Anyone FIRE on less than a million?

[Birdie Num Nums]

Note the post-WWII spike in that housing graph...the echo boomers are starting to form households now...betcha that at least keeps housing prices stable, if not upward again.

This does not mean, however, that these "echo boomers" will want to buy (versus rent), or can afford to buy, or even that they will be extended credit to buy a home.

 

[scrabbler1]

How is your health insurance (versus your "qualified medical expenses") tax-deductible? (I guess I'm assuming it's an HSA, which it may not be.) Is it COBRA? Are you collecting unemployment?

HI is a "qualified medical expense," as the first sentence of the "TIP" of the definition of what can be included in Form 1040, Schedule A, Line 1 shows:

"Do not forget to include insurance premiums you paid for medical and dental care."

Later, it says not to include these premiums if they were paid for by pretax dollars, such as those withheld from your paycheck as part of enrolment in your employer's group health plan. However, I have been retired and/or off that plan for the last 3 years.

Yes, I was on COBRA for 18 months from mid-2007 through the end of 2008. In 2007, because it was only for 6 months, the COBRA premiums (plus out-of-pocket dental) I paid that year were not high enough to exceed the 7.5%-of-AGI threshold so I could not deduct them in Schedule A. And in 2008, I received a huge lump-sum payout when I left my company so the threshhold was slightly greater than $25k, far greater than what I paid for COBRA+dental the whole year.

In 2009 and 2010, my AGI is much lower and my HI premiums are higher than what I was paying for COBRA, so the deductible portion of my HI + dental is about 2/3.

 

[LARS]

As for healthcare, I got a plan when I turned 60, and have held on to it even though the places I've worked in provided their own insurance. My policy is called IHI, and it's a subsidiary of BUPA. I pay about $3,600/year with a $1,600 deductible. It covers me everywhere in the world, guaranteed until I give up the policy.

That sounds like very cheap insurance! Good for you.

Never heard of BUPA...

 

[dex]

As for healthcare, I got a plan when I turned 60, and have held on to it even though the places I've worked in provided their own insurance. My policy is called IHI, and it's a subsidiary of BUPA. I pay about $3,600/year with a $1,600 deductible. It covers me everywhere in the world, guaranteed until I give up the policy. Two more years and I am on Medicare.

Cheers,

Rob

Do you have a link? I found the UK site and it excludes US citizens. I will be looking for a health ins company for when I travel outside of the USA. I will keep my USA ins.
Thanks

I found a link for it. - It looks very reasonable - 169/year

https://global.ihi.com/travel+insurance/buy+travel+insurance.aspx

 

[Rob]

I got IHI (International Health Insurance) which is a part of the British BUPA, the largest health insurance company in the world. As an American, you can enroll in IHI only when you are overseas as an expat. You cannot enroll when you are in the states. After you enroll as an American Expat overseas, it covers you in the states when you return. I've been told than many many times.

The customer service for IHI is excellent, and I've only had to use it once for a double hernia. I paid the first $1,600, and they picked up the rest.

On a side note, I just semi-retired from being a high schoool teacher and living in Singapore now. For the first time in my life, I am jobless, but I'm 63. I'm trying to reinvent myself. I get a little worried that some of you think a million dollars is not enough. I have a little that ($990,000). When you say a million is not enough, do you mean you and your wife and kids, or just you? For me, I'm single, and I'm hoping the million I have, mostly with TIAA-CREF, is enough. I will work part-time, but I don't want to feel I need to.

I'm glad we can all share idea like this. Thank you.

Rob

 

[NW-Bound]

I am semi-retired, and wondering if I should completely retire. This thread is very interesting. I have about a million, perhaps a little less, in TIAA-CREF and a bank account. I'm living on the interest from some of my money, and that interest income gives me about $32,000/year. I live in Singapore, pay the equivalent of about $1,300/month on rent, electricity, water, cable TV, and internet. Social security will add about $8,000/year if I took it now. I'm holding off though. I'm 63.

I'm in an area that is cheap to travel from. Last week I hopped on a bus and went to a small Malaysian town. Flying to any of the SE Asian countries is very convenient.

As for healthcare, I got a plan when I turned 60, and have held on to it even though the places I've worked in provided their own insurance. My policy is called IHI, and it's a subsidiary of BUPA. I pay about $3,600/year with a $1,600 deductible. It covers me everywhere in the world, guaranteed until I give up the policy. Two more years and I am on Medicare.

Cheers,

Rob

I got IHI (International Health Insurance) which is a part of the British BUPA, the largest health insurance company in the world. As an American, you can enroll in IHI only when you are overseas as an expat. You cannot enroll when you are in the states. After you enroll as an American Expat overseas, it covers you in the states when you return. I've been told than many many times.

The customer service for IHI is excellent, and I've only had to use it once for a double hernia. I paid the first $1,600, and they picked up the rest.

On a side note, I just semi-retired from being a high schoool teacher and living in Singapore now. For the first time in my life, I am jobless, but I'm 63. I'm trying to reinvent myself. I get a little worried that some of you think a million dollars is not enough. I have a little that ($990,000). When you say a million is not enough, do you mean you and your wife and kids, or just you? For me, I'm single, and I'm hoping the million I have, mostly with TIAA-CREF, is enough. I will work part-time, but I don't want to feel I need to.

I'm glad we can all share idea like this. Thank you.

Rob

Rob,

It looks like you will be fine. We are 10 years younger (see my signature line), so we are a bit more than 8 years away from early SS, and 11 years from Medicare. We also have a higher cost of living in the US, though we could downgrade to an apartment to take out our RE values and pay the same as your $1300/month to reduce housing costs.

Same as others, the concern is the health care cost. We are paying $450/month for the 2 of us plus a 21-year old son in college. And that is for an HSA with $10,000/yr deductible. And we have a clean bill of health, with no chronic conditions or any hospitalization history! We have had no claims, yet they increase our premium regularly like clockwork.

So, you can see why we would need more than $1M, though I do not want to reveal how much we currently have . I need to see more in my accounts to feel safe. But you are fine. Enjoy your retirement!

Cheers.

 

[easysurfer]

How is everyone handling health insurance?

The way I'm approaching health insurance is with a HSA and the "S" is for spending rather than saving. I take advantage of the triple tax benefit with HSAs, and if by the time I qualify for medicare (still years away) I have $1 left in my HSA, I'll call that a success.

Of course, with the health reform, that can add more variables to consider in the future.

 

[ESRwannabe]

I could easily retire off of $500k in the US if it weren't for health care. That would be the only thing that could throw a wrench in it. In which case I would probably work part-time for cheaper health insurance, or become an expat. I'm almost half way at $200k.

 

[oilspill]

Anyone can retire at anytime with any amount of money. Just got to be flexible and creative, which unfortunately is sorely lacking as people age. So they rely instead on a pot of money. Do you see the problem right there? One moves from relying on oneself to relying on something.

As for healthcare, which is a scam run by the MAFIA, one should opt out. Take care of your body. Get treatment overseas. Offer pennies on the dollar as payment. It should *never* cost $50k for a couple nights in an emergency room, unless the intent is to robbery.

 

[REWahoo]

Someone obviously hears goat footsteps on the bridge overhead...

 

[rescueme]

Someone obviously hears goat footsteps on the bridge overhead...

Somebody with big ears?

 

[SecondCor521]

While I don't think health insurance is a Mafia scam, I do agree philosophically with what oilspill wrote. Self-reliance is self-reliance whether that is taking care of one's body and using creativity or whether that is moving one's 401k to an IRA, investing on one's own rather than using financial advisors or annuities, and not counting on inheritances or SS to ensure retirement.

2Cor521

 

[LARS]

It should *never* cost $50k for a couple nights in an emergency room, unless the intent is to robbery.

Sorry for the mini-thread hijack, but I just had cataract surgery in one eye and I was charged $2,400 for the operating room (which was in a surgery center not hospital)! I spent all of two-three hours there, and that didn't included any doctors fees.

Seemed awfully expensive to me...

 

[NW-Bound]

Talk about self-reliance, I pride myself on being fairly handy.

I can fix mechanical things like autos, appliances, tools, and most electronic things (I am an EE, duh!), and general home repair (but I will not work on a hot roof in 115deg F in this goddamn dry heat). If things can be put back in working condition by soldering, duct taping, or expoxy-ing (that's a new verb for you), I have done it.

But how do I learn to give myself a root canal, kidney stone removal, or a colonoscopy? Anybody knows where I can get medical instruments like shown in this past thread, http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f38/oh-man-inventive-tool-user-45157.html ?

 

[CaseInPoint]

I ER'd at age 29 with $59, a case of lentils, a taste for buzzard jerky, and a plan to use the system to my advantage.

I keep my livin' expenses low so that I don't have to work for the man. I'm not gonna let some corporation take my life away. Nosiree ! Between welfare and food stamps I git what they owe me.

Workin' is for suckers !

Stop workin' and start livin now ! The good life awaits you !

This is one of my favorite posts, MB.

 

[Leonidas]

Someone obviously hears goat footsteps on the bridge overhead...

 

[MasterBlaster]

This is one of my favorite posts, MB.

Well thank you very much. I enjoyed writing and posting that little gem.