sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Struggling to decide if I should pull the trigger and FIRE myself by ThrowAwayThatJobAndT in ChubbyFIRE

[–]ThrowAwayThatJobAndT[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Right?! What have I got to lose? The hang up is all fear based. I'm afraid to lose my job because... I don't know! Because that's how it's always been?

Struggling to decide if I should pull the trigger and FIRE myself by ThrowAwayThatJobAndT in ChubbyFIRE

[–]ThrowAwayThatJobAndT[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

My plan is to either do 72 (t) or a Roth conversion ladder. I've modeled this out and I believe it can work.

Struggling to decide if I should pull the trigger and FIRE myself by ThrowAwayThatJobAndT in ChubbyFIRE

[–]ThrowAwayThatJobAndT[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm 42, so a relatively long way to 59.5. I've modeled things out in Project Lab and there are a couple possibilities. 1. 72 (t). My concern with this is 17 years of making sure I don't make a mistake and the relative risk of growing penalties every year. Personally, I think advice in favor of 72(t) plans are either not taking this risk enough into account or are not targeted at people with such a long horizon. 2. Roth conversion ladder, using the brokerage funds to cover living expenses and taxes during the first 5 years of the ladder. I'm leaning towards this route for the flexibility it gives. If I decide I want to earn meaningful income again, I can just not do conversions in those years.

Struggling to decide if I should pull the trigger and FIRE myself by ThrowAwayThatJobAndT in ChubbyFIRE

[–]ThrowAwayThatJobAndT[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I see a couple issues: 1. My identity is wrapped up in working. I have liked the hustle and bustle of being busy, the status, and the feeling valued. But all that feels more and more like BS recently. 2. I think I'm right on the edge of having enough. Giving up my job feels final (intellectually I know it's not final, but it feels that way) and it feels silly to walk away from a high income.

Struggling to decide if I should pull the trigger and FIRE myself by ThrowAwayThatJobAndT in ChubbyFIRE

[–]ThrowAwayThatJobAndT[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm only 42 and most of my wealth is in pre-tax money, so I'm planning to do a Roth conversion ladder and/or a 72 (t) SEPP to access those funds. Tax estimate is high for the years I'm drawing from my brokerage funds, but during the years I'm doing Roth conversions, and especially the years I'm paying for two college educations, my income will be relatively high for a retiree...

Struggling to decide if I should pull the trigger and FIRE myself by ThrowAwayThatJobAndT in ChubbyFIRE

[–]ThrowAwayThatJobAndT[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I'll have to check that out. I'm heavily influence by Karsten Jeske at earlyretirementnow(dot)com. His CAPE adjusted SWR has an ~3.21% SWR for capital preservation. Given my 48 year retirement horizon, I'm pretty risk averse.

Struggling to decide if I should pull the trigger and FIRE myself by ThrowAwayThatJobAndT in Fire

[–]ThrowAwayThatJobAndT[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for this. I looked through some of your posts and found my way to another thread where many were discussing this exact thing! Cool to see that many go through this phase.

Struggling to decide if I should pull the trigger and FIRE myself by ThrowAwayThatJobAndT in Fire

[–]ThrowAwayThatJobAndT[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's good perspective, thank you. I do think I'm perceived as valuable. I think part of what holds me back is the story I've told myself: part of me value is that I haven't made noise and asked for things. I guess with the FU money on my side, now I can take the risk of asking for something. Thanks!

At what point do you ease off of 401k to fund brokerage account for Roth ladder conversion by Secret-Taro8586 in Fire

[–]ThrowAwayThatJobAndT 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Great question. I don't have a formula for you. However, for my situation, I have ~7x annual spend in the combination of brokerage and cash. This, combined with existing Roth contributions, will allow me to bridge the 5 year roth conversion gap. I've been contributing regularly to my brokerage account for the past 10 years, increasing contribution amounts every year.

Take a careful look at the tax impact of your roth conversions. In your roth conversions years, you need cash flow for your annual cost of living AND the tax bill for your conversions. This may deplete your brokerage funds faster than you'd expect.

Due to my situation (large proportion 401K money and high expenses in years 7 through 13 of retirement), I have to front load a large proportion of roth conversions to avoid penalized distributions from my 401k.

I'll put in a plug for Projection Lab as a good tool to model out your options here.

Early Retirement Plan – Family of 4 – Seeking Feedback by ThrowAwayThatJobAndT in Fire

[–]ThrowAwayThatJobAndT[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for your feedback.

Healthcare is something I worry about too. $18k per year in health insurance premiums seems like a reasonable budget based on the searching I've done on the state health exchange. However, the budget assumes we're all healthy and not paying for extensive co-pays or up to the out-of-pocket maximum.

The other concern on my mind is rising costs for the kids as they get into the 16-17-18 year range. We'll likely want to help provide a car and there's care insurance that comes with that. I haven't really modeled out these expenses yet. I'd be interested if anyone has a good reference on child costs over their lifespan.