We are doing some minor work to the inside (repairing a crack, touch up paint, etc) & some bigger cleanup on the outside. The total cost of the work is estimated to be around $3200. We will also be covering the cost of the mortgage & utilities until the house sells, as our tenants are out as of 5/1.
We don't have all of the final numbers in, but have been using a range to predict how much we will clear after realtors fees, taxes, etc. It's exciting to think about next steps, after we sell. The Seattle house market is very hot, so we are hoping to draw multiple buyers.
As for the money leftover after all of the fees & taxes our paid, we are thinking of the following:
- $200,000 - boys college savings. We will then consider these as fully funded.
- $800,000 (estimate) - we will spread this across a variety of assets (conservative to riskier) to continue to generate income.
We debated back & forth putting some of the $800K into our mortgage in San Francisco, and then having our monthly payment rescaled back. We also debated the value of paying off our vacation house. At this point, we'd rather keep the money (relatively) liquid, at least in the short term.
Having this investment fund will ensure I can actually leave my job, and find something with no income requirements, that's much more flexible. We will draw down the investment fund each month to cover the gap between our expenses & income, but it will last well beyond when the boys are out of school. Unless something major happens, which is, as always in life, a possibility. It will also give M the option of leaving his job & finding something that doesn't pay as well, should an opportunity that he is very passionate about arise. We haven't given a ton of thought yet to our 10 year plan, but I think it's fair to say that we will not need a house nearly this big (or expensive) once the boys are out of school. That would drastically change our financial requirements. More to come on our 10 year plan!
In other news, M started his new job yesterday! So happy to have that resolved. He received six job offers (four internal, two external) & accepted the one that he thought would be the best fit. Apparently, his skill set is highly in demand. ;-)
We've worked really hard over the past 20 (and, 25 years for M) to build up a nest egg that will allow us the flexibility to leave our insanely demanding jobs. I don't think M will do it, but I am already feeling the relief that comes along with knowing that I have choices.
What do you consider "financial independence", and when are you hoping to achieve it? If you are already there, please share your story!
Congrats! Sounds very exciting! I think the financial flexibility that you're going to experience after selling the Seattle house will be pretty liberating. Even if you stay in your current position, just KNOWING that you have that flexibility will be huge.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree. The idea that I can make my own decisions, irrespective of money, is pretty dang exciting
DeleteWoW! Sounds like it is all coming together. You have a great plan in place, even if it leaving mostly in cash. With so much unknown still, it is the best place for it.
ReplyDeleteAs for "financial Independence", I have thought about it a lot. For sure, our house would be paid off and we would have paid in full newer cars (when starting off). I would need at least $600,000. Now, that being said, I doubt I will fully retire in a long time. I love what I do. It would be more to get my husband to retire. He is scared of it. It is difficult to explain to most people how project and ways to make money just kind of come. Now, this plan does include social security being there. Plus, we live in a low cost of living place and our needs and wants are not high.
How long? No idea. We will see when we get there.
I like your plan, & my husband will likely never retire. I want him to have the flexibility, but I can't imagine him ever choosing that. That doesn't mean that his health couldn't require it, but he loves what he does.
DeleteSo happy for you! It's a double edge sword for me. I left overly demanding job and now I don't feel as empowered or challenged. Once daughter is through college in 6 years, we have options,and will feel more independent. Employer sponsored Health insurance is now and will be out biggest chain keeping us from true independence. We both have high risk past health issues and pre-existing conditions.
ReplyDeleteI worry about the challenging aspect as well, but feel like I've taken on one of those "max career" jobs, and lasted there for 4 years, so I'll consider that my big career win. After that, my goal will be about family & flexibility. I say that now. Let's see how I feel afterward. ;-) I also have a pre-existing condition, and the proposed changes in health care, are of course, very concerning. M will continue to work, so we will have that flexibility on the health care side.
DeleteYou know that little story about making hay while the sun shines? That is a good analogy of how we approached reaching financial independence (FI). I feel like we crawled the first 10 years of our marriage, which is when I was at home with our girls, and my husband was still in middle management. We saved about 15% of his earnings from day one, but that wasn't a terrible large amount! The big change began when I returned to work, and he was promoted into senior management with all of the accompanying financial benefits. The smartest thing we did when these two things occurred was to continue to maintain our fairly modest standard of living, and to drastically ramp up our savings %. Add to this a financial windfall when one of our companies was sold and vested stock options went through the roof. We paid off our home at that time, and invested the remainder.
ReplyDeleteI consider FI to be achieved when you have enough non-paycheck income flow to offset expenses. We achieved FI at roughly 44/50 years, but delayed retirement until 48/54 years, and have never looked back.
It's takes discipline to live beneath your means, particularly when your paychecks are so dang healthy (we generated over half a mill annually, combined, for a decently long period of time prior to retiring), but it is so fantastic to reap the benefits of the thrown off interest for, literally, the rest of our lives.
I totally agree with your view on this. You guys did so well, particularly given that you were at home with your girls for 10 years! I think we are pretty aligned with our views on this one. So happy your retirement plans are going well, and agree that living beneath your means is the big key, regardless of paycheck size. We've done that through real estate, which has forced us to keep our other expenses low, but investing in our properties.
DeleteFinancial independence is a tough one...but my definition is being able to do what you want when you want how you want. For us that meant having a paid off house with money in the bank so we could start our business without monetary pressure. It has worked out much better than we hoped employing both of us full time and making a good income. Sometimes we work harder than we would like but it's for us so all good. I can see why you would want to keep the money liquid. Over time you may change that depending on what happens in the next year or so
ReplyDeleteI think that's a good approach, and love that you've had the flexibility to open up your own business. I know it's a tremendous amount of work, but what a gift to do something for yourselves, rather than a corporation.
DeleteI am not sure anyone is ever truly financially independent except for the exceptionally wealthy. Money aways requires managing whether you are in the acquiring stage or living off retirement assets, so I truly don't think you are ever independent of financial concerns.
ReplyDeleteIt's true that anything could happen to the economy, the housing market, inflation, etc. I look at financial independence as an evaluation of existing factors, and to the best of your ability, prediction on future changes as you age. For me, financial independence at this stage means more choices. Not that we're going to move to an island & relax (although, that also could be appealing :-)), but that we can make different choices that aren't all about money and are more about lifestyle
DeleteCongrats! It's all about having choices!
ReplyDeleteTotally agree! More ability to prioritize your life vs work.
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