No, I am not in the family way...
But after a careful review of our year-end financials I realized that our retirement stache ($1.1 mil, without home equity) is on par -- with 5-6% returns -- to make more money than I do this year. And, of course, it will do it in a most tax efficient way because regardless of how I cut it, when we withdraw the funds they will be taken out at lower ordinary income and capital gains rates. That payroll tax is a killa!
Plus, this employee doesn't require clothes for work, a car, and gets by with minimal supervision. She's a dream employee! Maybe eventually I will just stay home and supervise her.
So, I am on the precipice of a job change. I can't quite imagine quitting cold turkey yet, but am looking for something that is less demanding (no commute; minus the bad boss), yet somewhat stimulating and interesting. I am taking steps. But I want to slow down on "feathering the nest", because there is a law of diminishing returns at this point. We've had about 8-10 years of really getting after it with our savings, and I can see how it's paid off.
And finally, a question for others in the mustachiosphere:
At present, we are a two wage-earner family (no kids) and manage to keep our taxable income -- through some engineering with deductions -- in the 15% bracket.
If I were to make less/work less, staying in this bracket would not be a problem at all, but cash flowing the remaining mortgage would be our challenge. Here's our house situation:
Estimated value: $340K
Mortgage Bal: $119K
Equity: 221K
We have unqualified investments (which I am including in the retirement stache totals), but which I have considered our "mortgage pay off sinking fund." These funds are currently valued at $110K. In the next year we should hit the "crossover" point where we basically have the house paid for. I don't want to go into the bank and just write a check for the lump sum. I'd rather keep the money working, but have thought about "withdrawing as we go/need it" to make our mortgage payments. Would you do it? We'd pay 0% capital gains and it would eliminate mortgage payment stress.
