I can’t believe I hadn’t seen this section before. So many nooks and crannies of the forum to poke around and discover, and they are all so awesome!!
About 2 years ago, I decided that the road to F.I.R.E. was looking feasible for me by age 55. I’m currently 32 months away, (October, 2019) which has really changed my outlook on work.
On the positive side, there is a visible, bright light at the end of the tunnel. The goal is well within reach. In fact, I’m pretty confident that I have enough money invested to retire right now, but I plan to work until sometime in 2019 for a few reasons.
And this growing pile of F.U. money has let me silently laugh off the office politics, and the constant grumbling of my co-workers (always discussed – along with the latest luxury sedan lust -- over their $15+ daily lunches).
But this situation has some torturous side effects as well. For one, 32 months feels SOO far away. Freedom is all I think about all day in my beige jail cell. Every project dropped on my desk makes me grumble with resentment. I also feel like I have no one to discuss this all with, which is why I’m posting here.
Anyway, to help inject a tiny dose of positivity into my work week, I have implemented a series of countdown mechanisms. I have a pad of Post-it notes on my desk, which I update weekly. There are 4 numbers: Years remaining (2.66), months remaining (32), weeks remaining (139) and days remaining (970) until F.I.R.E. I also keep a running countdown of the days remaining in my DayMinder desk calendar. I save the Post-it note update for Monday mornings. It feels good to tear that top note off, crumple it up and toss it in the trash, then write down some new, smaller numbers, which makes Monday morning just a teensy bit more tolerable. It’s also good to review the days on the calendar, and look back several weeks to reinforce the progress toward the goal.
So why not just call it quits right now if I seem so damned miserable and have enough money? Fair question. There are several reasons (excuses?).
One is, my wife was already a little freaked out 2 years ago when I first brought early retirement up. Since then, I’ve really reigned in my unnecessary spending, and have been open about how much my pile has grown (we generally keep our money separate outside of paying shared bills like the mortgage, groceries, utilities, insurance, etc.). So she has since come around and is pretty supportive of my decision, but not yet a mustachian. She’s a CPA making considerably more than me and currently loves the job she landed 2 years ago at a small, family owned company. And her commute is a whopping 6 minutes (2 miles). She is part of my backup plan, but I never want her to feel like she needs to subsidize my retirement. I need to be 100% self-sufficient, so I am being really conservative in my saving needs estimates. I have twice as much saved up as I think I will need. I guess this puts me squarely in the Scaredypants camp.
Another reason to gut it out is company benefits. If I have 10 years of continuous service and am 55 or older when I retire, I can keep my company sponsored insurance plan for as long as I pay the premiums (just started my 10th year; whew!). I can even add dependents later. This is not COBRA. I’m not yet sure if I have to wait for my 55th birthday, or if it applies beginning the calendar year I turn 55 like access to the 401(k). Either way, I have to wait at least until Jan. 2019. I will then be able to get an estimate of the premiums and see if it will be cheaper than getting added to my wife’s insurance. I’m guessing it will be less since I work for a huge company.
I also didn’t expect my retirement savings to grow as fast as it has. Holy crap, the last 12 months have been amazing! The majority of my money is invested aggressively in rollover IRAs and my current 401k. With the IRAs, I can’t touch the money without penalty until 59 ½ (yes, I’m aware of the back-door Roth conversion; I work in the retirement saving industry). But with the 401k, once you leave your job you can access the money without penalty starting the calendar year you turn 55.
And lastly, I want to be completely debt free when I do retire. We currently have 18 payments left on the mortgage. With that out of the way, I will have a dozen or so months to crank up a cash stockpile just before retirement. I did suggest raiding our combined savings account to pay off the mortgage now, but my wife wants to use that to make a couple of house repairs (foundation).
So that’s my situation right now.
Except for the equity/debt of the house, these numbers all exclude my wife's personal assets. Not sure what they add up to, but I know she is diligent about saving and investing, just not as aggressive as me.