The Intersection of FIRE and Disney

[ski_mom]

In my situation, DH has 2 small defined benefit pensions and a chunk in his IRA/RRSPs. He would also get money from both Social Security and CPP (he's dual American and Canadian and has worked in both countries).

I figure IRA/RRSPs would be rolled over to me and I would get survivor benefits from the pensions, Social Security and CPP. So income would be reduced, but not by a massive number (since we only expect nominal amounts from his pensions/SS/CPP due to early FIRE).

And of course, expenses would go down supporting only one person instead of two. So in our case, I felt I didn't need to crunch the numbers too deeply because we are not heavily relying on sources that would get reduced by a death.

If you are more heavily reliant on say, a pension - then doing the math based on the possible scenarios would be important. Unfortunately I have not heard of any rule of thumb. Maybe surviving spouse lives on 60-75% of joint expenses sounds kinda accurate? But I dunno. You could even spend way less if the survivor is the frugal spouse.

Thanks for your thoughts on this!

 

[RamblingMad]

Hi all.....

I'm swinging over here from the credit card thread. My head is currently spinning, LOL. I just watch the state webinar for retirement. I'm a teacher, sitting pretty at year 23, year 28 with buying years. I can retire in 2024. At that point I'll have a 19yo and a 14 year old. Oh did I mention I'm divorced (aka single mom) and 44. I've always joked I'm going as soon as I can. But that seems to possibly be more reality than joking these days.

I think what has put me over the edge is reading up more on the realities of the financials from other teachrs who took the leap. A teacher from my district wrote up a lovely step by step guide to truly figure out the difference in pay, staying vs going. He had a few more years on me, so his calculations came out to needing a job that paid at least $5/hr to make up the difference. I'm coming more in at like $15/hr. I've said many times that I think I'm going to retire and become a flight attendant. My BF is a pilot, and has much better flight benefits with his job than he can give me. For me to be on the same level as him, I basically need to become a FA, LOL. And having flight benefits will help w/ the travel portion of my budget, LOL.

I'm sitting on $3k in debt (still from my divorce) which is on a 0% card. I have the money in savings to pay it off, but I was moving the debt around for free when my savings still was getting some good rates. I'm guessing I'll pay off the balance when this 0% runs out. I have $32k in savings. I just refi'd my house in October, and I've been trying to move the savings ($150/mo) into savings each month as well. Right now, I pretty much "live" paycheck to paycheck outside of the $150 I'm putting aside. Once I pay off my CC bill, that will bump to $350.

I guess there are a lot of factors to be hashed out over the next 3 years to determine how much of a reality retiring will be. My DD plans to attend a community college and enroll in a dental hygienist program. Total cost is under $10k, so I'm pretty confident my ex and I can handle that. My 11yo is a wild card, no idea what his plans will be. To stay on my insurance (while retired) they have to be under 18 or full time college students. However my divorce decree does state their dad can cover them if needed. My house value has gone up so much (like everyone) and I wish I could sell, but there would be nothing to move to. However, I do get my mom's house (newly rebuilt from the ground up after a fire) when she passes. She lives 1 mile from me and has cancer. Of course I'm hoping that this isn't a factor for 20 more years (all signs point towards healthy so far). If I sold today (lowballing the amount), I'd have another $65k to play with. There is also the possibility of moving in w/ my BF after my son graduates to factor in (can't until then as he lives 30 min away). Seeing as my mortgage is the biggest part of my monthly expenses, if that was off the table, it would make retiring absolutely doable.

Knowing now, as it stands, that I would either need to retire and then go back to teach (I can do that for 3 years and collect my pension and a teaching salary since I'm a critical shortage area) or find another job at least until the mortgage is off the table, my son graduates, etc. Seeing as my "back up" to teaching is currently flight attendant, I would have to hope that the majors start back hiring. I know Spirit has started back up (where my BF is a captain). But I would much prefer Delta. The BF has told me getting hired at Delta is harder than getting into Harvard.

I'm hoping to follow along a here for awhile. Perhaps learn some things. Like what to do w/ my $32k which has it accessible (for emergencies) but earning more than the .04% Discover gives these days. Sorry for my rambling. It's just kinda crazy for me to think that I can quit teaching at 47! I keep joking I just need a sugar daddy, LOL.....Thank you for attending my Ted Talk!

I’d go over to the Boglehead forum, read over their personal finance posting format, and ask the same questions using their posting format there. You’ll get some good answers to your questions.

 

[platamama]

The Boglehead forum has amazing information in it, but there's a lot of jargon and abbreviations that will go over your head if you don't know what those are. Start off with doing searches on that forum for what you're trying to find info about, and educate yourself before posting a question. People will assume you have some knowledge and will quickly become impatient if you express ignorance.

 

[TarraLee]

The Bogleheads Wiki is a wealth of information, definitely start there, then post a portfolio question if you still need help. BH is not as friendly as the DIS, but it is a treasure trove of retirement and personal finance info if you're willing to read and learn from their wonderful Wiki and forum posts.

 

[RamblingMad]

The Boglehead forum has amazing information in it, but there's a lot of jargon and abbreviations that will go over your head if you don't know what those are. Start off with doing searches on that forum for what you're trying to find info about, and educate yourself before posting a question. People will assume you have some knowledge and will quickly become impatient if you express ignorance.

True.

But for folks talking about retirement, the discussion is pretty straightforward. And they use either the 4% or 3% rules, where one translates into 25x expenses and the other 33x. This is tougher to think about with a pension.

The big unknown expense is usually healthcare.

And lots of debate about mortgages, bonds, and retirement.

 

[QueenIsabella]

The Bogleheads Wiki is a wealth of information, definitely start there, then post a portfolio question if you still need help. BH is not as friendly as the DIS, but it is a treasure trove of retirement and personal finance info if you're willing to read and learn from their wonderful Wiki and forum posts.

I have never found Bogleheads to be unfriendly. I find some of the debates there very interesting--check out threads on "paying for your kid's college" or "how will you leave your assets to your heirs" for some fascinating viewpoints.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

Forgive me, budget board, for I have shopped at Whole Foods.
Man.

I have heard Whole Foods referred to as Whole Paycheck.

Hi all.....

I'm swinging over here from the credit card thread. My head is currently spinning, LOL. I just watch the state webinar for retirement. I'm a teacher, sitting pretty at year 23, year 28 with buying years. I can retire in 2024. At that point I'll have a 19yo and a 14 year old. Oh did I mention I'm divorced (aka single mom) and 44. I've always joked I'm going as soon as I can. But that seems to possibly be more reality than joking these days.

I think what has put me over the edge is reading up more on the realities of the financials from other teachrs who took the leap. A teacher from my district wrote up a lovely step by step guide to truly figure out the difference in pay, staying vs going. He had a few more years on me, so his calculations came out to needing a job that paid at least $5/hr to make up the difference. I'm coming more in at like $15/hr. I've said many times that I think I'm going to retire and become a flight attendant. My BF is a pilot, and has much better flight benefits with his job than he can give me. For me to be on the same level as him, I basically need to become a FA, LOL. And having flight benefits will help w/ the travel portion of my budget, LOL.

I'm sitting on $3k in debt (still from my divorce) which is on a 0% card. I have the money in savings to pay it off, but I was moving the debt around for free when my savings still was getting some good rates. I'm guessing I'll pay off the balance when this 0% runs out. I have $32k in savings. I just refi'd my house in October, and I've been trying to move the savings ($150/mo) into savings each month as well. Right now, I pretty much "live" paycheck to paycheck outside of the $150 I'm putting aside. Once I pay off my CC bill, that will bump to $350.

I guess there are a lot of factors to be hashed out over the next 3 years to determine how much of a reality retiring will be. My DD plans to attend a community college and enroll in a dental hygienist program. Total cost is under $10k, so I'm pretty confident my ex and I can handle that. My 11yo is a wild card, no idea what his plans will be. To stay on my insurance (while retired) they have to be under 18 or full time college students. However my divorce decree does state their dad can cover them if needed. My house value has gone up so much (like everyone) and I wish I could sell, but there would be nothing to move to. However, I do get my mom's house (newly rebuilt from the ground up after a fire) when she passes. She lives 1 mile from me and has cancer. Of course I'm hoping that this isn't a factor for 20 more years (all signs point towards healthy so far). If I sold today (lowballing the amount), I'd have another $65k to play with. There is also the possibility of moving in w/ my BF after my son graduates to factor in (can't until then as he lives 30 min away). Seeing as my mortgage is the biggest part of my monthly expenses, if that was off the table, it would make retiring absolutely doable.

Knowing now, as it stands, that I would either need to retire and then go back to teach (I can do that for 3 years and collect my pension and a teaching salary since I'm a critical shortage area) or find another job at least until the mortgage is off the table, my son graduates, etc. Seeing as my "back up" to teaching is currently flight attendant, I would have to hope that the majors start back hiring. I know Spirit has started back up (where my BF is a captain). But I would much prefer Delta. The BF has told me getting hired at Delta is harder than getting into Harvard.

I'm hoping to follow along a here for awhile. Perhaps learn some things. Like what to do w/ my $32k which has it accessible (for emergencies) but earning more than the .04% Discover gives these days. Sorry for my rambling. It's just kinda crazy for me to think that I can quit teaching at 47! I keep joking I just need a sugar daddy, LOL.....Thank you for attending my Ted Talk!

As you consider the airline industry as a backup plan to teaching, I agree with your BF that hiring is very, very competitive. In my experience, FAs come from all walks of life, including educators, artists, accountants and firefighters. Hiring typically comes down to personality and likability. Also consider that most airlines are seniority based, meaning low man gets the least desirable flights. There’s no such thing as a holiday in the airline industry. Once you reach that point, perhaps consider how less structured hours will work for your family life/ co-parenting.
Good luck!

 

[DIS_MERI]

Apparently I've been lurking for quite some time, but I can't find where I've posted here before. I'd been interested in FIRE for a few years but not very attentive to the mechanics for myself until last year (before that, it was a "that would be nice"). I love following the thread and have found some great blogs to follow from here.

My parents did lean FIRE before it had a name, way back in 1991 my dad retired at 54 (my Mom hadn't worked since they got married). He had a modest pension and social security gave them a decent pay raise. They were frugal, but still did things they wanted: a trip to Australia and several to England (I was Navy and stationed there for 2 years, plus they did a trip before and after I was there), stayed in FL 3 months a year for a decade, traveled the US, and dad had a small plane for 10-15 years (think "new mid tier car" priced small plane, almost as old a him). When they passed they left my brothers and I each a modest sum because they never touched IRAs except for RMDs and they threw those in CDs.

I did a dozen years in the Navy and then didn't work for several years before taking a half timeish job 5 years ago for my church (not a high paid position; I basically worked for vacations and personal fulfillment). A year ago last month, I started back to work full time with the government. Immediately started a HSA (fully funded 2020 and plan to do this going forward) and 5+% TSP (minimum to get a 5% match), and additionally funded a Roth IRA for 2020 (plan to do this going forward), plus paid for 3300 in braces through limited expense FSA (XH gets to pay for the youngest if she needs them). I'm supposed to have gotten a substantial raise at a year, but being the government, it looks like it's going to be at least 2 paychecks behind (I'll get back pay...eventually). I already upped my TSP to 18% of the new pay (22% of the old pay), expecting the raise would hit this pay period. Might hurt a little lol, but as long as it comes before our Disney/Uni trip in October it'll be fine (after that it will still be fine, but annoying).

I managed to hurt myself in a wide variety of ways while I was active duty and I get tax free disability that covers all non housing and non travel living expenses. All of my healthcare is also covered by the VA, the HSA is for the kids (we've spent $178 in the last year), or extra retirement money. I have enough already saved to more than likely pay for all housing costs, but I'll work at least 4 more years to vest into the federal retirement system. I found out my buy back amount this week: for just $9K, I can buy in my military time, which will give me 1% per year (so 12.5% extra) of my final salary (it's a little more complicated than that, but it's the gist). That's a no brainer. I'll be 50 in 4 years, and minimum age to receive retirement is 57, so I'll have to figure that out if I decide to go out earlier, but I should be able to work it all out pretty nicely if I decide I want out (you can quit working earlier and request a delayed pension if you aren't 57 when you stop working, you just won't get it til 57). That will for sure cover medical (if I end up finding a partner who needs health coverage) and housing, as well as a decent travel budget. I currently love my job, too, so I can see going for longer.

One of the things I'm really trying to get my mind around is taxes. My BS is accounting and I run tax scenarios for fun. But, I hate all the unknowns. One of the reasons I'm throwing so much in the TSP is that it gets my income down low enough to still get some EITC (plus it is better to grow my savings rather than my spending with the pay increase). But I also chose to go Roth for 2020 so I can have that non-taxable portion, even though lost EITC makes the tax rate quite horrible (I haven't funded 2021 yet, so I might rethink that while I still qualify for EITC for this year and maybe next and I haven't actually run that particular scenario yet; I was married in 2020 and am not for 2021 so it throws some wrinkles but it is also just my income for 2021).

So, I'm wondering, how much tax planning do you all do? Do you plan your current income for taxes, or just let it fall how it may? Do you attempt to plan for retirement taxes? Pre and post SS? There's so darn many variables, it's almost as bad a trying to figure out if Disney will ever sell APs again, and if not how much ticket prices will go up. Sigh. It is certainly better than having to worry if I'll be able to pay my 4 walls this month, nevermind in 25 years.

Also curious if you guys have thoughts on housing prices over the next few years. I have some complicated housing things going on where my current housing is quite cheap, but I also have to figure out if I'm going to sell my house to my recent ex (we don't have kids together but I love his kids dearly which is why I am even considering it), who won't be able to qualify for a mortgage for 2 years. Houses are selling in 1-2 days for over asking price and I have about 15% equity in the house at today's market prices. Do I want to wait 2 years to get my equity out? What about 3 years (financial responsibility isn't his strong point)? Are we bubbled or going to keep trucking? (House is within commuting distance of Indianapolis, if that helps). I'd like for this to be something that really gives his kids stability, not a "no good deed goes unpunished" type thing.

Sorry for the novel. There will be more!

 

[RamblingMad]

Apparently I've been lurking for quite some time, but I can't find where I've posted here before. I'd been interested in FIRE for a few years but not very attentive to the mechanics for myself until last year (before that, it was a "that would be nice"). I love following the thread and have found some great blogs to follow from here.

My parents did lean FIRE before it had a name, way back in 1991 my dad retired at 54 (my Mom hadn't worked since they got married). He had a modest pension and social security gave them a decent pay raise. They were frugal, but still did things they wanted: a trip to Australia and several to England (I was Navy and stationed there for 2 years, plus they did a trip before and after I was there), stayed in FL 3 months a year for a decade, traveled the US, and dad had a small plane for 10-15 years (think "new mid tier car" priced small plane, almost as old a him). When they passed they left my brothers and I each a modest sum because they never touched IRAs except for RMDs and they threw those in CDs.

I did a dozen years in the Navy and then didn't work for several years before taking a half timeish job 5 years ago for my church (not a high paid position; I basically worked for vacations and personal fulfillment). A year ago last month, I started back to work full time with the government. Immediately started a HSA (fully funded 2020 and plan to do this going forward) and 5+% TSP (minimum to get a 5% match), and additionally funded a Roth IRA for 2020 (plan to do this going forward), plus paid for 3300 in braces through limited expense FSA (XH gets to pay for the youngest if she needs them). I'm supposed to have gotten a substantial raise at a year, but being the government, it looks like it's going to be at least 2 paychecks behind (I'll get back pay...eventually). I already upped my TSP to 18% of the new pay (22% of the old pay), expecting the raise would hit this pay period. Might hurt a little lol, but as long as it comes before our Disney/Uni trip in October it'll be fine (after that it will still be fine, but annoying).

I managed to hurt myself in a wide variety of ways while I was active duty and I get tax free disability that covers all non housing and non travel living expenses. All of my healthcare is also covered by the VA, the HSA is for the kids (we've spent $178 in the last year), or extra retirement money. I have enough already saved to more than likely pay for all housing costs, but I'll work at least 4 more years to vest into the federal retirement system. I found out my buy back amount this week: for just $9K, I can buy in my military time, which will give me 1% per year (so 12.5% extra) of my final salary (it's a little more complicated than that, but it's the gist). That's a no brainer. I'll be 50 in 4 years, and minimum age to receive retirement is 57, so I'll have to figure that out if I decide to go out earlier, but I should be able to work it all out pretty nicely if I decide I want out (you can quit working earlier and request a delayed pension if you aren't 57 when you stop working, you just won't get it til 57). That will for sure cover medical (if I end up finding a partner who needs health coverage) and housing, as well as a decent travel budget. I currently love my job, too, so I can see going for longer.

One of the things I'm really trying to get my mind around is taxes. My BS is accounting and I run tax scenarios for fun. But, I hate all the unknowns. One of the reasons I'm throwing so much in the TSP is that it gets my income down low enough to still get some EITC (plus it is better to grow my savings rather than my spending with the pay increase). But I also chose to go Roth for 2020 so I can have that non-taxable portion, even though lost EITC makes the tax rate quite horrible (I haven't funded 2021 yet, so I might rethink that while I still qualify for EITC for this year and maybe next and I haven't actually run that particular scenario yet; I was married in 2020 and am not for 2021 so it throws some wrinkles but it is also just my income for 2021).

So, I'm wondering, how much tax planning do you all do? Do you plan your current income for taxes, or just let it fall how it may? Do you attempt to plan for retirement taxes? Pre and post SS? There's so darn many variables, it's almost as bad a trying to figure out if Disney will ever sell APs again, and if not how much ticket prices will go up. Sigh. It is certainly better than having to worry if I'll be able to pay my 4 walls this month, nevermind in 25 years.

Also curious if you guys have thoughts on housing prices over the next few years. I have some complicated housing things going on where my current housing is quite cheap, but I also have to figure out if I'm going to sell my house to my recent ex (we don't have kids together but I love his kids dearly which is why I am even considering it), who won't be able to qualify for a mortgage for 2 years. Houses are selling in 1-2 days for over asking price and I have about 15% equity in the house at today's market prices. Do I want to wait 2 years to get my equity out? What about 3 years (financial responsibility isn't his strong point)? Are we bubbled or going to keep trucking? (House is within commuting distance of Indianapolis, if that helps). I'd like for this to be something that really gives his kids stability, not a "no good deed goes unpunished" type thing.

Sorry for the novel. There will be more!

For retirement purposes, think of taxes as an expense. That's how I am planning for it. What I don't know is what the tax brackets will look like when I retire. The current ones are set to expire in 2027. But I'm still using them for planning purposes.

As for the housing market, lumber prices are at an all time high. The prices shot up when two things happened: 1) saw mills shutdown due to COVID and 2) demand for new homes went through the roof when everyone started working from home. You also had a lot of bored people doing home improvement projects. No idea how long this will take to normalize. But I'd expect new homes to sell for more now. They cost more to build. And this is driving up the existing home prices. Existing home inventory is also very low. All of these are creating a housing boom. My expectation is that home prices will go down when the dust settles.

 

[TarraLee]

I have never found Bogleheads to be unfriendly. I find some of the debates there very interesting--check out threads on "paying for your kid's college" or "how will you leave your assets to your heirs" for some fascinating viewpoints.

BH is not unfriendly at all, just a different vibe. Not much pixie dust and sugar coating over there, more like, “LBYM and put that money in a tax advantaged account” cut and dried.

The variety of viewpoints and wealth of knowledge over there is incredible. I always learn from reading, and yes, the variety of viewpoints is fascinating! I find their wiki has great roadmaps for “what to do if” scenarios for retirement planning, windfalls, taxes, etc. It is straightforward and direct, and can help anyone get started and frame a plan, or at least learn enough to evaluate a plan that some financial advisor is proposing for them.

 

[NY Pirate Princess]

So, I'm wondering, how much tax planning do you all do? Do you plan your current income for taxes, or just let it fall how it may? Do you attempt to plan for retirement taxes? Pre and post SS? There's so darn many variables, it's almost as bad a trying to figure out if Disney will ever sell APs again, and if not how much ticket prices will go up. Sigh. It is certainly better than having to worry if I'll be able to pay my 4 walls this month, nevermind in 25 years.

I recently switched out of contributing anything to my Roth 457 (b) and put the entire amount into pretax. I plan to use the 457 balance to fund the stretch between retirement and taking social security, which for me includes the years between 55 and 59.5. I just learned that I can't touch the Roth balance in my 457 prior to 59.5 without penalty, which was contrary to my understanding. Therefore, I'm kicking the tax can down the road expecting my retirement income taxes to be far below my current tax rate.

I calculate my taxes as a budget item at 20%. However, I also just learned that while my withdrawals from 457 b are free from state tax at or below $20,000 annually BUT NOT UNTIL 59.5, I might have to increase that budget line and stay in the w$rkplace and extra month or so.

Taxes are impossible to predict, but I figure we've got to start paying back all this covid stimulus money at some point. Do your best and "don't let the tax tail wag the dog"!

 

[4luv2cdisney]

Dropping in and learning some good financial tips in general by skipping around about 20 of the 94 pages here!

I had never heard of FIRE, but it doesn't seem like there is much Disney in here! (I'm sure I just missed a lot of posts).

Since it seems a lot of you really don't mind sharing info, I'd love to know the following from anyone who wants to:

How much (as a percentage of income) do you allocate for your Disney trips?

vs

How much (as a percentage of income) do you save?

Also, how has this changed over time? For example, did you give up Disney to jumpstart your savings or keep the Disney in place and find other ways to save. Did you start increasing your Disney budget as you had more financial freedom?

Hope nobody minds me jumping in!

 

[PaintsWithAllTheColors]

Dropping in and learning some good financial tips in general by skipping around about 20 of the 94 pages here!

I had never heard of FIRE, but it doesn't seem like there is much Disney in here! (I'm sure I just missed a lot of posts).

Since it seems a lot of you really don't mind sharing info, I'd love to know the following from anyone who wants to:

How much (as a percentage of income) do you allocate for your Disney trips?

vs

How much (as a percentage of income) do you save?

Also, how has this changed over time? For example, did you give up Disney to jumpstart your savings or keep the Disney in place and find other ways to save. Did you start increasing your Disney budget as you had more financial freedom?

Hope nobody minds me jumping in!

great question and totally welcome to jump in!! Having a FIRE discussion on Disney boards is definitely unique as many people who pursue FIRE might consider spending on Disney counter-productive to the goal. And, in truth, any spending on entertainment/vacations/anything really IS counterproductive to FIRE, but you’ll find that we here are mainly looking to achieve financial independence without sacrificing too much enjoyment of life along the way. Many of us include Disney in that enjoyment

To answer your questions:
In an average year we allocate ~3-5% of our income to Disney spend. This includes 1-2 WDW trips and usually Premier APs (we’re DLR locals so our past year and future remains up in the air as to how APs will look), but not food at our home park (DLR), as that’s part of our food budget.

We have historically saved ~45% of our after-tax income and are on track to save ~60% of our after-tax income during 2021 due to increases in income.

To be honest, our Disney budget has not changed too much as our income has increased over the past 5 years post-college. The biggest change is that we’ve eaten at more Table Service restaurants and imbibed at more lounges than our first trips, which were heavily subsidized with PB&J lunches. We’ve always prioritized Disney and travel in our budgets, using credit card rewards to offset as much costs as possible. We also purchased DVC using cash after our first trip (honeymoon) to WDW as we knew it would be part of our vacations going forward and we have been able to afford trips more easily as a result. Our savings rate was more like 15-20% back then.

Starting out, we definitely had some “not FIRE” strategies that I maybe would do differently, or at least wouldn’t advise to friends just starting out. For example, while we still paid student loans off quickly, we put less down on our home than we could have if we hadn’t purchased the DVC. So you could argue we “financed” that purchase at our mortgage rate.

FIRE, like all things personal finance, is very dependent on you/your family’s goals/priorities hope this helps and welcome again!

(To add an extra dose of Disney to this post, I wrote it while waiting in line for Disneyland open!! )

 

[QueenIsabella]

Dropping in and learning some good financial tips in general by skipping around about 20 of the 94 pages here!

I had never heard of FIRE, but it doesn't seem like there is much Disney in here! (I'm sure I just missed a lot of posts).

Since it seems a lot of you really don't mind sharing info, I'd love to know the following from anyone who wants to:

How much (as a percentage of income) do you allocate for your Disney trips?

vs

How much (as a percentage of income) do you save?

Also, how has this changed over time? For example, did you give up Disney to jumpstart your savings or keep the Disney in place and find other ways to save. Did you start increasing your Disney budget as you had more financial freedom?

Hope nobody minds me jumping in!

Welcome to this thread! You'll "see" a lot of the same faces from your spending thread. We try to be judgement-free (all of us have made mistakes along the way), and will talk to anyone, anywhere on their FIRE journey.

I'm going to discuss travel generally, and my apologies if these are things that I've mentioned earlier in this very long thread. My MIL had a butt-load of money, and when my kids were younger, she would frequently treat us to Disney vacations. When she went, we were all on the Premium plan--it included park hoppers, all meals (incl. tax, tip, apps, specialty drinks, etc.), water parks, mini-golf, you name it. Everything but alcohol. MIL was a world traveler--she took our nieces to Alaska, paid for my oldest to go to Spain and Peru, and travelled all over the world herself.

MIL died in 2017. DH inherited half of her estate, including 7(I think) IRAs that required yearly RMDs. His withdrawal amount is based on the balance and his life expectancy. We have agreed that, to honor his mother, we use this money for family travel. Typically, this means a week at a ranch each summer, then a big blowout trip every other year. The ranch is non-negotiable--MIL used to pay for the entire family to go each year, and my kids wouldn't ever consider skipping it. For the blowout trips: in 2018, we did a luxury tour of Europe (London, Paris, Rome). In 2020, we were supposed to do a Baltic cruise, but instead we did...nothing. Because, pandemic. But, that leaves us plenty of pent-up demand (and money) for 2022's luxury trip to Hawaii (13 days, 4 islands). Hawaii is important to us because DH's father died there in 1990. I promised him, way back then, that one day, we'd bring our kids to see the paradise that his parents loved so much. Well, next year is the year.

So, that's our travel strategy. While saving is important, enjoying yourself along the way is also important. I think you could fit Disney into a FIRE plan, just like you could fit in an expensive hobby or a second home or whatever is important to you--you just have to budget for it, and recognize that there are trade-offs. Are you willing to give up, say, a newer car or restaurant meals in order to budget for Disney? Or swap several smaller trips for one big "wowza!" trip? Totally your choice--do what works for you.

 

[Starport Seven-Five]

How much (as a percentage of income) do you allocate for your Disney trips?

vs

How much (as a percentage of income) do you save?

We budget about 2% of gross income for vacations. We also travel hack though so our actual cash outlay for travel is low relative to what we do. For example, our last WDW trip was just over $1000 all in and our Hawaii trip was $3500 (2 people).

We are weird in that we don’t track savings rate, only net worth. If I did it all over I would start with savings rate but we were pretty far down the savings path before getting into FIRE. Note that savings rates can vary a lot depending on how they are calculated so comparing numbers between people is a bit difficult. The most important part is calculating your own with a consistent method so you can track progress.

 

[elaine amj]

Great question!

For us, we started going to Disney when our kids were 8 and 9. I had started working a few years before that and as I got better jobs, we had more disposable income.

Our first trip was on a shoestring, mostly because that was how we were used to travelling - ordering kids QS meals, bringing snacks, sharing meals, etc. I personally wanted to bring cup noodles but DH refused lol.

Our next trip was with free dining and we adored it. So now I had to find a way to make Disney fit into our budget. It helped that in the first couple of years, our 10-12 days trips cost us $2-3k.

To be honest, I didn't worry about things like % of income. Since we had always lived below our means, we had a nice chunk in savings. And I had started working. At this stage I was only making $30+k a year but that was still way more than we had before so it was "easy" to spend an extra $3k on vacations. Especially since we kept our lifestyle inflation minimal - maybe an extra $5+k/yr for vacations and eating out.

As my income grew, we did inflate our lifestyle a bit more. We battled it, but were ok enjoying some of the "fruits of my labor", so to speak.

When we discovered FIRE around this time, our travel bug had become something we were not willing to let go. So that became something we built our budget around. I trimmed back on a lot of fat so we could have a $6k/yr travel budget (we hit the road around 2x a month + a ~$3k annual big trip budget - so this was supplemented heavily with travel hacking). We were averaging about $100k in household income so this was a hefty 6% of our gross income.

Long story short, I remember listing out all our fixed and discretionary expenses along with our savings goal and piecing it all together like a jigsaw puzzle. I worked really, really hard to not touch the vacation budget lol.

 

[elaine amj]

We are weird in that we don’t track savings rate, only net worth. If I did it all over I would start with savings rate but we were pretty far down the savings path before getting into FIRE. Note that savings rates can vary a lot depending on how they are calculated so comparing numbers between people is a bit difficult. The most important part is calculating your own with a consistent method so you can track progress.

It turned out I was horrible at tracking our expenses so had a hard time getting a good handle on our savings rate. Ultimately the only thing we tracked semi-accurately was our net worth. Would have been nice to be more detailed and accurate, but it worked out and we're FIREd now.

 

[RamblingMad]

Dropping in and learning some good financial tips in general by skipping around about 20 of the 94 pages here!

I had never heard of FIRE, but it doesn't seem like there is much Disney in here! (I'm sure I just missed a lot of posts).

Since it seems a lot of you really don't mind sharing info, I'd love to know the following from anyone who wants to:

How much (as a percentage of income) do you allocate for your Disney trips?

vs

How much (as a percentage of income) do you save?

Also, how has this changed over time? For example, did you give up Disney to jumpstart your savings or keep the Disney in place and find other ways to save. Did you start increasing your Disney budget as you had more financial freedom?

Hope nobody minds me jumping in!

I spend the same on Disney no matter how much I make. My big preference now is Disneyland off property, rather than WDW on property. Huge cost savings for me.

 

[4luv2cdisney]

Great question!

For us, we started going to Disney when our kids were 8 and 9. I had started working a few years before that and as I got better jobs, we had more disposable income.

Our first trip was on a shoestring, mostly because that was how we were used to travelling - ordering kids QS meals, bringing snacks, sharing meals, etc. I personally wanted to bring cup noodles but DH refused lol.

Our next trip was with free dining and we adored it. So now I had to find a way to make Disney fit into our budget. It helped that in the first couple of years, our 10-12 days trips cost us $2-3k.

To be honest, I didn't worry about things like % of income. Since we had always lived below our means, we had a nice chunk in savings. And I had started working. At this stage I was only making $30+k a year but that was still way more than we had before so it was "easy" to spend an extra $3k on vacations. Especially since we kept our lifestyle inflation minimal - maybe an extra $5+k/yr for vacations and eating out.

As my income grew, we did inflate our lifestyle a bit more. We battled it, but were ok enjoying some of the "fruits of my labor", so to speak.

When we discovered FIRE around this time, our travel bug had become something we were not willing to let go. So that became something we built our budget around. I trimmed back on a lot of fat so we could have a $6k/yr travel budget (we hit the road around 2x a month + a ~$3k annual big trip budget - so this was supplemented heavily with travel hacking). We were averaging about $100k in household income so this was a hefty 6% of our gross income.

Long story short, I remember listing out all our fixed and discretionary expenses along with our savings goal and piecing it all together like a jigsaw puzzle. I worked really, really hard to not touch the vacation budget lol.

Some of this is similar for us. Started working and the kids were good "Disney-age" (in our minds) and we found some amazing deals for years! I specifically recall a Pop Century deal for $50 or $55 / night. I think we did 1 TS meal per trip until the magical world of Free Dining came along! lol As FD started to get more restricted, we turned to DVC when we had an excess of vacation funds and a larger trip planned. So, we are making a very small BWV contract work very well for us right now.

We don't have much of a travel bug for other places. I did a bunch of other trips with my girls for a few years and my DH sometimes travels with his brothers. Other places are optional. It's still all about WDW for us and it's a non-negotiable part of our spending as long as a "normal" retirement is on track and we have a roof over our heads and food on the table!

24 hours after learning the basics of what FIRE means, I'd say we're interested in the FI but not as much of the RE for DH (assuming he continues to like his job). My income has been most needed leading into college years and will be for perhaps a few years beyond. We have one done and one attending right now. Still not sure I will actually stop working, but I like the option of not needing to in about 5 years. We're a little late to the game anyway as DH is 50.

 

[elaine amj]

24 hours after hearing the term FIRE, I'd say we're interested in the FI but not as much of the RE for DH as long as he continues to like his job. My income has been most needed leading into college years and will be for perhaps a few years beyond. We have one done and one attending right now. Still not sure I will actually stop working, but I like the option of not needing to in about 5 years.

Getting to Financial Independence, even if you don't Retire Early is a great spot to be in. To me, it means you have choices - which is always a great thing.

I like sharing with people that it is possible, and with far less money and far less time than is normal.

I always expected to retire at a normal age. So still cackle to myself that we were able to hack it to retire before I turned 40.

I am not minimalistic enough to say that I would choose to live at my current spend level if I had unlimited money unlike some - but in a money vs time tradeoff, I am perfectly content with less money not to have to work every day.