Doingitwrong
Recycles dryer sheets
Hi all!
No big bucks here. Paid plenty of medical insurance premiums and out of pocket over the past 20+ years. It’s complicated but basically we are exhausted!
Short version-We left our respective military services over 20 years ago (me-USAF, DW- Royal Canadian AF); we didn’t have health insurance after service (college students); six months after discharge DW gets diagnoses of stage four cancer. Many years of battle with government agencies in Canada. House we were renting went on market while DW was doing chemo and radiation; so we bought it (0 down USVA) because we didn’t have money to move.
Flash forward-House has been paid off for seven years. $XXX,XXX in medical bills have been paid off for years. Credit scores are 800+. Own three vehicles because I’m paranoid about not being able to get DW to ER as needed (3-5X a year). Her meds and medical expenses are paid for by US insurance company, Canadian military retiree insurance then Veterans Affairs Canada (no out of pocket except premiums).
Ready to FIRE or burning down the house?
I’ll be 55 in 2018. I have a Solo 401K with $350,000 (40% mutual funds/30% bond funds/30% cash) at a local small town bank’s trust department. It’s a self-directed plan largely invested in Vanguard funds. The trust department charges me 0.4% annually and maintains all of our legal docs. I also have about $20k in a self-only HSA (DW is a gold-plan girl). We have $130K in savings and a brokerage account. House should net us $140K.
DW will be 62 in 2018. Her annual income from Canada stated in US dollars (last month was US$0.73 per C$1.00) is $24,000 from Veterans Affairs Canada (tax free), Canadian Forces $18,000 (taxed at 15% there but we get most back filing elective return), and Canada Pension Plan (social security) is $8,000. All are adjusted for Canadian CPI. She also gets $2,800/year from a state pension that will not increase, but they give her a 13th annual payment from time-to-time.
We’ve done it our way. We are used to annual medical insurance running $20-30K. Signed up for Obamacare for the first time in 2017; her Gold premium is $925/month and my HSA premium is $250/month. We don’t need to leave a legacy. We plan to UP-SIZE our home in retirement and move closer to family. We are going to “rent” the place from the bank with 10% down (to reduce Veterans Affairs funding fee) and enjoy life!
She’ll claim her WEP adjusted US social security at 62 to reduce spending from savings and Solo 401K. I believe this will be $6K annually, but we haven’t visited them yet. I’ll make $24K working part time after we relocate (already got a deal signed). Plan to do part time for a year or two then tap 401K when I “separate from service”. I won’t be adding to 401K after 2017.
We’re budgeting $80,000 for my semi-ER in 2018. Inflation adjusted spending thereafter. Part time monies will be replaced by 401K money and savings in 2019/2020 and beyond. All the calculators I’ve used say we can do this! We don’t travel far from home much. Travel to Canada annually but northern-family saves on food and lodging.
We took joint & survivor on her pensions and VAC will pay me her disability pension for life as she rated 100%. And survivor could easily downsize housing later.
We always thought I’d work myself to death! It looks like that might not be the case!? We should have had a plan.
Thoughts? Are we leaving something BIG out? We have a budget on paper and it works. Some sources change a lot in early years (part time work, savings, 401K, US social security) but her income covers a good portion of our needs (and wants).
No big bucks here. Paid plenty of medical insurance premiums and out of pocket over the past 20+ years. It’s complicated but basically we are exhausted!
Short version-We left our respective military services over 20 years ago (me-USAF, DW- Royal Canadian AF); we didn’t have health insurance after service (college students); six months after discharge DW gets diagnoses of stage four cancer. Many years of battle with government agencies in Canada. House we were renting went on market while DW was doing chemo and radiation; so we bought it (0 down USVA) because we didn’t have money to move.
Flash forward-House has been paid off for seven years. $XXX,XXX in medical bills have been paid off for years. Credit scores are 800+. Own three vehicles because I’m paranoid about not being able to get DW to ER as needed (3-5X a year). Her meds and medical expenses are paid for by US insurance company, Canadian military retiree insurance then Veterans Affairs Canada (no out of pocket except premiums).
Ready to FIRE or burning down the house?
I’ll be 55 in 2018. I have a Solo 401K with $350,000 (40% mutual funds/30% bond funds/30% cash) at a local small town bank’s trust department. It’s a self-directed plan largely invested in Vanguard funds. The trust department charges me 0.4% annually and maintains all of our legal docs. I also have about $20k in a self-only HSA (DW is a gold-plan girl). We have $130K in savings and a brokerage account. House should net us $140K.
DW will be 62 in 2018. Her annual income from Canada stated in US dollars (last month was US$0.73 per C$1.00) is $24,000 from Veterans Affairs Canada (tax free), Canadian Forces $18,000 (taxed at 15% there but we get most back filing elective return), and Canada Pension Plan (social security) is $8,000. All are adjusted for Canadian CPI. She also gets $2,800/year from a state pension that will not increase, but they give her a 13th annual payment from time-to-time.
We’ve done it our way. We are used to annual medical insurance running $20-30K. Signed up for Obamacare for the first time in 2017; her Gold premium is $925/month and my HSA premium is $250/month. We don’t need to leave a legacy. We plan to UP-SIZE our home in retirement and move closer to family. We are going to “rent” the place from the bank with 10% down (to reduce Veterans Affairs funding fee) and enjoy life!
She’ll claim her WEP adjusted US social security at 62 to reduce spending from savings and Solo 401K. I believe this will be $6K annually, but we haven’t visited them yet. I’ll make $24K working part time after we relocate (already got a deal signed). Plan to do part time for a year or two then tap 401K when I “separate from service”. I won’t be adding to 401K after 2017.
We’re budgeting $80,000 for my semi-ER in 2018. Inflation adjusted spending thereafter. Part time monies will be replaced by 401K money and savings in 2019/2020 and beyond. All the calculators I’ve used say we can do this! We don’t travel far from home much. Travel to Canada annually but northern-family saves on food and lodging.
We took joint & survivor on her pensions and VAC will pay me her disability pension for life as she rated 100%. And survivor could easily downsize housing later.
We always thought I’d work myself to death! It looks like that might not be the case!? We should have had a plan.
Thoughts? Are we leaving something BIG out? We have a budget on paper and it works. Some sources change a lot in early years (part time work, savings, 401K, US social security) but her income covers a good portion of our needs (and wants).
