Serious "one more year" syndrome - advice appreciated

[Omy]

I thought about setting a timer, but I've been on such a roll that I just go with it. Maybe when I get to a steady state. I spent 3.5 hours today moving furniture around to make our office and guest rooms more functional. Each item moved needed dusting, vacuuming, and purging which ends up taking twice as long as I hoped. I have so much paper that needs to be organized/purged/shredded. It's been mostly hiding in boxes in the basement but I'm determined to get through it this winter.

[Omy]

Boosted on Friday...just in time for Omicron. I felt "off" all weekend, but it was pretty manageable compared to Moderna#2.

Hopefully the booster is effective against the new variant. I'm wondering if this pandemic is ever going to end.

[Omy]

Just did our end of 2021 numbers. We are up 18% over 2020 end of year. Pretty amazing that we made more money goofing off than we did most years that we worked.

We're still covid-free, but 3 extended family members got it in December. Fortunately they were all vaxxed and seem to be recovering well after a few days of fever, sore throats, and vertigo/vomiting in one case.

I lost a bit of momentum on my paper purging project. I was doing well for 3 weeks until I took a week off to complete zoom classes to keep my license active (I receive fairly passive referral income if I keep my license active). And then I blew off organizing during the week around the holidays.

My goal is to get my paper under control by the end of January...that should be attainable.

[dougules]

Just did our end of 2021 numbers. We are up 18% over 2020 end of year. Pretty amazing that we made more money goofing off than we did most years that we worked.

It's incredible, isn't it?  Of course we've been lucky to not have retired right at a market top, but you (and probably me too) would be solid if you/we had. 

[Omy]

Yes...incredible. Not retiring at the top of the market (and spending a lot less due to covid) has left me stress free regarding money.

Household spending was $41k last year (which was less than expected when I started this thread due to ACA and covid decreasing our projected expenses). We have two rentals that needed some work this year, so net rental income was only $29k. But my passive referral income covered most of that $12k shortfall.

My next dilemma is trying to figure out when to dump the rentals. Rentals have been psychologically helpful because they've kept us from having to spend down the stash. We're still young enough to deal with them, but we don't need the low grade stress of wondering what's going to break next. Selling them outright will kill our ACA subsidies and leave us with large tax bills for the years that we sell them in. It would be best if we could sell both in the same year, but that's fairly unlikely.

[AlanStache]

Yes...incredible. Not retiring at the top of the market (and spending a lot less due to covid) has left me stress free regarding money.

Household spending was $41k last year (which was less than expected when I started this thread due to ACA and covid decreasing our projected expenses). We have two rentals that needed some work this year, so net rental income was only $29k. But my passive referral income covered most of that $12k shortfall.

My next dilemma is trying to figure out when to dump the rentals. Rentals have been psychologically helpful because they've kept us from having to spend down the stash. We're still young enough to deal with them, but we don't need the low grade stress of wondering what's going to break next. Selling them outright will kill our ACA subsidies and leave us with large tax bills for the years that we sell them in. It would be best if we could sell both in the same year, but that's fairly unlikely.

Do the numbers and logistics work for hiring a management company?  That would remove most all of the stress but not force a sale of them.

[Omy]

I wish I knew a good property manager, but the ones in our area don't come highly recommended. My tenants are great and pay on time, and I live close to both properties. I have good contractors that I trust (when it's not something we can handle) so I'm not sure if a property manager would add much value anyway. Most of the time it's easy money, so I should probably stop whining!

[dougules]

With our property manager when we had our rental houses we feel pretty sure there was some funny business going on between the property manager and the people they hired to do work.  In general with property managers there's a profit motive for them to have an unethical relationship with the people they hire to do any work on the property. 

Case in point, the manager told us we would need a new HVAC unit on our second rental house, and after DH insisted on quotes from 2 other HVAC service companies, the unit got fixed for $150. 

Then with our last rental house, they called me up and told us that the HVAC unit was going to need to need $1500 worth of work.  After insisting on quotes from other HVAC service companies, it magically turned out that the coils had just iced up and needed to thaw.  No work necessary.  They were happy to give us the good news and were clueless that it really firmed up our suspicion that they had some kind of unethical relationships with their "mom and pop" service providers.  It just so happened that that happened right when a deal to sell it to the tenant fell through, so we decided we were selling it for sure whether the tenant could buy it or not. 

Our realtor also gave us a story of client he had who was getting exorbitant landscape maintenance bills on a property, and when the realtor swung by, there was only one bush. 

So yeah, be careful with property managers when it comes to rentals.

[Omy]

As a retired realtor, I had a lot of clients who hated their property managers for exactly the same reasons. When someone asked if I could recommend a property manager, I never would. It's a shame. There's simply no incentive for the property manager to keep costs down.

[Omy]

Completed my paper purging project about 10 days ago (what a weight lifted!)...and decided to replace it with a junk food purging project.

We don't actually eat a lot of junk food, but we decided to get much more intentional about our diet. Lots more veggies and lean protein, lots less starch, eating smaller portions every 2.5 hours. We've both lost a couple pounds and are sleeping better. I rarely feel hungry and have lost my cravings for sweets so it seems to agree with me. My plan is to do this through April to turn it into a habit. I'm writing it down here to keep myself accountable.

[Linea_Norway]

Completed my paper purging project about 10 days ago (what a weight lifted!)...and decided to replace it with a junk food purging project.

We don't actually eat a lot of junk food, but we decided to get much more intentional about our diet. Lots more veggies and lean protein, lots less starch, eating smaller portions every 2.5 hours. We've both lost a couple pounds and are sleeping better. I rarely feel hungry and have lost my cravings for sweets so it seems to agree with me. My plan is to do this through April to turn it into a habit. I'm writing it down here to keep myself accountable.

Well done finishing your paper removal project!

Yes, it is easier to make healthy choices when there isn't any junk food available in the house.

[Omy]

I took 4 boxes of old text books to a used book store. They buy books by the box so we made a whopping $6. It felt better than dumping them, though. And I won't have to store or move them ever again.

We also went to the dump with an old, hard to carry tv, old broken electronics and other bulk trash. At least 200 pounds of junk out the door.

I've been on my "stop eating crap" diet for 4 weeks now and have lost 8 pounds. It's nice to see that it's working.

[dougules]

I took 4 boxes of old text books to a used book store. They buy books by the box so we made a whopping $6. It felt better than dumping them, though. And I won't have to store or move them ever again.

We also went to the dump with an old, hard to carry tv, old broken electronics and other bulk trash. At least 200 pounds of junk out the door.

I've been on my "stop eating crap" diet for 4 weeks now and have lost 8 pounds. It's nice to see that it's working.

Nice! 

Did you have much trouble with decompression for any length of time after you quit working?  I so want to be where you are, but I've just been limp and lifeless since I quit in October. 

[Omy]

We FIREd six months before covid and managed to get several short trips in before March 2020. Since then we have stayed close to home. The first several months of that we were probably depressed...low energy, annoyed that we couldn't eat out or visit friends or family. Since then we've gotten used to a slower life rhythm because we're still trying to avoid covid. That seems to be slowly changing and I'm hoping for a more exciting spring and summer this year.

That doesn't really answer your question, but I don't really know if we went through a decompression stage or if the feelings we had through covid were part decompression and part loss of freedom/social life/retirement dreams.

It took me 2.5 years to have the energy to tackle my paper hoarding problem...is that decompression or procrastination?

Have you talked to your doctor about being "limp and lifeless"? It could be decompression, but it could be so many other things as well (depression, anemia, vitamin d deficiency, thyroid issue etc.).

[dougules]

We FIREd six months before covid and managed to get several short trips in before March 2020. Since then we have stayed close to home. The first several months of that we were probably depressed...low energy, annoyed that we couldn't eat out or visit friends or family. Since then we've gotten used to a slower life rhythm because we're still trying to avoid covid. That seems to be slowly changing and I'm hoping for a more exciting spring and summer this year.

That doesn't really answer your question, but I don't really know if we went through a decompression stage or if the feelings we had through covid were part decompression and part loss of freedom/social life/retirement dreams.

It took me 2.5 years to have the energy to tackle my paper hoarding problem...is that decompression or procrastination?

Have you talked to your doctor about being "limp and lifeless"? It could be decompression, but it could be so many other things as well (depression, anemia, vitamin d deficiency, thyroid issue etc.).

Yeah, I guess when you retire at the beginning of a major crisis, it's hard to tell what's decompression and what's the world in chaos.

I haven't talked to a doctor yet.  I will if it goes more than a few months, and if therapy doesn't improve things.  It's not really anything new just so much as that I'm surprised that I'm still every bit as tired as I was when I was working a full-time job. 

[Sapphire]

@dougules, not advice but just an observation made by my Mum.  She felt that it was normal to have a flat period (as she called it) after any significant event that you had been particularly looking forward to or had been working hard towards - college degree, wedding, birth of a child, achieving some particular goal (and RE would certainly count).  She referred to it as (insert event) blues - eg, post wedding blues.

I know I have certainly experienced such periods, and reminding myself it was normal and the flatness would pass, seemed to help. Hope you feel okay soon. 

[chasesfish]

I took 4 boxes of old text books to a used book store. They buy books by the box so we made a whopping $6. It felt better than dumping them, though. And I won't have to store or move them ever again.

We also went to the dump with an old, hard to carry tv, old broken electronics and other bulk trash. At least 200 pounds of junk out the door.

I've been on my "stop eating crap" diet for 4 weeks now and have lost 8 pounds. It's nice to see that it's working.

Nice! 

Did you have much trouble with decompression for any length of time after you quit working?  I so want to be where you are, but I've just been limp and lifeless since I quit in October.

Also jumping in to respond.

I had some of this hit me nine or ten months after retiring early, I think the full decompression took eighteen months.   We got some travel in before COVID, then had to figure out ways to stay busy, which was uniquely challenging for the two months everything was shut down.  Afterwards we found our rhythm and moved on

[dougules]

I took 4 boxes of old text books to a used book store. They buy books by the box so we made a whopping $6. It felt better than dumping them, though. And I won't have to store or move them ever again.

We also went to the dump with an old, hard to carry tv, old broken electronics and other bulk trash. At least 200 pounds of junk out the door.

I've been on my "stop eating crap" diet for 4 weeks now and have lost 8 pounds. It's nice to see that it's working.

Nice! 

Did you have much trouble with decompression for any length of time after you quit working?  I so want to be where you are, but I've just been limp and lifeless since I quit in October.

Also jumping in to respond.

I had some of this hit me nine or ten months after retiring early, I think the full decompression took eighteen months.   We got some travel in before COVID, then had to figure out ways to stay busy, which was uniquely challenging for the two months everything was shut down.  Afterwards we found our rhythm and moved on

Eighteen months?  Geez.  Of course that's not really that much in the grand scheme of things, so I guess I just need to keep perspective. 

[SugarMountain]

I took 4 boxes of old text books to a used book store. They buy books by the box so we made a whopping $6. It felt better than dumping them, though. And I won't have to store or move them ever again.

We also went to the dump with an old, hard to carry tv, old broken electronics and other bulk trash. At least 200 pounds of junk out the door.

I've been on my "stop eating crap" diet for 4 weeks now and have lost 8 pounds. It's nice to see that it's working.

Nice! 

Did you have much trouble with decompression for any length of time after you quit working?  I so want to be where you are, but I've just been limp and lifeless since I quit in October.

Also jumping in to respond.

I had some of this hit me nine or ten months after retiring early, I think the full decompression took eighteen months.   We got some travel in before COVID, then had to figure out ways to stay busy, which was uniquely challenging for the two months everything was shut down.  Afterwards we found our rhythm and moved on

Eighteen months?  Geez.  Of course that's not really that much in the grand scheme of things, so I guess I just need to keep perspective.

I'm just past 18 months and still don't really know what I'm doing, but I'm fine with it.  Fall of 2020 into spring of 2021 was spent mostly avoiding Covid.  I honestly don't really remember what we did other than some house projects and going up to my mother in law's about once a month to check on her since she lives alone in a rural area.  That would always kind of be a production where we'd really isolate before going up there.  After we got vaccinated, we did some travel in the spring/summer of 2021 and were getting into a more normal flow in the fall when everything started spiking again.  Then this winter we decided to buy a house and move, so that's been all consuming for the last 3 months.  Still don't miss work, even though I've essentially become an unpaid handyman between our new house, our old rental, and my MIL's place.

[Omy]

Just got back from an 11 day vacation (is it still called a vacation if you're FIRED?)!

It took a lot of hemming and hawing to get in the car and go (fear of covid, wanted to get taxes done first, how will we continue our low carb diet in vacation mode, etc, etc)...but SO glad we finally ventured out. We saw family, walked on beaches, played games, ate in restaurants. It was glorious! And we didn't even gain weight because we were so active.

We'll take home tests in a couple days to make sure we're covid free. And we plan to get our 2nd booster in a couple weeks since we're eligible and the next variant is creeping into our area.

I feel like we broke out of the cocoon and can roam around again. We'll still be careful, but it was such a relief to remove ourselves from our self-imposed prison.

[2sk22]

Even though I am retired I still sometimes get a twinge of the "back to the grind" feeling when I return home from a trip. Thankfully it passes quickly :-)

Years ago when I joined this forum, reading this thread was one of the motivators for me to retire. Glad to hear that things are going well for you.

[Omy]

Yep...did laundry, washed the car, cut the grass, went grocery shopping today so we can settle back into our normal life of leisure. ; )

[Omy]

Thought I'd give an update as we approach our 3rd year FIRE anniversary.  It's hard to believe we've been goofing off for 3 years. It hasn't been all unicorns and rainbows, but it sure beats working!

I've now lost over 20 lbs from my "stop eating crap" diet that I started in late January. It's pretty cool that watching calories and bad carbs has worked. We're also walking around an hour a day. At this point it feels more like a life style than a diet, so I'm hoping I will continue these good habits indefinitely. I'm now below my goal weight so that's pretty exciting.

We will probably get the 5th shot when they come out with a booster that deals with the omicron variant. We still have avoided covid (as far as we know), but it's getting more challenging as we spend more time around people. We had 3 different contractors in the house last week - one sneezed on me and another had a cough. It's just a matter of time...

We are continuing to schedule short vacations and expand our horizons. It's really nice to have a change of scenery.

We last checked our net worth numbers on June 30th. We were down less than 10% from our peak...but still up 20% from when we FIREd 3 years ago. So far, living off our rental income has worked well (except for the occasional catastrophes that come up). This week in particular has been a real pain, and we're both ready to sell all 3 houses and move to Portugal. I'm mostly kidding, but we're updating our passports and keeping it as an option!

I'm super excited that the ACA subsidy cliff is likely to be removed for the next three years. We tend to flirt with that line so it will give us a bit more breathing room.

So even with a pandemic, record inflation, and a volatile stock market, my fears at the beginning of this thread were unfounded. I'm happy that we padded the stash before we quit, but it really wasn't necessary (other than providing a lot of peace of mind.)

[AlanStache]

So even with a pandemic, record inflation, and a volatile stock market, my fears at the beginning of this thread were unfounded. I'm happy that we padded the stash before we quit, but it really wasn't necessary (other than providing a lot of peace of mind.)

If peace of mind leads towards happiness than maybe it was a good trade. 

[chasesfish]

So even with a pandemic, record inflation, and a volatile stock market, my fears at the beginning of this thread were unfounded. I'm happy that we padded the stash before we quit, but it really wasn't necessary (other than providing a lot of peace of mind.)

As a fellow Year 3 alumni...it's wild to think we'd see two bear markets, a pandemic/economic shutdowns, and raging inflation...and yet still be fine.

2019 seemed like such calmer times

[Omy]

I know, right?! Worldwide pandemic and global shutdowns were not even on my bingo card of things to worry about in 2019. I was concerned for a few months in 2020 that one or both of my tenants wouldn't be able to pay rent for an extended time, but even that wouldn't have been catastrophic. Instead everyone kept their jobs and we moved on.

Oddly, the last 3 years have helped me realize that we will figure out whatever is thrown at us...and we'll probably figure out ways to take advantage of opportunities that present themselves because we're both good at problem solving and optimizing.

[Dicey]

That's a lovely post!

[2sk22]

I know, right?! Worldwide pandemic and global shutdowns were not even on my bingo card of things to worry about in 2019. I was concerned for a few months in 2020 that one or both of my tenants wouldn't be able to pay rent for an extended time, but even that wouldn't have been catastrophic. Instead everyone kept their jobs and we moved on.

Oddly, the last 3 years have helped me realize that we will figure out whatever is thrown at us...and we'll probably figure out ways to take advantage of opportunities that present themselves because we're both good at problem solving and optimizing.

It's now approaching two years since I retired. The discussions in this thread was one of the factors that motivated me to retire and put an end to OMYing :-)

[xbdb]

So even with a pandemic, record inflation, and a volatile stock market, my fears at the beginning of this thread were unfounded. I'm happy that we padded the stash before we quit, but it really wasn't necessary (other than providing a lot of peace of mind.)

I had the exact same realization. Inflation, stock market decline, pandemic plus some other things that affected me and.... I'm just fine.

[SugarMountain]

I know, right?! Worldwide pandemic and global shutdowns were not even on my bingo card of things to worry about in 2019. I was concerned for a few months in 2020 that one or both of my tenants wouldn't be able to pay rent for an extended time, but even that wouldn't have been catastrophic. Instead everyone kept their jobs and we moved on.

Oddly, the last 3 years have helped me realize that we will figure out whatever is thrown at us...and we'll probably figure out ways to take advantage of opportunities that present themselves because we're both good at problem solving and optimizing.

What's funny for me is the pandemic was a "yeah, we can do it" moment.  I had tried to quit in 2018 but got talked into moving to a different role at work that took all responsibility and stress away, but was boring and unfulfilling.  I also think I wasn't quite ready mentally and even though we'd have been fine at 4% WR, it made me nervous.  But from March to September of 2020 we spent so little money the whole theoretical "we can can spending further if we need to" moved from theoretical to reality.  Amazing what 0 travel, driving, or eating out for 6 months did to our budget.  So when there was an opportunity to get laid off late that summer I took it and now we're closer to 3% WR than 4%, so even this spring's bear market didn't bother me at all.

[Omy]

It is interesting that in all of my contingency planning, my expectation had been that everything would be more costly and I'd need a very robust 'stache to handle all of the catastrophes that would surely come my way.

As it did for SugarMountain, the pandemic shaved off all travel, gas, restaurant, clothing and entertainment expenses we had budgeted AND the healthcare subsidies for 2021 and 2022 were enhanced and the cliff was removed. And the IRS gave us additional credits totaling over $6k!

Instead of being an expensive catastrophe, we made out like bandits. And we're 3 years closer to Social Security and Medicare, and I'm beginning to think that my biggest challenges are going to be figuring out how to deal with RMDs and IRMAA from having too much money. What a difference a few years makes...

[chasesfish]

@Omy

I've gone through all the similar thoughts.   FWIW, I've elected to forgo the ACA tax credits and run our income up to the top of the 24% tax bracket with Roth IRA conversions.  It's the only solution to the future RMDs and all the penalties that come with being a high income individual in my 60s.

I can't imagine taxes going down and they're scheduled to go up after 2026

[Omy]

We really need to run some simulations to see if that makes sense for us as well. The ACA credits are saving us over $10k a year...but how much will delaying Roth conversions cost us?

I'm encouraged that there seems to be momentum to keep increasing the RMD age. My gut tells me we should wait until Medicare age to start dealing with Roth conversions, but how high will taxes be at that point? Will Roth conversions still be allowed? What higher future tax rate should I use in my simulations?

How did you come to the conclusion to do Roth conversions now? I'd love additional insight since my brain spins around all of the unknowns and ends up thinking it's easier to just keep getting the ACA credits now.

[chasesfish]

There's no perfect answer because we're dealing with unknowns about the future:  What will tax rates be?  What will RMDs be?  What will be the penalties inside Medicare / social security for making too much?   How much more will the ACA cost each year and how will it adjust to being older?

In my case, we have some "bridge income" that's running our AGI up a little.   I had a deferred comp plan at work that pays a few thousand a month taxable that runs through my being 53 plus some consulting income that goes up and down.   So our starting point was already in the 60k range with dividends.    I talked this over with a military retirees who had a similar debate with their pension and elected to do all conversions.   I also know a 60yr old FIRE that talked about the importance of being low income because of just how much insurance costs. 

I ran the numbers and figured out there's a minimum tax liability I'm going to have to pay.   It's a big number if I do it all in four years or less because it pushes us outside of 24%, but the amount flattens out if I clean the accounts out spread across five to eleven years.   If I wait longer, it starts accelerating up if I wait longer than 12 years because of runaway investment growth.

So I weighed the benefits as written today of being low income in my 40s vs. being low income in my 60s and chose the latter.   Lower cost health insurance and social security won't be taxable.   

I'm not used to writing five figure estimated tax payments, but it is what it is.  I know I owe at least X amount and can only control keeping it at that amount or lower.

[Omy]

Thanks for the response. We definitely need to dig deeper.

[Omy]

I know, right?! Worldwide pandemic and global shutdowns were not even on my bingo card of things to worry about in 2019. I was concerned for a few months in 2020 that one or both of my tenants wouldn't be able to pay rent for an extended time, but even that wouldn't have been catastrophic. Instead everyone kept their jobs and we moved on.

Oddly, the last 3 years have helped me realize that we will figure out whatever is thrown at us...and we'll probably figure out ways to take advantage of opportunities that present themselves because we're both good at problem solving and optimizing.

It's now approaching two years since I retired. The discussions in this thread was one of the factors that motivated me to retire and put an end to OMYing :-)

It's nice to know that my anxiety in 2018 helped others. Don't be Omy!

[Omy]

Another update. I'm not sure why I feel the need, but what the heck.

We got the 5th (!) shot at the end of September. We went with the Pfizer bivalent since Moderna wasn't available yet. Felt a little "off" for a day or two, but it was the easiest shot so far. We are acting bullet proof at the moment (restaurants, travel, sometimes going to stores unmasked, meeting friends inside houses.) I suspect we will get more conservative when cases start climbing in our area again...but it's nice to feel "normal" again.

We've been working on yard and house projects and maintaining our diet and exercise goals. We need to intersperse a bit more fun and travel in our lives and have made strides to actually put fun stuff on the calendar instead of only booking at the last minute.

We haven't looked at our third quarter numbers yet. No rush to see the carnage. We haven't had to sell any stocks since retiring (rental income and dividends have covered expenses), so we haven't gotten worked up about the state of the market.

We are talking more about selling the rentals to remove that stress from our lives, but we're probably at least a couple years away from that. Rental income seems to be a good hedge against a bear market and inflation, but it definitely comes with it's own set of issues.

Our ACA premiums will go up a bit in 2023 (by 15% ish), but it's still such a reasonable number (and WAY less than I had projected prior to retiring.) Health insurance premiums had been my biggest concern when I started this thread, and so far those fears have not been realized.

[eyesonthehorizon]

Even though you're in a different stratum of scale from myself, I really appreciated reading your progress & successes, so I for one am glad you're still updating!

[LightTripper]

I've been putting off looking at my numbers too ... I'm hoping the terrible state of Sterling has saved me somewhat in absolute terms (obviously still means I'm stuck with a currency nobody wants but hey ho, at least I live here!) 

We've also been thinking that we need to start actually planning a bit more stuff.  I've just about got enough head space now to actually think about it so need to turn that thinking into actual planning, booking and doing!  I don't think it needs to be a lot necessarily, but just having some things in the diary that break up the different sections of time is really useful when you don't have work projects to do that for you.

[Omy]

So we ran the numbers, and we're *only* down 10% from our peak. We are actually up over 20% from our retirement date...so it wasn't the bloodbath I was anticipating.

We got back from a 10 day vacation on Wednesday and are waiting another day or two to test to see if we have continued to evade Covid. The vacation was mostly a bust (too much time in the car and too much family drama) but the change of scenery was nice, and it helped us appreciate being back home.

I've made some resolutions to be more active - physically, socially, and creatively. I should probably start a journal to keep myself accountable, but that sounds too much like work.

[moneytaichi]

I've made some resolutions to be more active - physically, socially, and creatively. I should probably start a journal to keep myself accountable, but that sounds too much like work.

Have you tried to track your habits? I found that I have a better chance to do healthy things if I track them. The tricks are to set SMART goals and don't get too ambious.

See an example https://jamesclear.com/habit-tracker
I just hand-draw bigger grids for 5 habits that I am tracking. Bigger grids allow me write down quick notes.

[moneytaichi]

We are talking more about selling the rentals to remove that stress from our lives, but we're probably at least a couple years away from that. Rental income seems to be a good hedge against a bear market and inflation, but it definitely comes with it's own set of issues.

Our ACA premiums will go up a bit in 2023 (by 15% ish), but it's still such a reasonable number (and WAY less than I had projected prior to retiring.) Health insurance premiums had been my biggest concern when I started this thread, and so far those fears have not been realized.

How do you manage to keep ACA income low with rental income? Is it through mortgage and improvement etc.?

[Omy]

Thanks for the habit tracker info...I will set that up tomorrow.

After subtracting expenses, depreciation, and improvements, our rental income and dividends are under the 400% FPL threshold which gives us significant ACA subsidies. And since they've continued to eliminate the "cliff" for 2023-2025 we won't have to worry about falling out of that range for the next 3 years.

[Omy]

I had an epiphany this weekend when a forum member posted this little nugget:

https://www.madfientist.com/i-will-teach-you-to-be-rich-interview/

I also plan to read Die with Zero by Bill Perkins and am posting here to keep myself accountable.

We were quite good at accumulation, and have spent 3.5 years post FIRE keeping our expenses at an infinitely sustainable 0-1% SWR.
We have basically lived off our rental income and not spent a lot more than that due to covid slowing down our travel plans.

Two of the practices I am putting in place:

1) Spend A LOT more money on travel, hobbies, exploring interests, and having meaningful experiences.
2) Stop looking for the best deal and be more concerned with getting great quality. I do this subconsciously and need to break this habit.

[TreeLeaf]

I had an epiphany this weekend when a forum member posted this little nugget:

https://www.madfientist.com/i-will-teach-you-to-be-rich-interview/

I also plan to read Die with Zero by Bill Perkins and am posting here to keep myself accountable.

We were quite good at accumulation, and have spent 3.5 years post FIRE keeping our expenses at an infinitely sustainable 0-1% SWR.
We have basically lived off our rental income and not spent a lot more than that due to covid slowing down our travel plans.

Two of the practices I am putting in place:

1) Spend A LOT more money on travel, hobbies, exploring interests, and having meaningful experiences.
2) Stop looking for the best deal and be more concerned with getting great quality. I do this subconsciously and need to break this habit.

Good luck on spending the money down.

If you run out of ideas I have heard Teslas are pretty popular on the forum. 😀

[Omy]

Thanks. I used to think I could see a Tesla in my distant future....but I no longer equate Musk with quality.

[Metalcat]

Time to put some of that optimization skill towards figuring out what you need for your very best life.

I encourage you to start broadening your thinking beyond just "I might indulge a bit more in nicer versions of what I already do" and maybe start looking at the vast, enormous range of possibilities that are open to you for how you could live your life.

You could practically do anything. Is there anything you could fathom doing in this life that sounds exciting or satisfying?

I'm not saying you have to do anything radically different from what you are doing. That may in fact be your most optimal path to life satisfaction and happiness, but it's a natural thing for people to hem themselves in to what they are accustomed to.

You have enough wealth to do almost anything. That's really exciting.

[Omy]

That is the piece that I stumble on for sure.

Some people are able to look at a menu and see lots of good options. If I find something I like, I stick with it and don't really look around for other options because the menu seems overwhelming  (and why risk getting something I won't like as much as the tried and true.)

I have no idea where this self-limiting behavior comes from...maybe it's time to hire a life coach to help me through this part.

[Metalcat]

That is the piece that I stumble on for sure.

Some people are able to look at a menu and see lots of good options. If I find something I like, I stick with it and don't really look around for other options because the menu seems overwhelming  (and why risk getting something I won't like as much as the tried and true.)

I have no idea where this self-limiting behavior comes from...maybe it's time to hire a life coach to help me through this part.

Well it's pretty obviously fear based, but what's underpinning that fear?

Humans tend to put an ENORMOUS premium on what they know, even if they aren't optimally happy with that option.

I mean, if you are optimally happy with the tried and true menu option, then stick with it. But if you aren't optimally happy, then you do actually have the power to change this pattern of behaviour and seek out better options.

When you have the kind of freedom you do, fear of the unknown is completely useless. It doesn't serve you in any way, shape or form.

I also get totally overwhelmed by menus at restaurants, I don't like all of the options, but I have the opposite reaction to you. Instead of playing it safe, I roll the dice every time. I just ask to be surprised.

People think it's batshit insane when I do it, I get really strong reactions from people, but FFS, it's just food. A bad meal here and there isn't nearly as deleterious to my emotional experience of life as being rigid and fearful is.

I find it telling that people are so shocked when I don't even look at menus and just say "surprise me" to wait staff. Like, this is about the lowest stakes risk a human being could possible take in their life, but it goes to show just how powerful the fear of the unknown is in people.

Perhaps you need some professional support to work on this, like a coach or therapist, but you can also just push yourself out of your comfort zone and see what happens.

Getting a crappy meal, or finding out you don't enjoy amateur live wrestling, or that learning guitar sucks and hurts your hands, or that geocaching really isn't your thing, or that Tai Chi in the park is boring, and Shakespeare in the park is even more boring, or learning Spanish takes way more practice than you expected and you just can't roll your fucking R's, or martial arts is just too high risk for injury, etc, etc

All of these kinds of realizations are low stakes costs to trying new things.

FTR, amateur live wrestling is absolutely fantastic entertainment and after being dragged to it pretty much against my will, it's now one of my very, very favourite activities. Actually I love almost all of the activities listed above except for geocaching, never actually done that.

You just never know what unknown things are going to resonate for you. And the cost of trying new things is pretty low, like 99% of the time.

So you could just, y'know, try stuff. Not necessarily even to find new things that you like, but just to get accustomed to expanding your comfort zone.

[Omy]

As a kid, I lived all over the place including two European countries. I was a military brat and didn't like changing schools and friends all of the time. As a teenager and in my early twenties I settled into the area I currently live in.

Then I married adventure boy and we had some great adventures during the 15 years we were together. We sailed to Bermuda and Florida and lived on a boat for years. We also lived in an RV and traveled the US. From age 25 to 40, we had a ton of different experiences. After we divorced, I embraced a much more stable life and eventually married a much more stable guy.

Our married life was much more work centered than my previous marriage. We had a good social life and spent lots of time on activities with friends. Then we retired and covid happened and our social activities dried up.

At age 60, I don't have the same drive to try new things that I did in my 20s and 30s. I don't think it's fear-based (though I'm still avoiding covid so that may be some of it).

Lots to think about. I definitely want to stay active and become more socially engaged again.