Can I RE? Would you?

[supernova72]

Welcome to the forum.

We've had several recent threads on "is $3MM enough to retire on?" Generally, people are told they have plenty to retire on but the secret to success is controlling spending. You have a pretty high spending target which is a stretch on your $3MM. You have to ask yourself how much ER means to you.

I think the college costs are probably a little less than what you show but it won't make a material difference.

A FireCalc result of 94% is probably adequate if you are prepared to possibly cut expenses if you find yourself getting low returns in your first decade of retirement. I'm also confused by what you mean by the $140k after tax in 2016. Is this a deferred compensation payout? Have you plugged the higher medical costs into your expenses and FireCalc run? The "classic" 4% rule would say you could withdraw $120,000/yr which is before taxes.

____

+1

It seems lately the "I have 3M+ and wonder if I can retire" are coming in like gang busters. Must admit it's a bit demorializing to me and at times comes across like "I have a Dodge Challenger Hellcat and wonder if it will hit 100mph?" When we all know it will go about 205mph
Call me a whiner but for someone who has only 700K and a 36K pension and is considering retirement---uh--well. Yes if you have 3M u can retire and spend 120k a year.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

I think the goal with the cuts, for me anyway, is to cut spending and improve quality of life at the same time, or at least not decrease quality of life. Many of the cuts we made were just because we were not careful with our spending before or didn't have time to shop around. Some of the things we did:

- Cut Netflix DVDs no one was watching
- Renegotiated the cable bill
- Weather stripped the house
- Started shopping at Costco more - I do have to drive 10 minutes further to shop, but our local Costco now has organic staples foods like beef, olive oil, potatoes, and much more for less than the regular prices of the local retail store. So we can eat healthier for less money.
- Cooking from scratch - We're all learning to cook from scratch more. It is healthier for us to eat less processed and fast food anyway. Today I made organic beef, onion and carrots in the crock pot, braising in French onion soup, where a few years ago we might have had Panda Express for dinner.
- Using library passes. We can get tickets for plays, museums and around 30 other local cultural attractions that normally cost up to $30 - $50 each for free with our public library cards.
- Swapped out the landline for Ooma

We just did hundreds of little things like this and like Rodi it added up to tens of thousands of dollars in annual household savings. Plus we also pay much less in taxes and no longer have to save for retirement. So we can live the same lifestyle, actually a lot healthier one, for much less money than we used to spend each year.

If you have always optimized your expenses, there may not be much to cut without impacting your lifestyle. But we were horrified at how much we were spending needlessly once we paid more attention to our budget.

 

[bulbar]

I think the goal with the cuts, for me anyway, is to cut spending and improve quality of life at the same time, or at least not decrease quality of life. Many of the cuts we made were just because we were not careful with our spending before or didn't have time to shop around. Some of the things we did:

- Cut Netflix DVDs no one was watching
- Renegotiated the cable bill
- Weather stripped the house
- Started shopping at Costco more - I do have to drive 10 minutes further to shop, but our local Costco now has organic staples foods like beef, olive oil, potatoes, and much more for less than the regular prices of the local retail store. So we can eat healthier for less money.
- Cooking from scratch - We're all learning to cook from scratch more. It is healthier for us to eat less processed and fast food anyway. Today I made organic beef, onion and carrots in the crock pot, braising in French onion soup, where a few years ago we might have had Panda Express for dinner.
- Using library passes. We can get tickets for plays, museums and around 30 other local cultural attractions that normally cost up to $30 - $50 each for free with our public library cards.
- Swapped out the landline for Ooma

We just did hundreds of little things like this and like Rodi it added up to tens of thousands of dollars in annual household savings. Plus we also pay much less in taxes and no longer have to save for retirement. So we can live the same lifestyle, actually a lot healthier one, for much less money than we used to spend each year.

If you have always optimized your expenses, there may not be much to cut without impacting your lifestyle. But we were horrified at how much we were spending needlessly once we paid more attention to our budget.

What's Ooma?

 

[daylatedollarshort]

What's Ooma?

It is like Magic Jack. We get phone service via the Internet now. It is under $4 a month compared to the $65+ we used to pay for home and business landlines. That is $732 a year we saved, $7,320 in 10 years and $36,660 on a change that took maybe 3 hours total. I look for really high ROI cuts like that on recurring expenses.

 

[bulbar]

It is like Magic Jack. We get phone service via the Internet now. It is under $4 a month compared to the $65+ we used to pay for home and business landlines. That is $732 a year we saved, $7,320 in 10 years and $36,660 on a change that took maybe 3 hours total. I look for really high ROI cuts like that on recurring expenses.

I looked it up. Looks like you pay $130 for the device and maybe $40 to keep your same phone number? Is that what you paid? I'd have to figure out how to get an internet line down to it somehow. I have 2 house phones, so would I need 2 of these devices?

 

[EastWest Gal]

Other savings: we (I) was too busy to do basic housecleaning so we had a maid service $110 every two weeks. $2860/year. Our house is neater now that things are getting put away and into recycling a lot quicker.

Our next step is Ooma.

We've paid in full for son's college including one band trip to Europe. That was always our choice. I understand the sentiment about paying your own way through college, but that was not the route our family chose, with an only child.

There are many ways to cut costs without impacting lifestyle significantly.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

 

[daylatedollarshort]

I looked it up. Looks like you pay $130 for the device and maybe $40 to keep your same phone number? Is that what you paid? I'd have to figure out how to get an internet line down to it somehow. I have 2 house phones, so would I need 2 of these devices?

I bought one for one of our kids in December for $89 on Amazon on sale. You can check the price history at camelcamelcamel.com:

http://camelcamelcamel.com/Ooma-Telo-Phone-Service-Device/product/B00I4XMEYA

I don't remember what ours cost or if we paid extra to keep the number as it was a few years ago now.

We have 2 handsets on one Ooma, with one phone number. Do you need multiple handsets or multiple numbers? I have never tried multiple numbers on one Ooma so I'll leave that for someone else to answer.

 

[Live And Learn]

I think the first thing you need to do is really track your spending. There was a time that I was shamefully being caught up in "lifestyle creep". I was still living below my means but I was buying unnecessary junk that I really didn't need and only temporarily wanted. I created a spreadsheet with 2 years worth of detailed spending (using my credit card bills and bank statements). Amazon and BedBathAnBeyond purchases were embarrassing.

As to 130k spend with $3.2mm, I'd say its close and doable if you are willing to cut back just a little. I would not have felt comfortable retiring with more than a 3% WR; SS not included in the nestegg calc. My $100k budget includes income tax (assuming that 75% of my spending comes from pretax sources) and 25k for Healthcare for 2. I used healthcare.gov to get premium costs and assumed that I will hit the out of pocket max each year. I needed to know that I could cover it if I had to. If I don't need to sepnd it then I will add it to my (very limited) travel budget.

 

[NW-Bound]

I looked it up. Looks like you pay $130 for the device and maybe $40 to keep your same phone number? Is that what you paid? I'd have to figure out how to get an internet line down to it somehow. I have 2 house phones, so would I need 2 of these devices?

After years of procrastination, I bought Ooma a month or two ago. The box costs $110, and the phone number porting costs a one-time charge of $40, which is waived if you sign up for the $10/month premium service. Else, the recurrent monthly charge is less than $4/month.

One box will power the whole house circuit, just like your old land-line, where all phones will ring when a call comes in. The premium service will get you a 2nd phone number. Houses are usually already wired for two lines, but you need to how to make use of it by changing the wiring at each jack, or by using the right cord to make the crossover between the two lines.

PS. Oops! The Premier 2nd phone number does not work the same as a true 2nd physical phone line. For the latter, you will need two Ooma boxes.

 

[bulbar]

I bought one for one of our kids in December for $89 on Amazon on sale. You can check the price history at camelcamelcamel.com:

Ooma Telo Free Home Phone Service VoIP Phone and Device (B00I4XMEYA) | Amazon price tracker / tracking, Amazon price history charts, Amazon price watches, Amazon price drop alerts | camelcamelcamel.com

I don't remember what ours cost or if we paid extra to keep the number as it was a few years ago now.

We have 2 handsets on one Ooma, with one phone number. Do you need multiple handsets or multiple numbers? I have never tried multiple numbers on one Ooma so I'll leave that for someone else to answer.

So did you have to run 2 internet lines, one to each phone? Or does Ooma somehow connect to the wireless signal I have in the house?

 

[Cobra9777]

Regarding Ooma, you can accomplish the same thing with an Obi100 and Google Voice. The upfront cost is $35 and the ongoing cost is $0.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

So did you have to run 2 internet lines, one to each phone? Or does Ooma somehow connect to the wireless signal I have in the house?

We just have one Internet line, one Ooma box and a regular cordless phone you can buy anywhere with multiple handsets, something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-Exp...qid=1424287614&sr=8-2&keywords=cordless+phone

Ooma replaced the landline connection, not the actual phones. We have the same cordless phone set with multiple handsets we had before.

 

[NW-Bound]

The standard Ooma box does not have WiFi capability, only an RJ45 jack to connect it to your router. They sell a WiFi adapter that plugs into a USB port on Ooma; it has to be their own adapter, and a regular one for PCs or laptops would not work.

I place the Ooma box next to the Internet router, and connect the two using a RJ45 cable. Then, the Ooma box phone jack is connected with a nearby home phone jack, which allows all phone outlets in the home to become live. Note: I disconnect the phone line at the box outside the home, so that the Ooma output does not go all the way back to the phone company equipment.

 

[kimcdougc]

Ok - what is Ting? Our cell phone bills are really high and will get higher if I retire and lose my company phone. And our DISH cable bill is over $100/month.

I use T-Mobile for our cell phone. 4 phone with unlimited minutes, texts and data. The data is 2.5 gig per phone and then just runs slower if you go over the 2.5 gig. I pay $116 per month. You can also add a line (up to 5 phones on each account) for only $10 more per month.

Picks up in 95 percent of the places we travel to.

 

[bulbar]

I use T-Mobile for our cell phone. 4 phone with unlimited minutes, texts and data. The data is 2.5 gig per phone and then just runs slower if you go over the 2.5 gig. I pay $116 per month. You can also add a line (up to 5 phones on each account) for only $10 more per month.

Picks up in 95 percent of the places we travel to.

What the heck? We have 4 phones on T-Mobile with unlimited and pay $200 a month. Huh?

 

[robnplunder]

What the heck? We have 4 phones on T-Mobile with unlimited and pay $200 a month. Huh?

Welcome to ER.org where you can get tips on saving money, making your money go farther, .... But you have to pay 10% of your savings to the ER.org moderators union fund. Aja8888, W2R, Rodi, or other moderators will contact you for "donation."

 

[bulbar]

Just called TMobile and got the promotional deal. Went from $200/m down to $140/m. Thanks!!

 

[Fermion]

Our current income would allow us to hit $3mil to $4mil by age 56 but we are going to retire now at age 45 with only $1.5mil (and give up a $260k a year job).

I figure those 11 years will be worth more than $2.5 mil when we are age 70. Probably more than a few at age 70 would pay that much for 11 younger years.

Retire now.

 

[Sunset]

Regardless of how much money a person has or earns, it is the spending that can make them end up penniless.

Just look at all the millionaire professional athletes that end up poor 4-5 yrs after quitting the sport, or the big lottery winners who have nothing left after 10 years.

So figure out a realistic budget for spending and you can retire safely.

 

[papadad111]

In my area only an ATT tower exists and it is LTE coverage.

But ATT is very expensive.

Am Looking for a Ting like carrier whose backbone is the ATT 4G/LTE network. Does such exist ?

Ting uses sprint backbone.

 

[jimbee]

Regarding Ooma, you can accomplish the same thing with an Obi100 and Google Voice. The upfront cost is $35 and the ongoing cost is $0.

I can chime in on this one. I've had an Obi100 registered with Google Voice for a couple of years and it works well. The cost is as Cobra mentioned.

One point to note is 911 service is not available when using Google Voice. You can use a cell phone for that, or register the Obi with another service that provides 911. Although that will cost more than $0 per month.

 

[Cobra9777]

In my area only an ATT tower exists and it is LTE coverage.

But ATT is very expensive.

Am Looking for a Ting like carrier whose backbone is the ATT 4G/LTE network. Does such exist ?

Ting uses sprint backbone.

Here's a list of the better MVNOs that operate on the AT&T network. AT&T and Verizon charge more for wholesale access to their networks than Sprint and T-Mobile. As a result, the MVNO pricing to consumers is higher, as you can see on the link I provided. Still, the pricing is better than AT&T and there's no contract.

Also, there are several T-Mobile MVNOs that offer free roaming on the AT&T network. That might be a better value for you. This is similar to Ting, which operates on the Sprint CDMA network, but has free voice and text roaming on Verizon. Ting has announced GSM service starting soon that operates on T-Mobile, but reportedly it will not include roaming on AT&T.

 

[bulbar]

I can chime in on this one. I've had an Obi100 registered with Google Voice for a couple of years and it works well. The cost is as Cobra mentioned.

One point to note is 911 service is not available when using Google Voice. You can use a cell phone for that, or register the Obi with another service that provides 911. Although that will cost more than $0 per month.

Anybody use majic jack? looks pretty good I think.

 

[REWahoo]

Anybody use majic jack? looks pretty good I think.

Stick that (I mean that in the nicest way) - and any of the other things you've been asking about - in the search box at the top of the page, and you'll find a number of threads discussing the topic.

 

[bulbar]

ok, sorry