Poll

What's your CURRENT % of your Target Passive Income as of now?

< 0%: I'm Bleeding Money
1 (0.2%)
0 to 5%
17 (3.6%)
5.01 to 10%
17 (3.6%)
10.01 to 20%
41 (8.6%)
20.01 to 30%
35 (7.3%)
30.01 to 40%
37 (7.7%)
40.01 to 50%
38 (7.9%)
50.01 to 60%
49 (10.3%)
60.01 to 70%
35 (7.3%)
70.01 to 80%
30 (6.3%)
80.01 to 90% and FIRED
5 (1%)
80.01 to 90% and NOT FIRED
36 (7.5%)
90.01 to 100% and FIRED
1 (0.2%)
90.01 to 100% and NOT FIRED
32 (6.7%)
100.01 to 110% and FIRED
11 (2.3%)
100.01 to 110% and NOT FIRED
20 (4.2%)
110.01 and up, and FIRED
29 (6.1%)
110.01 and up, and NOT FIRED
39 (8.2%)
FIRED, other %
5 (1%)

Total Members Voted: 477

Author Topic: Race to 100% FI! (With a Poll added to track your progress!)  (Read 47074 times)

SwordGuy

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Race to 100% FI! (With a Poll added to track your progress!)
« on: September 26, 2019, 09:36:41 PM »
For the last 3 years, I've been hosting a poll on the forum that asks how close people are to FI.

There are lots of "Race to $X Net Worth" threads but, honestly, that doesn't tell anyone how close someone is to being FI in terms of passive income already achieved.

If you're aiming for a given amount of passive income, via whatever plan you're using, how close are you?

For example, if you're aiming for a passive income of $40,000 using a 4% SWR via a 100% stocks and bonds portfolio, and your portfolio is now worth $500,000, you're at 50%.

If you're planning on $20,000 in rental profits and $20,000 in stock/bond profits at a 5% withdrawal rate, then if your current rental profits are $12,000 and your stock/bond portfolio is $160,000, you're at 50%, too.

If you're going to sell your $500,000 paid for house with a realtor and buy a $200,000 house and invest the rest at in stocks and bonds with a 4% SWR, then you can count the equity as $300,000 * .094 (less realtor costs) as $282,000, which would shed off $11280.   Technically you have zero passive income, from this source, but, heck, the purpose is to figure out how close you are, and you're a lot closer than someone who doesn't have $300,000 in house equity that they can (and will) convert to stocks!

Oh, if you've got a $500,000 paid for house but you're not going to sell it when you FIRE, it counts as $0 towards your target income.

If you have stock options or a pension that you aren't vested in yet, technically, you may not have anything (unless the pension has some kind of cash out option for early terminations).   But again, if you will be vesting in 5 years and feel relatively sure you'll get there, you could pro-rate it to get an idea of how well your plan is working.  (But if it was me, I would calculate two numbers, one if things go according to plan and one where they don't and they never vest to full value, and track both of them. I would do the same if I was counting on student loan forgiveness programs, just in case the government cancels them and screws people over.)

If you have the info, show us your FI percentage over the last few years.

I'm curious!  Enquiring minds want to know!  :)

You can see last few year's polls here if you're interested in comparing results:

https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/welcome-to-the-forum/what's-your-current-of-your-target-passive-income-as-of-eoy-2018/

https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/welcome-to-the-forum/what's-your-current-eoy-2017-of-your-target-passive-income/


https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/welcome-to-the-forum/how-close-to-fi-are-you-what's-your-current-of-your-target-passive-income
« Last Edit: September 27, 2019, 02:07:47 PM by SwordGuy »

ysette9

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Re: Race to 100% FI!
« Reply #1 on: September 26, 2019, 10:13:06 PM »
I can’t see polls on damn Tapatalk so I’ve bookmarked this to go back later on a computer. Last time we updated the spreadsheet it said 97% there.

My husband does want to find the time to dig deeply into the numbers and philosophy behind everything I’ve put together to truly believe that The Number really is The Number. So he feels a little uncertain but I don’t.

SwordGuy

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Re: Race to 100% FI!
« Reply #2 on: September 26, 2019, 10:46:21 PM »
I can’t see polls on damn Tapatalk so I’ve bookmarked this to go back later on a computer. Last time we updated the spreadsheet it said 97% there.

My husband does want to find the time to dig deeply into the numbers and philosophy behind everything I’ve put together to truly believe that The Number really is The Number. So he feels a little uncertain but I don’t.

I didn't add a poll to this one.   More like the other "Race threads" was the idea.

Think I should add a poll?   It will take a couple days, I'm travelling for a few.  Hitting the sack now.

ysette9

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Re: Race to 100% FI!
« Reply #3 on: September 27, 2019, 01:37:30 AM »
Haha, don’t ask my opinion as I won’t see it if you do add one. :)

Sorry for the confusion on my part.

Faramir

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Re: Race to 100% FI!
« Reply #4 on: September 27, 2019, 03:32:29 AM »
Good idea. However, if you chose to pay off your mortgage early rather than invest it would give a low % of passive income to FI.

We have a paid for house but our invested assets are only about 30% of FIRE level but I'd say we're more like 60% of the way to FIRE from starting with no house and no investments. At least no mortgage means lower expenses and our % should increase quickly.

ysette9

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Re: Race to 100% FI!
« Reply #5 on: September 27, 2019, 06:57:03 AM »
Good idea. However, if you chose to pay off your mortgage early rather than invest it would give a low % of passive income to FI.

We have a paid for house but our invested assets are only about 30% of FIRE level but I'd say we're more like 60% of the way to FIRE from starting with no house and no investments. At least no mortgage means lower expenses and our % should increase quickly.
That doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. It should be (approximately) six of one, half dozen of the other. Either your investments are going up or your planned expenses in FI are going down. Your needed investments shouldn’t include the cost of a mortgage in perpetuity.

For example, my FI number is an investment stash needed to support our expected living plus a lump sum equal to the outstanding mortgage balance.

RWD

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Re: Race to 100% FI!
« Reply #6 on: September 27, 2019, 07:42:55 AM »
I just looked at the old polls and realized I voted exactly the same all three years (40 - 50%)! I guess we're probably 50 - 60% now/finally.

2sk22

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Re: Race to 100% FI!
« Reply #7 on: September 27, 2019, 12:39:14 PM »
This topic is a good idea. As per my calculations, we are now well over 100% of the way to FI in my household.

Our situation in a nutshell - thanks to well paying jobs (especially in the past 5 years), we have met all of our targets. I quit my megacorp job and am working at a very risky tech startup for the fun of it (although it pays pretty well). Wife enjoys her job and has no plans to quit anytime soon. I hope to completely retire next year.

SwordGuy

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Re: Race to 100% FI!
« Reply #8 on: September 27, 2019, 02:05:41 PM »
Added a poll.  This poll has no expiration date.

SwordGuy

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Re: Race to 100% FI! (With a Poll added to track your progress!)
« Reply #9 on: September 27, 2019, 02:27:30 PM »
We're in the 110%+ and FIRED group.    We're ridiculously above 110% but on personal financial topics, I'm very conservative. :)

ysette9

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Re: Race to 100% FI! (With a Poll added to track your progress!)
« Reply #10 on: September 27, 2019, 02:49:33 PM »
Ah shoot. I fat-fingered my response and now it doesn’t look like I can go back an edit it. Can you unlock?

Mmm_Donuts

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Re: Race to 100% FI! (With a Poll added to track your progress!)
« Reply #11 on: September 27, 2019, 02:56:19 PM »
Answered 80-90% and not FIREd. If we downsize the house by my estimated amount, we'd be at 85%. Currently with invested assets only we're at 75%.

SwordGuy

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Re: Race to 100% FI! (With a Poll added to track your progress!)
« Reply #12 on: September 27, 2019, 03:41:38 PM »
Ah shoot. I fat-fingered my response and now it doesn’t look like I can go back an edit it. Can you unlock?
Doesn't seem to be an option.  :(

secondcor521

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Re: Race to 100% FI! (With a Poll added to track your progress!)
« Reply #13 on: September 27, 2019, 04:26:52 PM »
We're in the 110%+ and FIRED group.    We're ridiculously above 110% but on personal financial topics, I'm very conservative. :)

+1

2Birds1Stone

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Re: Race to 100% FI! (With a Poll added to track your progress!)
« Reply #14 on: September 27, 2019, 06:20:13 PM »
Bam

In chrono order for your polls

40-50%
50-60%
70-80%

and now 100-110% and FIREd as of next week, age 32.

SwordGuy

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Re: Race to 100% FI! (With a Poll added to track your progress!)
« Reply #15 on: September 27, 2019, 09:09:00 PM »
Ah shoot. I fat-fingered my response and now it doesn’t look like I can go back an edit it. Can you unlock?
Doesn't seem to be an option.  :(

Moderators, is there any way to change the poll so people can change their vote?

This thread will be more useful over time if they can.

Thanks!

MOD EDIT: Done! Thanks for using the "report to moderator" button.
« Last Edit: September 28, 2019, 12:51:16 PM by arebelspy »

Omy

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Re: Race to 100% FI! (With a Poll added to track your progress!)
« Reply #16 on: September 28, 2019, 12:41:22 PM »
More categories might be helpful as well. We are probably 200% and FIRED because I was a big scaredy cat.

ysette9

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Re: Race to 100% FI! (With a Poll added to track your progress!)
« Reply #17 on: September 28, 2019, 01:35:45 PM »
Thanks for fixing the poll! I have corrected my answer.

My spreadsheet last night said 99% and we are not FIREd.

SwordGuy

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Re: Race to 100% FI! (With a Poll added to track your progress!)
« Reply #18 on: September 28, 2019, 07:13:52 PM »
More categories might be helpful as well. We are probably 200% and FIRED because I was a big scaredy cat.

I've been (somewhat rightly!) accused of that.  But the 110%+ category covers that.   At 110% of your FIRE number, you've pretty much won. :)

SwordGuy

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Re: Race to 100% FI! (With a Poll added to track your progress!)
« Reply #19 on: September 29, 2019, 03:00:52 PM »
Thanks for fixing the poll! I have corrected my answer.

My spreadsheet last night said 99% and we are not FIREd.

Soooooo close!

Linea_Norway

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Re: Race to 100% FI! (With a Poll added to track your progress!)
« Reply #20 on: September 30, 2019, 02:27:37 AM »
I chose 100.01 to 110% and NOT FIRED.
But it is not entirely true. It does require that we can sell our home for a certain minimum price. We only have about 40% or our FIRE sum in stocks and cash, the rest is in our home. Still, we have chosen to FIRE in Jan 2020, regardless of whether we manage to sell our home before that time. We are putting it for sale at the end of this month though, but things could take time.
In worst case, if we really can't get the right price, we should perhaps consider going back to work after taking a year off.
« Last Edit: October 02, 2019, 01:22:02 AM by Linea_Norway »

DadJokes

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Re: Race to 100% FI! (With a Poll added to track your progress!)
« Reply #21 on: September 30, 2019, 07:10:23 AM »
Well that's depressing.

1.4% to 3.9% over the last 12 months.

Well, adding today's contributions makes it 4.0%. Woo...
« Last Edit: September 30, 2019, 07:45:42 AM by DadJokes »

ysette9

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Re: Race to 100% FI! (With a Poll added to track your progress!)
« Reply #22 on: September 30, 2019, 07:19:52 AM »
Well that's depressing.

1.4% to 3.9% over the last 12 months.
It is super slow in the beginning because you are doing all the lifting yourself. I remember starting out with saving and investing and meticulously updating my net worth each week, plotting it and waiting for the curve to start looking exponential. It probably did around the time I gave up plotting and focused on other things in life. ;-)

Now the growth rate of our investments is wild due to compound interest. It feels like we started the race crawling, then sprinted, and now are taking a race car to the finish line.

2sk22

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Re: Race to 100% FI! (With a Poll added to track your progress!)
« Reply #23 on: September 30, 2019, 07:43:07 AM »
Well that's depressing.

1.4% to 3.9% over the last 12 months.
It is super slow in the beginning because you are doing all the lifting yourself. I remember starting out with saving and investing and meticulously updating my net worth each week, plotting it and waiting for the curve to start looking exponential. It probably did around the time I gave up plotting and focused on other things in life. ;-)

Now the growth rate of our investments is wild due to compound interest. It feels like we started the race crawling, then sprinted, and now are taking a race car to the finish line.

I was cleaning up some papers when I came across my very first 401k statement from early in 1993. I had a grand total of $613 in my account. Like @ysette9 I used to watch the numbers increase painfully slowly. However those early investments are what allowed me to reach FI 25 years later.

SwordGuy

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Re: Race to 100% FI! (With a Poll added to track your progress!)
« Reply #24 on: September 30, 2019, 08:11:33 AM »
Well that's depressing.

1.4% to 3.9% over the last 12 months.
It is super slow in the beginning because you are doing all the lifting yourself. I remember starting out with saving and investing and meticulously updating my net worth each week, plotting it and waiting for the curve to start looking exponential. It probably did around the time I gave up plotting and focused on other things in life. ;-)

Now the growth rate of our investments is wild due to compound interest. It feels like we started the race crawling, then sprinted, and now are taking a race car to the finish line.

It really does seem horribly slow.  The only thing that's even slower is getting from the negative percentages to 0%, because then you're fighting the interest.

@DadJokes, what's your savings rate?     

PS -- the upcoming recession will be GREAT for you!   You'll be buying stocks on sale, so don't worry about your FI % dropping when it hits.  It will be a blessing for you (assuming you stay employed).

DadJokes

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Re: Race to 100% FI! (With a Poll added to track your progress!)
« Reply #25 on: September 30, 2019, 08:28:26 AM »
Well that's depressing.

1.4% to 3.9% over the last 12 months.
It is super slow in the beginning because you are doing all the lifting yourself. I remember starting out with saving and investing and meticulously updating my net worth each week, plotting it and waiting for the curve to start looking exponential. It probably did around the time I gave up plotting and focused on other things in life. ;-)

Now the growth rate of our investments is wild due to compound interest. It feels like we started the race crawling, then sprinted, and now are taking a race car to the finish line.

It really does seem horribly slow.  The only thing that's even slower is getting from the negative percentages to 0%, because then you're fighting the interest.

@DadJokes, what's your savings rate?     

PS -- the upcoming recession will be GREAT for you!   You'll be buying stocks on sale, so don't worry about your FI % dropping when it hits.  It will be a blessing for you (assuming you stay employed).

I'm not actually depressed. My savings rate varies between 45-50% (or add another 5% if you count mortgage principal). The net worth is growing well enough that I'm pleased, but that small percentage is a bit of a gut punch. I'm just an impatient person. I know it'll be a 10-15 year journey, but that doesn't stop me from wanting faster results.

SwordGuy

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Re: Race to 100% FI! (With a Poll added to track your progress!)
« Reply #26 on: September 30, 2019, 03:19:43 PM »
Well that's depressing.

1.4% to 3.9% over the last 12 months.
It is super slow in the beginning because you are doing all the lifting yourself. I remember starting out with saving and investing and meticulously updating my net worth each week, plotting it and waiting for the curve to start looking exponential. It probably did around the time I gave up plotting and focused on other things in life. ;-)

Now the growth rate of our investments is wild due to compound interest. It feels like we started the race crawling, then sprinted, and now are taking a race car to the finish line.

It really does seem horribly slow.  The only thing that's even slower is getting from the negative percentages to 0%, because then you're fighting the interest.

@DadJokes, what's your savings rate?     

PS -- the upcoming recession will be GREAT for you!   You'll be buying stocks on sale, so don't worry about your FI % dropping when it hits.  It will be a blessing for you (assuming you stay employed).

I'm not actually depressed. My savings rate varies between 45-50% (or add another 5% if you count mortgage principal). The net worth is growing well enough that I'm pleased, but that small percentage is a bit of a gut punch. I'm just an impatient person. I know it'll be a 10-15 year journey, but that doesn't stop me from wanting faster results.

Oh, that's great!   You're going to make real progress at that savings rate.   

Loren Ver

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Re: Race to 100% FI! (With a Poll added to track your progress!)
« Reply #27 on: October 01, 2019, 10:30:05 AM »
I like this poll/race a lot, far more comparable.

Okay, I have the numbers for end of the quarter and including all our accounts settling under our control.  We FIREd end of March 2019, but it took a while for everything to clear (and I only update quarterly, ha). 

We picked our FIRE date by date not dollar and are willing to draw more than 4% (more like 4.5%), but given the lovely ranges of the survey that puts us in the 90-100% range using either calculation.

Using today's numbers as 100% for easy math we have:
2019: 100%
2018: 71% (actually down $104 between these two years)
2017: 71%
2016: 49%
2015: 39%
2014: 27%
2013: 19%

Loren

ysette9

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Re: Race to 100% FI! (With a Poll added to track your progress!)
« Reply #28 on: October 01, 2019, 10:40:59 AM »
I like this poll/race a lot, far more comparable.

Okay, I have the numbers for end of the quarter and including all our accounts settling under our control.  We FIREd end of March 2019, but it took a while for everything to clear (and I only update quarterly, ha). 

We picked our FIRE date by date not dollar and are willing to draw more than 4% (more like 4.5%), but given the lovely ranges of the survey that puts us in the 90-100% range using either calculation.

Using today's numbers as 100% for easy math we have:
2019: 100%
2018: 71% (actually down $104 between these two years)
2017: 71%
2016: 49%
2015: 39%
2014: 27%
2013: 19%

Loren
Very nice progress over not a whole lot of years.

YoungGranny

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Re: Race to 100% FI! (With a Poll added to track your progress!)
« Reply #29 on: October 01, 2019, 12:02:00 PM »
Thanks for linking the other surveys. Looks like as of Dec 2017 timeframe I was 30-40%. Then Dec 2018 I was 40-50%. Now I'm at 61%! Somedays I feel like I am still SO FAR AWAY from FIRE, a great reminder that it really picks up steam as you continue along the journey. =D

SwordGuy

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Re: Race to 100% FI! (With a Poll added to track your progress!)
« Reply #30 on: October 01, 2019, 01:50:16 PM »
Thanks for linking the other surveys. Looks like as of Dec 2017 timeframe I was 30-40%. Then Dec 2018 I was 40-50%. Now I'm at 61%! Somedays I feel like I am still SO FAR AWAY from FIRE, a great reminder that it really picks up steam as you continue along the journey. =D

It really is amazing how that compounding works!

Caroline PF

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Re: Race to 100% FI! (With a Poll added to track your progress!)
« Reply #31 on: October 01, 2019, 03:35:33 PM »
I put 50%, but my numbers are really fuzzy right now, because I'm not sure what my mortgage will end up being next year. But I'm far enough along, that I went part-time at work.

ScreamingHeadGuy

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Re: Race to 100% FI! (With a Poll added to track your progress!)
« Reply #32 on: October 01, 2019, 06:53:31 PM »
I got to 100.5% at the end of September. 

Now that the math has taken care of itself I need to get myself “in shape” for the life change. 

SwordGuy

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Re: Race to 100% FI! (With a Poll added to track your progress!)
« Reply #33 on: October 01, 2019, 07:05:52 PM »
I put 50%, but my numbers are really fuzzy right now, because I'm not sure what my mortgage will end up being next year. But I'm far enough along, that I went part-time at work.

50% and part time work is WAY BETTER than most people manage!   Congrats!

SwordGuy

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Re: Race to 100% FI! (With a Poll added to track your progress!)
« Reply #34 on: October 01, 2019, 07:06:17 PM »
I got to 100.5% at the end of September. 

Now that the math has taken care of itself I need to get myself “in shape” for the life change.

Way to go!!!

ysette9

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Re: Race to 100% FI! (With a Poll added to track your progress!)
« Reply #35 on: October 01, 2019, 07:12:31 PM »
I got to 100.5% at the end of September. 

Now that the math has taken care of itself I need to get myself “in shape” for the life change.

Way to go!!!
That is awesome. As someone sitting on the cusp, I’m curious if you felt any different once you officially passed the 100% line? I feel like once we do it will be anti-climactic and we won’t really believe it. Being at 97% or whatever the last spreadsheet update said doesn’t feel like we are solid enough to pull the plug.

secondcor521

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Re: Race to 100% FI! (With a Poll added to track your progress!)
« Reply #36 on: October 01, 2019, 07:32:47 PM »
I got to 100.5% at the end of September. 

Now that the math has taken care of itself I need to get myself “in shape” for the life change.

Way to go!!!
That is awesome. As someone sitting on the cusp, I’m curious if you felt any different once you officially passed the 100% line? I feel like once we do it will be anti-climactic and we won’t really believe it. Being at 97% or whatever the last spreadsheet update said doesn’t feel like we are solid enough to pull the plug.

I'm not @ScreamingHeadGuy, but I remember passing 100%.  For me, it was anticlimactic.  I knew for years that I was doing all the proper things, and that the math of exponential growth was inevitably going to get me there as long as catastrophe didn't strike.

After I hit 100%, I did start to think about it a lot more pragmatically.  Like which time of year would I actually retire, how much notice would I give, which accounts would I pull from first, etc.  I started to think of the actual implementation stuff of actually FIREing.

Along with that, I decided sometime before FIREing to do the Roth conversion ladder, so I asked questions about that, and in my case started tracking a secondary goal of having five years of living expenses in after-tax locations.  I hit that point pretty quickly after hitting FI.

It can take quite a while to "feel FIREd" after actually being FI and even being FIREd.  I was FI 5 years ago, REd 3 years ago, and probably only in the last six months or so have I actually feel like I'm legitimately OK financially.  There are certainly feelings of "Yay, I don't have to go to work (because I quit)!" and "Man, this is better than a 9-5!" but actually believing that I don't have to go back has taken until very recently.

EscapeVelocity2020

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Re: Race to 100% FI! (With a Poll added to track your progress!)
« Reply #37 on: October 01, 2019, 08:14:28 PM »
I'm glad you included these FIRED / NOT FIRED categories SwordGuy (as well as the detailed descriptions and links to past surveys), interesting stuff.  If only we had thousands of responses to see if there was any statistical significance!

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80.01 to 90% and FIRED            3 (4.2%)
80.01 to 90% and NOT FIRED     5 (6.9%)

90.01 to 100% and FIRED          1 (1.4%)
90.01 to 100% and NOT FIRED   3 (4.2%)

100.01 to 110% and FIRED         3 (4.2%)
100.01 to 110% and NOT FIRED  6 (8.3%)

110.01 and up, and FIRED          6 (8.3%)
110.01 and up, and NOT FIRED   4 (5.6%)

Edit to add - I haven't voted yet.  I think I'm 110.01 and up, and NOT FIRED
« Last Edit: October 01, 2019, 08:17:51 PM by EscapeVelocity2020 »

APowers

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Re: Race to 100% FI! (With a Poll added to track your progress!)
« Reply #38 on: October 01, 2019, 08:16:36 PM »
Currently, I have a single family rental which cashflows about $500/mo net, plus am renting my basement on airbnb for about $1,100 net (average-- it fluctuates much higher in the summer, and much lower in the winter). My FI/RE goal is $2,000-2,500/month passive income, which puts me at about 70-75% complete. Once I finish the remodel and landscaping of the rest of the house, I will be able to rent the whole place out much more lucratively and that will put me near or over 100%.

Or conversely, I am basically barista-FIRE right now. My current project (other than the major house remodel/landscaping) is to get my income up above median from the ~$30k/yr that it's been for the last 9-ish years.

SwordGuy

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Re: Race to 100% FI! (With a Poll added to track your progress!)
« Reply #39 on: October 01, 2019, 10:36:07 PM »
I'm glad you included these FIRED / NOT FIRED categories SwordGuy (as well as the detailed descriptions and links to past surveys), interesting stuff.  If only we had thousands of responses to see if there was any statistical significance!

Quote
80.01 to 90% and FIRED            3 (4.2%)
80.01 to 90% and NOT FIRED     5 (6.9%)

90.01 to 100% and FIRED          1 (1.4%)
90.01 to 100% and NOT FIRED   3 (4.2%)

100.01 to 110% and FIRED         3 (4.2%)
100.01 to 110% and NOT FIRED  6 (8.3%)

110.01 and up, and FIRED          6 (8.3%)
110.01 and up, and NOT FIRED   4 (5.6%)

Edit to add - I haven't voted yet.  I think I'm 110.01 and up, and NOT FIRED

My hope is that, over time, most forum users will use this to record where they are.   (Plus fill out the yearly, point in time ones.)

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Re: Race to 100% FI! (With a Poll added to track your progress!)
« Reply #40 on: October 01, 2019, 10:37:17 PM »
Currently, I have a single family rental which cashflows about $500/mo net, plus am renting my basement on airbnb for about $1,100 net (average-- it fluctuates much higher in the summer, and much lower in the winter). My FI/RE goal is $2,000-2,500/month passive income, which puts me at about 70-75% complete. Once I finish the remodel and landscaping of the rest of the house, I will be able to rent the whole place out much more lucratively and that will put me near or over 100%.

Or conversely, I am basically barista-FIRE right now. My current project (other than the major house remodel/landscaping) is to get my income up above median from the ~$30k/yr that it's been for the last 9-ish years.

I salute you!   That's pretty awesome for your income!

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Re: Race to 100% FI! (With a Poll added to track your progress!)
« Reply #41 on: October 02, 2019, 06:00:44 AM »
I'm not @ScreamingHeadGuy, but I remember passing 100%.  For me, it was anticlimactic.  I knew for years that I was doing all the proper things, and that the math of exponential growth was inevitably going to get me there as long as catastrophe didn't strike.

After I hit 100%, I did start to think about it a lot more pragmatically.  Like which time of year would I actually retire, how much notice would I give, which accounts would I pull from first, etc.  I started to think of the actual implementation stuff of actually FIREing.
Same here.   
Quote
It can take quite a while to "feel FIREd" after actually being FI and even being FIREd.  I was FI 5 years ago, REd 3 years ago, and probably only in the last six months or so have I actually feel like I'm legitimately OK financially.  There are certainly feelings of "Yay, I don't have to go to work (because I quit)!" and "Man, this is better than a 9-5!" but actually believing that I don't have to go back has taken until very recently.

18 months since we FIRED and about 3 years since FI.   I'm still adjusting.

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Re: Race to 100% FI! (With a Poll added to track your progress!)
« Reply #42 on: October 02, 2019, 07:39:54 PM »
I got to 100.5% at the end of September. 

Now that the math has taken care of itself I need to get myself “in shape” for the life change.

Way to go!!!

That is awesome. As someone sitting on the cusp, I’m curious if you felt any different once you officially passed the 100% line? I feel like once we do it will be anti-climactic and we won’t really believe it. Being at 97% or whatever the last spreadsheet update said doesn’t feel like we are solid enough to pull the plug.

No, I didn’t feel any difference on 9/30.  I didn’t feel any different back in July when my stache spent a few days above 100%, either.  As others have said it doesn’t “feel real” to me yet.  There is a detached rational part of my brain that understands the import of the numbers, but that has yet to translate to anything in my life.  So I’d say anticlimactic is a good description - after so many years of investing it was fait accompli.   

I will see how the next few month to a year go and maybe move up my RE date by a few months.  In the meantime it’s all about making the best of my life now in preparation of a change.

« Last Edit: October 02, 2019, 07:41:55 PM by ScreamingHeadGuy »

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Re: Race to 100% FI! (With a Poll added to track your progress!)
« Reply #43 on: October 02, 2019, 08:23:21 PM »
Delurking after an extended forum hiatus to vote, 30.01-40% range.

Since the beginning of the journey toward FI/RE, the goalposts of the "am-I-FI" calculation have moved considerably. At some point soon I'm hoping I'll get a chance to reboot/necropost in my mothballed journal to talk more at length about this, but the TLDR version is that a lot of life happened, and my goals evolved. For one, it isn't all about "my" goals anymore, as I am not on this journey alone anymore (replace "my" with "our" - I found a keeper!). "Our" FI/RE target number is a lot higher than one that only included myself (duh), and it also includes big financial decisions I would almost certainly not have made by myself (buying a fixer-upper house, pets, etc.). Now that there are two of us pulling the sled, it will be interesting to see if/how we can continue to move the needle.

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Race to 100% FI! (With a Poll added to track your progress!)
« Reply #44 on: October 02, 2019, 08:37:11 PM »
For the last 3 years, I've been hosting a poll on the forum that asks how close people are to FI.

There are lots of "Race to $X Net Worth" threads but, honestly, that doesn't tell anyone how close someone is to being FI in terms of passive income already achieved.

If you're aiming for a given amount of passive income, via whatever plan you're using, how close are you?

For example, if you're aiming for a passive income of $40,000 using a 4% SWR via a 100% stocks and bonds portfolio, and your portfolio is now worth $500,000, you're at 50%.

If you're planning on $20,000 in rental profits and $20,000 in stock/bond profits at a 5% withdrawal rate, then if your current rental profits are $12,000 and your stock/bond portfolio is $160,000, you're at 50%, too.

If you're going to sell your $500,000 paid for house with a realtor and buy a $200,000 house and invest the rest at in stocks and bonds with a 4% SWR, then you can count the equity as $300,000 * .094 (less realtor costs) as $282,000, which would shed off $11280.   Technically you have zero passive income, from this source, but, heck, the purpose is to figure out how close you are, and you're a lot closer than someone who doesn't have $300,000 in house equity that they can (and will) convert to stocks!

If you have the info, show us your FI percentage over the last few years.

I'm curious!  Enquiring minds want to know!  :)


Interesting exercise

I’m in my mid-40s... I haven’t calculated “100% FI” like this before, but I’m game...

Using your example, if I’m aiming for $40k passive... assets generate over $200k passive (honestly not sure how much over, but it’s a good lower-bound estimate) so the answer is ~500+%

Or we can use a goal of $80k passive (as a couple)... so we’re at ~250+%

We probably hit 100% passive when I hit early-mid 30s (around then)... 33? It was awhile ago

And we also have non-passive income so the percentages relative to $40k/$80k are higher than the 500%/250% calculated using only passive sources

$5m in NW
« Last Edit: October 02, 2019, 09:03:11 PM by nancyfrank232 »

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Re: Race to 100% FI! (With a Poll added to track your progress!)
« Reply #45 on: October 03, 2019, 06:54:12 AM »
Interesting exercise

I’m in my mid-40s... I haven’t calculated “100% FI” like this before, but I’m game...

Using your example, if I’m aiming for $40k passive... assets generate over $200k passive (honestly not sure how much over, but it’s a good lower-bound estimate) so the answer is ~500+%

Or we can use a goal of $80k passive (as a couple)... so we’re at ~250+%

We probably hit 100% passive when I hit early-mid 30s (around then)... 33? It was awhile ago

And we also have non-passive income so the percentages relative to $40k/$80k are higher than the 500%/250% calculated using only passive sources

$5m in NW

So you are 110.01 and up.  Are you FIRED or NOT FIRED?

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Re: Race to 100% FI! (With a Poll added to track your progress!)
« Reply #46 on: October 03, 2019, 07:48:02 AM »
Fired where we wanted too a little over 4.5 years ago though do some side gigs. We are currently about 115% above our goal +/- figuring a 4% withdrawal which this year wont be near do to side gig and excluding paid for house, zero debt.

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Re: Race to 100% FI! (With a Poll added to track your progress!)
« Reply #47 on: October 03, 2019, 08:09:03 AM »
I FIREd in April of this year at age 42, and am currently in the 110+% and FIREd category.

At the end of each year we were at:
2008 - 13%
2009 - 23%
2010 - 29%
2011 - 32%
2012 - 40%
2013 - 53%
2014 - 58%  (Found MMM / FIRE)
2015 - 62%
2016 - 71%
2017 - 91%
2018 - 96%

Those numbers aren't exactly correct because we paid off the mortgage in 2018 to lower our income needs  (reducing ACA costs and taxes significantly) and I didn't include mortgage debt in my numbers, but they track our non-housing ratios well and our house is a relatively small part of our NW. 

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Re: Race to 100% FI! (With a Poll added to track your progress!)
« Reply #48 on: October 03, 2019, 01:27:30 PM »
I've added a special version of this poll for families making less than the median household income.

https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/throw-down-the-gauntlet/race-to-100-fi-(only-if-below-median-household-income!!!)/


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Re: Race to 100% FI! (With a Poll added to track your progress!)
« Reply #49 on: October 03, 2019, 02:51:54 PM »
I am at a whopping 6.5%... but that's up from 2.9% earlier this year. Chug chug chugging along! One day I too will benefit from crazy compounding. ;)

 

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