Is your early retirement in the cards? The famous Trinity Study by William Bengen in the 1980s, was the first major analysis to put forth the idea of 4% annual safe withdrawal rate of your nest egg for retirement living expenses. It’s become a popular rule of thumb for people thinking about how much they need to save. I frequently tell people about the 4% … Continue reading Betting On The 4% Rule Alone?
I got an email from a friend from high school recently asking how our early retirement financials are holding up since it has been two years since our FIRE escape. He wanted to know if we were trending over or under our projections. Stated another way, he said “I want to know if I can retire!” 🙂 After reading his note, I realized that I … Continue reading Second FIRE Anniversary – Financial Tracking Update
It’s finally looking like Spring in Minnesota, although we haven’t had any rain yet. Folks on a journey to FIRE know to set aside money for a rainy day, but the great majority of people do not carry a big enough umbrella insurance. That is, an umbrella policy that pays for liability judgements above the limits of your existing auto & home insurance policies. Umbrella … Continue reading Umbrella Coverage – Protect Your Nest Egg
I retired much earlier than most people. I was 49 years old, just two weeks short of my 50th birthday. As I talk with people about early retirement, I find that most people don’t really know how early is ‘early’. The average retirement age in the USA is 62. That’s a bit higher than it was a few years ago, it’s also a bit lower … Continue reading Are You Retiring ‘Early’?
The Economic Policy Institute recently published some charts focusing on the state of retirement savings among working families in the United States today. I’m not sure what they determine exactly constitutes a ‘working family’ – since most Americans live in 1 or 2 member households – but assuming the definition is reasonably broad, the data was interesting. It showed the amount of retirement savings that … Continue reading Millionaire Status in FIRE – How Does Your Savings Stack Up?
A few weeks ago, I wrote about the crazy financial situation of Alyssa Milano, the actress who has apparently lost all of the millions she made on TV and is in a lawsuit with her former accountant. I wrote that it surprises me how many celebrities, athletes, and musicians seem to waste the great fortunes that they have been able to earn through poor management … Continue reading Deferred Compensation & Savings – Bobby Bonilla
Now that we are past the one year anniversary of our early retirement in 2016, I promise I will get back to more posts that focus on the personal finance side as opposed to the lifestyle side of the change … I’ve written about a lot of the MILESTONES that led to our early retirement last year, but someone recently pointed out that I haven’t … Continue reading FIRE Milestones – Six Steps For Planning Retirement Spending
My Mom & Dad called recently to get my take on their Long Term Care (LTC) insurance. They’ve had a policy for fourteen years and recently got a notice from their insurer that their rates would be going up. The increase – stepped over the next few years – totaled a little more than +50% versus what they were paying now. If they didn’t want … Continue reading Long-Term Care Insurance – Cost/Benefit Tradeoffs
We’ve continued our effort to organize this January and continue to make progress. We keep our financial records pretty streamlined, but I recently looked at an official guide to how long you are supposed to retain records. MFS Funds – formerly Massachusetts Financial has a ‘handy’ guide they publish that covers financial records from A to Z. Unfortunately, as I compared it to what we … Continue reading Organizing for FIRE – Financial Files
It’s nice to start the new year in an organized way and my wife and I have long practiced a habit called “Round-Up Day” to get our financials in order. Jane Bryant Quinn wrote about this useful concept in her book Making The Most Of Your Money. Once a year, you spend a day rounding up all of your bank statements, investment accounts, and checkbook … Continue reading Organized for FIRE – Round-Up Day
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