For those of you targeting early retirement, or financial independence and working for yourself, what's your number and what age are you considering? Personally I'm shooting for $3MM and 45.

10 to 15 million, 4 million in after tax in liquid securities. 529s with 80k.
Maybe my 50s? I am slowly ramping.

$10M, but that includes $2M in paid for real estate and $2M locked up in retirement accounts

$6M at 3% post-tax and post inflation reinvestment rate will provide $15k per month budget.

I have a specific target date when the last 2 kids move out for college (50), so if I overshoot the number before that date I'll stick with the date and buy a bigger farm.

I'm also willing to go into "overtime" for a few years if my kids want to make certain career choices like mission work or other non-monetary things. I'm happy to work a few extra years to endow part of their lifestyle if it's for the right reasons.

wessimo said:

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Judging from increased media coverage in recent years it seems like FIRE is going mainstream.

It will be interesting to see if it has a noticable impact on the workplace and the economy.

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I doubt it because while it's a good idea the majority of Americans still have little to no savings. I would think those that can even sniff fire are in the top 1% when it comes to savings.

more

30X whatever my expenses happen to be when I'm 50 or so. Right now I'm sitting at just under 60k expenses per year, which is 1.8MM. But, with two youngsters and more to come, and moving to a bigger house on some land, our yearly expenses will increase quite a bit. 3MM is probably my retirement number in today's dollars, this is after all the kids are graduated and on their own.

Ag13 said:

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wessimo said:

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Judging from increased media coverage in recent years it seems like FIRE is going mainstream.

It will be interesting to see if it has a noticable impact on the workplace and the economy.

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I doubt it because while it's a good idea the majority of Americans still have little to no savings. I would think those that can even sniff fire are in the top 1% when it comes to savings.

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Financial independence means saving 25x what your yearly expenses. Now everyone might not be able to save that much over 20-40 years, but I'd be willing to bet that 80% of Americans could if they wanted.


Key thing is if they want to.

I don't have a FIRE number per se just a number that I would feel comfortable stepping away from the corporate grind and taking risks on next career.

3.0 MM in liquid investments/cash.
$1.0MM in retirement accounts
$1.5MM in Real Estate (rental properties) minimal debt
$100K in 529s

Cow Calf operation producing an acceptable return to cover a few added costs.

Primary residence either largely paid for or very manageable payments

Health Insurance will be the big issue/concern.

Ag13 said:

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wessimo said:

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Judging from increased media coverage in recent years it seems like FIRE is going mainstream.

It will be interesting to see if it has a noticable impact on the workplace and the economy.

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I doubt it because while it's a good idea the majority of Americans still have little to no savings. I would think those that can even sniff fire are in the top 1% when it comes to savings.

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I'm a bit more generous, I say 3% are on their way to financial freedom. As Jim Rohn always said "Walk away from the 97%, it's crowded at the bottom. There is plenty of room at the top.". Further, I and my wife are living proof that anyone is capable of learning and growing wealth.

We are shooting for $20k/month in rental property, investment and business income by 2020. I will be 45. We just hired a business coach to help us get there faster.

$200K/yr at 3.5% withdrawal rate = $5.7M

Only need about 40k tops, so 1MM

Wife is an Aggie said:

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$200K/yr at 3.5% withdrawal rate = $5.7M

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Just curious - are your expenses really 200k a year or are you just using a higher number to play it super safe?

Good question, especially if you are assuming you live in paid for real estate

My $15k per month budget is ultra conservative and considers spending about 1/3 of each year traveling

What types of investments are you guys looking into or involved in that will bridge the gap from retirement to when you can withdrawal from 401k/IRAs? Our biggest hurdle will those 12 +/- years.

Cash-flowing real estate is the obvious/easy answer. Any other sort of post-tax investment strategies?

I'm planning my bridge to retirement accounts around the following:

1) 3 Fund Portfolio (simple, low cost 60/40 split)
2) Income Producing Real Estate with the goal of strong cash flow generation by 45-47
3) Purchasing small royalty interest packages to have commodity exposure
4) 2 Years of living expenses in cash/MM to prevent sequence of return risk on front end given long time horizon. This could be allocated more aggressively in TIPS, Treasuries as yield dictates.

No, not even close... Probably a 4th of that.

That is my want number. My need number is substantially less than that.

I'm curious, what rate of return do you guys use for your retirement planning? I'm using 3% real For long term planning

Ed Carter said:

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I'm curious, what rate of return do you guys use for your retirement planning? I'm using 3% real For long term planning

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Return in the market? I think the S&P has returned 10% over the long term including inflation.

I use 6% return. Buffett says to expect 6-7%.

Do you guys have a retirement calculator or excel spreadsheet that y'all like to use? Doesn't have to be FIRE related, moreso looking for something general.

I have a long ways to go (both time & money) before I can even dream of retirement but to give myself a rough idea of how much I'd like to have saved & how much I need to save/invest per year I just do the following.

Desired annual income/spend in retirement divided by withdrawal rate. 4% is pretty typical but to be safe you should be using 3-3.5% especially if retiring early.

Then to give myself an idea of how much I need to save per year to hit that number I just use the PMT formula in excel.

Example:

Jimbo graduates college & wants to retire in 30 years with $2.5M. He has $0 starting balance and will assume 6% rate of return. He needs to invest $31.6K/yr to hit his goal.

=PMT(6%,30,0,-2500000,0) = $31,622/yr

The Wonderer said:

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AgBank said:

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"sex trophies"

LOL

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Would you prefer the term "crotch fruit"?

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SoupNazi2001 said:

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TexasAg21 said:

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The Wonderer said:

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AgBank said:

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"sex trophies"

LOL

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Would you prefer the term "crotch fruit"?

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My brother always used the term leeches as they suck your time, money, energy and your wife's sex drive away.

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Im seeing lots of arguments towards DINKism on this thread...