Like so many others around here I've been reading this forum for while, and I thought it was high time I said hello. Here's a little background on my situation:
I ER'd a couple of years ago, and last year was my first full year of ER. I'm a single guy who was 53 when I ER'd. Now I'm pushing 55.
I was in the federal civil service and have a small pension and federal employee health insurance/LTC insurance as my core ER package. I also have about $600K in investments and about $300K in home equity.
My expenses for my first full year of ER were $52K. That's interesting because my estimate, based on two years of record keeping, was $54K. Came in right on the money! Even crazier, my non-investment income last year was $52K. That's right, an exact match.
This year I know I'll have a lot less non-investment income coming in, so something has to give:
Do I downsize my house to save on the mortgage? (Yes, I'm still carrying a mortgage--and boy do I hate it.) Sell the house and rent for a while?
Do I get a part time job? Not too keen on this option after a full year of ER but it could happen.
Move to a cheaper location? I'm located in an incredibly expensive city. Move to a smaller home in the same city?
Last choice is to pull expense money from investment income. This was the whole basis of my ER in the first place (4% SWR), but now I'm just not going there. Am I trigger shy, or is it really a better plan to save the investment bucket for later on in life?
Good to be here with you all. Looking forward to picking your brains about ER options.
ERguy
I ER'd a couple of years ago, and last year was my first full year of ER. I'm a single guy who was 53 when I ER'd. Now I'm pushing 55.
I was in the federal civil service and have a small pension and federal employee health insurance/LTC insurance as my core ER package. I also have about $600K in investments and about $300K in home equity.
My expenses for my first full year of ER were $52K. That's interesting because my estimate, based on two years of record keeping, was $54K. Came in right on the money! Even crazier, my non-investment income last year was $52K. That's right, an exact match.
This year I know I'll have a lot less non-investment income coming in, so something has to give:
Do I downsize my house to save on the mortgage? (Yes, I'm still carrying a mortgage--and boy do I hate it.) Sell the house and rent for a while?
Do I get a part time job? Not too keen on this option after a full year of ER but it could happen.
Move to a cheaper location? I'm located in an incredibly expensive city. Move to a smaller home in the same city?
Last choice is to pull expense money from investment income. This was the whole basis of my ER in the first place (4% SWR), but now I'm just not going there. Am I trigger shy, or is it really a better plan to save the investment bucket for later on in life?
Good to be here with you all. Looking forward to picking your brains about ER options.
ERguy