So ... what constitutes the FIRE goal?

[albireo13]

I am turning 60 soon, married with 5 kids.  They are almost all out of the nest and we hope to sell the house and downsize next year and really cut our expenses.  We are now really thinking about retirement soon. I don't want to work past 65 and would love to retire at 62. Problem is I don't think we have enough saved yet to retire.  What is a good target for FIRE?  How much do we need to have saved and what is a good expense target in retirement?

I have a good job at a large company. Have worked there 30 years and fully vested in pension.  The pension was recently frozen so, staying longer does not help my pension.  Our income has been good ($250k combined).  I just feel like I need a change and move on from my job to something else.  Maybe contract work?? 

We have about $1.3M in retirement savings, not counting pension and SS income.
We still have a large mortgage and the large house has been a money pit.  Raising 5 kids really constrained our savings over the years.

What would be a good target for retirement savings?   
I was thinking $2M but, don't know if I can work that long in my job.  Beauracracy and office politics are driving me nuts.  Part of me thinks "stop complaining and stay put"

[bacchi]

What's your spend rate? How much can you reduce your spending?

[YK-Phil]

Your answer lies in your post-FIRE budget. That's the first thing you need to do in order to know if you can pull the plug now. With your numbers at my age (57) but in my post-FIRED budget situation, I would have FIRED several years ago, but you may have much higher spending needs.

[albireo13]

Our spending rates have been high but, that has been due to the large mortgage, costs of running a large house, and kid expenses.  We've also been helping the kids with college expenses as much as possible.  Last year was bad ... medical/family issues which wiped out $60K of our savings.

I need to estimate our expense rate, assuming we retire.
Our 1-2 yr plan is to sell our house and rent for a year or two. We have maybe $140K in equity right now.  We want to take that time to find our next home ... either small house or condo. 
Lowering our expenses will be our goal.

We don't want to both retire yet. Health insurance costs is a concern.

[teacherwithamustache]

I have good and bad news for you.  Good News is you are at the correct website.  The Bad news is you are spending way too much money....  In reality you can retire now and just adjust your spending.  So looking at what you have shown us so far... 

Assets

1.3 Million=  @4% 52k a year, $4,300 a month
Pension=  No idea but you need to find out.  Do both of you have a pension?  My guess is $2500 a month
SS=  No idea but you need to find out.  Will both of you receive SS?  $1500 a month is a good guess.

So just with your nest egg you can 4% rule it and make more then the average American family.  My guess is your pension and SS will equal another 4k a month.  So you can basically quit today and have 100k a year come in and not work.

I am interested in seeing your spending and health care cost.  You need to read the how to post a case study topic if you want additional help.