This is from the Triennial exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria – spectacular.

It’s been awhile on the post (apologies friends!) but sometimes life takes over (like teenagers and their needs) and priorities change. But I’m keen to let you know where we are up to on the financial independence journey and tell you we have 925 days to go until we are financially independent.

NINE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE DAYS

Feels like an eternity and super close, all at once. I have a countdown app on my phone and I when I started it, the number was 1009 days. In a very short period of time, over one hundred days have passed, so this is going to fly by quickly.

So I am keen to write a bit more on this topic and share with you how and why our finances allow us to live a simpler life.

For this post, I want to share with you our financial independence plan. Not to brag, or to be compared to others. I’m just doing it to actually disclose my numbers and my plan, so anyone doing research on this topic can find some cold hard numbers. Lots of websites talk about “…x times my annual expenses” or $1m at a 4% withdrawal rate. But a lot of these sites are from the US and while they are interesting to read about, I am often left wanting after a google search to find something that represents middle class, urban Australia. And if you can’t find, it create it. Start a conversation. That’s my view.

So we have two scenarios we are working on. One is base level, worst case, where both of us feel compelled to leave our jobs immediately…..(usually a Sunday night sort of conversation at our house – let’s call this the Sunday night calculations) and the more realistic and comfortable version, where there is enough padding (let’s call this scenario Padded FI). Sunday night calcs involve finishing up our well-paying jobs with current savings and just earning enough to make our living expenses between now and December 2020; Padded FI (Financial Independence) see us working in our well-paying jobs until December 2020 and continuing our current savings rate (around $50k per year).

One more thing before I disclose the numbers – we have a two-stage strategy. I am 45; my husband is 52. We are close enough to superannuation to take this approach – Stage 1 Before Super and Stage 2 After Super. But I think anyone contemplating financial independence in Australia can think about it in two stages – pre-super and post-super.

For us, it looks like this:

Now:                   Work to save/pay living expenses until December 1, 2020

Stage 1:               Live on my husband’s superannuation, which he can access from 55 and supplement with investment earnings (2021-2032)

Stage 2:               Access my superannuation at the start of 2033 when I’m eligible to start  drawing a super pension (aged 60) and continue my husband’s (indexed)                          superannuation pension

US case studies rely on the 4% withdrawal rate for thirty-somethings, for the rest of their lives. We only really need to build sufficient passive income for a twelve year period to supplement my husband’s superannuation, before accessing mine.

In Australia, for those families with superannuation, the numbers might work a little differently. You may find you need to live off investment incomes for a period of time until you can access your superannuation. Or you may decide to supplement lower superannuation pensions with some investment income. Either way, it’s important to do your long term financial projections to understand your particular circumstances and discuss your strategy with your financial advisor. Ours got the tick of approval a couple of weeks ago at our annual appointment with our financial advisor.

As you can see, the difference in income is not that great, but the financial security of some money in the bank is worth the otherwise sleepless nights of not having a safety buffer. So we push through working more and continuing to adhere to the budget, in order to enjoy the fruits of our work later on in life.

Do you have a financial independence plan? Are you thinking about retiring early from a job and pursuing other business or creative interests? If you are game, share your numbers 😊