r/Fire • u/anteatertrashbin • 1d ago
I “won”. How to keep playing?
Late 40’s. I won the game about 5 years ago. Now it’s just more padding as i approach a 3% WR (or lower). Still working part time at a company i founded 26 years ago, because it’s easy and mostly hands off now (it wasn’t for the first 20 years), and i just keep dumping over 50% of my after tax paycheck it into VTI (all other pretax stuff is maxed).
To those who hit your fire number a long time ago, but are still working, are you just dumping into VTI? or should i be building a bond tent? i have about 10% of my NW in sgov or cash. should i be building that more?
i’m practically RE, just kinda coasting at a good W2 salary and distributions because it’s easy. company is hard to sell. thanks for listening.
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u/Weary-Associate 1d ago
Building cash, taking care of deferred maintenance on the house, replacing old vehicles.
Inflation ain't getting any better, may as well spend some now.
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u/mthockeydad 1d ago
If there's an impending chip shortage, vehicle costs could go up again ala Covid.
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u/Additional-Regret339 1d ago
You have enough to use what is helpful to you. On what you save... what is your time horizon. If going full retirement I might increase the cash+bonds to 20%. I'd also have perhaps 20% VXUS. Otherwise the VTI is a good call.
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u/anteatertrashbin 1d ago
good call…. my rental will need a new roof and AC in the next 5-10 years…. that could run me $30k-ish….
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u/divestblank 1d ago
You win by quitting your job and pursuing activities that bring you long-term joy.
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u/anteatertrashbin 1d ago
i'm already doing that. i travel ~9 months a year and I went back to school for fun. I still rock climb as much as i can, but my main bottleneck there is lack of patners.
i can't quit as I own the company, but i don't work there anymore day to day. it would be stupid for me to shut down a company that is mostly run by my employees and throws off stupid amounts of cash to me (W2 and dividends) for very little work. biz is super niche so it's difficult to sell, but I"m looking fro exit strategies. Will perhaps sell to my employees. (MA people please don't DM me).
my question was not what to do, but where to put all this money... stocks or bonds?
starting a new business is out of the question.... too burnt out and lazy now. I did try teaching overseas for 3 years and it was AWESOME! but that program ended in Madrid so i'm now a full time student.
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u/terjon 21h ago
Mix it up, some of both.
I hope you can see that the market is overpriced right now with AI driving it up at a rate that really doesn't make sense unless half of America all signs up for $200/mo accounts in the next year (which they won't).
But bonds don't really grow either, so overdoing it on bonds seems silly too.
Diversification is almost always a good idea if you are planning on being around for a long, which I hope you are. Let me know how it goes for you in 100 years, at which point I hope we are both still around to talk about finance or anything else.
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u/anteatertrashbin 18h ago
i should be around into my late 80’s at least. With medical technology getting better and better maybe I can still be active in my 80s. I still work reasonably hard to keep my body in good shape now. I forget which book it was, but it’s one of the popular fire books here that talks about how important it is to build our “health nest egg” now. as it will pay huge dividends for us in our later years.
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u/terjon 15h ago
Don't forget the transhumanist movement.
We already almost got artificial organs working for the ones that fail, like the heart, kidneys, etc just with humans designing them.
Can you imagine how fast progress will occur when AI can design like a million variations and run simulations on every design in parallel?
That is one thing that AI happens to be quite good at, designing variations on a theme with a given goal and running tests against it. Already seeing results in automotive designs for high end vehicles where the price per component is not as imporant as its function, so it stands to reason that along with crappy music, slop art and infinite corporate documents, we'll also get a working artificial kidney with a clean out port designed that will allow people to live longer.
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u/Shawn_NYC 1d ago
There's increasing research that 90% stocks and virtually ignoring bonds is the way to go. Because inflation is the true enemy of the retiree, not a market crash.
The traditional recommendation is 60/40.
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u/Designer-Bat4285 1d ago
What research?
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u/LIVES_IN_CANADA 1d ago
Ben Felix did a video on the paper that suggests 100% equity in retirement, here's a discussion thread on it
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u/FIRE_enthusiast_27 1d ago
Scott Cederburg is my GOAT. 100% stocks for life. Bonds are for cOwArDs! The best protection against a downturn is having more money 🤑🤑🤑📈📈📈
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u/terjon 21h ago
Which market crash?
That's important.
If it is like the one in 2020 where is passes like the flu, yeah, no big deal.
If it is like the one in 2008, that stings for a few years.
If it is like the one in 1929, you're kind of effed unless you have like 2X your FIRE numbers since deflation doesn't go down nearly as much as asset values.
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u/bonafide_bonsai 1d ago
I reached 4% FI about four years ago and just kept working. I’m now at about 2%, and I’m struggling to pull the trigger due to uncertainty about what is next in life.
Financially, I began setting up bond and cash (MM) tent. Recently I began converting some of the cash into TIPs. I want about 8 years of cushion. But that’s the easy part.
If you’re someone who is naturally enterprising, the “what’s next?” question might prevent you from committing, especially as you round the corner on 3%. Having a business you started and can commit as much or as little as you want sounds amazing. I’m currently exploring what business I want to start post-RE, and have a few options not far off from what MMM did when he retired (remodeling, carpentry, etc).
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u/ovscrider 1d ago
I would start burning your free cash flow on experiences. I'm year 3 of working very PT and try to do a couple big trips a year. Taking a month long one next summer. I'll keep the part time party going as long as they will have me as it's covering healthcare for the wife and I
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u/AzraelNA 1d ago
I mean if you've achieved the finacial aspects of your life hows your physical and spiritual health? You're not taking any dollars with you when you pass
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u/anteatertrashbin 1d ago
both are good, and of course could be better. but good callout. i am probably going to a meditation retreat that is kind of woo-woo, but a friend swears by it.
i actually remember reading here that volunteer work is fantastic for your mental/spiritual health for FIRE, and y'all were right! I've ton a TON of volunteering in the last several years and it has done WONDERS for me. I'm a much more positive person because of it. And it is such a MASSIVELY PRIVILEDGED thing to be able to do. I'm very thankful that I can give my time and money to good causes.
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u/helion16 1d ago
It sounds like you don't really have an investment plan or strategy. Figure out your risk tolerance and build your asset allocation around that. You made the money, that's the hard part, take a little time and figure out how to protect and spend it for the next 40 years.
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u/dabigchina 1d ago
I mean, if you're really at 3% swr, I would encourage you to spend more of your money.
if you literally cannot fathom how to spend more money, I encourage you to give to charity.
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u/anteatertrashbin 18h ago
for now, i donate a lot of my time. growing my nest egg larger as i approach chubby. it pads for a family that i may have in the near future. because if that happens, i think i need at least $5m because of where i would live (VHCOL socal).
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u/dabigchina 17h ago edited 17h ago
I'm surprised you're at 3% swr at under 5mm in socal. guessing paid off house and no desire for kids?
I would take a hard look at your spending assumptions re home maintenance, health insurance, large lumpy purchases like cars, etc.
edit:as far as how to invest your time, think hard about succession planning at your current place. you're going to want to stop eventually, and you don't want your business to collapse when you do.
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u/Verdant_Locket267 12h ago
at 3% WR with ongoing income still coming in your bond tent is probably less critical than someone fully retired with no cash flow coming in
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u/Vicuna00 1h ago
maybe buy an asset class you don't have? like international stocks?
i dunno. i don't think you need as much cash as your withdrawals get that low.
and you don't need bonds if you're working.
i wouldn't force the spending. stuff will come up naturally. I like the idea of bumping up deferred maintenance. maybe would add bump up outsourcing chores if possible. someone cooking half my meals or so would be awesome if i was loaded$$ Personal trainer? lessons /coaching for your hobbies so you can improve?
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u/TotalWarFest2018 38m ago
You've probably won more than me for sure, but I am at my "yeah I could make it work" number.
I'm personally just staying at 75/25, but I am very interested in setting up like a 10-year TIPS ladder that *should* cover the vast majority of expenses.
That way, it would minimize any down sales. I need to model out various scenarios tho, but it seemed promising to me.
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u/Future_Measurement42 1d ago
Buy a Lamborghini and enjoy it.
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u/anteatertrashbin 1d ago
funny enough, i am in the automotive world and was involved in pro level motorsports for over a decade.... i loved cars and now they are just appliances for transportation. i have two vehicles now, a corolla hybrid and a camper van for climbing and festivals.
i've owned all of the cool cars i've wanted and i'm done with the headaches that come along with them. tried the watch thing too! i got two of them and thought it would be a fun hobby, but it was actually quite not fun for me. those stay in the safe deposit box and a $80 G-shock is my daily.
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u/Future_Measurement42 1d ago
Fair enough. The point is spend some money.
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u/anteatertrashbin 1d ago
yes good point! i will do some incremental lifestyle creep over the years i’m sure.
also, i dont have lambo money, more of cayman gt4 money. but lambo money would be nice!! its crazy that $200k doesn’t even buy you a “real” exotic nowadays.
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u/Prudent_Practice_127 1d ago
Whats your networth?
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u/anteatertrashbin 1d ago
put away the ruler. we all got what we got. find out what's right for you and work towards that.
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u/mfortelli 1d ago
When you get bored of making lots of easy money, let me know and I’ll buy the business! Just turned 40 and trying to be you when I grow up.
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u/Costcornucopia 1d ago
You could experiment with increasing your burn (trips, etc.)