Early Retirement Extreme Forums

Checking in on my finances
What a wild and crazy ride this year has been. I’m not one to move money around outside my long-term plan and rebalancing, but my risk intolerance convinced me to make some (relatively conservative) moves, luckily right before the big market dips. Probably not necessary, but it made me feel better.

Zooming out, I did a semi-annual review of my current situation based on an updated idea of when I will “actually retire.” Which is now looking to be end of the year (part of my risk management strategy).

I’m often asked about my SWR, but for my unique circumstances it’s tricky and not a particularly useful metric to use. First of all, I will be getting a pension starting at age 65, along with probably an equivalent amount of SS, so my withdrawal window basically closes at that point. Secondly, I’m already 47, so this is well under 30 years. But for funsies, I calculated where I am currently from a SWR perspective.

Investments = $475,000
Cash = $34,000
Real estate = $138,000
Pension value ($1100 per month starting at age 65, assumes life expectancy of 90, average 1.5% COLA) = $367,000
Net worth = $1,014,000 with pension/$647,000 without pension
Current spending = $18,000 per year
SWR = 1.8%/2.8% of total portfolio; 3.8% if only counting investments

Honestly, I’m comfortable with a SWR of 5%, so I’m pretty happy about this and may adjust my budget accordingly.

Notes:
-Cash is currently high due to a CD that will mature in 2026. Going forward, the aim is to keep about a year’s spending in basic checking account. This will bring the overall allocations closer to Trinity Study assumptions for SWR.
-Investments are 90% stocks – mostly total market indexes
-Real estate is two properties, one of which I live in currently and could easily (I think?) sell to live in the other (off grid) for a much lower cost of living and invest the profit. SHTF scenario allows my expenses to drop below $10,000.
-I’m still earning an income that covers my basic spending.

It appears I have a lot to catch up in your journal. Love the cabin/barn. Perhaps that is something I can attempt in Vermont rather than a ridiculously priced custom home. Maybe adding a layer or two of exterior, mineral wool insulation would make a structure like that habitable in a VT winter. I'll admit I haven't read through all your entries carefully so forgive me if you have mentioned this: is there some form of foundation under your cabin or is dry and rocky enough there that you put it directly on the ground?

If you are legally allowed to live in the shed/cabin with local jurisdictional rules that is awesome and with the finances you shared you are well set to live a low footprint lifestyle, financially and environmentally. I went down the rabbit hole once for fun watching all the converted shed packages that people were turning into their homes. Looking forward to more updates, as for real estate thoughts I would live in the cabin for as long as possible to ensure that selling the other property makes sense.

Thanks for the replies, @frugaldoc and @stasher.

I am fortunate to live in a great climate for shed conversion here in NM, both literally and from a restrictions perspective. Not sure I'd want to try it for Vermont winters, though I'm sure it is possible! It stays dry enough here that the shed company advised I would not need a foundation. It's lifted off the ground on treated skids, which should be sufficient.

The ordinances change from county to county, with mine being one of the least restrictive in terms of building codes/septic, etc. Pretty much you can do what you want with land you own out here, whether that's parking a trailer indefinitely or building a cabin. Or just pitching a tent.

Currently I'm trying to figure out what to do to insulate and finish the peak of the ceiling. I have R30 batt insulation on the lower part of the ceiling and thought I'd install that all the way up, but to finish it I would either need to create an attic space and lose my lovely lofted ceiling or else somehow work around the weird metal bracketing with ceiling panels. Not sure if I can get away with not insulating up there. Any ideas?

Can’t quite see the peak condition from your photos so not sure what the weird bracketing situation is like. Pics please! Not insulating the peak sounds like a good recipe for condensation etc.

You could add something like a collar tie directly below the truss connector plate.Take a 2x board and run it across with the ends of the board butting up to the edges of each rafter. Similar to the ones you already have in place (the horizontal boards in your photo above) but much shorter and with a different means of attachment. Since anything you add up there is not structural, you could glue this for better aesthetics, or use something like pocket screws and fill in the holes after.

Then insulate all the way to the ceiling and you can have your drywall or whatever ceiling material you’re using attach to this new “collar tie”. You’ll still have your cathedral ceiling, only losing a few inches compared to what you have now (the height of the metal plate and the 2x board).

TheAnimal nailed it on what I would recommend for the roof, I did some searching to find what I could with a shed conversion that didn't have the fully open barn roof but more the truss style like you have. You would insulate and vapour barrier after creating a small drop and flat centre roof by creating collar ties below the ridge connector plates. Then all you need to do is finish with tonque and groove knotty pine if you want that open loft wood vibe.

Couple that converted their shed
https://youtu.be/ucneJC9o05U?si=z1T8E2_tWH8g7G7N

Simple info on collar ties
https://youtu.be/CkucdqQvz4I?si=JCGK7AqgpCnZvGII

theanimal wrote: ↑

Tue May 27, 2025 11:54 am

Since anything you add up there is not structural, you could glue this for better aesthetics, or use something like pocket screws and fill in the holes after.

I'm not sure what I was thinking here. You'll be covering any of this with your finished ceiling material as Stasher mentioned, so just fasten the boards in any manner that works for you. You won't see it once finished.

Ooh, good ideas. I knew y'all would have them.

Which counties in NM are not restrictive?

@sky, I'm in Catron County. I know there are others, but not which ones specifically. I think they tend to be in the more rural areas.

We camped in Reserve, I really like that area.

I think it's one of the prettiest parts of NM, and the access to public lands can't be beat. A large part of this region is Gila Ntl Forest, and much of the rest is BLM or State land. Definitely more cows than people. For whatever reason, it remains relatively under the radar, so it's still easy to get land for a good bargain and hike or camp in solitude.