The Intersection of FIRE and Disney

[RivShore]

I'm not at home and can't check the model, but I will second the recommendation of Bosch dishwshers for quietness. We have the same red light, and it is almost impossible to tell it is on without checking the light. Bosch also does rather helpfully list the dBA so you can easily compare models on this basis.

How old are your Bosch's? Ours is now 6 or 7 years old and it has slowly gotten louder and louder. Hopefully it's not foreshadowing a breakdown.

Sorry for the thread drift!

 

[QueenIsabella]

Mine is 2 years old, and still quiet as a mouse. I hope it stays that way.

 

[mgarbowski]

Mine is 2 years old, and still quiet as a mouse. I hope it stays that way.

Roughly the same

 

[Rob Huff]

Info on this magical dishwasher please!

I think our neighbors can hear our dishwasher. I'd say it's on its last legs...but truthfully, it's legless at this point. Thanks for the intel!

 

[Mome Rath]

I know one philosophy is not to pay too much attention to the market on any given day, but today's a fun one to watch! Pfizer's vaccine is over 90% effective, and the DOW is happy...

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Yeah - we are getting RICH today folks!!

 

[disfanforlife]

I know one philosophy is not to pay too much attention to the market on any given day, but today's a fun one to watch! Pfizer's vaccine is over 90% effective, and the DOW is happy...

I saw that. My DH and I are very happy! We are planning to retire in 2021 and go back to Disney in 2021 too.

 

[Starport Seven-Five]

I know one philosophy is not to pay too much attention to the market on any given day, but today's a fun one to watch! Pfizer's vaccine is over 90% effective, and the DOW is happy...

It's funny because last night my wife and I were talking about how cases are ramping up. I have to admit I had a thought in the back of my head that we could see another dip like February/March as it gets bad.

Good thing we don't try to time the market.

 

[mgarbowski]

At end of day yesterday I hit my ultimate goal round number target, about 20 months ahead of schedule. We've been bouncing around the range beneath this goal for a few months, and the start of the month was more ebb than flow so this was unexpected. I also fully expect to drop below this level soon, maybe even today, before I hope hitting this target for good, but I'm cautiously optimistic overall for the next 1-2 years to keep me on schedule.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

A few random FIRE thoughts this evening for my DIS FIRE friends!

1) I've been reading r/FinancialIndependence again. The culture seems to have improved a lot over there so that's good. I read it each night before I fall asleep, just peruse a few new threads, look at the daily thread (sorted by top). It's a nice way for me to turn my brain off (I'm weird, I know) and keeps a reminder of why I'm on this path.

2) Today was another good stocks day - I'm at an all-time high net worth right now. It's literally hard to believe that, given where we were 8 months ago. We are < $35k away from our next major $X00k event so who knows... maybe that could even happen this year.

3) Depending on a few factors over the next 6 weeks, this might be my record year for "amount saved" surpassing 2015 when I had a number of severance payments occur which skewed the numbers. It will definitely me my highest savings rate ever. We're looking to be in the 65%+ range. I know everybody calculates that differently, but I use a 100% consistent calculation each year and we've never achieved over 60% so this will be a big year for us. I guess it helps that there is nothing to do and nowhere to spend my money...

4) I had a strange thought the other night. Once the pandemic is truly behind us... later in 2021? 2022? Whenever that is... I think I might actually try to spend some money. I feel like we live a truly awesome life right now as a family of 4 spending ~$50k a year (+/- $15k depending on the year and various major expenses) but I also want to make sure I'm not missing out on something I could enjoy now. How much money we'll spend, where we'd spend it... your guess is as good as mine! But I'm thinking I might try to be intentional about spending some more money in the future to see if it improves my quality of life now. Perhaps this idea has come as I've become more familiar with the concept of CoastFire (which the term in and of itself has numerous meanings in churning circles) and I've realized that if we wanted, we could be done saving now. I guess this is one to stay posted on... The goal is to be able to retire, not to have $10 million.

So there are my random thoughts for tonight. I'd love to see us have more discussion here on a regular basis. Life is boring right now, so chime in - what are your random thoughts??

 

[disfanforlife]

@SouthFayetteFan i like what you said about the goal is to retire - not have $10Million. This is exactly how my DH and I feel and why we have made the decision to retire in 2021! There is a possibility that we might work part time or do some other type of work later after being retired for a few years. It just depends on a lot of factors. The bottom line is we looked at our spending and we looked at our savings and we can do it!

 

[Starport Seven-Five]

4) I had a strange thought the other night. Once the pandemic is truly behind us... later in 2021? 2022? Whenever that is... I think I might actually try to spend some money. I feel like we live a truly awesome life right now as a family of 4 spending ~$50k a year (+/- $15k depending on the year and various major expenses) but I also want to make sure I'm not missing out on something I could enjoy now. How much money we'll spend, where we'd spend it... your guess is as good as mine! But I'm thinking I might try to be intentional about spending some more money in the future to see if it improves my quality of life now. Perhaps this idea has come as I've become more familiar with the concept of CoastFire (which the term in and of itself has numerous meanings in churning circles) and I've realized that if we wanted, we could be done saving now. I guess this is one to stay posted on... The goal is to be able to retire, not to have $10 million.

haha, this is exactly where we've been this year and something we'll be doing more of going forward. We reached a point where it's clear that our net worth is increasing more off of compounding than contributions so throttling back a bit won't have much of an effect on reaching FI. We've also had a bit of FOMO now that we realized things that we thought would always be there (travel!) are not guaranteed.

One suggestion I have from my own experiences is to invest a bit in automation and simplification. It may be suboptimal to leave a grand in a checking account or pay someone else to do landscaping but we only have so much mental energy/time. Funny part is that doing things like that has really freed my mind up to create new money instead of squeezing every penny... and my side business is doing quite well because of it.

 

[bernina]

One suggestion I have from my own experiences is to invest a bit in automation and simplification. It may be suboptimal to leave a grand in a checking account or pay someone else to do landscaping but we only have so much mental energy/time. Funny part is that doing things like that has really freed my mind up to create new money instead of squeezing every penny... and my side business is doing quite well because of it.

We started doing this as well. It's small but we inherited a Roomba vacuum from my SIL, just had to spend $30 for a new battery and it's good to go. It is so liberating to push a button and not have to worry about vacuuming. Now that we know it works well in our house we plan to move this model upstairs and invest in the newer i8+ from Costco which will further simplify by allowing us to pick which rooms to clean, areas to avoid (lego area in playroom), plus it self empties. Also looking at the automated mop since our first floor is all wood and has a tendency to show a lot of smudges with all of us constantly home. DH enjoys mowing the lawn but we do plan to hire landscapers to design our beds and front lawn which is desperately in need of updating. We kept thinking we would do ourselves but after 15 years it's clear that's not happening. I also automated my budget processes a few years ago when I began using YNAB. The annual fee is well worth it for the hours saved each week.

 

[Mome Rath]

I'm a "fan" of anything acting as a memento mori (nice disney tie-in, I know)... we are all going to die, it's just a matter of when. My husband and I try to take a balanced approach; once your responsibilities are met (which includes storing up for the future), you need to also live a life. With true FIRE, you give up current time in order to try to gain freedom in a future time. Well, that's all well and good, but it is an assumption that you will have a "future time" in which to recoup the hours spent focusing on FIRE.

The future isn't promised to anyone, especially not a healthy future. So, balance it is for us. In short, we spend enough through the year for out mental and physical health, and we save what is necessary for a future after "retirement." I don't see anything wrong with trying to dial it in, as far as what is healthy while still being responsible.

 

[mgarbowski]

2) Today was another good stocks day - I'm at an all-time high net worth right now. It's literally hard to believe that, given where we were 8 months ago. We are < $35k away from our next major $X00k event so who knows... maybe that could even happen this year.

One more vaccination announcement ought to do it. If they keep announcing new ones every 2 weeks my net worth will double by year end.

 

[disfanforlife]

Random thoughts -
We are retiring on our own savings. We don't have a pension. That is the scary part - how much money saved is enough? We are in our 50's so social security is a long way off.
But, we are ready to take the plunge and have a year to plan for it....or change our minds? Hopefully not!

 

[WVMomof3]

Random thoughts -
We are retiring on our own savings. We don't have a pension. That is the scary part - how much money saved is enough? We are in our 50's so social security is a long way off.
But, we are ready to take the plunge and have a year to plan for it....or change our minds? Hopefully not!

What is your plan for health insurance? That is what seems to trip most people up.

 

[disfanforlife]

What is your plan for health insurance? That is what seems to trip most people up.

Buy it on the NY Health exchange. I think when we are no longer working we will qualify for lower cost insurance.

 

[Starport Seven-Five]

Random thoughts -
We are retiring on our own savings. We don't have a pension. That is the scary part - how much money saved is enough? We are in our 50's so social security is a long way off.
But, we are ready to take the plunge and have a year to plan for it....or change our minds? Hopefully not!

The general "FIRE community" starting point is 25x your expected expenses in retirement but that assumption assumes a mix of investments (stocks/bonds) and needing to have a very high probability of the account not going to $0 over a 30 year period. As you get closer to SS, you probably could have a higher withdrawal rate initially as some income will be replaced by SS within the 30 year window. Getting those curves to match with high probability... that is the challenge.

 

[disfanforlife]

The general "FIRE community" starting point is 25x your expected expenses in retirement but that assumption assumes a mix of investments (stocks/bonds) and needing to have a very high probability of the account not going to $0 over a 30 year period. As you get closer to SS, you probably could have a higher withdrawal rate initially as some income will be replaced by SS within the 30 year window. Getting those curves to match with high probability... that is the challenge.

I am still fairly new to the thread but having been chasing FiRE for many years, just never knew that name for it before. I appreciate your comments. We do have a mix of stocks, bonds, etc. The thing I have been lacking is tracking our exact spending. That doesn’t mean we haven’t been saving - we have. We owned shares in a family business which we sold last year. This upped our savings considerably. I just need to get a little better feel for knowing what all the differences in our expenses will be when we do retire. Right now my DH and I are very excited to have made the decision that it will happen next year.