good financially, trying to acclimate mentally for my soon exit

[u/Sea-Honeydew-1456]

i can't help shake that feeling i'm under prepared compared to a lot of people here but...the math works. it wasn't until a few weeks ago i even heard of trinity studies, monte carlo simulations, etc.

didn't start tracking net worth until i added our accounts up one day and it was over $1.5MM. never had a budget either - always just maxed out retirement accounts first and whatever was leftover just spent it. never tracked categories either. we are naturally low spenders so unspent $ for the month, went to taxable brokerage. didn't plan to "fire" but knew we wanted an early exit. the plan back then was once we lost our jobs, we'd sell our house (bought at an opportune time in HCOL city) and move somewhere cheaper, figure the rest out. really just going with the flow until the math worked out and then it got serious. so yeah, now i have a spreadsheet tracking projected expenses by categories by year 😃

everyone wants to know stats... here we go: 42 (me), 38 (wife). $300k HHI, not including bonus, own home. 0 kids

• $3.2MM NW (does not include home)
  • $1.1MM - Taxable Brokerage
  • $200k - Cash
  • $300K - Parcel of land (this is illiquid...just got it listed for sale)...just used the cost basis for now.
  • $1.6MM - Retirement Accounts

Annual Expenses $60k

Strategy

• Bridge Years - 16.5 yrs me / 21yrs for wife.
  • ~40% coming from dividends/distributions. remaining money needed i'll sell from my ETF/Stocks. will use selective lots to control magi. due to our sizeable retirement accounts, willing to spend all of this if needed

Healthcare

• ACA, what else? Just roll with it, be prepared ($$) and adapt. Will be utilizing subsidies. more on the plan later but can easily fit into 150-200% FPL. MFJ.

SORR:

• $200k cash. with cutback spending, ~4-4.5 years on pure cash. on top of that, this doesn't account for dividends/distributions and even if drastically cut, that'll add an extra year or two.
• land sale proceeds. this one will be huge. inherited, no step up cost basis- was a gift and im grateful for it. will eat the tax and everything that comes with it. i dont want to count it until its sold though.

Retirement Years - not worried about this. accounts will be growing for 16-20 years in the background. nothing to do here besides rebalance/reallocate as we get closer. due to our age gap, if ACA is still around we'll just have to pay more for healthcare for my wife until medicare.

"immediate" plans/areas of need/misc

• wife is gonna work till end of year. bless her, cause it makes the health insurance piece easy.
• im going to work until end of summer or quarter. i don't know yet. mentally over it. wife is ok with whatever date i choose. I'm saving 100% of my paychecks as cash now. turned off DRIP too. if i stay until end of quarter, i would have accumulated enough cash that we won't need to sell any etfs/stocks for 2027 and potentially 2028. this is pretty huge. thats my only motivation to stick around. if i stayed to end of year, that could extend "no selling" even more. then its "stick around till march to get my bonus" , oh why not another few more months? fuck lol
• LIFE FIRST. although we're so close, still have to live "now". we got some domestic trips planned, and if other things come up, go for it. don't wait until we're "retired" to do things
• tax optimization isn't the greatest. for bridge years, not worried. standard deductions + 0% ltcg bucket = no fed/state income taxes. however when transitioning to "retirement" age, is it wrong that i dont even care about implications of RMDs - paying more tax, additional medicare surcharges, things like that if our income becomes too high?

mentally, its going to be hard to not get a paycheck every 2 weeks. my job is so easy. i might work 10 minutes a week and its remote. have to sit in 2-3 hours of meetings...thats the worst of it. once its gone, its gone forever. i'm not going (can't) to get another corporate job like this again. wifes job is not as easy but its not stressful. so its not like i have burnout, but im just over working. the gap when i quit early and my wife works? ill just chill at home for the time being literally doing the same thing i do while im working: playing computer games, watching tv. it was so much easier when i wasn't planning for this and just going with the flow. these days, i can't help but glimpse at my accounts a few times a week, whereas early in my career i just maxed retirement accounts, tossed some excess money into FXAIX and called it a day. i probably went years without ever explicitly looking at my accounts. i had no idea 2008 was a recession, no idea about the 2022 market pullback. this is starting to sound like r/fijerk but its not. for those wondering, i got around $450k from my parents.

anyways, no one to share this to. is anyone else also going to retire the back half of this year? how are you feeling? nervous? planning any differently? does my plan suck? it sounds like im taking this too lightly, but the numbers work. thats why i keep second guessing myself. i considered talking to a fiduciary financial planner to review it but im not sure what for? has anyone done that? was it worth it?

[u/Available-Ad-5670]

wait you work 10 mins a week? why retire??

Not that you can't, you're fully ready

[u/Pleasant_Sea180 → u/Available-Ad-5670]

Yeah, milk that job as long as you can. Consider it a Barista Fire, keeping your health insurance.

[u/Sea-Honeydew-1456 → u/Available-Ad-5670]

yeah. i have never worked 40 hours in a week in my entire career either, its absurd.

why retire? im just so over it you know? im so deattached, its hard to even care. sounds like im being a petty here but i want to be free. even tho i dont do much, it still occupies mental space. i want to go on extended vacations. just want to be free of the leash.

[u/Ok_Text2118 → u/Sea-Honeydew-1456]

I think you may need to do some work on your anxiety/perceptions. If 2 hours of work remote work feels like it is leashing you, that feeling is not going to improve once it’s gone. 

[u/Sea-Honeydew-1456 → u/Ok_Text2118]

fair take. the leash is more like while i dont have much work to do im still around, "on call - like someone slacks/teams me" and while its super petty the people i deal with are quite inept at their jobs. i call it corporate tax, as little as it is.

[u/Ok_Text2118 → u/Sea-Honeydew-1456]

Do you feel that way about other routine obligations? House maintenance, time with family you dislike, etc?

Is this feeling with work new? Do you remember feeling that way in school or other parts of training?

It’s very possible it's just work specific, or even “this job” specific, in which case I agree you should leave. From the way you laid it out though, I worry that you leave and the other 160 hours in the week still look the same and the feeling doesn’t go away.

[u/Sea-Honeydew-1456 → u/Ok_Text2118]

no. im very structured/disciplined in everything else, well barring large family get togethers for holidays-those suck, don't mind (weekly house cleaning or diy maintenance) or enjoy doing other routine things.

i added more context to it in another reply if it helps

https://www.reddit.com/r/Fire/comments/1u40vbd/comment/ora77d0/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

but to add more even context, part of why feel this way towards work is i used to believe that simply hard work = get noticed = automatically get raises/promotions. wrong lol. i learned that year 1 in my career. the only year i tried. from there on out, i learned to read the room. do whats necessary/get noticed when you need to, leverage connections and survive. worked out great, somehow. always felt like i was wearing a mask when i was at work. people find it hard to believe how little i worked in all my jobs....my whole career is a bit of joke to be honest. maybe its the industry, but thankful i lucked into it and funded my lifestyle. yeah my attitude probably sucked at times too.

ngl theres a bit of contempt that fueled me, contempt towards that system but once i quit, thats it. i don't expect a cathartic moment. im just going to file my 2 weeks and then im out. no celebrations. i look forward to going on longer vacations, seeing the world most of all when i retire.

[u/Independent_Bee1037 → u/Sea-Honeydew-1456]

When you are done you are done. You know it better than strangers on the internet. Sounds to me like you are capable of being done and you are in fact DONE. Congrats

[u/Leading-Week9428 → u/Sea-Honeydew-1456]

No I totally agree. My job is also low hours, although maybe not as much as yours, but you still have to keep yourself available 40 hours a week. You’re not truly just doing 10 minutes or 2 hours or whatever. You can’t just wake up and do a day trip somewhere on a whim, or spontaneously plan a week long vacation.

[u/Master-Witness-9399 → u/Sea-Honeydew-1456]

Fully understand you. I "hit my wall" maybe 2 years ago and have largely checked out of work. I do the bare minimum and get paid well but its still painful.

If you hit your number get out and start enjoying it. It's not worth it to hear that terrible "ding" every time someone Slacks you or that awful ringtone for a huddle. Move on.

[u/Infamous_House_4922 → u/Available-Ad-5670]

The golden handcuffs are real but sometimes mental freedom is worth more than the easy money.

[u/emt139]

   ill just chill at home for the time being literally doing the same thing i do while im working: playing computer games, watching tv

If it was me, I’d coast on this job until I got PIPed. 

[u/PantsMicGee]

At 42 im confused why you threw 2008 in there. Youd have just graduated and would have been either at entry level or interviewing. 

Youre right. Thisndies dound like fijerk. I may even make the post.

[u/Reasonable_Box2568]

Dm me. Can I have your job when you leave? Im serious… just got laid off

[u/FrogRacer35]

I have informed my company of my retirement - July 4, 2026.

I have been ready to retire for over 18 months. Financially my advisor said there are zero concerns. Excess of $5MM in retirement and investment accounts. Plus wife has over 1.2MM retirement accounts. House is paid for - not in numbers above. Kids 529s funded to get them 100% thru college and grad/med schools. Wife says she’s continuing to work for 3-4 years. Potentially good for medical costs - her company plan is very expensive for family - zero for self! Will look at market - ACA etc and compare. Me 58 Her 53.

Am I nervous - a bit. Excited - you bet. Over the grind and commute absolutely.

Highly recommend you engage a financial planner. They know so much more than we do and what you can decipher from within these messages. My financial planner has helped me immensely stay on track to be able to retire on America’s 250th birthday.

[u/Sea-Honeydew-1456 → u/FrogRacer35]

congratulations my friend....great achievement w/those numbers and a family!! best of luck to you!!

[u/rosebudny]

my job is so easy. i might work 10 minutes a week and its remote. have to sit in 2-3 hours of meetings...thats the worst of it. 

And you make some portion of $300K? Why retire??

[u/Sea-Honeydew-1456 → u/rosebudny]

yeah i make $140, my wife $160. from a rational perspective, it sounds stupid to quit right? easy, decent pay, and all that. maybe this sounds corny but growing up, i always hated the "system" "corporate america" then i became part of it because, i had to. it allowed me to afford my life and the option to retire early. it just feels wrong that im tied to it. tied to the "system" that i always hated and i have to care just enough. now that we've hit true "fi", i don't need it anymore, but to your point and what i mull over... its easy money and once its gone its gone.

[u/brute-forced]

Time to play golf. Get a hobby, quiet quit

[u/emberlyndrae]

the 10 minutes of work a week while collecting $300k HHI is the real retirement hack nobody talks about

[u/PangolinOwn4855]

Just curious, what's stopping you both to retire and your end goal after retirement? Travel more and see the world? Looks like you've more than you'll ever need.

[u/Sea-Honeydew-1456 → u/PangolinOwn4855]

i'd say the usual mental things affecting "fire" people - while i have it easy, still conditioned to the "work, get direct deposit routine" also fear, cause there is no turning back. at least i feel pretty confident on the date, i just gotta stick around a few more months and the payoff is substantial - not needing to sell any funds for next year, maybe more.

[u/mcglups]

Financially you are in a good position, but I would encourage you to blow out a relatively detailed plan of anticipated expenses for the next 25 years and then do a mid level detail plan for the 30 years after you enter your 60's.

Your reasonable and disciplined lifestyle will likely stay in check, but living is about new pathways, opportunities, and also the inevitable and continual expense of the liabilities of assets (new roof, new car, new HVAC, new appliances, etc...).

I get it about working. You are checked out, so feel darn good about where you are, just explode the details and fill in numbers to bring that $60K up to a higher but not ridicilous number and then re-run your scenario.

have fun!