Bogleheads.org

Friends in London introduced us to these gems last year:

Whitley Neil :

https://www.caskers.com/whitley-neill-r ... 2UQAvD_BwE

There are a few flavors available

Log into Fidelity for 401ks. lol into vanguard for Roths, brokersge and 529s. Add them up and it’s a good approx of liquid net worth.

Thanks y’all! Great news for us they have to pay taxes, can delay!

Was gonna say 50/50 but it seems too low/conservative:)

Won the game is 60/40. And literally snore thru the day, cos you deserve to.

40% fixed of a lot of money, is a lot money!

I posit I’d be retired without kids and family to support

Who knows: it really is quite hard when kids costs are high and random! If you/op has stable expenses last few years, it seems you can launch into the promised land

We’re in the process of updating estate plan, will, healthcare directive etc. Nothing major. With legal insurance this will be around $100.

However, I’m worried if my family has to execute on the estate plan they will be lost, and potentially taken to the cleaners. The only advice my estate lawyer gave was ‘we don’t deal with that side, your family would have to hire a lawyer’

My line is I’m leaving the country soon, so buying anything doesn’t make sense. They'll reply along the lines of "you can exchange the points with any of our 1500 resorts world wide. Where are you relocating to?" I frankly think answering anything will get counter answers nearly instantly. It's best to just say "no, I won't sign anything until I get to review it with my lawyer and financial planner. If you can't give me the time to do so and get back in a few days, I'm afraid there is no point in wasting your time as I'll not purchase today." Even this is more than is needed. Remember the sales person generally doesn’t want to waste time either, so be up front and just say “I’m only here for the freebie”, don’t respond ...

Doing great, especially for a mcol.
Impressive savings rate.

Out of how many? Yeah I know a half dozen people who have died before 50. But it is out of a social circle of thousands. Yes I know some 70 year olds who are bedridden. They are also the exceptions versus the ones who are still active. Now there are no assurances of anything. But if I had to bet on the 50 year old who was doing 10 mile hikes versus the 50 year old who is winded going to the fridge about the chances of being active at 75, I know where I would place my money. Again anything can happen. But a majority (estimates tend to be up around 70-80%) of poor health outcomes in the under 75 crowd are self inflicted. You need to assess your situation and decide which group you are likely to fall into. These discussions always come down t...

People here in general have unrealistic expectations for how long they’re going to live. One of my friends in his 50s has already lost three friends in their 50s. My parents are pretty much bef ridden in their 70s. They won’t make it to 80. Even my active friends in their 70s are slowing down. You gotta live your life because it’s much shorter then we like. Out of how many? Yeah I know a half dozen people who have died before 50. But it is out of a social circle of thousands. Yes I know some 70 year olds who are bedridden. They are also the exceptions versus the ones who are still active. Now there are no assurances of anything. But if I had to bet on the 50 year old who was doing 10 mile hikes versus the 50 year old who is winded going to...

Great analogy with the Hurricane. It's definitely a thought I have had to do a nature related job, but a park ranger makes a small fraction of what I make, so the financial benefit of that extra income compared to my current income is pretty low. I.e. 1 year of my current job lets me save more than 5 years of being a ranger would. Even with that low financial benefit, I have thought about doing something like that way later in life, even if it's voluntary or just for free parking/camping spot (i.e. a campground guide or off-trail guide at a national park). The older volunteers at national parks often have awesome stories if you spend a little time with them. At that point (70+) I am probably slower and can't go as far and maybe some of my ...

Down to 45 months of actual healthy months where you control 100% of your time? (Not controlled by boss, spouse, family, kids, sick parents etc). Maybe I don't understand this statement, but how would you manage this? Quit your job, get a divorce and renounce all of your family members? 45 months. That scares me. Enough to keep me on a path to start utilizing those months the way I want (I cannot now). So... when you get to those 45 months, how exactly would you live that's so different than today? - not trying to be a jerk, just curious on your retirement plans without spouse and family members involvement. I'm finding that I'm just doing basically what I've always done while I was still working, it wasn't a on/off switch for me once I re...

I may retire as early as 46. Many would say I have to worry about living 50-60 years, but I don't really need to worry past 80, because at 70 I can take social security and at 80 I can take a reverse mortgage and buy a SPIA with it, which sets me up with income for life as shown below. My Income needs from age 46 to 100: https://i.imgur.com/CgcFEu4.jpg From 2014-2021, I spent an average of 22,726 per year. From 2022 until I retire I gave myself a raise and plan to spend an average of 37K/yr. In retirement, I plan to spend 48.6K/yr with a surplus of 5.4K/yr (to cover unexpected expenses) for a total of 54K/yr. Retiring at 46, my social security benefit at 70 will be 35K, which covers 65% of my spending. At 80, I could get a reverse mortgage...

People here in general have unrealistic expectations for how long they’re going to live. One of my friends in his 50s has already lost three friends in their 50s. My parents are pretty much bef ridden in their 70s. They won’t make it to 80. Even my active friends in their 70s are slowing down. You gotta live your life because it’s much shorter then we like. Out of how many? Yeah I know a half dozen people who have died before 50. But it is out of a social circle of thousands. Yes I know some 70 year olds who are bedridden. They are also the exceptions versus the ones who are still active. Now there are no assurances of anything. But if I had to bet on the 50 year old who was doing 10 mile hikes versus the 50 year old who is winded going to...

Being active an fit is not a guarantee for a long life, but it sure seems to stack the deck... so regardless, if you keep hiking and climbing you have an excellent chance at being a healthy old person! Best of luck! Cheers I play in a 50+ basketball league. The current oldest active player is 97. There are plenty in their 70’s and 80’s who are traveling the world, hiking, biking, and living high quality lives. My 82 year old teammate just got back from a medical mission in Ghana. The commonality is that they’re physically active, and most of them have been physically active throughout their lives. It isn’t like someone active turns 70 and all of a sudden they’re doomed to spend the rest of their lives on a Rascal scooter. Fantastic! Someth...

quantAndHold wrote: ↑Sun Mar 26, 2023 11:45 am

dknightd wrote: ↑Sun Mar 26, 2023 11:33 am

Wannaretireearly wrote: ↑Sun Mar 26, 2023 10:56 am
Sounds fantastic! In tech (in the US) we do not have that option at all to my knowledge.

You might be underestimating your options.

I knew plenty of people who worked part time when I was in tech in the US. It can be done if that’s something someone wants to do. It’s not the norm, but it also isn’t that hard to accomplish.

Interesting. I don’t know a single person that is, or has, worked part time in tech. This is experience from myself and DW over a 20+ period in NorCal. Would appreciate if you can expand on the experience you’ve known. Cheers!

dknightd wrote: ↑Sun Mar 26, 2023 11:33 am

Wannaretireearly wrote: ↑Sun Mar 26, 2023 10:56 am
Sounds fantastic! In tech (in the US) we do not have that option at all to my knowledge.

You might be underestimating your options.

I wish this was the case. Let me know what your thinking please perhaps I’m missing something

dknightd wrote: ↑Sun Mar 26, 2023 11:27 am

Wannaretireearly wrote: ↑Sun Mar 26, 2023 10:34 am
It saddens me to hear OP cannot take longer break

It gladdens me to they know that they have options.

Agree. My point is careers have an assumed increase in responsibility and time. Leading to less ability to take time off.

Being active an fit is not a guarantee for a long life, but it sure seems to stack the deck... so regardless, if you keep hiking and climbing you have an excellent chance at being a healthy old person! Best of luck! Cheers I play in a 50+ basketball league. The current oldest active player is 97. There are plenty in their 70’s and 80’s who are traveling the world, hiking, biking, and living high quality lives. My 82 year old teammate just got back from a medical mission in Ghana. The commonality is that they’re physically active, and most of them have been physically active throughout their lives. It isn’t like someone active turns 70 and all of a sudden they’re doomed to spend the rest of their lives on a Rascal scooter. Fantastic! Someth...

45 months. That scares me. Enough to keep me on a path to start utilizing those months the way I want (I cannot now). Bottom line: The window is very short where you control your own time 100% AND you are in 100% good health. Doesn’t this scare others? Losing my dad before 60 made this very real for me…. I think if this were what was keeping me awake at night, I would be making changes *now* to make my life closer to what I want it to be. The idea that the ability to live life the way I want is some sort of on/off switch predicated solely by whether or not I have a job seems kinda sad. Agree. The point is without quantifying like this (use your own currency/terms/bounds) it’s very easy to not make any changes. I can’t make the change now, ...

Down to 45 months of actual healthy months where you control 100% of your time? (Not controlled by boss, spouse, family, kids, sick parents etc). Maybe I don't understand this statement, but how would you manage this? Quit your job, get a divorce and renounce all of your family members? 45 months. That scares me. Enough to keep me on a path to start utilizing those months the way I want (I cannot now). So... when you get to those 45 months, how exactly would you live that's so different than today? - not trying to be a jerk, just curious on your retirement plans without spouse and family members involvement. I'm finding that I'm just doing basically what I've always done while I was still working, it wasn't a on/off switch for me once I re...

Down to 45 months of actual healthy months where you control 100% of your time? (Not controlled by boss, spouse, family, kids, sick parents etc). Maybe I don't understand this statement, but how would you manage this? Quit your job, get a divorce and renounce all of your family members? 45 months. That scares me. Enough to keep me on a path to start utilizing those months the way I want (I cannot now). So... when you get to those 45 months, how exactly would you live that's so different than today? - not trying to be a jerk, just curious on your retirement plans without spouse and family members involvement. I'm finding that I'm just doing basically what I've always done while I was still working, it wasn't a on/off switch for me once I re...

Quality/healthy Time is the currency here. Hard to argue with that. ... snip ... 45 months. That scares me. Enough to keep me on a path to start utilizing those months the way I want (I cannot now). One option would be to start taking longer vacations now. That is what I did in the years leading up to my eventual full retirement. Take all your paid vacation days. Then take additional non-paid vacation days. If your job allows. My last year working I actually worked only 9 months Bottom line: The window is very short where you control your own time 100% AND you are in 100% good health. Doesn’t this scare others? Losing my dad before 60 made this very real for me…. I've pretty much decided I will NEVER control 100% of my time. I consider mys...

Quality/healthy Time is the currency here. Put it in terms of months. Say I’ll live 50 more years, 600 months. What does the quality (y axis) curve look like? This will be different for everyone and not predictable. Based on family history, in about 150 months time (roughly 12 years, age 60 ish) my health will decline to a point some activities will be very hard to do (long flights, adventurous travel etc). So then the remaining 450 months will be gradually or fast declining quality scale (y axis). When you quantify life like this, it forces decisions like I need to get X, Y, Z done before my health declines (only true thing for everyone is health will decline and we die). Without quantifying everyone (including myself) gets a false sense o...

Not sure I would hope/plan for a successful retirement based on a prediction of what things would look like 35 years in the future. At age 46, many people are looking at another couple of decades of work for funding retirement. “It is difficult to make predictions, especially about the future,” or so a Danish proverb says. I wish you well. Broken Man 1999 I get the heart of your point and you aren't wrong, but if one does not attempt to predict and plan for the future, how could anyone ever retire young, no matter how much or little they had? We have to accept some rules for how we predict things, and some time horizon we are comfortable with or that conclusion could be abstracted all the way to the point of very unrealistic scenarios that...

Thanks posters above. As I see day to day needs for the kids are high now, but will likely drop quickly in the next 2-3 years, smaller company with higher time needs could be an option. I’ll keep it open. Honestly, the older I get I really would like to work somewhere with purpose. I’d just like to get paid decently too

- hospital or healthcare setting
- education setting
- non profit setting, per my op.
- local govt setting?

What others am I missing to explore? I don’t want to travel regularly outside my town. I’m lucky I only have to go in to my San Jose office once a week, max.

I admit I have not had the time to read the entire thread.

I want to look at long term care insurance for my mom first. She turns 69 soon. We are in NorCal. Who can we talk to? Looking for an agent to really discuss this. Thanks

I am turning 50 this year. Has been working in one big tech company or another for close to 30 years. Five years ago was pondering similar questions - should I downshift or keep climbing or do something more meaningful? Decided to keep going for 4-5 years more. Took another big company job at one of the FAANGs with 2x compensation (ended up 3x due to the RSU growth during the crazy years). The job has been stressful, challenging and not particularly fulfilling, but worked very well financially and I now feel ready for the next chapter. Now facing these same questions again. Will start with an extended break and decide what to do next. Need to get comfortable with the the thought that it could be literally anything. Good luck. Share your ne...

Someone may have alluded to this earlier but personally would suggest (1) concurrently with (3). Mentally plan to sit tight for at least a year in current role, while tech world full of churn. Main hot area is ai/ml where there’s still growth and opportunity - so test the waters in earnest, actually apply to a couple places and get a sense for your personal marketability in this space and see if you don’t come across some roles that you are genuinely excited by. Timebox your searching to 5 +/- hrs per week (or whatever makes sense to you) so it’s manageable. That way you can’t beat yourself up over not exploring other opportunities if you are only so-so in your current role, and also you just may find something that is reinvigorating. Good...

snowday2022 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 24, 2023 7:49 pm This is sad. Lots of people basically telling you to max your income even if it isn’t fulfilling, when it sounds like you want to do something worthwhile and you have the skills and means to do it. I know lots of people in your age bracket in this situation. My brother, many friends, 2 brothers in law. They all say they find their jobs not fulfilling and wish they could do something else, but they like the money, and none of them have made a substantial change for years. Life is short, do something valuable. Good luck.

Thank you
I think the key is finding something fulfilling. That is the real challenge and is 100% on me. I’m in no rush…

I have the ftse large cap ex-us and ftse small cap ex us vanguard funds only in my taxable account. I think yielding roughly 3%. How would you rank these non us funds ? I’m debating how good they are as although I paid $2k + in foreign tax, I only seem to get credit for $400 :( If you are running into a limitation on the foreign tax credit, then foreign funds are tax-inefficient for you, and it is better to hold US stock funds in a taxable account. Last year, FTSE Ex-US Small-Cap Index (VSS) was extremely tax-efficient if you got the full credit, because 16% of the dividend was withheld as foreign tax. However, this is not typical; 8% is a more normal portion of international dividends to be withheld as foreign tax. At that tax rate, US an...

Tag. This is too much for my Friday evening brain to digest. The plan looks genius

The ironic thing is that people generally want their taxable accounts to give off LESS dividends to protect from dividend tax drag every year. I want taxable dividends to make up my non-discretionary spend when i retire. Let's see if i can get close. Who knows - currently around $20k a year, $40k a year would be great imo. It's still better to do this with lower dividends. Suppose that you have $1M of stock and you want to withdraw $40K a year from that portfolio, and you pay 15% tax on qualified dividends and capital gains. If your stock has a 4% dividend yield, you have a $40K dividend and pay $6K in tax. If your stock has a 2% dividend yield, you have a $20K dividend and must sell $20K of stock. If that $20K in stock was bought for $10K...

I think of this in terms of economics. Marginal utility etc. There is a point where: 1. Making/investing money is not going to make any material difference to our lives (marginal utility is tiny or zero, spending time growing a pile you’ll never spend, into a larger pile) 2. Investing time in your health can become the area to pay more attention to. I’d include mental health here, so hobbies, social interactions etc. 3. Using 1. And 2. to have experiences that actually fulfil your life. Local travel, hikes, walks, travel, pubs, reading, theater, blah In general we focus way more on 1. And not enough on 2. And 3. Once we agree money is a tool (zero value or utility at birth and death) we need to actively make changes per the OP to focus on ...

I guess technically I'm closer to my later 40's than mid-40s. I no longer work in SF Bay Area tech, for the past 15+ years I've worked in HealthTech on the vendor side opposed to the care side. I've encountered the cross roads you describe many times, its what ultimately drove me to the healthcare side after 10+ years in Silicon Valley "traditional tech". DW and I continue to focus on early retirement, goal of ~55ish. We also determined a long time ago we needed a purpose...neither of us was solely interested in facilitating the transfer of resources from one company to another or helping big companies buy little companies simply to grow a balance sheet. Transitioning from tech to healthcare was my way of finding a path with purp...

Has your 10-15 years time so far been with just one or two companies? Consider switching to IT contracting, if you can find a good tech-focused staffing company that will let you work short-term contracts (e.g. 3-6 months) and move from customer to customer. This may give you some exposure to technologies, trends and people that you may not get staying at your current company, while not locking you into anything for very long. Stated differently, the process of simply figuring out what to do next might itself take a while, it doesn't have to be a single decision at a single point in time - why not find a way to gather as much data as possible on what else is out there, while still staying technically focused? Yes, just a couple of companie...

I went through much the same throughout my 30 year tech career. I bounced from being an IC software developer to first level management, to first level management of a team in a different technical area, back to being an IC for a different type of company, to being an IC in a new area (cyber). The first part of my career, the changes were all about career building. The last few years, the changes were about seeking out things that were interesting and fun, without any thought about my career. Of course, when I did that was when my career actually took off in a meaningful way, but I digress… I really enjoyed doing the cyber work. It was what got me out of bed in the morning. In about the last five minutes of my working life, AI/ML became th...

an_asker wrote: ↑Fri Mar 24, 2023 10:05 am Honest question (see my handle lol): Correct me if I am wrong, but it appears to me that you have "enough". If so, with a handle like yours, why would you want to stick around? I would absolutely retire if I were in your shoes.

Thanks Asker
I may have enough, if I were to cut out some of the fat, could probably work. However, My dw would make my life living hell if I retired a. Before her or b. Before kids are done with grade school.

I am reluctantly on the same page as DW

Great responses so far. Reading your opinions and experiences helps for sure. I’ve given myself until this summer to get off my behind and start exploring option 2 & 3 to see what is out there.

Keep ‘em coming. Thank y’all.

ClevrChico wrote: ↑Fri Mar 24, 2023 5:12 am I'm of similar age and "stuck" as an IC in tech, but maybe that's a good thing. I still love what I do, so I don't plan on any changes. I also consider myself very fortunate after personally seeing so many people have their careers permanently derailed in the 80's and 90's.

One of my first and worst tech jobs was at a "non-profit", so it may not be what you think. (Unless you're doing something non-technical and directly helping people, like teaching.)

As someone older and wiser, I think you could probably hack a startup if that's what you want. You'd probably work a lot smarter with decades of experience.

My two cents, good luck!

Thanks! Appreciate it.

My line is I’m leaving the country soon, so buying anything doesn’t make sense. They'll reply along the lines of "you can exchange the points with any of our 1500 resorts world wide. Where are you relocating to?" I frankly think answering anything will get counter answers nearly instantly. It's best to just say "no, I won't sign anything until I get to review it with my lawyer and financial planner. If you can't give me the time to do so and get back in a few days, I'm afraid there is no point in wasting your time as I'll not purchase today." Yep, I’ve had that response. My simple answer is I’m busy winding up/simplifying my life to move. I’m not adding complexity right now. ‘Thanks but sorry!’ It’s worked almost 30 tim...

The buddies trip interlude is amusing.

My thoughts:
1. Each type of experience, can diminish over time. The first couple buddies trips were great! Than we started arguing by trip #5

2. Going away with a large group, creates some unusual dynamics, usually around money, hotels, food n drink. These can be overcome by having a much shorter trip or having ppl drop in/out for short periods.

3. I can count on my hand the folks I’d go on a longer trip with. Very few people that align with our thinking, or we can adjust to their thinking, for more than a week.

4. I know my buddies. I know the ones I can have a great night or two with (majority). I know the ones I could spend more time with (minority).

Financial success is one thing, but happiness is another. And we/me need to be reminded that it is critical to invest in relationships. Wish I had done. Well, at least I probably don't need to worry about longevity planning to age 100. :oops: The main takeaway from the 80+ years of the Harvard Study of Adult Development is that good relationships can make us healthier and happier. The authors of the book explain: People who are more connected to family, to friends, and to community, are happier and physically healthier than people who are less well connected. People who are more isolated than they want to be find their health declining sooner than people who feel connected to others. Lonely people also live shorter lives. The people who we...

I think of this in terms of economics. Marginal utility etc. There is a point where: 1. Making/investing money is not going to make any material difference to our lives (marginal utility is tiny or zero, spending time growing a pile you’ll never spend, into a larger pile) 2. Investing time in your health can become the area to pay more attention to. I’d include mental health here, so hobbies, social interactions etc. 3. Using 1. And 2. to have experiences that actually fulfil your life. Local travel, hikes, walks, travel, pubs, reading, theater, blah In general we focus way more on 1. And not enough on 2. And 3. Once we agree money is a tool (zero value or utility at birth and death) we need to actively make changes per the OP to focus on 2...

Interesting thread. Following as I’ve similar questions.

Dear Bogleheads, Every 3-5 years I revisit my role at work, and generally look to see what else I could do/am interested in pursuing. Without getting too specific, I’ve been in Tech first level management roles for the past 10-15 years. Tired of operations type roles, transitioned to something more strategic last 5 years or so. Lead a great team, truly great people and am their humble leader. I’m at the threshold where I’m starting to think, ‘what’s next?’. I’d like some opinions and feedback mostly from people mid 40s or older who may have been in a similar situation. Just want to understand a. How you’ve navigated the decision process b. Your thoughts on my ideas below. Importantly, all my options are bounded by the fact I’d like this to ...

This was timely since we just agreed to attend a timeshare presentation in Mexico next month in exchange for an ultra cheap 5-nights all inclusive vacation. Wife and I are on the same page - we do not want to purchase one. We have decent income, so we are probably good "targets" for these salespeople. We just plan to toe the line that "we do not make financial decisions without consulting our financial advisor and lawyer, so no thank you". I am sure they will have retorts ready, like telling that I can back out within X days if the consultant/lawyer says no etc; but we plan to just say "no thank you, if we want one we will buy later from secondary market". We have both agreed that if any question is directed t...

If you get out of the single stock and put it into index funds, I think you're fine. I would figure out what asset allocation you want and put it in index funds that meet your needs. Maybe just a 3 fund portfolio with a high percentage of stocks. 4% WR is a bit on the high side for a long retirement but not out of the question if you're willing to cut back occasionally or pick up a small amount of income over the years. It sounds like your wife is already doing that. And you're at more like 3.1-3.7% WR and that's after a bad year in the market. Chances are that you'll be completely fine. But flexibility is always key for early retirements. The bigger risk is that you are not accurately estimating your expenses. Did you make sure to include...

Go for it. No chance you won’t pick up some work later.
Seems toxic, make the exit plan with/without job lined up. Having this amount saved up with low expenses, at least gives you this freedom to quit/exit. Life is short, without doing 10 peoples work!

I moved thousands from my kids linked savings account to pay property tax! So I guess my kids Christmas and Birthday money has acted as my EF.

Money is fungible. Something I’m acknowledging more and more.