It has always been my idea that my wife and I would save and save and save for retirement until a point in which if we stopped saving, our "old man money" retirement funds would grow and grow and grow until age 50-60, and we'd have plenty of money at our spending level. After that crossover point, we have thought that each of us working 50% full-time until that age 50-60 would be in our best interests for health insurance for us and the kids, and longevity of the portfolio. Plus, my wife requires the interaction and would otherwise volunteer if she wasn't working.
In my monthly run-ins with Firecalc, I put in the following information:
- $320k current "old man money" portfolio
- $60k/yr expenses (20% higher than normal expenses as a buffer)
- Retire in 5 years (age 36)
- Until retirement in 5 years, contribute $40k (401k with match) + $11k (Roth IRA) + $10k (529), or $61k total each year
- Inputted 50% of SSA's estimated benefit, including the fact that we'd retire early
- Inputted the value of my wife's pension, at age 60, assuming we call it quits at 36
- Inputted an income stream just barely enough to cover our expenses, from ages 36-50
- Inputted an "expense" stream to offset that income after age 50
- Inputted 2 portfolio changes to take out college money
Undocumented "safety buffers"
- Home equity not included anywhere
- We only put in 50% of SS's estimate. While I don't think people my age will get 100% of the current estimate, 50% is pretty conservative
- Cutting to 50% full-time employment will actually provide more money than we spend, therefore adding to the stash.
And, we get 98.9% success.
Summary: Firecalc tells me that we could stop contributing to retirement in 5 years, employ ourselves just enough to cover expenses for a decade, then entirely call it quits when the kids leave the house.
It's all a very interesting situation. I had never worked it out like that and always assumed we were 10-15 years away from anything resembling FI. Moral of the story seems to be not to underestimate part-time employment in your equation. I know that this is not "retired" in the eyes of the Retirement Internet Police... but it will certainly be easy sailing.
Since this is the "Ask a Mustachian" forum, tell me about your "old man money" "young man money" situations that might involve part-time work in your current industry.