Mushroom, from that MMM blog post we are on strategy 1 "Old Man Money". Here are the details fresh from mint and spreadsheets.
I am 37. My wife is 32.
Our combined Old Man savings are:- 401(k) = $34,000 (currently planning $35,000 next year) + 6% match for me of $4560 and reliable +5% bonus match of $3800
- ROTH IRA = $10,000 (currently planning $11,000 next year)
- approx $4530 per month in savings for 2013 including match and bonus
Our combined Old Man assets are:- ROTH = $62,000
- 457 = $68,000
- 401(k) = $80,000
- Current total = $210,000
Our combined FI savings are $4,000/month
Our combined FI assets at this time are $41,000 cash and $10,000 vanguard portfolio
Our current monthly expenditures are:- Food, Household items, Restaurants, Entertainment $700
- Mortgage with escrow = $1300
- Utilities & Internet = $175
- Car Insurance, maintenance, gas, commuter vanpool fee = $400 (I know, I know)
- Budgeted savings for things like vet, gifts, etc = $200
- Total Monthly expenses = $2775 (74% savings)
- We have future plans to move closer to work and downsize the mortgage
Post FI target yearly amount = $30,000 in 2012 dollars
Please Note:Our FI savings is very recent. We have very little in Vanguard because I have experience flipping houses from when I was younger and our plan right now is to go real estate heavy while the cash-on-cash opportunities from rentals in our city are good. Our real estate strategy is also why we have a lot in the cash account. Its the opportunity account.
The question:So as you can see our Old Man account is much more mature than our FI account. So I plunk into firecalc these figures:
- Retire in 2035, when I am 60
- $30,000 in income desired
- 60% stock and 40% bond portfolio
- $210,000 in current assets
- Live 43 more years. 8% chance my wife will succeed in that. I will not :(
Firecalc tells me if I stop now I have a 0% chance of failing those conditions. So I could stop now.
Some opportunities I recognize are first that I would keep contributing enough to get the match regardless. Second that my 457 account is now a tax deferred bank account that I could withdraw from at any time without penalty since I no longer work for the gov't. Consequently, my thought is to dump in another $68k into the 401(k) and then reconceive the 457 from an Old Man mental account into a FI mental account. Third, that there are other opportunities with principal withdrawals from the IRA and 72t withdrawals from the 401(k).
The fourth opportunity would be to minimize the Old Man savings and direct it instead to the FI savings. That is what I am seeking some thoughts on.