I also selected 110%+ and FIREd but it's tricky. I have expenses at the moment that will go away in time. My spending last year includes some daycare (which is done, for the next little while, but we'll probably start doing 1-2 days a week at some point this year... depends how stingy I'm feeling vs how much I want some actual alone time), and a car loan (which will probably be paid off shortly... it's at 3%... so I'm not sure I should bother but eh.. cash flow!).
The biggie is that we really should move, but if we can stick it out here another year or two we'll basically have paid the current mortgage off. It all becomes so... theoretical? when you have some liquid assets. I could do this, or I could keep the debt.
So based on last year's spending I'm pretty much at 100% using 4%. Going forward - short term, no moving, car loan gone and no daycare - I'm at 130%. Then drop the mortgage I'd be at closer to 170%. Add back in a larger mortgage and I'm at I-don't-know.
Sounds like you'll be fine regardless!
The issue is going from our current house to probably something twice as expensive. It's a quandry, especially as we are all over the map in terms of lifestyle (country -> chickens and bees, vs condo -> no yard work at all, and renting -> everything is Somebody Else's Problem which is *really* appealing after spending the last few days re caulking the bath mediocrely).
I agree we'll be fine; we're in a position that few outside the FIRE communities could comprehend on what have been fairly modest incomes.
It just hits me every so often - with 'large' (vs living expenses) amounts of money comes great responsibility. Nobody is holding my hand with this; if I want to liquidate my shares tomorrow there is nothing outside myself stopping me. I'm at the top; I was working til the middle-end of last year, and earned roughly what I spent last year. This year I will be living on investments alone (and a bit of child benefit, which goes into the children's investments, mostly). And we are 9? years into a very strong bull market. I "lost" money in 2008-2009 but it was all tied up in a single house, so it wasn't really visible to me. I mean, I *knew* - I did try and sell the house at one point - but what can you do? I didn't want to sell at a 20% loss, so I didn't.
It's been 'the plan' for ages but expecting no money to come except from dividends and selling stuff... for the next 30 years til the government pension kicks in? That's a lot longer than I've been working!
Eh. I mean, my wife's still working. In fact she's early in her trajectory, most likely, though who knows.
It is - mentally - so different from "my salary is $X per month, my expenses $Y, so I'll save $Z" (not that I've had a fixed salary for 9 years now...).
Anyway. I'm very lucky (frugal/etc) to be where I am.