Hi all, I've been really interested in FIRE for the last few years, but now that I feel I am getting close am struggling to calculate how to know when I've made it. I've avoided making exact calculations and just focused on saving, but I feel like I might be within a couple years of having the option of quitting my job/going part-time and need help!
-36 / Graphic Design / San Francisco, CA
-General goals
I want to be able to "retire" from my job and freelance as much or as little as I want/can get clients.
-Target FIRE Age: Hoping sometime in the next 5 years / Amount / Withdrawal Rate: 3.5%? (does this seem right for erring on the side of cautious?) / Location : San Francisco
-Budget breakdown:
I am trying to be flexible on what I would be happy to live on in retirement but there are a few things I need to factor in
-Career situation and plans / Current and future income breakdown, including one-time events
I plan to continue to work my freelance (W9) for the foreseeable future, but also am very risk averse and want to factor in the possibility that in a few years my work dries up pretty much entirely and I am unable to get it going again (I realize this is not likely, but why quit my Full-time if I could just work it a few more years and feel safe). Ideally I want to be able to get by if I had to take a part-time minimum wage job with the option to transition to being fully retired by 65.
-Asset breakdown, including home, cars, etc.
-Debt breakdown
Debt free except Mortgage as detailed above
-Health concerns
No major concerns as of now, but I do have to see my doctor every 2 months for a minor, non life threatening issue. Medication is about $40 without insurance, $3 with
-Family: current situation / future plans / special needs / elderly parents
-Questions?
- How do I factor in Health insurance costs, especially given that at some point I will be transitioning to Medicare. I am also thinking I might Barista fire (probably Starbucks or Chipotle so this complicates that further maybe—I am ok with having multiple spreadsheets based on different paths though—want to stay flexible!)
-Surprise Health issues?
- Factoring in other "surprise" costs or large expenses that I might need to make?
- How close am I? I'm having a HUGE amount of difficulty figuring out how to set up the calculations based on having both a full-time job and significant W9 work, especially as I give myself a SEP-IRA. (My tax lady tells me what my contribution to that should be every year and I do that—last year it was about ~9k, hopefully this year with my really good income it will be more)
- How do I factor in the taxes that will be owed on my withdrawals from investments/retirement accounts esp. since I will not owe them on my ROTH accounts?
- How do I factor in Social Security Payments? Should I even bother? At this point I have 17 years worth of credits and SSI thinks that if my income stays on the same track until 67 (spoiler, it wont! lol) that I would get $3280 per month at 67.
- Are there other things I'm not factoring in that I should be?