FIRE, Financially Independent Retired Early?

[97guns]

Are you? Do you want to be? Or have you resigned to the fact that you never will?

If you want to be what is your game plan and timeline?

[rennigade]

http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/

[phantom]

Early retirement is a thought I've had on and off since I was about 9. When I was 9, I thought it might be possible to save enough money in the bank that I could just live off the 0.1% interest I was getting on my savings account. I figured I just needed enough to feed myself and a horse. (I really wanted a horse.) When I was 11, I read The Firm and briefly entertained the idea of becoming a lawyer, working crazy hard, long hours, not being evil, and suddenly finding myself with enough money that I could retire to a tropical island. In all my childhood fantasies, I was definitely going to be done working by 30.

Now I'm 34. I'm not retired and not likely to retire any time soon. My career started more slowly than I thought it would, I found work less distasteful than I expected, and I found more things to spend money on than I expected. So, financial independence is still many years off. But, it's definitely something I'm shooting for sooner rather than later. My husband and I go back and forth on whether or not one of us should become a stay at home parent at some point. But, our goal is to make that an option financially while still having the option for both of us to be done working before age 60.

[tripods68]

I've never thought of early retirement is possible for me, until only maybe 5 or 6 years ago. I would be in FIRE ready in about 7 years.

[TexasHusker]

I'm a FIRE. I woke up and realized I wasn't that far away when I was oh about 43 years old. I functionally retired when I walked out of the CEO's office of May 7, 2013. That was at about 2:30pm. I told my wife I'd pick up the kids from school since I was already over on that side of town. When I picked them up, my son said "Dad what you are doing here?" I said "Son, you're going to start seeing a lot more of me."

The first year or so, I'd have to pinch myself a lot of days to make certain that I wasn't dreaming. I still dream about work - I've screwed something up, in trouble with the boss man, afraid for my job, and so on. Then I wake up and think "oh that was just a nightmare."

I'm 50 now, and people keep asking me if I'm saving for retirement.

The only thing bad about retirement is that you never get a day off.

[StormRichards]

I still dream about work - I've screwed something up, in trouble with the boss man, afraid for my job, and so on. Then I wake up and think "oh that was just a nightmare."

Dreams or nightmares about work are the worst. Sometimes I will dream that I forgot to send a report out, then wake up and realize my work day hasn't started yet.

[AJ444]

Plan to retire at 55 in 19 years, ahead of plan so far but it would be tough walking away before then due too all the benefits my wife would be walking away from

[TexasHusker]

Dreams or nightmares about work are the worst. Sometimes I will dream that I forgot to send a report out, then wake up and realize my work day hasn't started yet.

I spent my entire career always worried I was going to get in trouble for something. I've had moderate to severe ADD since I was born, and there were constantly things I was missing, meetings I forgot, details I forgot to take care of. I tried medicines but they all had very bad and dangerous side effects.

But I negotiated contracts that allowed my company to profit in the 10s of $ millions per year, so they overlooked everything. I was compensated over $250K a year to literally work maybe 30-40 hours in the whole year on a few big deals. I took naps in my office. Went home and watched the Masters. Took a lot of 2 hour lunches. Played golf all the time. Surfed the internet. Sat around and b.s.'d with everyone all day.

Sounds like a lot of fun but it was incredibly boring and I grew to hate it. I got tired of taking the ADD medicine so I wouldn't miss meetings and drop the ball, but my heart rate was over 100, my blood pressure was through the roof, and I was borderline diabetic.

When I left the co., I went home and took my ADD medicine to the dumpster. Never took it again. All my vitals are back to normal. Heart rate at around 60.

[sv2007]

Are you? Do you want to be? Or have you resigned to the fact that you never will?

If you want to be what is your game plan and timeline?

Here's an interesting experience from someone who's retired for 2 years: retirement may not be as fun as one thinks. Maybe I wasn't ready for retirement since I just decided to pick a day to retire for no real good reason, but working has its rewards besides money.

How I was able to retire? How my wife was able to retire many years ago? Here's the secret: make your investment return much higher than your lifestyle support cost.

Focus on the big items and not pennies. It's simple, if you save 10% on $1m, that's more than 90% savings on $100k. Amdahl's law applied to money life.

It is almost like I'm a missionary, God's helping hand in guiding people to success.

[StormRichards]

Here's an interesting experience from someone who's retired for 2 years: retirement may not be as fun as one thinks. Maybe I wasn't ready for retirement since I just decided to pick a day to retire for no real good reason, but working has its rewards besides money.

How I was able to retire? How my wife was able to retire many years ago? Here's the secret: make your investment return much higher than your lifestyle support cost.

Focus on the big items and not pennies. It's simple, if you save 10% on $1m, that's more than 90% savings on $100k. Amdahl's law applied to money life.

It is almost like I'm a missionary, God's helping hand in guiding people to success.

Thank you for your guidance.

Note to self: Save 10% of $1 million

[sv2007]

Thank you for your guidance.

Note to self: Save 10% of $1 million

I hate to point this out, but I'll do so for the benefit of everybody. As in many of your other replies, you seem to miss the main points.

Generally, it is understood that saving 10% of something is easier than saving 90% of something. This is the basis of Amdahl's law.

We may be thinking on different levels, but to explain everything in minute details is just not practical. Engage your mind and think beyond.

[kork13]

I'm only 30, DW is 31, so FIRE is still a good way off for us. However, that is the plan. 55y/o or so is the notional goal, but if we reach it sooner than that, all the better.

As for timeline, we're on pace to reach the $1M mark (in retirement accounts only, and un-inflated dollars) in 10 years at age 40/41. Assuming all goes to plan, I'll be retirement eligible (from the military) the following year. I could stay in for a little longer, or get out and get a new job. That decision is future-me's problem. 19 years from now (age 50/51), we should be around $2M in retirement. With a military pension & $2M in retirement funds (additional in taxable, of course), we'd pretty much be "on FIRE" at that point... And I've got a 5-year buffer built in for our notional "goal" of 55.

The biggest unknowns are:
(a) When does my wife stop working? Could be anytime between 3-5 years from now, perhaps longer. If/when she does our income will drop by 40-45%, and we'd have to adopt a slower pace to FIRE. However, we're basically saving 100% of her income and living off of mine, so we would manage just fine. I've already run the numbers for if she quit tomorrow, and we'd still be able to max my TSP & both Roth IRAs, but our taxable savings would be cut dramatically. Related question: When (if ever) does she return to working? After our kids are all in elementary school, or delayed longer?
(b) Do I actually stay in long enough to earn the military retirement? I'm coming quickly to a crossroads in my military career where I can either stay in for the long haul, switch to the Guard, or jump out entirely. That question isn't decided yet (as I said, future-me's problem)...

The nice thing about our situation is that we have time and a good head start. We have $270k in retirement, we're both earning good incomes & saving aggressively, and we've got 20-30 years until we're really staring down retirement.

[kork13]

Here's an interesting experience from someone who's retired for 2 years: retirement may not be as fun as one thinks. Maybe I wasn't ready for retirement since I just decided to pick a day to retire for no real good reason, but working has its rewards besides money.

Very good point, and reminded me to point out... Our plan for when we retire is to devote our time and money primarily toward two objects: travel & humanitarian work (either with a non-profit charity or with our church). I don't think I could be happy just sitting around doing nothing... I've seen my grandparents do it, and have no desire to replicate that lifestyle.

[snafu]

Retirement can be downright boring if you don't have a well thought out plan for filling all those hours for all those years. It goes way beyond just having sufficient $$$ to pay the bills and enjoy life.

[feh]

Hit "our number" a couple years ago. Went part time last year. 50 years old.

Only thing that could throw a wrench into the works is health insurance.