56 year old retiree from NC seeking advice

[mcchainsaw]

Hello all,

I am brand new to this forum, having just registered today. I spent a good part of the day reading through your posts before I joined. From what I can tell, this is a very fun, supportive and helpful group and I’m sure that I can benefit from your collective insight and humor. A little about me:

I am 56 years old and I retired in April of 2018, having worked in the utility industry for over 30 years. I was eligible for a full unreduced pension, having met the rule of 85 (age + service) as well as company subsidized health insurance (70% company / 30% employee). I enjoyed most facets of my profession, but I helped to manage a fast-paced Call Center and every day was becoming a grind. The long commute, stringent performance metrics and sociopathic coworkers took their toll and pushed me toward retirement. I had reached the burn out phase. My wife retired in December from the school system after 10 years. She loved her job as an Administrative Assistant to the Principal but had to leave due to physical issues (2 major back surgeries in 2 years). Thankfully, she was eligible for a small pension.

We decided to sell our house in Long Island, NY and relocate near Mooresville, NC. We had been vacationing in Mooresville for many years, as our close friends have lived here for over 15 years. There were a lot of mixed emotions, since we were leaving a lot of great friends in NY. However, my Son lives in Virginia and my Daughter lives in Florida so we wanted to be a little closer to both of them. We also knew that we could never afford to retire on Long Island unless we both continued working into our late '60's.

Instead, we bought a new house here in NC for much less than our old house in NY cost. I still have a mortgage, but my total “nut” each month is only $700 vs. $2,350 on the old place. Rents in our new area for the same home (2,200 sf) exceed $1,400 / month. I’m hoping I can pay the new place off by the time I take full Social Security at 67. Here’s my total picture:

• Current expenses: $3,800 / month (still have room for savings)
• My pension (pre-62): $5,500 / month
• My pension (post-62): $3,500 / month (level income option with early SS offset)
• Wife’s pension: $450 / month (has filed for NYS Disability, which if approved, would bump this to $750 / month)
• 401(k): $707,000
• Roth IRA: $80,000
• Emergency Fund / Brokerage / Cash: $45,000

I don’t plan to take SS until 67, at which time it will be roughly $2,700 / month. We will start to draw down the retirement accounts when I turn 62 to make up for my reduced pension (3% initial draw). My wife will take SS at 62 and receive about $875 / month.

As far as life insurance is concerned, I have $20K of coverage at no cost through my former employer while my wife has about $15K of no cost coverage. Also, if I were to predecease my wife, she could continue on my health insurance for a period of 2 years at the company subsidized rate for an individual.

I just wanted to get everyone’s thoughts on my financials and see if I can survive a long retirement. I ran our numbers through various calculators (i.e. Fire Calc, Vanguard, T. Rowe Price, AARP, Smart Asset) and got generally good vibes, but I am still nervous about having enough to live on.

I still want to do some fulfilling work, I’m just not sure what that is yet. In the meantime, I do have some hobbies to keep me busy. Thanks in advance for your time!

[flintnational]

Welcome to the forum! Congratulations on your retirement. Looks like you are in great shape.

[Dtail]

Welcome to our wonderful site.
It looks good for you.
Like your forum name.

[street]

Welcome, you will learn a lot here.

[Original Wally]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcchainsaw sociopathic

Sociopathic coworkers! Oh Lord. You are bringing back horrid memories.

What about "training" classes. We had to take them annually. And they wanted to know if I was "engaged" at work. "Nope. I just work here. It's not my entire life." Sheesh.



Thank you for the laugh.

[travelover]

Welcome. As long as your pensions are solid, you seem good to go. Are the pensions COLAed?

[mcchainsaw]

Wife's pension includes a COLA, mine does not.

I forgot to mention that she is also eligible for another small pension from a former employer beginning at age 65 ($210 / mo., includes COLA).

[Golden sunsets]

I may have missed it, but if you were to predecease your wife, would she receive your pension, or some portion of it?

[mcchainsaw]

Yes, I'm sorry as I should have explained that part: my Wife would receive 50% of my pension if I were to pre-decease her.

[HI Bill]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcchainsaw • Current expenses: $3,800 / month (still have room for savings) • My pension (pre-62): $5,500 / month • My pension (post-62): $3,500 / month (level income option with early SS offset) • Wife’s pension: $450 / month (has filed for NYS Disability, which if approved, would bump this to $750 / month) • 401(k): $707,000 • Roth IRA: $80,000 • Emergency Fund / Brokerage / Cash: $45,000 I don’t plan to take SS until 67, at which time it will be roughly $2,700 / month. We will start to draw down the retirement accounts when I turn 62 to make up for my reduced pension (3% initial draw). My wife will take SS at 62 and receive about $875 / month.

Assuming you were on your reduced pension level now, it appears that your pension and your wife's pension covers your current expenses. With some $800K in additional retirement funds, additional future SS, and potential additional disability payments, I don't seen any need to even put your numbers into FIRECALC...Your income seems to exceed your spending. So, your 401(k), ROTH, emergency fund, and SS, should easily allow your income to outpace inflation, and even a dramatically increased spend rate. Unless I'm missing something big....you're there! Enjoy!

[karen1972]

Hi, Welcome to the Triangle and welcome to the Forum.

I would suggest just re-running the numbers if something were to happen to you tomorrow. It seems like your wife would take a significant haircut, may not be able to go back to work, she would still have a mortgage, have to get insurance on her own in 2 years, and with you gone may potentially have increased cost of ongoing care. I have had back surgery and know what it cost me when I was single as I coudlnt' get groceries by myself some days, had tons of therapy with co-pays racking up, had to pay Uber to get to appointments, couldn't even vacuum the floors for weeks on end. Yes friends helped but you feel like your a burden and so you pay to not inconvenice everyone. Hopefully your wife doesn't get to that point but given what little you have shared and discussion of disability pay, it seems like she may not have been one of the lucky ones where the surgery makes you good as new. Obviously this is worst case scenario, but maybe worth a look to see if you may need to do something to shore it up at least until the house is paid off and SS has kicked in since you mentioned your life insurance policy is only $20k and that just covers funeral expenses.

[HI Bill]

Why not delay your wife's SS to age 67, and instead of claiming on her own record, file for spousal benefits? $1350 is better than $875. If you pre-decease her, she'll get your higher benefit.

[Tekward]

Welcome to NC, from an ex-utility worker. I was raised in NJ, traveled with the Navy and settled in NC 33 years ago. It's a great state, but don't tell anyone.


My only thought on your (good) situation is no mention of health care since it is involved in 2/3rds of bankruptcies: A New Study Discovers Two-Thirds Of All Bankruptcies In The United States Are Primarily Caused By Medical Bills

[mcchainsaw]

Karen1972 and HNL Bill, thanks very much for your suggestions! I agree that the numbers are definitely worth another look just in case. The big unknown right now is how much my wife would actually get if she is in fact deemed to be fully disabled. Her SS disability hearing isn't scheduled until early June, but we may hear something re: the smaller NYS Disability benefit prior to that.

She has an excellent disability attorney working on her behalf as well as a vocational assessment expert. I will admit that I don't fully understand all the intricacies of Social Security as it pertains to spousal benefits, file and suspend, etc.

I will keep you posted. Thanks to everyone here for the encouragement!

[sengsational]

We might need to have a e-r.org lunch in the Piedmont, like the left-coast Florida bunch does!

[brucethebroker]

Welcome.
My suggestion is to look into more life insurance on you to protect your wife from the large loss on your pension at your death. Lots of policies are sold for this very situation. Remember, personal policies proceeds (not employer paid) are received income tax free by the beneficiary.

[ncbill]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sengsational We might need to have a e-r.org lunch in the Piedmont, like the left-coast Florida bunch does!

Sounds good to me!

[latexman]

^ +1

Count me in.

[kimcdougc]

Welcome to the forum, you look good to me with all your expenses paid from pensions and your future ss.