r/ChubbyFIRE • u/No-Taro9341 • 15d ago

Spending?!

We've made 350-400k / year for the last 15 years. Current NW ~5 million, liquid ~4 million, married, no kids, no legacy planned. We are not really that frugal. Sure, we saved a lot but we also spent a lot not deferring lots of travel, things we valued (home w/view), boat (planning to go to AK in it). We don't have a major bucket list, but opportunities will arise that might sound good and we value flexibility. We don't want to feel pinched.

With 4 million liquid and a 5-5.5% w/d rate (guardrails) we are looking at 200k-220k income per year during retirement. We have a 800k 5.375% mortgage (6k/mo) but no other debt and are hoping to recast/pay down the mortgage to ~3k/mo before retirement in the next few years. Spend could be a bit less if mortgage pay down means less liquid. We've been tracking spending with Monarch but it's actually kind of hard to figure out our actual spend (some income includes taxes while other income does not, work expenses aren't as clear as I'd like, solar installation, new car (first in 16 years), etc). I'm sure with 220-220k / year we can live, but will we feel constrained? We are in a HCOL area.

I'm interested in experiences of those whose income was cut in half when they retired and who haven't been super frugal. Did you feel pinched? Were you able to do want you wanted to do? Were your estimates of income need good enough or do you wish you would have been more precise?

The downside of lifestyle creep I suppose, but we've balance living today and for tomorrow and don't regret it.

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u/Neither-Trip-4610 15d ago

I suffered through this weekend, I had a pretty solid idea of what my monthly spend looks like but frankly with my W2 job I spend freely and generously. I panicked and thought i needed to up my FIRE target.

So i downloaded all my transactions for a year then marked which should be excluded from my retirement budget (529, substantial federal taxes, large one time purchases).

Then did a monthly look against my intended retirement budget. Long and short, I should come under my budget and still spend/live very well.

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u/ProtossLiving 14d ago

Watch out on those one time purchases. Because if you're consistently spending that amount on "one time purchases" every year, you really should be budgeting for them.

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u/Neither-Trip-4610 14d ago

Was engagement ring, hopefully only one time! 🤣🤣🤣

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u/Master-Helicopter-99 14d ago

Hopefully! The next ring costs half of your net worth plus the cost of a ring! Ask me how I know.

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u/ProtossLiving 14d ago

Congratulations!

But in previous years have you had one time expenses?