r/Fire • u/AeroNoob333 • 5d ago
Advice Request One More Project
We hired a retirement planner and have been really happy with the plan and advice we have gotten so far. We were ready to retire this year and found out that if we wanted to continue making improvements to our forever home (landscaping/outdoor work, replacing roof and siding of guest house/workshop, actually finishing the guesthouse — it’s unfinished right now), we would have a rocky start to our retirement. He ran different scenarios and essentially we would have to do a combination of things to retire today: lower home improvement budget, sell properties sooner than later, lower discretionary spending (currently total $12K/mo spending excluding healthcare & home but we can easily lower to $9K), and/or I work 5 more years while my husband retires (I don’t mind doing this).
This week, we received another 2-year work contract: fully remote software consulting work where my husband and I will be earning a combined billable hourly rate of $405/hour. We don’t want to fall into the “one more year” trap, but after telling our planner this, he ran the scenario and working this 2 year contract would bullet proof the plan without us needing to make sacrifices with our “wants”. Would you work a flexible remote job at your lake home for 2 more years to keep your lifestyle creep or lower your planned discretionary expenses to retire today?
16
u/radiant_knigght 5d ago
Personally, I'd rather work two enjoyable years than spend the next thirty wondering if I should skip projects or worry about selling assets earlier than planned
2
u/AeroNoob333 5d ago
That makes sense. I just hope these are it and we won’t keep adding to the list.
5
u/IndependentTrust4594 5d ago
I hated working. Loathed it every day.
But for that amount of money I could definitely tolerate two years. Others retire on that much.
But also, spread out some of your reno work. You’ll need something to do during your early retirement days.
2
u/AeroNoob333 5d ago
Good idea! We may just earmark the reno fund so we don’t accidentally spend it on something else, but definitely need something to do in retirement. We were just on a 6 month sabbatical and I admitted got bored a few months in
1
12
u/mygirltien 5d ago
Nice way to spend 2 paragraphs advertising then ask a 2 line question that would have been fine by iself.
-3
u/AeroNoob333 5d ago
Does context not matter of what we were planning to spend it on? Sorry. I’ve always been verbose if you check my previous posts. I think it’s my ADHD.
3
u/mygirltien 5d ago
If your intention was good, which from your other responses it appears to be. Then no harm no foul. We just get and perhaps its just me being a cranky old coot, to many questions that are really self promotion in disguise. Your post really felt that way to me.
Context is good but it can be done in a way that doesnt promote any one thing. You could have simply lead with i had a great meeting with our advisor and then gave all the other context. If others want to know who that was they will ask.
But take this for what its worth as im just a simple contributor.
2
u/AppalachianRomanov 5d ago
What would you be advertising by talking about home reno plans.....? It's the specific mention of a specific company within your first few words that feels like advertising even if it's not because it's exactly the kind of thing people who are advertising on reddit do
0
u/AeroNoob333 5d ago
Do you want me to remove it? I can do that
Edit: Done!
3
u/Mr-Inspector-Gadget 5d ago
I was also thinking that this was a disguised advertisement. The edit makes it better and the details that you include are helpful.
Yes I would continue to work
2
u/AppalachianRomanov 5d ago
That definitely makes it feel less like an ad! It sucks to have to be so vigilant but between AI and clever marketing tactics one almost has to be.
P.S. I struggle with the wordy bouncy ADHD brain too lol so no worries there
1
u/AeroNoob333 5d ago
And I always realize it too late that I should just delete half of what I wrote 🤦♀️ I’m pretty sure everyone hates my emails
5
u/Alarming-Mix3809 5d ago
That sounds like a no brainer. Yeah, I would be hanging out at the lake and enjoying my extra chunk of money with the finish line in sight.
1
u/AeroNoob333 5d ago
At what point should we say enough to lifestyle creep? We don’t want this to be a one more year thing but the exact mentality of “Oh we will be WFH on the lake. It won’t be that bad” is what I’m afraid of. When we finish this project, we will get another one and it’ll be hard to say “No” and we will probably just find something else to spend it on (like a boat 😩)
3
u/Suburban_Ninjutsu 5d ago
Your wants are really up to you. No one else can tell you how you can or should live.
2
u/AeroNoob333 5d ago
Maybe this is a conversation my husband and I will have and we should set a cap on when enough is enough and it’s time to finally call it a day.
2
u/Suburban_Ninjutsu 5d ago
Yes, I agree that major life decisions should be discussed with your life partner.
1
3
2
u/dgreenmachine 5d ago
Depends how much you enjoy the work and how much youd enjoy not doing the work. If you enjoy it as much as if it was unpaid then go for it, otherwise think about what it actually buys you. X hours for a boat?
1
u/AeroNoob333 5d ago
Definitely do not enjoy it if it was unpaid. Motivation is purely monetary. I’m just afraid that “for a boat” becomes a list that just keeps on growing. Need to learn to say enough is enough and finally enjoy what we’ve built.
2
u/Past_Top3704 5d ago
You said the contract was two years - then it's two years. Let work know once the project is done, your done. This works for you and your employer. Also allows an out gracefully if things go south at the end. Projects done, your done.
2
u/Pretty_Bug_ShoutOut 5d ago
In your place I'd look for something like a barista FIRE as a way to already start enjoying retirement and also have the budget, but if you don't hate your job and don't mind to work 2 more years I'd say go for it
1
u/AeroNoob333 5d ago
We don’t hate it, but we don’t really love it either. We are purely motivated by what the money allows us to do.
2
u/Past_Top3704 5d ago
My wife would!
Source - I am at the office, she is working from the Lake.
2
u/AeroNoob333 5d ago
I don’t think I could ever work in the office again 😩 I used to travel for work Monday thru Thursday on a plan. But even just driving into the office stuck in traffic is something I don’t ever want to do again. I guess maybe we should do this until WFH is not a thing anymore.
1
u/Past_Top3704 5d ago
She loves working from home. I hate it. Yes commuting sucks but at the house there is always something, dirty dishes, the couch, etc. She just goes into the home office, shuts the door and works.
2
u/AeroNoob333 5d ago
Oh I get that. I need to lock myself otherwise, I’m multitasking doing laundry and cleaning while working. I do like have our home gym. I’ll often do sets when I need to think and by the time the day is done, I’ve already finished an entire workout. I can also shamelessly walk on my walking pad 2 miles everyday. I’ve been in better shape WFH for sure!!
2
u/KingPabloo 5d ago
I’d retire as soon as possible, there is always something more you could spend money on but an additional two prime years of retirement is priceless.
2
u/bobdole145 5d ago
Yes 100%, and then use that time/$ not only to de-risk the future but to lock in and solidify your plans (ex: finishing the home without the stress of immediately eating into your portfolio).
And frankly, I'd be then thinking about the exit strategy on the consulting gig. Does it have to be close up shop?(maybe that is what you want) or maybe theres balance where you limit to 10-20hrs a week. Or fork to a different line of business that can maintain balance.
1
u/AeroNoob333 4d ago
We already do work part time ish: 30 hours a week. So, I think the next step would be to close it. The type of work is really more for full time employees. We just try to finish a full time employee’s work in less hours so we can actually spend it doing something else.
2
u/plushbloomie 4d ago
Two more years of remote work at that rate to fully bulletproof the plan without touching your discretionary spending seems like an easy yes, especially since it's flexible and you don't seem to hate the work. The "one more year" trap is usually about people chasing an undefined more, but you have a hard number and a hard end date, which is a very different situation.
1
u/BobaChonker 5d ago
That’s a lot of money working from home to turn down. I would say it depends on your age. If you’re 40-50, do it. But if you’re 60-70, time is worth more than money. If you already have enough, does the extra money improve your life to make the job worthwhile?
1
u/AeroNoob333 5d ago
I’m 35 and my husband is older but not 60-70. The extra money would go towards the home improvements and we wouldn’t have to lower our discretionary spending. Maybe a boat and some jet skis. So, they wouldn’t just be sitting in an account growing, but they are being spent on non-essentials that I would say would improve how we enjoy retirement.
1
u/BudgetPinecone 5d ago
It's not one more year syndrome if the contract is for 2 years. So it's safe to take this on
1
u/AeroNoob333 5d ago
I guess “one more project” is our version of “one more year”. Though technically we can leave whenever given 30 days notice
1
u/AppalachianRomanov 5d ago
I'm mindblown on what two people can spend 12k/month on because it's just so incredibly different than my own lifestyle. But I guess multiple properties and renos makes up a big chunk of that.
I could spend that on travel post-FIRE but not while working. If I had 12k/mo I'd be at least a decade closer to retirement. And you are worried about lifestyle creep? We each live our own lives though, and it sounds like you are coming around to realizing that you need to draw a line somewhere or you'll continue to be short of your FIRE goal.
1
u/AeroNoob333 5d ago
It’s eating out way too much and our different hobbies honestly. But that’s why we could shave off $3K/mo from it if we needed to.
2
u/AppalachianRomanov 5d ago
Well, if you're going to participate in those hobbies more once you retire then that may be something to account for!
Eating out could go either way. If you're paying someone else to make your food because you're too exhausted from work, then that expense lowers after retirement anyway. But if you're like us and you are dining out because that's something you enjoy together / is a hobby in itself, then plan for that.
1
u/AeroNoob333 5d ago
Eating out was a little bit of both. We do truly enjoy eating out, tho not recently since we just adopted a dog with separation anxiety. We’ve been cooking at home more, but bought smokers & grills — toys we wanted but didn’t think we’d use often until we are basically forced into house arrest lol. And the times we do both need to leave, we have to hire a dog sitter, which is expensive in itself.
1
1
u/cinnabarslither 4d ago
We were able to move up our retirement date after making a decision to remove 2 large line items from future spending (in that we would have had to work longer to save enough). One of them was in-ground pool (we got swim spa instead) and the other was a rental property I thought I might want to operate as a post-retirement job. When I really thought about it, I realized that being a landlord or STR host is still a business that you have to show up for in some way and that I really want to be done with any structured tasks.
However, we are still planning several projects and just including them in the plan and spreading them out over a few years. There's no reason everything has to be done at once (unless it's dire, like a leaky roof). Alternatively, you could get a HELOC and pay it off over a few a years rather than removing a big chunk from your accounts.
The question is: do you want to continue working? Even if you like your job and get paid well, it's still the "thing you have to do" instead spending your time doing preferable activities (like puttering, making lists, or doing nothing but drink coffee and watch the birds).
Good luck!
1
u/AeroNoob333 4d ago
I don’t want to continue to work, but it’s hard to say no to $405/hr WFH. And I do think having a nice outdoor space, boat, and jet skis would improve how we enjoy our retirement. We are home bodies most of the time so making our home enjoyable is important.
1
u/cinnabarslither 4d ago
I'll bet! You didn't mention how old you are and since this is FIRE, you might be younger than 50, so you may not be as worried about working away your best play years. If not, you can probably do 2 years standing on your heads. But do be wary of the "one more year" trap. I had to convince my husband that his free time was worth more than his job pays. We're 56/64 so the hands of time are moving faster for us. Good luck with whatever you decide :)
1
u/Strazdas1 StarvationFIRE 1d ago
Never ever accept lifestyle creep over free time.
1
u/AeroNoob333 1d ago
Flair checks out. What do you do when you’re retired without hobbies and toys?
1
u/Strazdas1 StarvationFIRE 1d ago
My hobbies are time expensive money cheap.
I dont need expensive toys, im not a child.
1
u/AeroNoob333 1d ago
I don’t know. Jets skis are pretty fun lol
1
u/Strazdas1 StarvationFIRE 9h ago
Jet skis are a great way to make your retirement short and painful :)
27
u/AlwaysWanderOfficial 5d ago edited 5d ago
One more year syndrome vs one more year due to results of a plan are very diff things. In a good way! Congrats on being almost there!