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Financial Independence / Retire Early Calculator

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Re: Financial Independence / Retire Early Calculator

#31

Post by spaetzleesser »

I am generally in support of FIRE but it seems a lot of it relies having on ever rising stock market and housing prices. I have been around during the 90s and have seen the .COM bubble and the 2008 crash and have seen how things can turn bad quickly. I am not sure if a lot of FIRE people can ride out a longer downturn. Once you have to cut into your principal even a rising market won’t bail you out because you have nothing to invest.

Governments have done a lot to reinflate the last bubbles but I don’t see how they can manage the next downturn (which will come for sure. It’s not different this time). Deficits are already high. Interests are low. What else do they have?

Re: Financial Independence / Retire Early Calculator

#32

Post by spaetzleesser »

holoduke wrote: post #24

I see a lot of people wanting to retire as early as possible. Most of those never are able too. Then I know some people who are able to retire right now. But they don't. I fall in the latter category. And my theory is that once you get enough income you can actually do what you like. In my case still coding, but only projects I like to do. But I will probably never retire. Way too boring.

I may do some coding but certainly not 40 hours a week with managers looking over my shoulder.

Re: Financial Independence / Retire Early Calculator

#33

Post by rufus_foreman »

holoduke wrote: post #24

I see a lot of people wanting to retire as early as possible. Most of those never are able too. Then I know some people who are able to retire right now. But they don't. I fall in the latter category. And my theory is that once you get enough income you can actually do what you like. In my case still coding, but only projects I like to do. But I will probably never retire. Way too boring.

I'm in the latter category also. Had a job off-shored at the end of 2019 and was out of work and thinking about retiring then. I didn't look too hard for another job but found one. I also didn't do much with my time off.

That's the RE part of FIRE. The FI part is nice though. I didn't stress out about looking for a job during a pandemic where companies suddenly shut down hiring. And I don't stress out about my job now. If there's any stress, I remind myself about FI. And if there's still stress after that, I'll just quit, it's Machu Picchu time.

Re: Financial Independence / Retire Early Calculator

#34

Post by lokar »

holoduke wrote: post #24

I see a lot of people wanting to retire as early as possible. Most of those never are able too. Then I know some people who are able to retire right now. But they don't. I fall in the latter category. And my theory is that once you get enough income you can actually do what you like. In my case still coding, but only projects I like to do. But I will probably never retire. Way too boring.

IME, when you talk to people it's about quickly getting to the point that you could retire, if you wanted/needed to.

Re: Financial Independence / Retire Early Calculator

#35

Post by helmholtz »

klysm wrote: post #22
gombosg wrote: post #19

Nice! Looks pretty good as long as I stay here in Central-Eastern Europe and live a minimalist lifestyle. (Buy second-hand clothing, used gadgets, no car as long as possible etc.) Actually promoting a materially minimalist life is very healthy, because - as long as it's voluntary - it lets one focus on maximizing happiness not coming from material possessions.

My problem is I like building things for fun, and things cost money

"You can afford anything but you can't afford everything"

Re: Financial Independence / Retire Early Calculator

#36

Post by sjtindell »

holoduke wrote: post #24

I see a lot of people wanting to retire as early as possible. Most of those never are able too. Then I know some people who are able to retire right now. But they don't. I fall in the latter category. And my theory is that once you get enough income you can actually do what you like. In my case still coding, but only projects I like to do. But I will probably never retire. Way too boring.

Fits my experience well. It is work until you’re wealthy enough, then it is play. When my friends say they want to “retire early”, they all mean “do what I actually want with my time”. I’m continuously surprised how many people don’t realize money equals freedom and instead consider it a shallow pursuit. Getting the wrong message from scrooge and the wolf of wall street perhaps. You can sit around playing guitar all day, or whatever it may be…but you need money. It is fungible for all things in our society - time, votes, work, resources.

Re: Financial Independence / Retire Early Calculator

#37

Post by redisman »

holoduke wrote: post #24

I see a lot of people wanting to retire as early as possible. Most of those never are able too. Then I know some people who are able to retire right now. But they don't. I fall in the latter category. And my theory is that once you get enough income you can actually do what you like. In my case still coding, but only projects I like to do. But I will probably never retire. Way too boring.

Retirement doesn’t mean you have to move to Florida to golf and flirt with grannies. The point is that you can do whatever you want - it might be some sort of work.

It’s a question of what would I do if I didn’t have to build my whole life around working 8 hours every weekday

Re: Financial Independence / Retire Early Calculator

#38

Post by jeffbee »

Defaulting stock returns to +8% is pretty ridiculous.

There's also something obviously buggy about the calculation because there's a suspicious minimum in the retirement age. If I zero out spending it says I should retire 8 years ago. If I set spending to double my income it says I should have retired 45 years ago. I spending is 220% of my income, I should have retired 921 years ago. When spending is 235% of net income, I should have retired 59325 years ago, in the late Pleistocene.

Do not use.

Re: Financial Independence / Retire Early Calculator

#39

Post by ttcbj »

holoduke wrote: post #24

I see a lot of people wanting to retire as early as possible. Most of those never are able too. Then I know some people who are able to retire right now. But they don't. I fall in the latter category. And my theory is that once you get enough income you can actually do what you like. In my case still coding, but only projects I like to do. But I will probably never retire. Way too boring.

Yes, exactly this. I found work stressful and fraught when I needed the money. Once I didn’t, I was free to enjoy the work I enjoy.

If anything, the flexibility in my schedule from financial independence opens me up to a lot of unpaid work I don’t enjoy (helping with my aging mother) because I’m the one who can. Ironically now that I don’t have to work, I wish I had more time to work!

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