Back in June, I figured out if life goes to plan, I am 78 months from retiring. Now, 76. To recap, my target date is November 26, 2027, give or take a month. I would be exactly 62 following my husband who should retire four years earlier. My intent will be to post this on the last Monday of each month to November 29th, 2027.
- On Track
- Increased Investment Target
- Below Target
- Maintenance
- No Effort
401K: On Track
Roth: No Effort-We tend to put into this in a lump Sum. I need to not to count twice with Savings when we make this shift. .
Pension: On Track
Social Security: Maintenance-as a reminder, we are not counting on social security as part of our plan, so anything we do get will be a bonus to a comfortable retirement.
Cash: Increased Investment, by $1,000 more than target. With DD2 in an apartment and meal plan/grocery savings and her books being less than we planned, we spent less and could apply more towards savings.
My goal is that we have 12 months of living expenses banked in liquid funds, and complete the spending/expenses as listed below as earmarked or with a placeholder in our cash flow for:
- Four semesters of college for DD2 (including a study abroad semester though she has earned those added costs herself)
- Bathroom remodel-upstairs
- Bathroom retouch-downstairs
- Bedroom redecorate
- Office redecorate
- Pull old deck, patio pour, furniture, backyard landscaping
- Supporting wedding costs for three kids
- Two cross country road trips
- At least one European vacation
- Mini vacations on years not doing the road trips or Europe
- Replace my car (though we pay ourselves each month and that would come out of a different account like the boat)
This is such great planning on your part, Sam. I am going to look forward to reading your updates every month.
ReplyDeleteMaybe some big win fall will move it up sooner. Doubtful, but one could hope.
DeleteYour first sentence says 78 weeks, and in my early morning, coffee-less state, I spent more than a normal amount of time trying to figure out how that would work with the year 2027. 78 months makes a lot more sense! :-)
ReplyDeleteLove that you're tracking this. I have a similar countdown for my work, that I use to count days & number of meetings left (using a daily meeting average). I hate meetings, so it always feels good to see those numbers declining.
So sorry for the typing error. Maybe I was really hoping 78 months could turn into weeks!
DeleteGreat work planning and working the plan. We aimed our financial plans to retire at 50. Somehow, so much easier to work when it wasn't required. I retired 2y ago at 58. I decided on a Friday I'd had enough and submitted my (required) 28d resignation on Monday. That additional 8 years of saving 75% of my take-home salary padded our retirement handsomely. Hubster is loving his work as he was transitioned into a new arena 2y ago. He'll work until that "Friday he decides he is done".
ReplyDeleteCongrats on all your successes.
You are the retire early dream. I'd love to not have to work, but between health care, a few more years of college, and major home stuff, this is probably as aggressive as I can get. It' snot lost on me that had we chose to stop with the two oldest kids, likely my husband would be retired, and I'd be counting down to 591/2 rather than 62. She is worth so much ore than that and I consider us wealthy in other ways.
DeleteI hear you. We funded all those expenses through our 40s. We did not have a raise in "take home pay" for over 10 years and it was so worth it. An extra expense isn't stressful-the $ is there.
DeleteIt's nice to have a visual isn't it. I remember doing the visual with my mortgage payments and then setting my (potential) retirement income next to it "if I retired now - I would get". Daft as it sounds, it really helped and voilà, here I am, retired!
ReplyDeleteI know we need mini goals to also help us measure that we are on the right track. I wish it was a bit sooner for me, but each year I hold off dramatically changes things for 5-7 years in ratio.
DeleteThis sounds like a good plan. I hope it all pans out with good health, too, in retirement.
ReplyDeleteThat is the key-to be healthy to enjoy the time we earned not working.
DeleteFive years passes so quickly. It is nice to have your goals out in front of you. We are in a different type of goal situation and are looking at what we plan on doing once TheHub retires. We have a list of short objectives, but are looking at long term plans including when to downsize. After going through all of Mom's accumulated things, I do not want to leave a job like that to my sons and their families.
ReplyDeleteI hear you on the downsizng bit. The hosue next door sold through we think one of those homebuying sites, that then come in and clean it out. She literally must have packed only what she really wanted and her three boys (all young adults now) do the same, and the rest has been purged. First, it looked like things of value were being taken out I imagine to try and resell. For the last two weeks, it's now been just junk an stuff removal-mattress, broken bikes, skateboard and snowboard ramps and gear. I don't want anyone to have to do tat either for us.
DeleteYou need to have a medical fund. We keep a year's worth but in laws (who are in their mid 80s) said we should have 2 yrs worth. We never counted on Social Security or a pension as more than once we have had friends lose their pension when the company closed.
ReplyDeleteWe sort of do, and I should call that out more specifically so it makes sense to others. In our post retirement budget planning, we have health care coverage, plus, the Roth is directed to be the medical fund. I also have an HSA that I contribute to with each of my paychecks. I'll also be able to top off with several thousand when I officially retire through a vacation conversion. Will it be enough? That is the question that keeps me awake some nights.
DeleteThe average in the USA for healthcare costs from retirement to death is nearly $250k. Yes, ours is fully funded. I couldn't have retired early without knowing that.
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