|
|
Are the higher powers telling me something?
11-21-2019, 04:03 PM
|
#1
|
Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Fairfield
Posts: 206
|
Are the higher powers telling me something?
A year ago firecalc was showing 96% spending $22k a month living in one of the more expensive areas of the country outside NYC.
Today firecalc has us firmly at 100%, and the job is adding a lot of unnecessary stress. I am 48, wife is 38 w/ three kids 10, 8 and 6. Have a $1.3mm house w/ $500k mortgage, $7.85mm in investments for retirement mostly non qualified, $1.4mm for education and total net worth just over $10mm.
We can't sell our house as our real estate market is frozen due to high property and local taxes, we paid $1.7mm and have updated kitchen etc.
My wife is currently pursuing her masters degree to become a 3rd grade teacher which she hopes to complete in two years. She is a pre-school teacher now and runs the book fair, library auction etc in our town so she is well connected. This has been a lifelong dream and now that the kids are a little older, it is doable.
If she teaches in the public schools, it would provide platinum health care and her income would pad our passive income of $250k- we spend $260k roughly with tax. We also are quitting our country club with a huge new assessment to go to a smaller club with just racquets / pool.
This could be the third leg of the stool w/ healthcare, extra income, a potential pension and ample time off to travel.
I am wondering if I should wait until she gets hired or if I should just call it quits? The club thing sort of just happened and so did the teacher pursuit. I think the stress is effecting my health - luckily I exercise a lot to manage it and I eat relatively well, but I am sacred to retire at 48. The other concern is what if my kids need to go to private school, so much time until they are out of the nest!
Wondering what others would do in my situation..
|
|
|
|
Join the #1 Early Retirement and Financial Independence Forum Today - It's Totally Free!
Are you planning to be financially independent as early as possible so you can live life on your own terms? Discuss successful investing strategies, asset allocation models, tax strategies and other related topics in our online forum community. Our members range from young folks just starting their journey to financial independence, military retirees and even multimillionaires. No matter where you fit in you'll find that Early-Retirement.org is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!
You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with our members, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create a retirement blog, send private messages and so much, much more!
|
11-21-2019, 04:19 PM
|
#2
|
gone traveling
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: Berkeley, Denver, CO, USA
Posts: 1,406
|
1. Your wife can quit her job and get the Masters in less time.
2. You can sell the house, you just don't want to.
3. Kids never NEED to go to private school. You just move to a decent public school area.
|
|
|
11-21-2019, 04:22 PM
|
#3
|
Moderator
Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 13,926
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by StuckinCT
Wondering what others would do in my situation..
|
With those assets almost all of us would figure out the minimum notice and see if you can be free by the holidays (or at least check the calendar for your bonus schedule, and quit the day after that)
|
|
|
11-21-2019, 07:12 PM
|
#4
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: Huntsville, AL/Helen, GA
Posts: 6,002
|
The Higher Power is telling you to pack up your family and move them to a lower cost of living place. And then you really don't need to worry about your extreme stress levels.
I'd hate to think I had a $1.2 million house and your financial resources and still be living middle class.
There are places that you could be living like a king on far less cash outflow. There's a reason thousands of people are moving out of your state.
|
|
|
11-21-2019, 07:18 PM
|
#5
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Tampa
Posts: 11,299
|
If you really wish to retire, you can certainly find a way with your total investments.
Think it through and truly decide if you wish to stay in Ct.
__________________
TGIM
|
|
|
11-21-2019, 07:28 PM
|
#6
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Cincinnati, OH
Posts: 4,373
|
My thoughts exactly.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bamaman
The Higher Power is telling you to pack up your family and move them to a lower cost of living place. And then you really don't need to worry about your extreme stress levels.
I'd hate to think I had a $1.2 million house and your financial resources and still be living middle class.
There are places that you could be living like a king on far less cash outflow. There's a reason thousands of people are moving out of your state.
|
Why tolerate the HCOL area if you don't have to? Bail out and retire while you still have your mental health.
__________________
The problem isn't artificial intelligence, it's natural stupidity.
You can't spend yourself to prosperity.
Semi-Retired 7/1/16: working part-time (60%) for now [4/24/17 changed to 80%]
Retired Aug 2, 2017; age 53
|
|
|
When you are ready, you won't need to ask
11-21-2019, 07:43 PM
|
#7
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: The Shire
Posts: 1,504
|
When you are ready, you won't need to ask
I don't know about the higher powers, but the lower powers right here are all telling you that you're overthinking it. You report that FIRECalc says you have more than enough stash to permanently fund even your enviable spend rate, in which you already are pursuing some reductions. Your j*b is costing you more in health and happiness than it's paying you in $$.
Of course you can sell the house. Everything is for sale at the right price. But why would you want to, if it's in the location that will set up DW for achieving her Master's dream? You could hand in your notice, and it wouldn't create an obstacle to any of your hopes and dreams.
However, despite all signs pointing to "yes", it sounds like you aren't mentally ready yet. I understand that syndrome, having labored under it for some time. If you're not ready, you're not ready.
__________________
Paying it forward is the best investment.
|
|
|
11-21-2019, 07:46 PM
|
#8
|
Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Fairfield
Posts: 206
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by davebarnes
1. Your wife can quit her job and get the Masters in less time.
2. You can sell the house, you just don't want to.
3. Kids never NEED to go to private school. You just move to a decent public school area.
|
#s 1&3 somewhat true, but as for #2 there are houses like mine foreclosed offered at 50 cents on the dollar and no one willing to step into the tax trap. 7 figure write downs.
I stopped crying about that a while ago, but I can’t move!
|
|
|
11-21-2019, 07:53 PM
|
#9
|
Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Fairfield
Posts: 206
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bamaman
The Higher Power is telling you to pack up your family and move them to a lower cost of living place. And then you really don't need to worry about your extreme stress levels.
I'd hate to think I had a $1.2 million house and your financial resources and still be living middle class.
There are places that you could be living like a king on far less cash outflow. There's a reason thousands of people are moving out of your state.
|
Ha! Too funny and you might be right. We’re going to Mt Pleasant SC after Xmas to check on the Charleston area and get away.
It’s unreal what’s happening in this state, plenty of blame to go around. I think we may be at the bottom, finally. It’s been a painful decade so hopefully my mental health holds up long enough to get out of here without a fire sale.
Seriously, there are some unbelievable deals, custom houses that were in the mid 2s now going for a buck. It’s gruesome!
|
|
|
11-21-2019, 08:18 PM
|
#10
|
Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Conroe, Texas
Posts: 18,731
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by StuckinCT
but as for #2 there are houses like mine foreclosed offered at 50 cents on the dollar and no one willing to step into the tax trap. 7 figure write downs.
I stopped crying about that a while ago, but I can’t move!
|
You mean in Fairfield, CT, too? I thought that was only going on in the Waterbury/Woodbury/Southbury area (New Haven County)?
__________________
*********Go Yankees!*********
|
|
|
11-21-2019, 08:21 PM
|
#11
|
Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 180
|
Why not rent your house for a year or 2?
Quit your current job and mover somewhere less stressful and cheaper - rent a house there for a year or 2 and give it a trial run.
I suspect if you have accumulated around $10m by age 48 you will not stay full time retired for long. In 2 years you will probably be back doing some sort of job but hopefully in a much less stressful environment (and maybe at a lower income) so you will not need to draw fully on your investment income.
Do something you enjoy and less stressful while your kids are young - in 10 years time the kids are grown and they will have their own lives.
|
|
|
11-21-2019, 08:23 PM
|
#12
|
gone traveling
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: Berkeley, Denver, CO, USA
Posts: 1,406
|
|
|
|
11-21-2019, 08:28 PM
|
#13
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Coronado
Posts: 3,706
|
Hmm. You have $250K of passive income and you spend $260K with a $7.85M portfolio. In order to make up that extra $10K, you would be looking at a .1% withdrawal rate. That's sustainable indefinitely.
Let's say your wife also decides she'd rather retire than become a 3rd grade teacher, so you end up having to buy ACA insurance and it comes in at some outrageous amount, like $50K annually so now you're taking $60K out of the portfolio. You've bumped up the withdrawal rate to .8%, which is still sustainable indefinitely.
Let's say all your kids need to go to private schools (which is unlikely if you stay in an HCOL area), and you decide to bump the withdrawal rate up to 3%. That's gives you $235,500 or $175,000 on top of the health care and regular household expenses for up to 12 years. I don't know if you can send 3 kids to private school in CT for $175K, but even if you need to go a bit higher for a few years, your portfolio could still handle it.
You do not need to move to a LCOL area to make retirement feasible. You might want to move, and that's fine if you do, but take your time and know what amenities you're giving up before doing anything that drastic. It's much harder to move back to the HCOL area once you've left.
|
|
|
11-21-2019, 08:54 PM
|
#14
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Sarasota, FL & Vermont
Posts: 36,374
|
You have $10m including a $1.3m house... so let's say you take a bath on the house and that $10m becomes $9.5m... at 3% that is still $285k a year... and you and your family can live like a king in many areas of the country (including my home state).
You say $1.4m for education... I hope that isn't $1.4m locked up in 529 plans... $1.4m is too much to begin with.
__________________
If something cannot endure laughter.... it cannot endure.
Patience is the art of concealing your impatience.
Slow and steady wins the race.
Retired Jan 2012 at age 56
|
|
|
11-21-2019, 09:42 PM
|
#15
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 9,358
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by StuckinCT
Wondering what others would do in my situation..
|
I would have retired a long time ago (way before reaching $10M NW) and moved some place with lower taxes and better weather.
__________________
Even clouds seem bright and breezy, 'Cause the livin' is free and easy, See the rat race in a new way, Like you're wakin' up to a new day (Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether lyrics, Alan Parsons Project, based on an EA Poe story)
|
|
|
11-22-2019, 02:53 AM
|
#16
|
gone traveling
Join Date: Sep 2019
Posts: 249
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by StuckinCT
A year ago firecalc was showing 96% spending $22k a month living in one of the more expensive areas of the country outside NYC.
Today firecalc has us firmly at 100%, and the job is adding a lot of unnecessary stress. I am 48, wife is 38 w/ three kids 10, 8 and 6. Have a $1.3mm house w/ $500k mortgage, $7.85mm in investments for retirement mostly non qualified, $1.4mm for education and total net worth just over $10mm.
We can't sell our house as our real estate market is frozen due to high property and local taxes, we paid $1.7mm and have updated kitchen etc.
My wife is currently pursuing her masters degree to become a 3rd grade teacher which she hopes to complete in two years. She is a pre-school teacher now and runs the book fair, library auction etc in our town so she is well connected. This has been a lifelong dream and now that the kids are a little older, it is doable.
If she teaches in the public schools, it would provide platinum health care and her income would pad our passive income of $250k- we spend $260k roughly with tax. We also are quitting our country club with a huge new assessment to go to a smaller club with just racquets / pool.
This could be the third leg of the stool w/ healthcare, extra income, a potential pension and ample time off to travel.
I am wondering if I should wait until she gets hired or if I should just call it quits? The club thing sort of just happened and so did the teacher pursuit. I think the stress is effecting my health - luckily I exercise a lot to manage it and I eat relatively well, but I am sacred to retire at 48. The other concern is what if my kids need to go to private school, so much time until they are out of the nest!
Wondering what others would do in my situation..
|
I would wait until your wife gets hired
Your kids probably have their friends and connections so I personally wouldn’t move
I’m sorry to hear about your primary residence. That really sucks
|
|
|
11-22-2019, 05:31 AM
|
#17
|
Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Fairfield
Posts: 206
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by cathy63
Hmm. You have $250K of passive income and you spend $260K with a $7.85M portfolio. In order to make up that extra $10K, you would be looking at a .1% withdrawal rate. That's sustainable indefinitely.
Let's say your wife also decides she'd rather retire than become a 3rd grade teacher, so you end up having to buy ACA insurance and it comes in at some outrageous amount, like $50K annually so now you're taking $60K out of the portfolio. You've bumped up the withdrawal rate to .8%, which is still sustainable indefinitely.
Let's say all your kids need to go to private schools (which is unlikely if you stay in an HCOL area), and you decide to bump the withdrawal rate up to 3%. That's gives you $235,500 or $175,000 on top of the health care and regular household expenses for up to 12 years. I don't know if you can send 3 kids to private school in CT for $175K, but even if you need to go a bit higher for a few years, your portfolio could still handle it.
You do not need to move to a LCOL area to make retirement feasible. You might want to move, and that's fine if you do, but take your time and know what amenities you're giving up before doing anything that drastic. It's much harder to move back to the HCOL area once you've left.
|
Cathy, good point on the schools and difficulty moving back to a HCOL area. The $250k is our dividend and interest income, so that would be part of our withdrawal rate. The private school we would send to is $28k all in, and I am thinking mainly of our two boys who have ADHD. So far our public schools have done an amazing job, maybe better than a private school could do, so the chances of needing to go private have decreased for sure.
|
|
|
11-22-2019, 05:41 AM
|
#18
|
Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Fairfield
Posts: 206
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by davebarnes
|
I died laughing watching this. I went through this vary same scenario 10 years ago.
I will save most of my comments on this. In terms of the house, I always joke I am going to give it to charity when we're done with it because it is worth more as a write off. Luckily, it is a nice place to live and our property taxes just got reduced to $28k from $33k, so we could have worse problems for sure.
I also don't care about scratching the floors or making fires in the marble fireplaces too which is great! We're lucky to be down only $400 or $500k too, people that bought before 08 are down 7 figures.
|
|
|
11-22-2019, 05:54 AM
|
#19
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jun 2017
Location: Western NC
Posts: 4,633
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by nancyfrank232
I would wait until your wife gets hired
Your kids probably have their friends and connections so I personally wouldn’t move
I’m sorry to hear about your primary residence. That really sucks
|
Agree.
OP has the income and assets to remain in their HCOL area until the kids are grown and gone.
Then they can move to a lower COL area.
|
|
|
11-22-2019, 08:48 AM
|
#20
|
gone traveling
Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: NW Ohio
Posts: 1,156
|
I certainly think if I had your assets, and had platinum health care to look forward to in a few years, I would move the family to a warm location that allows year round healthy living, rather than living in a HCOL area that is full of stress.
The wife can pursue her masters degree wherever you end up, and probably find a teaching job locally afterwards. I think you, her, and your kids would end up being happier in a slow paced life in a LCOL area.
|
|
|
|
|
Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
|
|
Posting Rules
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
|
» Recent Threads
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
» Quick Links
|
|
|