2019. 

Wow, Two years and some odd days in.  I'm occasionally astounded that I used to have a JOB, with all the frustrations and stress.   I finally came clean with my former employer, and said I would NOT be available for occasional work.  The whole idea of a full time job give me the creeps nowadays. 

[pecunia]

Thanks for the update fellow cohort-ees.  It has been so long I'd forgotten that I FIREd with this cohort, but was OP for 2019. 

Wow, Two years and some odd days in.  I'm occasionally astounded that I used to have a JOB, with all the frustrations and stress.   I finally came clean with my former employer, and said I would NOT be available for occasional work.  The whole idea of a full time job give me the creeps nowadays.

I really liked your attitude.  Been out six months and glad to see the goodness can continue.

[SwordGuy]

Hope all of my fellow 2018 cohorters are doing well.    We'll hit our 3 year anniversary in under 2 weeks.  :)

It's grand.  Simply grand.

Health issues and covid got in the way of a lot of fun we had planned to have, but having to work for a paycheck during all that would have been immeasurably worse.

Life is good and we're just waiting for enough people to get vaccinated so that this plague will end.

[sui generis]

Also super grateful I am not tied to a job and an income anymore.  Also just got my first shot, so excited about all the plans coming up - several backpacking trip.  A big 50th birthday trip to MT for my DH and his middle/high school friends + spouses.  A trip to see my own family. 

Last night we went out to dinner and a drive-in movie.  It was actually a bit shocking to see so many people out and about and enjoying all the restaurants in the city (San Francisco).  I think they literally just opened to 50% capacity indoors a couple of days ago and people were *there for it*.  I didn't feel comfortable eating inside yet, so we ate outside and partially froze but it was tasty and it was actually pretty fun and festive to be around (at a distance) so many people, even if it felt a bit weird and slightly worrisome. 

Things are looking up and I'm so glad I'm retired to take advantage of it!

[Monkey Uncle]

I passed the three year mark a little over three months ago.  Life has thrown us some serious health-related curve balls in the past couple of years, but we've been fortunate and we've managed to get through it in good shape.  As Swordguy said, it would have been much worse if I'd have been working a full-time, full-stress career job through all the shit.  The pandemic has pretty much been an afterthought for us, as we've had bigger fish to fry.

Things are looking up, fingers crossed.  We bought a travel trailer and will be taking a big trip out west in a few weeks.

[markbike528CBX]

Just past my 3d FIRE anniversary.   Wow.

I gotta giggle when "bad" shit comes up.  Had a wasp sting that blew up my arm. Zero fucks on the cost of "quack-in-the box" visit or the prescription.

Got the front yard landscaped by a competent crew/designer, but awe-full business customer communication and care. 
It turned out great despite my lack of confidence in the company.
Spent more money on the landscaping than the purchase of DW hand-me-down car several years ago. 
Also 10K to nephew's college education.
Still below 4% withdrawal rate.

MPP: need to work on the excess spending for hedonic adaptation :-)

Edit:
Just be aware that a direct contribution to the institution can affect the students FAFSA (student financial aid) eligibility.
I wanted to be an "anonymous" donor, but the best way (barring some tax issues of the super-rich) is to give to the parents, as this avoids a question (44i) on the STUDENT's portion of the  FAFSA .   https://studentaid.gov/sites/default/files/2020-21-fafsa.pdf
My apologies to the non-US mustaschians who probably have their own bureaucracy forms.

Hope everybody in this and other cohorts are doing similarly and/or better.

Sweating out a 113F (45C) day.

[pecunia]

Been out a bit over a year and the goodness has continued.

[sui generis]

Getting close to 3 years for me and I am so happy and grateful.  On the downside (which doesn't take up a lot of my time/mental energy, though it's about to take up a significant and disproportionate amount of this post) I'm finding two things: I'm increasingly resentful of things that take up my time without my permission or beyond my desires. It's like since I've been out of a job for so long, where I don't HAVE to spend my time in ways someone else tells me to, that I've got out of practice and just can't tolerate it in small ways anymore.  Maybe not a terrible thing, but let's just say I get irritated easily with my volunteer gigs taking up more time and work than they were supposed to.

Other thing is that I still haven't found my perfect day.  I really love staying in bed and reading for a couple hours after DH goes to work, being a bit lazy, etc.  But that can lead me to feeling logy and unproductive when I finally get out of bed.  It seems to be that I literally can't get going if I don't get going relatively early.  But getting up at 7am each day and working out and doing chores just feels like ....too much discipline for me!  But I do feel better, physically and mentally, when I do that.  I just resent it a tiny bit.  Some really tough problems I have, yeah?

[CowboyAndIndian]

Just passed my 3.5 year anniversary.

Has anyone stopped looking at their retirement funds? My spending is lower than I expected and returns have been bountiful. I used to obsess over "The number" but I don't think I have looked at it in over a year.

[pecunia]

Just passed my 3.5 year anniversary.

Has anyone stopped looking at their retirement funds? My spending is lower than I expected and returns have been bountiful. I used to obsess over "The number" but I don't think I have looked at it in over a year.

Good for you,.......the pressure is off.  Now you can just live.

[Cherry Lane]

Just passed my 3.5 year anniversary.

Has anyone stopped looking at their retirement funds? My spending is lower than I expected and returns have been bountiful. I used to obsess over "The number" but I don't think I have looked at it in over a year.

I still look at the end of every month.  I don't do anything with the information but I like to see it.

[SwordGuy]

Just passed my 3.5 year anniversary.

Has anyone stopped looking at their retirement funds? My spending is lower than I expected and returns have been bountiful. I used to obsess over "The number" but I don't think I have looked at it in over a year.

I still look at the end of every month.  I don't do anything with the information but I like to see it.

I track ours on a monthly basis.   I don't do anything with it other than verify (a) it's still there because financial institutions often have no time limit on them correcting their mistakes in my favor but often DO have time limits on my correcting their mistakes in their favor and (b) verify it's within acceptable limits.   If it weren't, then we would know not to make any withdrawals of capital from affected investments unless necessary - so we might put off an expensive upgrade or repair if feasible.

[Caoineag]

I check mint on a regular basis just to keep an eye on potential problems and to be aware of spending levels (also I top off the checking once it reaches a certain level) but updating my spreadsheet gets done about once a year. Back when I worked my husband used to tease me about my semi-erotic relationship with my spreadsheets so my finances are definitely not front and center anymore. I get to spend my time living life instead.

I am not sure how I ever had time for work though. My days go by far too quickly. I presume I sacrificed a lot of sleep, outsourced too many meals and skipped regular chores in order to make it all fit. I like this period of life much better.

[Monkey Uncle]

So, folks, how is it going as you close out your fourth year of FIRE?  Today is my 4-year anniversary.  I posted a short update in the post-FIRE forum.

https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/post-fire/reflections-on-my-4th-fire-anniversary/

Hope you all are doing well.

[sui generis]

I'm closing in on 3.5 years shortly and am just now doing a real decompression. 

I actually retired at least 6 months earlier than I had planned to work on some volunteer projects.  Those have been ongoing and added to in the intervening time.  I was often much too busy, though nothing I hated nearly as much as any job I ever had, thankfully.  But the point is, I decided I finally wanted to do the much-talked-about Decompression. 

So now I guess I am.  Stepped back from volunteer gigs to a large degree and starting to see a lot of days with literally nothing on my calendar.  Once I've had enough of that (which presumably will happen at some point!), I have a list of things to investigate, get involved in, learn about, etc. and we'll see how it goes!

Financially, all seems to be quite well, with huge increases in the portfolio, withdrawals much lower than my planned 3.25% (and not even all due to COVID!) and the longer I can put off those concerns about SORR, the better!

[SugarMountain]

Financially, all seems to be quite well, with huge increases in the portfolio, withdrawals much lower than my planned 3.25% (and not even all due to COVID!)

It's funny, I originally planned to retire in 2018, but got talked into staying by my boss.  Part of my hesitancy was a bit of lack of faith in our ability to cut spending if needed. We talked about it a lot, but had never really flexed the frugality muscles. The first 9 months of 2020 showed me we easily could as just cutting out eating out and travel saved us many thousands.  While it was a little boring, it was not painful at all and having that knowledge that we could do it in our back pocket made it a lot easier to pull the trigger in 2020.

[pecunia]

Like Sugar Mountain, I retired halfway into 2020 as the Covid hit.

It sure has been less stressful.  The days sort of slide by.  I'm thinking that this approaches the way life is intended to be.

Hope it works out for all of you!

Happy New Year!

[Mr Mark]

So, folks, how is it going as you close out your fourth year of FIRE?  Today is my 4-year anniversary.  I posted a short update in the post-FIRE forum.

https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/post-fire/reflections-on-my-4th-fire-anniversary/

Hope you all are doing well.

wonderful. 2018 was a great time to pop imho

Just pulled 2 years cash expenses to rebalance. Can't wait to get back to travelling.

Anyone in Paris October-ish 2023? My friends and I going for rugby world cup.

all the best,
Mr Mark

[Monkey Uncle]

So, folks, how is it going as you close out your fourth year of FIRE?  Today is my 4-year anniversary.  I posted a short update in the post-FIRE forum.

https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/post-fire/reflections-on-my-4th-fire-anniversary/

Hope you all are doing well.

wonderful. 2018 was a great time to pop imho

Just pulled 2 years cash expenses to rebalance. Can't wait to get back to travelling.

Anyone in Paris October-ish 2023? My friends and I going for rugby world cup.

all the best,
Mr Mark

Yes, it seemed like "the top" at the time, and I guess it was a top of sorts, but the overall market expansion over that 4 year period definitely provided some breathing room.

[TartanTallulah]

It's three years and four months since I "retired" and over two years and a whole pandemic since I posted on this thread. I'm still doing my little "retirement" job, currently six hours a day on five days a week, and have remained freelance because I don't value paid vacation and pension contributions as much as I value the freedom to walk away without giving notice and take as much time off as I want. During the various lockdowns I was glad DH and I both had a workplace and colleagues and a respectable reason for going out most days.

I'm 58 now. When I do stop work, it won't be early retirement now, it will just be retirement.

[aperture]

Thanks for the update TT. I hope you learn to not work soon ;-)

It's been 3 years and nine months since I retired, and I'm pleased to announce that Mrs. Aperture is joining me in retirement this summer. She has given notice at work that July 1 will be her last day! I am thrilled.  We are looking forward to dropping our daughter off at the University of her choice (decision pending), and embarking on travel to a relaxing climate for a few months. Our long term ambition is to be slomads & travel around the world, but we'll stay close to the US initially to make sure we're available if the daughter & college don't play nice together.

International travel was the theme song for my pre-Covid retirement 19 months, I spent COVID putting our house in tip-top condition to sell it. We sold in last spring's crazy market and had 13 offers after 3 days - all way over asking. We down sized into an apartment for my daughter's last year of highschool and my wife's last year of work. I took up hiking and besides my regular favorites, have hit at least 100 trails around Denver in the last six months.  Despite the pandemic, Mrs. aperture and I took a 2 week trip to Iceland and camped on the ring road which was a blast. I managed to do a 3-week solo trip to Portugal.

I'm pretty sure everyone is going to travel this summer, so I'll probably be backpacking the Lost Creek Wilderness or section hiking the CT.

I hope all of my classmates are enjoying excellent health and well being. Best regards to you all, aperture.

[less4success]

That was an inspirational update!

[CowboyAndIndian]

Wow! It has been(will be) 5 years for this cohort?  I finished five years at the start of the year.

How is your retirement going? Anyone fall off the wagon? How has covid complicated things? Has the market affected your safe withdrawal rate?

If you had to do this again, what would you do differently?

[CowboyAndIndian]

I finished five years at the start of the year. I am thoroughly enjoying retirement. DW unfortunately has not joined me in retirement. I have a strong feelinn that this will be the year she does.

My original plan was a lot of travelling. I spent my childhood glued to National Geographics and had a huge list of places I wanted to go. Unfortunately, my first trip to Mexico city triggered off Guillain-Barre Syndrome and I am now limited to the places I can go. Then covid hit! I still have managed to travel in the US (South Dakota, North Carolina), a trip to India for my mothers 92nd birthday and finally a trip to Greece over the Christmas-New Year break a few days ago.

I have also replaced my house with a much smaller one at the start of 2021. I've spent the last couple of years building closets,  laundry room and semi-finishing my basement (https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/do-it-yourself-forum!/semi-finishing-a-basement/). Also, working on a native, pollinator garden for my backyard. This spring will start a vegetable garden. I also hope to get back to my bird photography which has taken the back seat to my other projects.

My only regret , I was too conservative and waited too long. Could have easily retired a couple of years earlier.

Best wishes to all for 2023 and welcome to your 5 year of retirement.

[rpr]

@CowboyAndIndian -- good to see an update. Have more adventures.

[SwordGuy]

We'll be at 5 years in April.

We love it!

Financially we're on very firm ground.

Didn't do the travel we wanted.  Injuries/Illnesses the first two years got in the way, and then Covid.  Starting to travel some now.

I'm doing lots of art and writing, both of which I enjoy.

Life is good!

[Monkey Uncle]

I'm three days shy of my 5 year FIRE anniversary.  It has been a whirlwind, for sure.  Lots of bad shit in the personal department, mostly having to do with family health challenges.  But we're still here.  Traveling in fits and starts.  Bought an un-mustachian travel trailer, and now in the midst of an even more un-mustachian size upgrade.  Any financial challenges have been self-inflicted in the form of lifestyle inflation.  But it's nice to know that we would be absolutely fine if we had to pull back on those extravagances. 

I'm actually looking at taking on some very minimal part time contracting work.  But I am way too far gone to ever consider going back to the career world.  I don't know how I ever had the time or the forbearance to hold down a full time job.

[CowboyAndIndian]

@CowboyAndIndian -- good to see an update. Have more adventures.

Thank you @rpr. Hope you and yours are doing fine.

[CowboyAndIndian]

We'll be at 5 years in April.

We love it!

Financially we're on very firm ground.

Didn't do the travel we wanted.  Injuries/Illnesses the first two years got in the way, and then Covid.  Starting to travel some now.

I'm doing lots of art and writing, both of which I enjoy.

Life is good!

I've been following your journal.

Impressed by your helping the Ukraininan artist/refugee!

[sui generis]

I'm nearly at 4.5 years and I am just so happy and better off running my own life and not being beholden to a boss or job or similar obligations.

Except I ended up getting myself two jobs in the last 5 months.  They are both extremely part time (they've been less than 15 hours per week *combined*) and I made enough money to almost completely avoid withdrawals at all for 2022 (TBD with some financial record cleanup still happening).  And they are passion projects, too!  But even then, the obligation chafes a bit.  So I definitely definitely must not commit to any more than this.  I think both of these things will be ongoing for 6 months to a couple more years, but we shall see.

It is nice to have some money coming in and covering expenses.  It's funny how my perspective has changed from being unimpressed with the firehose of cash pre-FIRE to now seeing my direct deposits that add up to less like 1/5 of that previous amount and being like, "ohhhh, look at all the money that's just appearing in my bank account!!"