FIRE readiness checklist: 10 plans to document before leaving work

Use the score as a completion count

The scorecard gives ten points for each documented area. Six checked items produce 60%. That means six planning areas have evidence and four remain on the work list. It does not mean the household has a 60% chance of success.

Equal weights make the arithmetic easy to audit. They do not claim that a beneficiary review and a healthcare plan have identical financial impact. A serious weakness in one area can matter more than several completed boxes.

Prove the spending and withdrawal assumptions

Review at least twelve months of actual transactions and add taxes, healthcare, home and vehicle replacements, gifts, travel, family support, and other irregular costs. Separate spending that can fall from spending that must continue.

Document the starting withdrawal in dollars and as a percentage of investable assets. Run an early-loss stress test, higher inflation, and an unexpected expense. Write which spending changes first rather than assuming flexibility will appear later.

Price healthcare and map account access by year

Before Medicare, preview a primary plan and a higher-cost alternative using the household’s location, ages, and expected income. Record premiums, deductible, out-of-pocket limit, network, prescriptions, and dental and vision assumptions.

List every account with its owner, tax type, current balance, basis records, and access rules. Map which dollars fund each year before pensions, Social Security, Medicare, and selected retirement-account access dates.

Connect taxes, cash reserves, and withdrawal order

Project ordinary income, qualified dividends, capital gains, deductions, credits, state tax, and healthcare income effects together. Save a withdrawal-order plan, but expect to update it every tax year.

Assign liquid money to near-term spending, taxes, and emergencies. The reserve should have a purpose and replenishment rule. Holding cash without a plan can reduce growth, while holding too little can force sales during a decline.

Review housing, protection, and household decisions

Include debt payments, property tax, insurance, maintenance, association dues, utilities, and large replacements. Review health, property, liability, disability, and life coverage where relevant, plus beneficiaries, estate documents, and account access.

Everyone affected should understand the spending, work, relocation, caregiving, and fallback assumptions. A shared plan needs explicit decisions about what changes after an income shock, market decline, or major health event.

Write the review triggers before leaving work

Choose a regular review date and event-based triggers such as a large portfolio decline, spending above plan, coverage loss, new debt, household change, or tax-law change. Name the data that will be reviewed and the available responses.

Keep the latest plan, source documents, and account contacts in a secure location the household can reach. Update rather than merely rechecking boxes.

• Document the evidence behind each checked item.
• Give unchecked items an owner and next action.
• Review the plan with everyone affected.
• Use current primary sources for tax and benefit rules.
• Repeat the checklist after material changes.