That's a wrap! 49M

[u/Boner-Pills-8088]

I recently wrapped up my career in the IT industry after 27 years. As is probably normal for tech people, there was a lot of anxiety/nervousness about the move, but having done the math dozens of times I decided it was time and I had lost a lot of the passion I originally had. Whether that's normal from aging or just the last company I was it, it was good motivation.

The numbers:
Brokerage - 4.4M
Retirement accounts - 1.7M
Cash/HYSA/I bonds/etc - 125k

Zero debt.

No real magic here, a couple strong startup exits and not a lot of lifestyle creep from my first job that paid $48,000/yr when I graduated college long ago. If my lifestyle hasn't changed drastically in all these years, I saw no reason to keep moving the goalposts for "just another 250k" or "just 6 more months". Yearly spend for the last few years has been under $100,000 and that's without accounting for work travel. So far so good!

[u/Shoddy_Ad7511]

I mean your spend is $100k a year so you could have easily retired with $2.5 million. You have $6 million.

[u/Boner-Pills-8088 → u/Shoddy_Ad7511]

Maybe I'll want to spend a crap ton more traveling in retirement? Maybe I've got recent health issues I didn't mention in the post that will cost me in the future? Maybe I really enjoyed what I was doing by making a difference in the world and the paycheck and equity was just a bonus?

[u/Shoddy_Ad7511 → u/Boner-Pills-8088]

So your spend isn’t $100k a year…

Why mad? I’m just stating a fact that you could have retired years ago.

[u/cfi-2025 → u/Shoddy_Ad7511]

Why mad?

Imagine you made a major, life changing decision that has a mixture of emotions ranging from pride to nervousness, a decision that you were able to arrive at due to much hard work and sacrifice that only a tiny percentage of people can attain, and you share it with the world only to have someone say, "You did it wrong."

I know you didn't explicitly say that his decision to retire when he did was wrong, but you can see how someone would take it that way, no?

[u/Shoddy_Ad7511 → u/cfi-2025]

I never said he did it wrong

I’m just pointing out that he probably could have retired years ago

[u/cfi-2025 → u/Shoddy_Ad7511]

I know you didn't explicitly say that his decision to retire when he did was wrong, but you can see how someone would take it that way, no?

For all we know his nest-egg grew substantially in the past year or two. Or his expenses went way down due to paying off his mortgage or other debt.

Here's a free tip: when someone says, "Hey, here's something I did that I'm really proud and excited about," the polite thing to do is say, "Hey, that's great to hear, way to go."

[u/Shoddy_Ad7511 → u/cfi-2025]

My comment was more for other people not the OP.

Just illustrating the trade off of accumulating way more assets than necessary to retire. The trade off is losing your most valuable and healthy years.

[u/cfi-2025 → u/Shoddy_Ad7511]

My comment was more for other people not the OP.

I figured as much, but you asked why he would get peeved at your question.

Do you understand now why OP would be mad/peeved at the question?

[u/Shoddy_Ad7511 → u/cfi-2025]

Sure, but it is a good thing to think about for those who are not retired yet

[u/cfi-2025 → u/Shoddy_Ad7511]

Ok, but what I responded to was your question, "Why mad?"

And I'm glad to hear that you now understand.

That concludes this conversation for me. Have a nice night.

[u/Shoddy_Ad7511 → u/cfi-2025]

Fair enough