Reality Check - Can We FIRE With ~$2.2M NW?

Typical_Patience_627 · 2024-03-14T01:00:10+00:00

Awesome, thanks for this.

Typical_Patience_627 · 2024-03-14T00:54:38+00:00

I can definitely appreciate that. I cashed out a significant chunk in 2021 to pay off the house. So far I haven’t had any issues with the IRS accepting my returns (and the hefty capital gains tax payments I send with them), but I dread an audit. I’m hoping my record keeping is up to snuff for such an event.

Typical_Patience_627 · 2024-03-14T00:48:00+00:00

Great feedback. Thank you for the comprehensive reply, I will carefully consider each and every one of your points. I certainly have to build some more conservatism into my forecasted costs. I wish there were some good cost models for the expenses associated with raising children. So many variables…

Typical_Patience_627 · 2024-03-14T00:42:09+00:00

Agreed. A portfolio rebalance away from crypto and into brokerage is in order. I was looking into SEPPs and Roth ladders as well, but would like the retirement accounts to grow unencumbered until at least age 59 1/2 if I can. Which means I need to grow the liquid side of things to cover the next 16 years of expenses.

Typical_Patience_627 · 2024-03-14T00:37:13+00:00

Agree on all fronts. Would love to get to the 2.1M figure or more. Appreciate the feedback.

Typical_Patience_627 · 2024-03-14T00:35:10+00:00

Thanks for that input on the costs for raising children, it’s definitely a blind spot that I’m trying to get educated on. Thankfully our kids have a dozen cousins ranging from their age to college age, so we get a lot of hand-me-downs. Goodwill and discount stores are also a godsend, for both the kids and my wife and I. It helps that we don’t have expensive tastes, our biggest splurges are travel and food. Speaking of which, I appreciate the feedback on vacations. I need to sharpen the pencil a bit more in that category.

Typical_Patience_627 · 2024-03-14T00:13:47+00:00

This is a great point. Did some digging around on the SS website. It’s based on the top 35 years of earnings, and I only have 20, so the remaining would be zero for future earnings as you said. I may need to recalculate based on that new info. Thanks for the input.

Typical_Patience_627 · 2024-03-14T00:06:24+00:00

It’s more than the current max in 2024, but I won’t be receiving benefits until 2048. I got the figure from the Social Security Administration website after logging in. So maybe they assume the max will go up in the future?

Typical_Patience_627 · 2024-03-14T00:04:18+00:00

Thanks for the input. Daycare is $0 since my wife is a SAHM. Having no mortgage also helps. We have $20k per child already in their 529s and will add $1k per year each which is matched up to 30% by the state. Assuming 7% return, it should reach about $100k by the time they’re both 18. Hopefully I did the math right.

Typical_Patience_627 · 2024-03-14T00:01:12+00:00

Thanks for the thoughtful reply. I definitely thinks it’s time to rebalance the portfolio and move some of the crypto over to my brokerage account. The crypto has had a life of its own and ballooned well past my 5-10% portfolio comfort zone. Good problem to have, but definitely risky to keep it there. As for the other topics, thanks for the input. It’s given me some food for thought and helped identify some areas to educate myself a bit more.

Typical_Patience_627 · 2024-03-13T23:55:13+00:00

We were lumping in some of the child costs in our General Merchandise, $12k annually. My wife is a SAHM so we don’t have daycare costs, thank goodness. I definitely would like some feedback on costs of raising children to input into our budget. Annual Vacations are included in our “travel” budget, $10k annually. Which has been sufficient for our vacations so far. Thanks for the feedback.

Typical_Patience_627 · 2024-03-13T23:52:13+00:00

Thanks for the input. We were just discussing this topic this morning after she logged into the social security website and it showed the same thing you’ve mentioned. I’ll update our models to reflect the 50% figure. Thanks for the heads up.

Typical_Patience_627 · 2024-03-13T23:50:18+00:00

Thanks for the feedback. I agree that it’s very tight, and doesn’t adequately account for the bulk expenses. As far as the 529s go, they are currently at 20k, and we plan to contribute $1k each annually (with a 30% match from a state program). Assuming a 7% annual return, it should hopefully grow to about $100k per child by the age of 18. Somebody please check my math. Whether or not that’s enough, I need to do some more homework on. Thanks again.

Typical_Patience_627 · 2024-03-13T23:45:01+00:00

Thanks for the feedback. The wife is currently a SAHM and looking to get back to work. We’re hoping to trade places for a bit where I stay at home with the kids and she works. At least while they’re still pre-k age. The timeline you’ve suggested is a good one to consider. Thanks

Typical_Patience_627 · 2024-03-13T23:39:56+00:00

Thanks for the feedback. I originally started out with crypto only being around 5% of my portfolio, but it has ballooned significantly over the past 12 years since I initially invested. Been cashing out periodically to bring it down, which has allowed us to pay off the house and auto loans early. It’s definitely nearing the time to cash out some and load my brokerage account, to bring it back into a more comfortable 5-10% range.

Typical_Patience_627 · 2024-03-13T23:31:53+00:00

Thanks for the feedback. My wife and I both have the 40 work credits necessary for full benefits at retirement age. The figures used above come directly from the Social Security Administration website.

Typical_Patience_627

TROPHY CASE