12-22-2013, 10:43 PM
Sounds about right. I guess we can hope for few or no phases where we are not able to contribute, but I guess the world is an uncertain place.
One wrinkle I would add is that so long as regular contributions are possible (for the most part, at least), there can be a long stretch where you are adding new money from income (the "accumulation phase," as you describe it), while your dividend reinvestment has also become a meaningful stream of money (the "reinvestment phase," as you describe it, but without the job loss). Right now, each month I'm reinvesting (on average) about one half of the amount of new money from income that I'm putting in. I'm looking forward to the day when the reinvestment stream get bigger than the "fresh money from income" stream. Still years and years off, but I can just make it out on the horizon.
One wrinkle I would add is that so long as regular contributions are possible (for the most part, at least), there can be a long stretch where you are adding new money from income (the "accumulation phase," as you describe it), while your dividend reinvestment has also become a meaningful stream of money (the "reinvestment phase," as you describe it, but without the job loss). Right now, each month I'm reinvesting (on average) about one half of the amount of new money from income that I'm putting in. I'm looking forward to the day when the reinvestment stream get bigger than the "fresh money from income" stream. Still years and years off, but I can just make it out on the horizon.