Post FI Notes 023: Freshly FIREd at Fifty-Seven

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He advanced in an engineering career while she put in more than four decades at the local candy store while raising three sons. Now, at age 57 and with an empty nest, they declared financial independence and began their early retirement in 2022.

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Their main questions revolve around withdrawal strategies, tax planning, and figuring out the optimal way to generate their spending money through the remaining epochs of early and regular retirement.

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Getting to Know You

You’re financially independent. About how much does your household spend in a typical year? How much could you spend while still abiding by the 4% rule?

We happily arrived at our financial independence plateau, our FI number, in late 2019 just as Covid started to crush the world. As most of you know, “real life” is rather messy no matter how actively you plan. It is harder to get any messier than concluding a 30+ year journey and doing so during a global pandemic. 😊

We expect a modest pension at age 65 ($24,000 annually) as well as more significant Social Security ($57,000 annually, inflation-adjusted) at age 70 that should relieve any pressure on our withdrawal rate over time. In essence, we believe that our path will involve a multi-tiered withdrawal rate that should start at 4%ish and then drop to 3.25% and then under 2%.

Tell us about your household. How many people and at what ages? Are you supporting anyone outside of your home? Where do you live?

Our immediate family totals five carbon life forms: my dear wife of 31 years and our three sons who are currently ages 28, 26 and 20. My wife and I are both age 57. The two oldest sons are largely independent at this point with my wife and I providing support in only minor ways.

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