What is your target amount?

[arebelspy]

I don't really have a target amount but I do have a target stable weekly passive income goal of at least $1,000 per week (Australia, Sydney so $1,000 here doesn't get you as far as it would in America). Generally a networth of $1,000,000 would get you that return "safely" with the majority of it in property. Currently I'm 21 with a self made networth of 164K so I feel I should make it there at around 30.

Those were almost my exact goal numbers, 1k/wk, 1MM, most in RE, at 30.

Good luck!

[Jupiter]

I don't really have a target amount but I do have a target stable weekly passive income goal of at least $1,000 per week (Australia, Sydney so $1,000 here doesn't get you as far as it would in America). Generally a networth of $1,000,000 would get you that return "safely" with the majority of it in property. Currently I'm 21 with a self made networth of 164K so I feel I should make it there at around 30.

Those were almost my exact goal numbers, 1k/wk, 1MM, most in RE, at 30.

Good luck!

Did you make the goal? I'm sure this is achievable especially since I never plan to have children.

[JordanOfGilead]

My wife I have a pretty inexpensive way of living, so our annual number only comes to about 16-17k. 500-600k is our FI number. If anything comes up where we would need more money, both of us are educated and skilled. We shouldn't have much trouble finding at least one job between the two of us to cover any gaps. We also plan on using our FIRE time to try and learn new skills that will keep us busy during the day doing something we enjoy while simultaneously bringing in extra income, so I feel comfortable with our number as low as it is.

[canadian bacon]

I am targeting 1.5M but this will be pushed to 1.8Mish.  With kids in daycare, my expenses are high for the next 4 years. I figure I will be at 1.5M (I live on 2.5%) by 2018 but this will grow to 1.8M (I live on 1.9%) by the time that the daycare expenses go away.

[boarder42]

I don't really have a target amount but I do have a target stable weekly passive income goal of at least $1,000 per week (Australia, Sydney so $1,000 here doesn't get you as far as it would in America). Generally a networth of $1,000,000 would get you that return "safely" with the majority of it in property. Currently I'm 21 with a self made networth of 164K so I feel I should make it there at around 30.

Those were almost my exact goal numbers, 1k/wk, 1MM, most in RE, at 30.

Good luck!

Did you make the goal? I'm sure this is achievable especially since I never plan to have children.

check out his current location.  he did it. ... so real estate done the correct way supports a 5.2% SWR.  thats the most interesting thing i gather from this post.

[arebelspy]

I don't really have a target amount but I do have a target stable weekly passive income goal of at least $1,000 per week (Australia, Sydney so $1,000 here doesn't get you as far as it would in America). Generally a networth of $1,000,000 would get you that return "safely" with the majority of it in property. Currently I'm 21 with a self made networth of 164K so I feel I should make it there at around 30.

Those were almost my exact goal numbers, 1k/wk, 1MM, most in RE, at 30.

Good luck!

Did you make the goal? I'm sure this is achievable especially since I never plan to have children.

I did. It's totally achievable!  :)

(We put off the kid thing until after, and are having our first one now.)

[arebelspy]

I don't really have a target amount but I do have a target stable weekly passive income goal of at least $1,000 per week (Australia, Sydney so $1,000 here doesn't get you as far as it would in America). Generally a networth of $1,000,000 would get you that return "safely" with the majority of it in property. Currently I'm 21 with a self made networth of 164K so I feel I should make it there at around 30.

Those were almost my exact goal numbers, 1k/wk, 1MM, most in RE, at 30.

Good luck!

Did you make the goal? I'm sure this is achievable especially since I never plan to have children.

check out his current location.  he did it. ... so real estate done the correct way supports a 5.2% SWR.  thats the most interesting thing i gather from this post.

Or even much higher.

[Mika M]

After first getting into this blog I was pretty dreamy about working toward being able to live on 25-30k, after reading several blogs by many people who live comfortably on that or less. But, after working at it a couple of years, having a kid, living in a fairly high COL area, having miscellaneous unexpected expenses popping up here and there (home/car issues, medical issues, etc.), and discovering a few various aspects of everyday living that we decided against going hard-core frugal on, DH and I realized that we'd like decent buffer for living comfortably and have settled on about 40k... so 1mil. Good news is that our combined numbers put us at around 40% of the way there (up 10% from a year ago) so that's encouraging.

[Piwakawaka]

$350K (NZ) and a small paid off property in the remote West Coast region of the South Island (look it up, its pretty darn nice). Between the passive income and plenty of growing veges, fishing and the odd pig and deer, semi-universal healthcare and little desire for expensive things, I should be set!

[Lindy]

Thinking about just myself, and my current expenses, I would be FIRE at $500,000.  Add in my boyfriend, and he wants 1M for us  to comfortably retire.  Although, a move abroad to a lower COL country would require less.  Moving abroad is a possibility, but considering we have less than $200,000 currently, FIRE is still many years away.   

[ohyonghao]

Wow, interesting thread so far.  I'm working towards what I call Milestone 1, which is basically bare bones FI at $300,000.  That would get us back to my wife's home in Taiwan and retire with the average Taiwanese wage.  Once we hit the $300k mark then I would continue to work, but if something were to happen our backup of moving home would always be there.

Still working out what Milestone 2 will be, we would like to keep the house here in the States.  Paid off the rent would be enough ROI to live off only the rental income.  I'm estimating this to be probably around a $500k net worth.

One key step in my long term plan is starting to settle, will have a much deeper discussion in February when I return to Taiwan to renew my Alien Residency Card (an important upkeep for retirement), but it may help to speed up our retirement depending on the numbers that other parties involved are able to provide.

We also plan to try our hand at some side business in Taiwan, either teaching English part time, running a bbq joint, a beguette shop, selling Western antiques, or whatever happens to come up while retired.

[pachnik]

$525,000.00 is my target number.  I should hit this number in about 4 or 5 years.  By that time, I will be around 56 y/o and my husband will be 63.  So at that time, he'll be 2 years away from CPP/OAS money.  If my health permits, I will work part time or on contract. 

[opnfld]

$600K with a paid off house...just like MMM.  Except we won't pay off the house, rather keep the mortgage with the equivalent amount invested.  There are other things I want to do that will increase our net worth, but this is the foundation from which we can proceed with a sense of security.

[StockBeard]

My retirement number is 4 million accounting for inflation (I plan to retire at 55) and some increased spending.  But my independence # is much lower at $780,000.

I don't understand why you need so much in addition to your independence number? I understand the need for a buffer, but 5 times the amount... what's the goal here?

[Gin1984]

My retirement number is 4 million accounting for inflation (I plan to retire at 55) and some increased spending.  But my independence # is much lower at $780,000.

I don't understand why you need so much in addition to your independence number? I understand the need for a buffer, but 5 times the amount... what's the goal here?

I plan to continue working, in a not very stable field until my kids are out of college (cash flowing college).  I expect inflation to take a rather substantial bite into my income/assets so $780,000 now will probably need 1,560,000 24 years from now.  In addition I have some expensive medical issues that are not covered by my independence # but do improve my quality of life.  In addition, we want to increase spending for some fun, the independence # is bare minimum. So all together, it looks like a huge increase.  :)

[Bertram]

@Gin1984: So, would you say you have made any changes to lifestyle after finding MMM? If you need 5 times as much money to be happy than to live frugally, it sure sounds like you believe that spending more money will make you happier.
Just curious, I don't think there is anything wrong with taking the FIRE math and applying it to any desired lifestyle, but I am somewhat surprised to read it here in these forums and while acknowledging so openly that a fifth of the target would be sufficient, too. I guess if you like your job and how you spend your time - why even stop at 55? Why not add another 5years for that sweet other hobby in the back of your mind? ;)

[Gin1984]

@Gin1984: So, would you say you have made any changes to lifestyle after finding MMM? If you need 5 times as much money to be happy than to live frugally, it sure sounds like you believe that spending more money will make you happier.
Just curious, I don't think there is anything wrong with taking the FIRE math and applying it to any desired lifestyle, but I am somewhat surprised to read it here in these forums and while acknowledging so openly that a fifth of the target would be sufficient, too. I guess if you like your job and how you spend your time - why even stop at 55? Why not add another 5years for that sweet other hobby in the back of your mind? ;)

I think you need to reread my post to wololo because I already answered most of your questions there. 
ETA because I was overly snarky.

[gReed Smith]

$1.15 million and no debt because I am a spendy pants.  Although, there are some easy ways for me to reduce that number, like moving out of the high property tax county that I live and work in.  I'm sure I'll reevaluate when I am debt-free and again as I approach $1 million.

[Prairie Stash]

$800K CDN to be re-evaluated when I hit $700K, I'll fine tune things when I get close. Its tough to predict how much my future self will spend, I'm still paring back expenses. For example by then I fully expect to have solar power and cut my power bills down, who knows what other cost saving ideas I'll implement. Of course I also plan to spend extra on travel, send kids through university and have hobbies. The $800k can handle all of that and more.

Backup plan #1 (there's several more)
At 65 in Canada I get CPP (CPP is funded for the next 50+ years in Canada) and OAS, which will top me up $10-15K/year if I'm short. So at 65 I'll need $550K, which leaves a pretty big buffer if I draw down $200k of the principle in early retirement.

[TheContinentalOp]

My target is U$800k. I plan to hit that in 4.5 years.

This year I am on track to spend U$24,000 (there is just me).

 I rent, don't own. I will be 54 when I FIRE. I plan to spend 10 years biking and hiking around the world and then settle down a by a house in a LCOL area.

[mxt0133]

In my mind once I hit $700-$800K, I will take a sabbatical and spend more time with the family.  I have a pretty flexible schedule now but I want to travel with them, however I still have a 6 month old and want to wait another year or two before we start traveling.  I will then look for a position that I can do remotely or find work wherever we land.

At the moment I don't see myself not earning money, the conservative side of me thinking I need to keep my employable skills sharp while I have dependents.  My ace in the hole is my wife going back to work once the kids are older, assuming we stay married.  Another reason to take a sabbatical so that we strengthen relationship, not that it's in shambles now, but the relationship has taken a back seat to child rearing.  Plus it never hurts to put in the extra effort.  Hopefully with her working and me finding something I truly enjoy doing or doing something part-time just for money will be more than enough for us to be able to live anywhere we want and not have to worry about money when we can no longer work.

[iamlindoro]

"Official" number is $600K in stocks and bonds, and $3K a month in safe cash flow from rentals, for a total of $5K a month to support a nomadic, constant-travel lifestyle for what will probably be three people by that point.

Realistically, we'll probably FIRE sometime before that, when it starts to seem like enough.  The low-possible number would be when they total $3K/month (about 2 years out), and the more likely will be somewhere around $4K/month (about 3 years out).

[o2bfree]

I'm shooting for $1.25M to retire at 55-1/2, which is the beginning of 2018. Currently I have $1.085M, plus a paid-off house and vacation place. The linear trend line on my stache plot points towards success, so that feels pretty good, but of course anything can happen. My DBF has his own stache, plus a pension. He could pull the plug anytime, but has OMY syndrome or something. I told him we could get m-m-m...married and he could go on my health insurance until I quit work. Maybe that's what's scaring him!

[zephyr911]

I don't really have a number, per se; I'm playing it by ear. My quest for FIRE was inspired mostly by professional burnout, which has (oddly) faded away since I no longer feel trapped and have FI in reach. With the desperation gone, I think I'll have more than I need to retire by the time I feel like quitting. I've been thinking I may direct a bit more disposable income to charities and other discretionary non-consumption spending, still saving around 50% but slow-rolling the final transition.

The "magic" number is definitely under $1M... I haven't figured out how low, partly because even after 18+ months here, I'm still learning (and implementing) new fixes to lifestyle creep. On top of that, I've become pretty comfortable with leveraged rental investments (higher SWR%) and will probably stay in real estate for fun (adding an easy $5-15K with minimal labor).

I could almost FIRE now on my part-time income, or on a $300K stash and just one of my two PT jobs. But I love my safety margins, and I like the idea of leaving a huge legacy to a good cause, so the number itself... may not matter in the end. Then again, if my job does a 180 and becomes an existential nightmare once again, I'll get way more serious about the magic #, which will hopefully turn out to be less than what I have by that point.

[Cougar]

  1 million, but mostly just to say i'm a millionaire; i dont need that much; but i'm going to hit it before 50; so i'm okay with it; if it were 60 or 70; i'd let it go.

 from there, i pay off the house and two rentals and live off the rental income with the leftover as and emergency stash(i'm planning on living on less than 2,000 a month).

[mizzourah2006]

Ours is 2 million (in today's dollars) in income producing assets and no debt (paid off house, etc.). So about 15 years away.

[ETBen]

I'm still confused about some things.

The traditional advice based on current salary is inaccurate, yes?  Bc I have a good salary and wouldn't need that much.

My current spending is based on 2 kids and a mortgage.  It will only be me.

I am unsure if I would relocate to a cheaper area.

So would I recalculate today's budget, subtracting the expenses related to the kids, and base off of that? 

[steveo]

ETBen I think you should work out expected expenses and multiply that by 25. If you get your expenses right then you will be fine. You could also just use current expenses time 25.

[arebelspy]

I'm still confused about some things.

The traditional advice based on current salary is inaccurate, yes?  Bc I have a good salary and wouldn't need that much.

My current spending is based on 2 kids and a mortgage.  It will only be me.

Absolutely the traditional advice to base off of income is terrible.

Project your expenses in retirement, and base your number on that (and whatever buffer makes you comfortable).

[WGH]

$2.5 - $3 million wanting to retire at age 55. Plan is to burn through quite a bit of that the first decade and then slow down. I want to be able to do a lot of traveling and take the kids and hopefully grandkids on some nice trips as well. Will likely wait till 70 for SS.

[Bateaux]

I'm still a ways out from settling on a number.  It ranges from 1.5 to 2 million.   I'm currently leaning towards 2 million.   I don't think I'll be comfortable with less.  50k to 60k in after retirement spending per year is where I think I can maintain principal.   Running the FIRE CALC out to 40 years with a 2 million nest egg starting out never runs below 1.2 million.  I know even the 100% sucess prediction is still only based on past data.  A deep depression could still wipe it all out.  In that case the world is in bad shape.

[iamlindoro]

I'm still a ways out from settling on a number.  It ranges from 1.5 to 2 million.   I'm currently leaning towards 2 million.   I don't think I'll be comfortable with less.  50k to 60k in after retirement spending per year is where I think I can maintain principal.   Running the FIRE CALC out to 40 years with a 2 million nest egg starting out never runs below 1.2 million.  I know even the 100% sucess prediction is still only based on past data.  A deep depression could still wipe it all out.  In that case the world is in bad shape.

FireCalc/cFireSIM with a 100% success rate includes a successful weathering of a deep depression (numerous of them, considering multiple of the 40 year periods would cross it).

[Bateaux]

^^^Call me skeptical. Hard to believe that you could weather the great depression without altering your withdrawl rate.   Doesn't seem fair.

[arebelspy]

^^^Call me skeptical. Hard to believe that you could weather the great depression without altering your withdrawl rate.   Doesn't seem fair.

If you lower your WR enough to start with, of course you could get through without having to alter/lower it any further.  That seems intuitive, right?

And research has told us how much is enough--to approximately 4%!

That shows you how conservative 4% has been (for the U.S., historically), and how many times, if you weren't FIREing into a terrible depression or super high inflation, you could have been fine with a 5 or 6% WR. :)

[REAL WORLD EXPAT]

Our number is around $1.75MM as we plan to spend a lot more than we currently for the first couple of years travelling and then dial it down once we settle down to everyday life (where-ever that will be!).

Pretty sure we could FIRE on less but I'm one of the 'just in case' people. If our jobs become unbearable (they are not currently) then sure we'll jump sooner but right now we're generating a lot of cash and 'stashing it away while still enjoying a comfortable (enjoyable) life.

[patrickza]

One million dollars :)

Just to know I could get there. I need far less, but I'd like to get there. It all depends on how much I like my job at the time. Last week I was enjoying it, this week, not so much! I'll definitely get there, but it may actually be some time after I FIRE.

[arebelspy]

I'll definitely get there, but it may actually be some time after I FIRE.

Sure, but that's pretty meaningless--basically everyone born this year should get there (in nominal dollars).  Within their lifetime, median annual household income will be nearly 1MM (using inflation figures for the last 80 years, and the fact that it's currently about 53k).

All of us in this thread that don't die early should easily be millionaires.  :D

[Greystache]

Our annual spend is $60k so our target was $1.5M. We did this with a pension paid in ten years at $50K per year and $1.2M invested in IRAs and 401K. After the pension runs out in 10 years, we will be within 2 years of full retirement age.  We can decide to take SS at 65 or wait til 67 or 70 depending on how our investments have done over the next 10 years. As for unexpected things that could blow our plan out of the water, well that's what insurance is for.  Does your FIRE budget include adequate home, liability and health insurance?  Not everything can be covered by insurance. You mentioned oops children, but we know what causes them and they are easily preventable. 

[Cassie]

WE each have a DB pension of $20,000/year that is COLA'd.  WE also have a paid off house & $ saved. We also bring in between $25-30,000/year from consulting p.t.  Our bare bones budget does not include anything other then our pensions. Our health insurance is 10K/year.  WE will also collect  a reduced SS at age 70.  Since we retired from a state that does not pay into SS if we take if earlier then 70 it would be so small as to be laughable. When we were younger we never spent much on health related issues. In our late 50's & early 60's that ship has sailed.  Our biggest variable is traveling right now which we have done much of during the past 4 years.  If $ is ever tight we could certainly put our RV in a park for a month & only spent 300-400/month for lot rent so we could travel fairly cheaply if we have too.  For younger people you have many years to travel so probably don't need to rush to do it as fast as we feel the need.   For those of you retiring in your 30's etc I think it will be fun to follow your journey through the years providing I am still alive & you younger ones are still posting:))

[YK-Phil]

RRSPs of $315,000 will be enough for the two of us. With two mortgage-free rental apartments that net roughly $24,000 annually, a paid-off acreage and house with low taxes and practically no utilities costs, and a frugal budget estimated at $24,000 (less than our current spending), we should be good until Canada Pension Plan payments kick in at age 60 for me, and Canada Pension Plan/Old Age Security at age 65 for my wife.

[SwordGuy]

the thought of running out of money at 65 and having to flip burgers for a living scares the heck out of me.  I'll probably end up targeting somewhere on the high side....

Me too.   That's why I like living in a military town.  I can go cook at Hooters or a strip club...

[Zikoris]

We'll probably pull the plug around the 700K mark. We spend around 26K/year now, but a huge chunk of that (8-9K) is fancy-pants-style travel, and the rest is the inflated costs associated with living in Vancouver. We don't plan to stay here post-retirement, though visiting in the summer will be nice.

[alsoknownasDean]

Probably around $800K in today's money (plus superannuation), plus a paid off home.

Although honestly, the goalposts are likely to shift significantly if I meet someone/start a family/move overseas/etc.

I might be open to working part-time for a while as well.

[hybrid]

Someone mentioned pensions, we have two of those to tap soon. Missus will retire next year with a Federal pension of 18K. She will be eligible for SS, another form of pension, but we are holding off on that for quite awhile yet.

I will have a very small pension from the State of VA which will likely cover my health insurance in (normal American) retirement.

I will be eligible for my pension (SS) in 13 years. I hope to defer on that as well until 70, but who knows?

The point is, once you reach a certain age the guaranteed income of SS and traditional (but increasingly rare) pension schemes or the like have to factor into the equation. If the missus takes SS in four years we will have guaranteed income of about 40K a year. The question becomes how much will we need beyond that. And if you are older, possibly much, much more for health care. The MMM family will certainly start spending more in their later years as their health insurance premiums increase, and likely health care issues (hopefully not, but better to be realistic).

My goal is 1M in net worth plus various pensions.

[pdxmonkey]

I am so far out that I don't have a number yet. I have a vague notion that $600k in non-home assets is the minimum.

I suspect I'll end up with a higher number because I have only recently started stashing money away outside of retirement accounts and do not want to tap those early.

Milestone 1: Normal retirement funded.
Based on expected returns and what is in those retirement accounts at present they should be at about $600,000 in today's dollars by the time I hit 65 if I never add another cent. The percentage of failure scenarios is still higher than my liking though so I do need to add a bit more to them.

Milestone 3:
I now need to fill in the gap between now and 65. I'm not yet sure how much money that will be. Once milestone 2 is achieved I'll reevaluate expenses again and take a closer look at this number. For now I'd rather not know  how long I'll have to continue working as it's longer than I'd like and likely to change if markets have poor years or income decreases unexpectedly. I'd hate to say I have 6.5 years and then have circumstances change and end up with a number more like 8. That would be depressing. I'd rather just think of it as 10 years or less for now.

What happened to Milestone 2 you ask? For me milestone 2 is paying off the mortgage. The math says this is almost always a bad idea given my interest rate. I'm doing it anyways as for me it will provide a huge psychological relief. As of recently after maxing out my 401k approximately half my "savings" goes to pay the mortgage and the other half goes into taxable investment accounts. Having the reduced expenses and not needing to worry about selling investments to pay a monthly mortgage during a down market will make me feel better and I suppose is a sort of hedge against a prolonged downturn.

[Lski'stash]

FI number is $536,100 plus a paid off house.

I'm not sure if that's a FI plus RE number- I will probably keep working, but maybe doing something else in the education field by then.

Is it just me, or are a lot of these FI numbers really high? Please keep in mind, MMM RE'd on only half a mil. *facepunches self*

[sol]

Is it just me, or are a lot of these FI numbers really high? Please keep in mind, MMM RE'd on only half a mil.

MMM RE'd on a lower number, but with a paid off house and a rental property and only one kid, in a lower cost of living area, with a plan to continue working and earning additional income.  That's totally a workable plan, but it's not everyone's plan. 

Some of the folks here have large families that have higher expenses.
Some folks have unpleasant ongoing medical expenses.
Some people are trapped in high COL areas for family reasons.
Some people work in careers that cannot be resurrected after they walk.
Some people plan to spend more in retirement than MMM does, for example by travelling full time instead of homebodying.
Some people live in places without the kind of social safety net that MMM's family enjoys.

[iamlindoro]

Is it just me, or are a lot of these FI numbers really high? Please keep in mind, MMM RE'd on only half a mil.

He retired w/ $720K, a profitable rental property, and a wife who was still working.  She retired when they hit $800K + profitable rental property.

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/09/15/a-brief-history-of-the-stash-how-we-saved-from-zero-to-retirement-in-ten-years/

Don't get me wrong, I agree that some people's numbers seem too cautious for my taste, but MMM definitely didn't call it quits at $500K.

[2lazy2retire]

A note of caution. I know someone who has been battling cancer for the last four years and spends between $15,000 and $20,000 each year out of pocket - even with great insurance - in an effort to stave off a terminal prognosis. Officially diagnosed at 48 but probably misdiagnosed at 40. Treatment will continue for the foreseeable future (with luck).

So just a reminder. When doing your planning and running your numbers, seriously think about what will happen if the unthinkable happens. My friend cannot work due to the side effects of treatment.

I'm curious about this scenario - making the assumption that unable to work means income is low ie - heavily subsidized ACA with lower out of pocket max?

[boarder42]

Is it just me, or are a lot of these FI numbers really high? Please keep in mind, MMM RE'd on only half a mil.

He retired w/ $720K, a profitable rental property, and a wife who was still working.  She retired when they hit $800K + profitable rental property.

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/09/15/a-brief-history-of-the-stash-how-we-saved-from-zero-to-retirement-in-ten-years/

Don't get me wrong, I agree that some people's numbers seem too cautious for my taste, but MMM definitely didn't call it quits at $500K.

this was also in 2006 when he had 800k plus a profitable rental worth around 300k(correct me if i'm wrong) and a paid off home.

so lets call that 1.1MM plus a paid off house in 2006 dollars.  in today dollars thats = 1.3MM in today's dollars.  so if you want to carry a mortgage and travel much more than MMM does and have another kid alot of these numbers really arent that insane.