Author Topic: FIRE'd Folks: Retiring on a Small 'Stache?  (Read 20693 times)

jim555

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Re: FIRE'd Folks: Retiring on a Small 'Stache?
« Reply #50 on: February 09, 2020, 01:12:09 PM »
Just an add: Once you are out of work 5 years Social Security Disability will not cover you for a new disabling condition.

So report the side gig income on your taxes and continue paying a bit into SSDI.
Pretty easy to do, you only need to earn $1,410 in a quarter for the quarter to count.

American GenX

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Re: FIRE'd Folks: Retiring on a Small 'Stache?
« Reply #51 on: February 09, 2020, 01:31:07 PM »
I could easily live on $12k/ year forever when I FIREd (and still can) but I doubt I could if renting on such a low income. I just look at rent increases for studio apts over the last 30 years and yikes!

Yeah, that's a pretty low amount.  I have a paid off house, but my short term bare bones budget is still $13,440/yr.  And I say short term because that excludes home maintenance (and I have a roof that will need replaced in the next few years) and the eventual cost of a new car some years down the road.  And bare bones is not how I would want to live - that means no "fun" money.

I would have to downsize my home or get a roommate to get my bare bones down to $12K/yr, which still wouldn't cover average home maintenance and future vehicle replacement costs.

My stash isn't exactly small, but it's all I'll have to live on for over 10 years, no pension.  And due to health care coverage costs, the above numbers will be higher when I FIRE.

2Birds1Stone

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Re: FIRE'd Folks: Retiring on a Small 'Stache?
« Reply #52 on: February 09, 2020, 02:46:38 PM »
Some great discussion here.....

In my county, minimum wage is $13/hr.  Using https://smartasset.com/taxes/new-york-paycheck-calculator#ip8puzTacC,

You can see that working just two, 8 hour shift per week, you're able to take home $806/month or $9,672/yr, after taxes and FICA.

Since I'm using a conservative 3% WR, this could potentially replace the need for $320k in invest assets. At current low spending, covers over 50% of my current spending annual spending (55% to be exact!).

A minimum wage job should be pretty easy to find, in an absolutely horrible SOR scenario. If you plug that into any FIRE modeling scenario, the impact is HUGE.

With even a little bit of skills, social connection, luck, etc someone could probably find something a few bucks an hour over min wage rather easily.

In parts of the country where min wage is much lower than $13/hr, the worst case would be picking up a third shift per week.....this kind of resilience is not as easy for someone who has a higher spending level (in absolute terms).

« Last Edit: February 09, 2020, 02:48:21 PM by 2Birds1Stone »

helloyou

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Re: FIRE'd Folks: Retiring on a Small 'Stache?
« Reply #53 on: July 06, 2020, 07:07:01 PM »
Thanks its very insightful. I'm exactly in this situation with a small stash of £600-700k. My expense is around £1500-2000/month so I should cover for 25x

But still I'm wondering if its enough to go fire!

ItsALongStory

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Re: FIRE'd Folks: Retiring on a Small 'Stache?
« Reply #54 on: July 07, 2020, 06:30:07 PM »
I feel like I may not 'qualify' for this thread but my situation is a bit special.

I met my SO after she had retired from local government, she draws a generous pension from 30 years of employment with her employer. She gets healthcare coverage and the retirement is cost of living adjusted. Upon deciding to get married I decided to give up my career in Europe (a glorious 9 to 5 with limited growth potential but no stress) and start over in the US. After 9 years in the private sector over here I have amassed a nice stash, which will be topped off by the equity payout from our home sale. If I get the job I'm currently interviewing for then we'll be moving to Western-Europe where I'll work another few years at which point we will start slow traveling throughout Europe.

If this job pursuit does not pan out then I will pull the plug now with about $460-470k invested with a plan of leaving my retirement funds largely untouched for 10 or so years. We do expect to come back to the US later and I will then earn the final 4 credits to gain Soc Sec eligibility. As part of this option we will start slow traveling immediately which should be sustainable based on the numbers that we have run multiple times. As an EU citizen I can relatively easily bring her along, enabling multi-year stays in Europe as desired.

The biggest hurdles for me were:
1. the feeling that I'm taking advantage of her retirement to pull the plug early into my US career
2. the risk that my SO passes before my funds can grow to my projected spending levels as I don't have survivor benefits. She is a cancer and stroke survivor so this isn't as remote a possibility unfortunately.

Through multiple conversations it has become clear we both feel we are both getting a good deal as she is appreciative of my willingness to forego financial and professional ambition for the sake of time together and i feel fortunate she is willing to 'fund' our lifestyle for a number of years.

BicycleB

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Re: FIRE'd Folks: Retiring on a Small 'Stache?
« Reply #55 on: July 07, 2020, 10:32:51 PM »
^Interesting story! Best wishes for your time together.

Missy B

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Re: FIRE'd Folks: Retiring on a Small 'Stache?
« Reply #56 on: July 08, 2020, 12:51:52 PM »
Some great discussion here.....

In my county, minimum wage is $13/hr.  Using https://smartasset.com/taxes/new-york-paycheck-calculator#ip8puzTacC,

You can see that working just two, 8 hour shift per week, you're able to take home $806/month or $9,672/yr, after taxes and FICA.

Since I'm using a conservative 3% WR, this could potentially replace the need for $320k in invest assets. At current low spending, covers over 50% of my current spending annual spending (55% to be exact!).

A minimum wage job should be pretty easy to find, in an absolutely horrible SOR scenario. If you plug that into any FIRE modeling scenario, the impact is HUGE.

With even a little bit of skills, social connection, luck, etc someone could probably find something a few bucks an hour over min wage rather easily.

In parts of the country where min wage is much lower than $13/hr, the worst case would be picking up a third shift per week.....this kind of resilience is not as easy for someone who has a higher spending level (in absolute terms).

In the last recession in which I was unemployed, I had a hellish time trying to get a minimum wage job. I agree that it doesn't take much income to replace the shrinkage of your stash, but if your stash has shrunken massively, likely the recession is deep and that means there are a lot of other people looking and employers can be choosy. It's not realistic that you're going to get a job as a server or barrista if you don't already have experience, or basic office work unless you're right up to date with the most recent versions of programs. In fact, all the min-wage office jobs I looked at were requesting skills sets that would have needed at least 1 yr training in a dedicated program or 2 yr on the job to acquire.

Of course if you have a healthy network and a lifetime of different skill sets from different jobs it should be easier to get something.
But people talk about minimum wage jobs on the boards like there are always these entry-level jobs going begging, and depending on the timing and your location I don't think that's true.

Cassie

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Re: FIRE'd Folks: Retiring on a Small 'Stache?
« Reply #57 on: July 08, 2020, 03:33:02 PM »
This virus has really changed things and a minimum wage job is no longer a given. Most of our fast food restaurants are drive through only even though they are allowed to reopen.

ItsALongStory

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Re: FIRE'd Folks: Retiring on a Small 'Stache?
« Reply #58 on: July 08, 2020, 04:15:56 PM »
^Interesting story! Best wishes for your time together.
Yeah and we plan to mitigate some of the death risk with some life insurance on my wife. Perfect solution that we should never have to use.

ItsALongStory

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Re: FIRE'd Folks: Retiring on a Small 'Stache?
« Reply #59 on: July 08, 2020, 04:16:59 PM »
This virus has really changed things and a minimum wage job is no longer a given. Most of our fast food restaurants are drive through only even though they are allowed to reopen.
I think there will be an influx of remote entry level type roles in the future. People will be able to run their side hustle online even more so than they are today.

ender

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Re: FIRE'd Folks: Retiring on a Small 'Stache?
« Reply #60 on: July 08, 2020, 07:35:13 PM »
This virus has really changed things and a minimum wage job is no longer a given. Most of our fast food restaurants are drive through only even though they are allowed to reopen.

Meanwhile around here, I see constant help wanted signs.

Probably very different regional differences on this still.

Paul der Krake

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Re: FIRE'd Folks: Retiring on a Small 'Stache?
« Reply #61 on: July 08, 2020, 11:45:31 PM »
I am not worried about finding a minimum wage job in the US, because the labor market is so flexible (i.e. can be fired for any and no reason), which ensures openings all the time. I see help wanted signs here in Hawaii even though the unemployment rate is around 20%. Very different story in other countries with more rigid labor laws.

Monerexia

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Re: FIRE'd Folks: Retiring on a Small 'Stache?
« Reply #62 on: July 09, 2020, 12:13:11 AM »
Several risks--if insurance coverage is ~$400/month, rent is ~500/month, food is ~$300/month you're already over $10K w/o transportation or emergencies and a living situation that can be precarious or less than ideal. Also if you retire early remember that social security is based on an average of your working salary best 30 years so you may arrive at 62 with little to count on.

ItsALongStory

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Re: FIRE'd Folks: Retiring on a Small 'Stache?
« Reply #63 on: July 09, 2020, 10:09:33 AM »
Several risks--if insurance coverage is ~$400/month, rent is ~500/month, food is ~$300/month you're already over $10K w/o transportation or emergencies and a living situation that can be precarious or less than ideal. Also if you retire early remember that social security is based on an average of your working salary best 30 years so you may arrive at 62 with little to count on.
You can pretty accurately predict what soc sec will be based on current calculation so it's not a total crapshoot. I don't count on anything but use it as a windfall if it happens.

ItsALongStory

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Re: FIRE'd Folks: Retiring on a Small 'Stache?
« Reply #64 on: July 09, 2020, 05:08:11 PM »
^Interesting story! Best wishes for your time together.
Yeah and we plan to mitigate some of the death risk with some life insurance on my wife. Perfect solution that we should never have to use.
Job didn't happen so on to plan b.

Linea_Norway

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Re: FIRE'd Folks: Retiring on a Small 'Stache?
« Reply #65 on: July 11, 2020, 08:51:37 AM »
I feel like I may not 'qualify' for this thread but my situation is a bit special.

I met my SO after she had retired from local government, she draws a generous pension from 30 years of employment with her employer. She gets healthcare coverage and the retirement is cost of living adjusted. Upon deciding to get married I decided to give up my career in Europe (a glorious 9 to 5 with limited growth potential but no stress) and start over in the US. After 9 years in the private sector over here I have amassed a nice stash, which will be topped off by the equity payout from our home sale. If I get the job I'm currently interviewing for then we'll be moving to Western-Europe where I'll work another few years at which point we will start slow traveling throughout Europe.

If this job pursuit does not pan out then I will pull the plug now with about $460-470k invested with a plan of leaving my retirement funds largely untouched for 10 or so years. We do expect to come back to the US later and I will then earn the final 4 credits to gain Soc Sec eligibility. As part of this option we will start slow traveling immediately which should be sustainable based on the numbers that we have run multiple times. As an EU citizen I can relatively easily bring her along, enabling multi-year stays in Europe as desired.

The biggest hurdles for me were:
1. the feeling that I'm taking advantage of her retirement to pull the plug early into my US career
2. the risk that my SO passes before my funds can grow to my projected spending levels as I don't have survivor benefits. She is a cancer and stroke survivor so this isn't as remote a possibility unfortunately.

Through multiple conversations it has become clear we both feel we are both getting a good deal as she is appreciative of my willingness to forego financial and professional ambition for the sake of time together and i feel fortunate she is willing to 'fund' our lifestyle for a number of years.

Does her generous pension contain a widow pension? Often this is a lot lower than the original pension, but all bits might help.

And about taking advantage, it might be nice for her as well to have a partner who doesn't need to work fulltime, so that you can travel together whenever it suits you.
« Last Edit: July 11, 2020, 08:53:22 AM by Linea_Norway »

BTDretire

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Re: FIRE'd Folks: Retiring on a Small 'Stache?
« Reply #66 on: July 30, 2020, 03:07:08 PM »
*I'll turn it into a traditional IRA. By this time next year my 401k will be close to $90k. By FIRE, probably between $130-$150k since I max it each year and get a 6% dollar for dollar company match. If your money supposedly doubles every 10 years, in 30 years when I can access it, it'll be ...
Year 0 $130k
Year 10 $260k
Year 20 $540k
Year 30 $1080k
And just for a little reality, if inflation for the next 30 yrs is as it was the last 30 years,
your $1,080,000 will be liking having $550,000 today.

ItsALongStory

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Re: FIRE'd Folks: Retiring on a Small 'Stache?
« Reply #67 on: July 30, 2020, 05:28:37 PM »
@Linea_Norway we met after she had retired so unfortunately there is no survivor benefit.

Her perspective is certainly that it's great for her to have a husband available vs me being limited by work commitments.

Cassie

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Re: FIRE'd Folks: Retiring on a Small 'Stache?
« Reply #68 on: July 31, 2020, 03:30:09 PM »
Our state went from a low to a high unemployment rate since the pandemic because the economy is very tourism based.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!