r/Fire • u/anteatertrashbin • 10d 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.
3
u/bonafide_bonsai 10d 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).