Have any of you decided to slow down your contributions after your stash achieves critical mass?
I'm sort of in this boat. I have enough invested that it will reach FI for me in 3-8yrs without me doing a whole lot. My contributions are less than my nest egg is growing each year.
I'm 46 so working full on for a lot longer is not appealing.
So I'm starting to downshift. Staring 4 day weeks next week. Taking extra months off next year and more the following year.
I'll keep adding to my investments as I can, but my main goal over the next 5yrs or so is to give my $$ time to grow while I work, but work less and have more free time. Not sure where I'll find a happy work - free balance, but as long as I can cover my COL that works for me.
If my investments grow fast and I'm FI in 3yrs I'll downshift again. Not sure if I'll stop working 100%, but it will be nice to have that option. OTOH working less than 6 months a year after a life of full-time work will seem pretty sweet.
What's motivated me to do this is that I have had some relatively minor health issues lately that have made me realize that my active lifestyle options [mtn biking, surfing, etc..] is not something I can count on indefinitely. I'd feel stupid working hard as I can to hit FI in say 5yrs and then not being able to do things that I've wanted more free time to do.
The other two benefits of this approach that come to mind are:
1. reduced sequence of return risks - with part-time work I can work an extra few years if the market crashes just when I was going to pull the plug and take on bit extra work if that happens with in the first 5yrs after I retire.
2. gradual transition - a lot of people have trouble [it seems] going from full-time work to full-time retirement. I'd say I wasn't going to be one of those people, but who knows? Taking it in stages will give me time to figure things out and find a place I'm happy with.
The key in all this FIRE is to work through your options and find a plan that makes the most sense for you.
-- Vik