Early Retirement Extreme Forums

It seems to me that a lot of people have been hitting the FI/crossover point this year, so I'm making sticky thread to post SWR milestones and declarations of victory.
(Please try to keep it on-topic. No discussions. No hijacking. No celebrations. IF you want to discuss, please start another thread.)

2000: No savings.

2005: 4% SWR

2010: 3% SWR (financial crisis put a brake on things, was close in 2007)

2012: 2% SWR

Although I didn't ERE--more like semi-ERE by a move from FTE to freelancing, I'll contribute.
2009: No savings.

2011: Bought an inexpensive co-op.

2012: Reached 8.3% SWR, quit hated job and started freelancing doing what I love
Of course that SWR is way too high so I'm going to keep supplementing it with freelancing until it goes down; I may also expand my expenses if the SWR crosses my comfort threshold. I'm still attached to some consumerist habits like eating in restaurants and vacations, but I do try to minimize the cost of these things by doing them intelligently (subletting the apartment while we're gone, using coupons or buying inexpensive items at cheaper restaurants, not buying into foodie hype).
What amazed me was how quickly I was able to save enough to quit my job. Before reading Jacob's book my monthly expenses were around $4000, with half going to rent to a too-big and too-luxuirious apartment that wasn't making me happy.
My wife and I cut expenses down dramatically and started saving. All of a sudden we could afford to buy a place of our own and save up enough that we don't have to worry about being on the streets or starving. Now I'm able to pursue what I love and escape a job I hated.
My goal is to lower that SWR to 4% in the next 8 years, which should be easily doable. My wife is also hoping to expand our outgoings with a bigger apartment or maybe a second house. We'll see. Fortunately, she loves working and wants to keep working, which will help both of us reach our goals.

1993: mortgage

In 2000 we (DW and me) reached FI

2001: 6 % SWR

2005: 3 % SWR

2009: 2 % SWR

2011: 1 % SWR

Age 18-2005: negative net

2006 ("career" begins): 60% SWR

2011: 4% SWR

8/2012: 2.2% SWR (buying a house for < few years rent really lowered my expenses. Also, had some good overtime.)

3/2013 (retirement date): *1.8% stay where I am

*1.1% move to less expensive country

*3.5% move to cosmopolitan big US city
I didn't start keeping good records until 2008/9... Should have setup an Akratic style system day 1. But when I started I hadn't heard of ERE, YMOYL, SWR or anything else really.

2006 -10% SWR (spend consistently more than I earned)

2008 no debts anymore, 99% (S)WR (nothing safe about it, actually)

2010 60% WR

2012 40% WR
I hope to reach 20-25% next year, it's definitely speeding up.

Updates:
End of 2013 25%
End of 2014: 19%
End of 2015: 14%
End of 2016... hopefully 11%! We'll see... It's 11.5%
End of 2017: 8.5% (I was hoping for 9%)
End of 2018: 8.3%
End of 2019: 6.9%
End of 2020: 6%
End of 2021: 4.9%

Although I haven't been formally tracking it, reconstructing it from net-worth records and my recollection of my spending:
2007: 43%

2008: 33%

2009: 35% (begin job that pays a lot better than all my previous jobs)

2010: 23%

2011: 11%

2012: 6%

current (mid-2012): 8% (spent money on a house downpayment)

1995: No savings, no debt.

2001: Laid-off from work; decided I was FI with 5% WR.

2012: 2% WR

2007: Lots of debt - mostly student.

2009: Net worth of $0.

2012: Will hit 10% SWR. Woo!

2016: Hopefully 4% SWR if all goes well.

As of this month, I'm now below 10% SWR, with no cost-of-living adjustment. Not great but it's getting somewhere. Was hovering around 14% in the beginning of the year.

2010: 25.6%

2011: 16.4%

2012: 14.5%

2001: Zero Net Worth

2005: 27K in the hole

2006: Started Retirement Contributions of about 20% of salary, not much other saving going on

2008: Upped retirement contributions to max, saved probably 40+% of after tax income without realizing it

2010/2011: Huge mega raises

July 2011: Started ERE journey, WR of probably around 14% ish

Oct 1 2012: WR = 5.3-5.8%, depending on how you're counting

5% SWR projected 3/2013 or sooner

4% SWR and lower: ? TBD

"bibacula2001: laid-off from work, start ERE with 5% SWR

2012: 2% SWR"
Jacob, please feel free to delete this post. But just wanted to post how inspiring and encouraging the above is.

April 2008 -35k pounds unsecured personal debt. Stopped digging, went back to work.
December 2012 - Solo 5.5% SWR , with girlfriend 7% SWR. Quit job.
A more full version to come

2011 : 36% SWR

2012 : 26% SWR

2013 : 18% SWR
Projected :

2014 : 13% SWR

2015 : 9% SWR

2016 : 7% SWR

2017 : 5,5% SWR

2018 : 4% SWR

It's my birthday, and I just crossed the 4% SWR line! It took me about 7 years--the last couple I've been shocked by how fast my investment accounts grew. Magic of compounding and a soaring market. I know the latter won't last, and I'm not quite ready to quit my job anyway, so my hope is that by the time I reach my quit date next year, at age 44, I'll have enough extra saved and invested to start out under 4% for a the first few years at least. I understand that the first few years are crucial.
Anyway, Happy Birthday to Me

An update to my post last year, since I didn't retire last month and decided to work at least through fall.

Only having to come in 3 days a week has made me not hate my job; a VERY weird feeling.
Anyway, I've been under 1% SWR for 4/6 of the last months, which is blowing my mind.
Not to derail, but these are major expense cuts:

*splitting internet with neighbor, using router as repeater

*spending less than $50/mo on alcohol (way low for me)

*not really driving/traveling

*80% hunted meat and 90% cut wood heat

*maximizing home owners insurance deductible, lowering payout as much as they'd let me (almost cancelled it, but it + possessions now worth more than annual income)
All this is sustainable [and improvable] in ERE, EXCEPT that the above does not include health insurance or large [investment] tool/hobby/maintenance purchases... An acceptable health plan as of today's pricing bumps me well over 1%. Toying with idea of selling house, which will probably bump me towards 2%, maybe towards 3% if I move to metro.

Congratulations Before45 & JohnnyH!
Always inspiring to read these.

that is great to read these !
current(2013) SWR 2.5%
2016 ERE goal - SWR 2%

2010: 40.40%

2011: 8.03%

2012: 3.90%

2013: 2.61%