As someone in this boat, I appreciate this thread! Our context: spend ~$60K, with $1.5M invested. Plus, we're getting $12K per year from my dad in pre-inheritance. He's worth ~$8M, healthy, 76, still working PT, and we're due to inherit 25% of whatever it ends up being. I basically just ignore the inheritance numbers, but in some ways it seems silly to ignore them completely. I WFH full-time, DW works PT (and really likes her job -- I've told her many times she can quit but she doesn't want to).
Are you still working to pad the number because we're at such market highs?
No. I am increasingly pessimistic about current events, which makes me want a bigger buffer, but this has nothing to do with the stock market prices. And I've also come to see that the stock market moves fairly independently from geopolitical events much of the time. Plus, my pessimism isn't really financial. It does make me feel, though, that I want to be able to give my daughter lots of options, and more money can increase certain types of options. This is also why we moved to Canada and are becoming dual citizens (to have more options). Honestly, I kind of want to pursue a third citizenship after this, but that's another conversation.
Do you love your job?
I have never loved a job, but I do like my job. I like the people I work with, and I like the fact that it's different every day. And I love the fact that I can work from home. I also believe that my salary would be tough to replace -- I work in a semi-technical role despite having no formal training. I have a lot of domain expertise, and I got into this role very gradually, through a series of organizational changes and mergers. Thus, on paper, I would be an usual candidate for parallel roles. Plus, we moved from the US to rural Nova Scotia in 2020 and salaries are much lower here. Thus, my current thinking is that, so long as I like my job, I think I'll keep doing it, and if my job changes, and becomes something I don't enjoy as much, I'll quit. If I were to quit, I'd likely do some local IT consulting (I have a friend who does that and keeps encouraging me) but 1) I'm sure the pay would be significantly lower and 2) as an introvert, the networking piece of consulting doesn't appeal to me (although I may be blowing that out of proportion).
Are you scared of what to do next?
Not scared, but I definitely know I'm not good with large stretches of unstructured free-time (in terms of my mental health). In other words, I know that I'll always do something (e.g. work part-time, volunteer). And so I'm currently feeling like, if I'm going to do something anyway, I might as well keep doing this thing that I enjoy reasonably well, that pays me reasonably well, and gives me a good amount of time off / flexibility. I think I'd like IT consulting as a part-time job, but I don't know that I'd like it more than my current job.
Have you moved to a more conservative asset allocation yet?
Yes and no. Our plan is to hold a couple of years of cash, rather than increasing our bond allocation. And we're holding more cash but we're primarily doing that with an eye toward paying off our mortgage in 1.5 years. In Canada, mortgages mature at various points in their amortization, at which point you can pay them off without penalty, and ours matures then.
Are you working longer to buy something specific?
Not really. Paying off the mortgage is something I'd like to do, but I'd also be comfortable retiring with a mortgage. And if interest rates come down in the next 1.5 years, our plan is to get a new mortgage and invest the money we've set aside.
Looking to invest more in real estate?
Definitely not. I have no interest in being a landlord. For folks in the right location that have the right skills and temperament, I think real estate investing can be great. I am not one of those folks.
