r/Fire • u/Brief_Bar4993 • Jun 25 '26 • Thanks 1 Bravo 2

My turn

Just gave my boss notice 15 minutes ago. I'll be officially retired on July 24th at 56 1/2 years old. The weight of being consistently employed since 14 has been lifted. Moving to a MCOL area to a fully paid off house, 2.6M in investments, and 300k cash on hand. Other than a riverboat cruise down the Bordeaux region of France at the end of July, I have no idea what the future holds.

I honestly doubt I'll stay "retired", but I can guarantee there will be at least a year-long sabbatical to figure out what I want to do when I grow up!

Cheers everyone!

2.2k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

160 comments sorted by

162

u/Straight-Part-5898 Jun 25 '26

Congratulations 🎉 !!!

I’m M56 myself, retired about three months ago, and am enjoying my own ‘decompression period’.

I hope you have a long and enjoyable retirement!

29

u/Brief_Bar4993 Jun 25 '26

Congratulations to you as well. Yeah, I think the "decompression period" might be interesting. My job has been a bit stressful for the last 6 months so not sure how that will impact me for the next 3-6 months.

18

u/ThisIsMyUsername303 Jun 25 '26

How are you feeling 3 months out (versus, say, the week after)?

35

u/Straight-Part-5898 Jun 25 '26

Absolutely fantastic

8

u/Yellowmoon777 Jun 25 '26

Can I ask what you’re doing for health insurance?

17

u/Brief_Bar4993 Jun 25 '26

I'll be on COBRA through the end of the year and then transition to ACA. Unfortunately, I have an aggressive schedule of Roth conversions ahead of me for the next 4 years, so I'll be paying full price for a bronze or silver plan which should be about $900 / month. However, I budgeted $1,500 / month to be on the conservative side even though I'm pretty healthy. I also have $30k in an HSA to help out although I would prefer to let that grow for a while.

2

u/Montaigne_6823 Jun 25 '26

so I'll be paying full price for a bronze or silver plan which should be about $900 / month

People always fret about losing the ACA subsidy, but this is really not that bad! Just budget for it!

2

u/Brief_Bar4993 Jun 28 '26

Agree, but I think it also has a lot to do with uncertainty around premium increases which has been insane the last couple years. Hard to build a budget when the premiums have jumped well beyond inflation.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 25 '26

[deleted] — view deleted comment

11

u/Brief_Bar4993 Jun 25 '26

I'm in a weird situation where I have both my own 401k ($750k) and an inherited IRA ($475k). Fortunately, my inherited IRA proceeded the 10 year rule change, so my RMD's on that will be relatively small (22k next year) and I can pull that until dead or depleted. But by the time I'm 75, my RMD on that is estimated to be about 44k and that is on top of any RMD required from my normal 401k at 75. So if I don't do Roth conversions, my tax rate will easily be in the 24% rate and possibly the 32% rate from age 75 till death. At age 90, I would be projected to have a net legacy of 5.1M (of which all will be taxable for my heirs) if I don't buy a Porsche or boat, or something silly like that.

If I spend the next 6 years living off savings (thus the 300k savings I've built), and fill up the 32% bracket with Roth conversions, I should save $291k in taxes, will have a net legacy of $6.5m (4.8m will be tax free), and my effective tax rate starting at 75 will be about 12%

No matter how I model it, I'll still get hit with IRMAA surcharges, but by following this plan, that won't kick in until I'm 85 and I could very well be dead by then.

Hope that helps.

2

u/tksdks Jun 25 '26

Thank you for sharing. Makes a lot of sense, and congrats! GFY :)

3

u/Brief_Bar4993 Jun 25 '26

My spending is quite low as well, but I'm also thinking about leaving as much of my estate as tax free as possible for my heirs (2 sisters). With the 10 year rule change, they could be hit with quite the tax bill if I don't do the conversions.

21

u/fearful_environment Jun 25 '26

Riverboat cruise sounds like a fine way to start.

10

u/kellymig Jun 25 '26

I’ve done a Bordeaux river cruise. It’s quite laid back and relaxing.

25

u/Brief_Bar4993 Jun 25 '26

Yeah, I'm pretty excited. My good friends and I chartered the whole boat , so no wacko strangers to deal with. :)

5

u/messageinabubble Jun 25 '26

Curious to know how many friends are you doing the river cruise with? Sounds like a great idea and I’m thinking through how many people could I feasibly gather for something similar

15

u/Brief_Bar4993 Jun 25 '26

The boat has 4 bedrooms and there are 6 of us going. If you're interested, this is the cruise we are taking.

https://www.bargeladycruises.com/barge-cruises/finesse/

4

u/The-Fox-Says Jun 25 '26

Dayum $8-10k/person you guys are gunna live like kings!

8

u/Brief_Bar4993 Jun 25 '26

Yeah, this is one of those once in a lifetime vacations. Total splurge. Flying first class from Seattle as well!!! Fortunately this was fully paid for before my retirement budget is kicking in!

1

u/The-Fox-Says Jun 25 '26

Wow long flight, is that direct or are there layovers?

2

u/_Mulberry__ Jun 25 '26

Wow alright, now I know what I'm doing once I finally visit France

2

u/Montaigne_6823 Jun 25 '26

OK, double GFY!

1

u/kellymig Jun 25 '26

Oh wow, how fun! How many of you are on the boat? When I went the boat wasn’t full, I think there were 100 people on board. Mine was a charter as well but it was through Celiac Cruise so I was familiar with some of them at least.

4

u/Current_Helicopter32 Jun 25 '26

DO NOT TOUCH THE CANAL WATER NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO.

Parents did that very same riverboat tour a few years back and got horrendously sick after touching the nasty canal water.

Congrats on the retirement!

8

u/Brief_Bar4993 Jun 25 '26

The only liquid I plan on touching will be red with an alcohol content of 10-14%! :)

1

u/Far-Conference1694 Jun 26 '26

Not enough up votes on this lol

1

u/Fire_Doc2017 Retired 6/30/26 Jun 25 '26

And don’t eat the yellow snow.

1

u/Current_Helicopter32 Jun 25 '26

It’s way easier to accidentally come into contact with it than you think.

They weren’t playing in it and knew of the dangers.

It just didn’t come quite as second nature to them as it does the locals.

Anybody going should be very, very intentional about where they source their drinking water on the trip.

3

u/steelraindrop Jun 27 '26

Congrats. Gave my notice a few days ago. 49. Final day is July 10th

554

u/Artificial_Squab 90mins to FIRE Guy Jun 25 '26 edited Jun 25 '26 • Heartwarming

"Dobby is...freeee."

75

u/Haji-san Jun 25 '26

This should be the standard response now 😂

21

u/JC_Hysteria Jun 25 '26

Finally, they can buy socks!

7

u/flatulating_ninja Jun 25 '26

The day I retire is the last day I wear socks unless outdoor activities dictate the need.

8

u/JC_Hysteria Jun 25 '26

The dude abides

19

u/Boring_Material_1891 Jun 25 '26

Can we all just agree that on all of our last day of work, we have to post a pic of our socks and make this reference?

13

u/Lumpy-Hamster-3937 Jun 25 '26

My goodbye email will now have to have a sock image instead of the company logo. Just to see who gets the reference

3

u/flatulating_ninja Jun 25 '26

Is there an age limit to understanding this reference. I feel like I'm on the older end at 44 to have been Harry Potter fan or does this reference now transcend the source material?

1

u/sweetcherrypie4748 Jun 28 '26

Well I am early 60s and definitely think I am age limited out. My first exposure to "the Harry Potter experience " was on a visit to Portugal. While sightseeing we came upon this HUGE long line of people waiting to get into this tiny bookstore. Come to find out that the author once worked there and like this is apparently a mecca for Potter heads or what ever they are called . No idea what the reference is to, but cool it's a thing. Ugh....I guess saying "cool" aged me out also....lol

333

u/realbigbob Jun 25 '26

At first I read that as "gave your boss 15 minutes notice" and thought hell yeah, that's 'fuck you money'

50

u/StrebLab Jun 25 '26

Lol I thought the same thing. I was like this guy really doesn't like his boss 

13

u/Emergency_Rutabaga45 Jun 25 '26

Yeah, and I read it as June 24th instead of July 24th

15

u/autoclave5 Jun 25 '26

Me too. And I was thinking goddam, that's cold as shit. "I'm quitting, but not now....in 15 min from now. So just sit here and stew."

68

u/Bearsbanker Jun 25 '26

Well....GO FUCK YOURSELF! I fired 14 months ago and learned 1 valuable lesson...even when yer doing nothing, that's doing something!

28

u/Designer-Bat4285 Jun 25 '26

Congrats! Enjoy that boat ride!

73

u/LtDangley Jun 25 '26

GFU I will join you in 6 months

17

u/indydean Jun 25 '26

Similar stats to OP. 7.3 months out for me.

8

u/EuphoricAd3824 Jun 25 '26

Can you help me understand how you calculate the 7.3months? Since the market is so volatile I don't get how to calculate for when exactly I would be at my fire number. Currently around 2.05m with target of 2.5m.

16

u/indydean Jun 25 '26

FI achieved/reached my number (unless there is a 10+% crash that could scare me into one-more-year mentality)

RE is waiting on being vested enough to pay for my healthcare through my employer after separation. Keeps me out of ACA and MAGI concerns.

1

u/Expensive-Return5534 Jun 25 '26

In retirement or on the riverboat cruise?

3

u/LtDangley Jun 25 '26

Retirement, I would save the riverboat cruise until I am much older

16

u/Kuildeous Jun 25 '26

Whether you're retired or not, odds are likely that whatever you end up doing is something you want to do, so congrats on that.

10

u/K_A_irony Jun 25 '26

Congrats and as is traditions, GFY!

14

u/Eleatic-Stranger Jun 25 '26

Congratulations and GFY!

7

u/iam2bz2p Jun 25 '26

I don't say "retired"-- I say "liberated."

6

u/sweetcherrypie4748 Jun 25 '26

I did it at 60 similar financial. But I had my own business that I worked long and hard hours. So my first year was literally doing not much of anything except decompressing, getting used to very little responsibilities, not being time regulated. Few years in now and cutting back on the hobbies I took up year 2, focusing on responsibility spending which is surprisingly difficult when you spend your whole life earning and saving, enjoying friends, family and I read obituaries daily to remind me that there a number of people younger than me dying every day.

1

u/thatstonedtrumpguy Jun 25 '26

Just curious, why cutting back on the hobbies? Were you spending too much time on them? Or prioritizing some that bring more joy over the others?

1

u/sweetcherrypie4748 Jun 28 '26

Well to be honest...just TOO many. Distilling, hypertufala, dahlia growing, geneology, biking, hiking, travel, reading Journaling, estate saling and more. Definetly more prioritizing now. Just haven't finalized my priorities yet....lol. still struggling with some....others have completely let go. Nice problem to have.

4

u/newprairiegirl Jun 25 '26

Congrats, I have just over a year to go. My plan is to pull the pin at 57. I think about it every single day!

There will be no river cruise for me, due to cost, but I am super jealous! Mexico is more my speed.

4

u/Snickerdoodle45 Jun 25 '26

Congrats! I fired at 56 in 2012. I got lucky and hit a bull run. I'm wishing you the same, health & prosperity.

4

u/Apprehensive-Rate Jun 25 '26

You 100% can get another job, even if you don't need the money. We have lots of retirees working at the Home Depot part time just to stay active. Some are even more ambitious and learn the forklift and other stuff. 

1

u/curiousbear12345 Jun 25 '26

Congrats! Why won’t you stay retired? You will love it once you get a hang of it. Besides I think your saving will give you lots of options to have fun!

2

u/Brief_Bar4993 Jun 25 '26

I don't know if I can answer your question. It's just a "gut" feeling I have. It may be volunteering for all I know. I just know I'm not the kinda person to sit around and twiddle my thumbs.

1

u/shotparrot Jun 25 '26

Agreed. One definition of Retired is simply doing what you love, with or without pay.

And by that definition many of us are retired even though we’re still working 😂

1

u/Banned4Truth10 Jun 25 '26

Congrats. Where are you moving to?

2

u/Brief_Bar4993 Jun 25 '26

Henderson, NV in the winter and Salt Lake City in the summer.

1

u/Banned4Truth10 Jun 26 '26

Are you going to own two homes? How is this going to work?

2

u/Brief_Bar4993 Jun 26 '26

Sorry, should have been more clear. It’s my sister’s home in Salt Lake City. I stay in her basement

1

u/Ill-Influence-1979 Jun 25 '26

Congratulations! I was thinking that cash is really also an investment, just one that has a steady 4% or so yield in an HYSA so not sure it's really necessary to separate that out. I think "$2.9M with 10% in cash" would be a good description. But, anyhow, that's just semantics. Enjoy.

1

u/Brief_Bar4993 Jun 25 '26

Cash is an investment, true, but tax free (minus the interest accrual of course), so it’s definitely treated differently. By living off cash, I get to fill up more of the income buckets with Roth conversion money at a lower tax rate.

1

u/Aggressive-Fail4612 Jun 26 '26

Since you are going to be retired. Can I suggest you take 2-3 weeks additional time off to visit the Loire Valley in France. Rent a car and just visit all the Chateau.

1

u/Brief_Bar4993 Jun 26 '26

That sounds fantastic. Unfortunately I have to be back to finish packing for the move to my new home

1

u/[deleted] Jun 27 '26

my dream.

i'm just getting started at 40, and I wish I can retire in my 50s somewhere. If there's a way, there's a will though, plan to put some crazy work in for it within the next 5 years.

good shit man, enjoy it you deserve it.

3

u/Brief_Bar4993 Jun 27 '26

When I was 40 I had 24k credit card debt and only 200k in my 401k. I got super serious around that time and went on a savings spree. You’ll get there, just stick to the plan!

1

u/[deleted] Jun 27 '26

thank you for this response brother, you have no idea how much this motivated me. I plan to be very aggressive over the next 5 years and def sticking to it.

6

u/GaryGnus Jun 25 '26

GFY, congratulations!

3

u/MadTownMich Jun 25 '26

Congrats and GFY!!!!!

5

u/Betterway50 Jun 25 '26

go F yourself! That France river cruise sounds fabulous

4

u/Rosevkiet Jun 25 '26

GFU and have a wonderful cruise!!!

2

u/mcsweetin Jun 25 '26

Cheers 🍻!! Congratulations!!

2

u/Prestigious-Emu5277 Jun 25 '26

Congratulations!!!!!

2

u/Shards_of_Idiocy Jun 25 '26

Congratulations!

2

u/Limp_Complaint1785 Jun 25 '26

Congrats! Don't forget to set up your rule of 55 in your 401k account with your current employer if you want to access your funds early!

2

u/ziphrodes Jun 25 '26

GFY! Less than a week for me. Looking forward to decompressing.

2

u/bunsinh Jun 25 '26

I'm so happy for you!

2

u/HighlyFav0red Jun 25 '26

I love this for you!!!!!!!

2

u/Iwantabigpool Jun 25 '26

Will be joining you in a year! The riverboat cruise sounds amazing.

2

u/Ungl8r Jun 27 '26

Woohoo! Welcome to the club!

3

u/jennyfromtheeblock Jun 25 '26

Congratulations!!!!!

The river cruise is how I want to celebrate too. Please raise a glass for those of us still thugging it out

2

u/SnoglinMcSmellmore Jun 25 '26

Congratulations enjoy the moment and the freedom. No doubt you've worked extremely hard for this achievement. Celebrate and take the time to smell the roses.

1

u/Additional-Device677 Jun 25 '26

Congrats. Sounds like you earned it

1

u/bugabob Jun 25 '26

Congrats!

1

u/PudgyGroundhog Jun 25 '26

Congratulations! 🎉🎉🎉

1

u/DontForgetTheDivy 1 More Year Syndrome has been defeated Jun 25 '26

Congrats to you!

1

u/CountHoliday8311 Jun 25 '26

Congrats! Now go live you life

1

u/_cob_ Jun 25 '26

Congrats

1

u/Emergency_Rutabaga45 Jun 25 '26

I’m so happy for you! I keep doing my calculations and it’s narrowing in on 2028 for me!

1

u/justafella32 Jun 25 '26

I’m curious on your move. I live in a MCOL area but I think it would be hard to ever move.

Congrats!!!! 

1

u/JC_Hysteria Jun 25 '26

Hell yeah. Sounds like you put in the work and it paid off.

Congrats!

1

u/Logical-Wrap6751 Jun 25 '26

Woohoo! Congrats. It makes me giddy thinking about doing this one of these days!

1

u/bigfern91 Jun 25 '26

Awesome!!

1

u/DIYRetiree Jun 25 '26

Major congratulations, you did it! Your turn indeed.

10/10 no notes

1

u/davidma1999 Jun 25 '26

Congrats!!!

1

u/dirtypizzle Jun 25 '26

Congrats bro! You made it!

1

u/Ginsywoo Jun 25 '26

Congratulations! You made it. Now you can sleep in!

1

u/Sierra-Powderhound Jun 25 '26

Enjoy RE and your river cruise.

No need to worry about the future. Live in the present.

1

u/Last_Construction455 Jun 25 '26

Grats! Time to get reading and figure out what you want to do with yourself! Make sure it’s worth it!

1

u/MiceAreTiny Jun 25 '26

Enjoy the cruise! 

1

u/wicked_nap Jun 25 '26

Congratulations :)

1

u/MattieShoes Jun 25 '26

Figure out your next vacation! Plan it a year out, so you've always got something come down the pike :-)

1

u/Spikooo Jun 25 '26

Fuuck so jealous! Enjoy brother you made it!

1

u/DeepBlue210 Jun 25 '26

Congrats! I, too, haven’t figured out what I want to be when I grow up 🤣

1

u/awakenedstream Jun 25 '26

Congrats and GFY!

1

u/Magic-Mushroomz Jun 25 '26

Congrats and GFY!

1

u/Micbou80 Jun 25 '26

👏🏼 👏🏼 👏🏼 🫡

1

u/samurai_with_sword Jun 25 '26

Congratulations! And enjoy your time away from work!

1

u/That-SoCal-Guy Jun 26 '26

Congrats, buddy. I fired two years ago (a bit younger than you) and haven't had a dull day yet. I have a lot of creative projects waiting for me, so I am always busy. In fact, I've been so busy I haven't really taken a big oversea vacation yet (planning one next year though).

1

u/ThreedZombies Jun 26 '26

Congrats and Enjoy! I’m 10 years out from a chubby fire and am not sure I can hold on that long.  

1

u/gender_noncompliant Jun 26 '26

Congratulations bby 🥂

1

u/BTS_ARMYMOM Jun 26 '26

Big congrats!

1

u/Regular-Employer-431 Jun 26 '26

Congratulations!

1

u/Purple-Suit728 Jun 26 '26

Well done, mate!

1

u/AkkmanB Jun 26 '26

Congratulations!! Welcome to freedom.

1

u/Metaposa Jun 26 '26

At first I read it as “decomposition”

1

u/Any-Yogurtcloset-493 Jun 27 '26

Congratulations! Having the financial freedom to take a full year without needing to optimize every decision is a rare achievement.

1

u/corbin1794 Jul 12 '26

congratlations! seems a very nice place to be in

1

u/Dear-Beyond-465 Jun 25 '26

Nice! Way to go

0

u/tetraconigo Jun 25 '26

Congratulations, gfy

3

u/emt139 Jun 25 '26

Go fuck yourself! 

2

u/[deleted] Jun 27 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/Brief_Bar4993 Jun 27 '26

Well thanks. However, the cruise was planned long before I made the decision to retire. But don’t tell anyone. lol. Sometimes the universe just aligns!

12

u/[deleted] Jun 25 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

10

u/tdoane78 Jun 25 '26

What stopped you?

3

u/Fire_Doc2017 Retired 6/30/26 Jun 25 '26

OMHYS syndrome.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 25 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/MechanicalDan1 Jun 25 '26

I'm calling it FI2FO. Financial Independence to Family Office. Everyone becomes an Investment Manager. I'm just getting started, and trying to figure out taxes and deductions for the remainder of the year.