Massaging the sausage and filling the casings was fun. And sometime it still is.
But as I yearn to spend more time with the little Fromans, I will often times run a number of calculators to see if I can pull the cord - or at least have some peace in my head that the option to do so - is there.
The two I touch a lot are FireCalc (
https://www.firecalc.com) and cFirecalc (
http://www.cfiresim.com/).
I have a --- meh ---- (80% confidence) level idea of my monthly outgo.
And I play with these calculators to see how *close* I am.
I have (foolishly?) always taken the default Total Market investment approach of XX% Equities and YY% Bonds. This is something that on cFireCalc you cannot change, meaning you are limited to changing percentages in equities, bonds and cash.
WHEREAS I recently found in FireCalc that I can choose a Mixed Portfolio and set percentages. So.,.... having listened some to Paul Merriman and his Ultimate Buy and Hold Approach (
https://paulmerriman.com/the-ultimate-buy-and-hold-strategy/) ... I tossed in his suggested spread.
WOW.... can I get out NOW?
Am I doing this wrong or can I really pull that cord?
Here is what I found....
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Query #1========================
Investment of $1M.
Spending = $40K and Years = 45.
In the "Your Retirement" tab - the selection is "Total Market" with a 75% Equity and 25% Bond split. RESULT ===>
79.4% success rate. ---------------------------------
=======================
Query #2========================
Investment of $1M.
Spending = $40K and Years = 45.
In the "Your Retirement" tab - the selection is "Mixed Portfolio" with the following diversification percentages... (10, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 6). RESULT ===>
100% success rate.--------------------------------
Too good to be true?
I played with Spending - hiking it up 25% to $50K and success rate was at 91%... .good enough for me.
So here ae my closing questions....
1. Am I using this right =- and are the results valid?
2. Is there another calculator similar to FireSim that allows me to put in a mixed poerfolio spread and test FireSim?