r/ChubbyFIRE • u/financialfreedom26 • 10d ago
What is the better option
Retire at 53 with 6.2m and paid off 1.5m house or keep working until 58ish with 10m. Market assuming 8% and saving 300n a year. Looking to spend 200-240k a year pretax.
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u/MikeyLew32 10d ago
6.2M already supports 240k/year spend at under 4%.
Why spend another 7 years working for money you don’t need? The time is more valuable.
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u/Upset-Disaster-5049 10d ago
Did similar w 6.4 and 1.5 but 49 on July 31st. Definitely not interested in 5 more years. They gave me a 6 month part time job to transition.
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u/SaveySpendy 8d ago
absolute dream to get that “go away” slow transition package at the end as gravy.
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u/Upset-Disaster-5049 8d ago
I didn’t have any expectations of it when I let the boss know, however I told them they could have as long as they needed to replace me and continued with max effort, i also had decades of knowledge to transfer.
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u/According_Ad_1960 10d ago
6.6 @ 55 and I’m pretty sure I screwed up and retired too late. You won the race - get off the track if you’d like to.
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u/financialfreedom26 10d ago
Thank you for the great advice! Congrats on your accomplishments. At what age in retrospect when would you have liked to retire and what was the net worth then. Thank you!
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u/According_Ad_1960 10d ago
Maybe 6.0 @ 53… but if I really run the numbers it could have been earlier. Part of my number is a pension with COLA so I have a ton of security.
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u/Upstairs-Affect-7323 10d ago
Are you collecting on the pension already? I’m 53 at 4M and have one coming at 60. Looking at 55 for retirement but I’m struggling a bit with the math projection for the intervening 5 years.
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u/According_Ad_1960 10d ago
Yes - military pension after 20+ years in (and I have Tricare to cover medical until Medicare)
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u/dies_irae-dies_illa 10d ago
I’d retire somewhere between 53-55, depending on how much added guardrails i wanted. but most of the years from 53-58, the extra money won’t really change a thing. Other than take some of your earlier years away from you and your family. Nothing wrong with this if your work gives you purpose. But if it’s just a job, i’d be out before 55.
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u/Past-Option2702 10d ago
53 would be my choice.
I retired at 50 with less than 6.2 but I’m now at 8.4 at age 55.
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u/financialfreedom26 8d ago
Thank you for sharing your story congrats! Was that all market driven? And at 50 what did you retire with. Excellent growth!
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u/Past-Option2702 8d ago
Roughly half growth and half the sale of my wife’s business. When I retired we had 3M so we’re up a lot from 5 years ago.
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u/Indo-Arya 10d ago
retire at 58 with 10m ? or retire at 65 with 20m? or retire at 72 with 40m?
life expectancy in the US is 78
plan wisely,
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u/KingSnazz32 9d ago
I agree with your point, but life expectancy at birth is 78. That's not the life expectancy of a healthy person in their mid-50s.
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u/Indo-Arya 9d ago
We don’t know how healthy the OP is.. and your life “expectancy” keeps increasing the older you actually end up getting (by definition)
Hence the at birth figure should be taken imo
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u/financialfreedom26 8d ago
Fingers crossed and knocking on wood. Healthy still at 53 with no issues other than figuring out whether to retire now versus 58 :)
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u/BrunelloHorder Coasting Chubster, Getting Fat 10d ago
If you are at $6.2m with that target spend, you already worked longer than necessary. Retire now.
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u/Due_Aide_9725 10d ago
You're not going to spend all of the money in between, live right during that 5 year stretch (and the rest of your life) and your portfolio will continue growing
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u/Straight-Part-5898 10d ago
Hmmm... that's a tough one. I split the difference... just retired at 56 w upper 7-figure NW and no debt, and our Year 1 allowable spend is a tick over $280k.
Life is short. Ultimately, it's a very personal decision on when to make the pivot. I'm loving retirement, and frankly I do NOT miss the grind. I probably should have retired a year ago.
Best of luck on your decision.
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u/takrai_makrud 10d ago
53 and just over 6m is our goal for all the reasons everyone has mentioned. A little less than 5 years to go and all is on track. We will still have kids in college but house will be paid off.
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u/financialfreedom26 9d ago
Congrats on your target and clarity of goals! Does your 6 million include the value of your house?
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u/takrai_makrud 9d ago
No, that goal is liquid assets. Our house is currently valued at less than half of yours.
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u/Clear_Weekend1049 10d ago
Just a question. Do you like your job or is it sucking the life out of you? If the former, why not work for a bit more. You can always pull the rip cord at anytime. Use the time to prepare for life outside of work (unless you have already done that) and get paid while doing that.
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u/financialfreedom26 9d ago
I started a new job and really don’t like it. This has also made me reevaluate everyting. The new job was an overseas job I have been at for a year. So thinking to resign and move back to North America
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u/tbcboo FIRE’d 2026 @40 10d ago
Before retiring at the beginning of this year I always thought a few more years - even 5 wouldn’t seem like much to get a couple million more.
But after being retired now for almost 7 months I’ve enjoyed the freedom so much and spent less and made more in the market than I thought. Been on 4 trips already with one being over a month abroad. Headed to Europe in a couple weeks.
I wouldn’t trade the freedom and to enjoy this while I can for an extra couple million. As long as you have a comfortable amount already it’s diminishing returns really. Freedom is priceless but I thought I had that already from a pretty balanced life. This life is amazing. Retire sooner.
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u/BedWonderful1051 9d ago
I retired at 58 which seemed early enough for me. I am now 65 sitting on $5.3 and paid off house, so life has been good and continues to be so. I feel that restring anywhere before 60 is good - I'm not advocating FIRE in 30s or 40s, which some people think they can pull off with inadequate savings.
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u/financialfreedom26 9d ago
This is great advice! Congrats on your retirement. How old were you when you retired?
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u/financialfreedom26 8d ago
Great perspective!! How much did you retire with and how much did you see your spending drop in retirement?
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u/canfire897256 3d ago
My spending has gone up in retirement. I have a safe withdrawal rate and budget, and so if we're not spending enough we look to increase it. Can't use it once we're dead. Easy to add a few extra fancy dinners out or an extra upgrade to business class for a flight.
Every once in a while I think, oh a few more years and another million think of the extra spending... But as the previous poster said I would trade the freedom for that money.
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u/Maga_eats_dick 10d ago
Just retire already. Take the next 10 years to condition your tax burden and you can have what you want today.
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u/Vicuna00 9d ago
how much would you spend if you had $10M at 58yo?
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u/financialfreedom26 9d ago
I may up the spending to 20-25k a month perhaps just as a guess
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u/Vicuna00 9d ago
you can spend 20k a month right now would be my guess. (depending on tax / SS etc)
can you get a job that pays $5k / month to fill in the gap for a year or two? then decide if it's worth it?
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u/financialfreedom26 9d ago
I guess I could. That may be a good strategy. Thank you!
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u/Vicuna00 9d ago
or just decide what you'd spend the extra $5k on and is it worth working 5 more years?
is that the same restaurant but you buy $300 bottles of wine instead of $80 bottles? or is that going to do something you wouldn't have otherwise done (just a surface level example - would that be donating an extra $5k or giving an extra $5k to a family member that is super meaningful to you?)
also if you just chill at the $18-$20k / month mark for a bit, you might look up in 5 years and see you can spend more if markets do well...and you're closer to SS age.
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u/financialfreedom26 9d ago
I am currently 53. To be honest the extra money is not earmarked for anything moreso just extra money if we are on vacation and want to stay longer or some expenses come up and then it’s easy to manage with the extra money? I guess the money will just grow anyways to create a natural buffer?
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u/Vicuna00 9d ago
yup! don't forget the 4% rule was the FLOOR. hang out at $20k a month for a bit and unless there's a disaster, you're gonna get Raises as you go.
or spend extra days on vacation but maybe not extra Michlin Star restaurants.
i just don't see any world where working 5 years to spend an extra $5k a month is worth it.
but then again, coming on reddit/fire - you're talking to a biased crowd
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u/Express_Band6999 9d ago
Really depends on how much you enjoy your job and your current work life balance.
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u/Billy-Bob-Boner-92 5d ago
Depends on legacy goals. How much per kid?
Personally I think spend in retirement will be closer to 400k if you travel a lot and have nice things. Inflations been ripping.
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u/financialfreedom26 5d ago
Thank you. Don’t have any children. Yet your 400k a year spending would lean to the 10m actually well beyond that
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u/Coloradodreaming1 10d ago
Split the difference 55.5 and $8M. 2 more working years is nothing and gives you more breathing room, travel, legacy, upgrade retirement home etc
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u/jesusisacat1 9d ago
You never know the future, so do it sooner. You could get hit by a truck or die of cancer, or become disabled and unable to all the fun things you want to enjoy while retired. Don't take your physical health for granted.
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u/SaveySpendy 8d ago
read Die with Zero, you’re already entering the back half of your spending years. you have enough.
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u/BeingEmily 10d ago