Getting Ready To Jump

[sunsnow]

I'm planning to give six months notice in a couple weeks. Yikes! This is such a huge step, and even though I have planned carefully over the past 17 years to get here, I find myself having trouble really believing the time has arrived. I am so sick of my job, I know I will not miss it at all. I have loads of personal projects that I have put on hold, and want to get back to. I am so excited! But also scared that I am jumping off a financial cliff.

Our details:

my age: 42
DH:43
house paid off / no debt
no kids

1M Roth
1.5M Rental Real Estate (conservative net 60K/yr off 130K gross rents)
300K non-tax advantaged
200K IRA/401K
400K vacation condo (plan to sell this winter, add to non-tax advantaged funds)
250K Business ownership interest (holding on to this)

investment allocation:
equities 75%, CD's 25%
equities invested 60% in Vanguard ETF for total US market, 40% Vanguard ETF for total International market

DH income: 150K/yr (he plans to keep working for a long time -- actually likes it!)

basic expenses: 60K/yr
fun: additional 20K-40K /yr

Does it sound like a plan?

 

[tuixiu]

(DH income > expenses) && he plans on working for a long time == win

 

[LOL!]

It does sound like a plan. 6 months? That means you should be able to max out your contributions to your 401(k) plan in January 2015.

Of course, a better plan would be to quit yesterday.

 

[WannabeRetired]

Your situation is looking pretty sweet to me. Way to go. Congratulations!

 

[2B]

This is the classic American dream. Woman marries well, quits work and is supported by her husband who keeps working. My wife pulled the same trick years ago when we had far less assets than you and your DH.

Please don't ever say to him when he's ready to retire, "But honey, what will you do all day?" We have some friends and when her husband brought up retirement that's what she immediately said. She hadn't had a paying job in 20 years. Somehow she managed to keep busy but he couldn't?

 

[sunsnow]

Thanks for the replies. Feeling pretty secure with this plan.

LOL:

I'm planning to contribute the max allowed by my company in Jan, which is 50% of pay. I wish I could contribute 100%.

2B:

It's interesting that you assume I "married well". In fact, we met as teenagers and when we got married neither one of us had two cents. No family help, no lottery winnings. Just LBYM and maximizing earnings. All the assets we have today were earned by both of us. Our incomes have been about the same during our lives together. Right now my income is higher than his.

 

[robertf57]

Sounds like HE married well! Good luck on the jump.

 

[Calico]

2B:

It's interesting that you assume I "married well". In fact, we met as teenagers and when we got married neither one of us had two cents. No family help, no lottery winnings. Just LBYM and maximizing earnings. All the assets we have today were earned by both of us. Our incomes have been about the same during our lives together. Right now my income is higher than his.

First, I would like to commend you on your response. You were a lot more polite and restrained than I would have been in the face of such a ridiculous and uncalled for assumption.

Second, best of luck to you in your retirement which YOU have clearly earned.

 

[dshawg77]

I get the strong impression people just come on this board to brag. I read this guy's situation and laughed. He is worried? Come on now....that is just silly.

 

[kimcdougc]

Congrats! I pulled the plug 4 years ago at 50. DH wasn't quite ready to do the same but now after "brainwashing" him for the last 4 years he has decided to retire in December. Enjoy your new found freedom!

 

[2B]

Thanks for the replies. Feeling pretty secure with this plan.

2B:

It's interesting that you assume I "married well". In fact, we met as teenagers and when we got married neither one of us had two cents. No family help, no lottery winnings. Just LBYM and maximizing earnings. All the assets we have today were earned by both of us. Our incomes have been about the same during our lives together. Right now my income is higher than his.

By my saying "married well" doesn't mean you are a gold digger that married him after he was well established with a big income. It also doesn't mean you didn't contribute. In your case, you married well because your husband has a good income and is perfectly happy to keep on working while you retire (not work for money). The other part of that is that both of you married well in that you both were happy to LBYM which is actually pretty rare. He married well in your good income. There aren't many people that have what you are planning to do as a viable option.

My comment was more to address what I've seen which is exactly what you are planning to do. I've decided its that women are smarter than men. You've figured out you have enough and don't need the ego boost of your well paying job. He is still driven to produce. It's probably genetic.

I do know one couple where both were well paying engineers with a large oil company. Both were moving up but the wife was offerred a big time job with another firm. The husband devoloped hobby jobs that kept him active and engaged but he made next to nothing. She was a VP at a big oil company for years. She kept talking about retiring and makes me look like a light-weight in the OMY race. She did finally retire a year ago at 65.

I meant no offense. Now if you were talking about financing it by selling variable annuities I would try to offend you.

 

[Meadbh]

This is the classic American dream. Woman marries well, quits work and is supported by her husband who keeps working. My wife pulled the same trick years ago when we had far less assets than you and your DH.

Please don't ever say to him when he's ready to retire, "But honey, what will you do all day?" We have some friends and when her husband brought up retirement that's what she immediately said. She hadn't had a paying job in 20 years. Somehow she managed to keep busy but he couldn't?

What did the OP say that led you to that assumption, 2B?

We all have our inherent biases and stereotypes.

Congratulations to the OP and her DH.

 

[sunsnow]

Thanks everyone for the encouragement

Maybe it looks like a no-brainer from some perspectives (dshawg77), but deciding to retire has been a serious and somewhat difficult decision. Sure, as long as DH is pulling in more than our expenses, we are all set. But that could change, either by choice or not. If I have moved on from my career, I won't want to return and may even be unable to go back to the kind of well-paying position I have now. I think we finally have enough saved that if DH stops working we would be able to cover our expenses, which is a major factor in my decision to allow myself to retire.

2B:

No offense taken. I agree that DH and I both married well, in that sense. It's hard to know exactly why he likes working, but I'm sure feeling productive is a part of it. Also, he actually seems to enjoy the work itself -- says it's better than playing video games. I cannot relate at all, because the fun level of my job is currently somewhere between a tax audit and a root canal.

 

[Spanky]

It's hard to know exactly why he likes working, but I'm sure feeling productive is a part of it. Also, he actually seems to enjoy the work itself -- says it's better than playing video games. I cannot relate at all, because the fun level of my job is currently somewhere between a tax audit and a root canal.

That's humorous. Congrats -- you are definitely good to go.

 

[Letj]

I get the strong impression people just come on this board to brag. I read this guy's situation and laughed. He is worried? Come on now....that is just silly.

I somewhat agree. I see the type of assets people post here supposedly to ask if they can quit and I wonder the same thing. If someone has achieved a substantial amount of assets in a relatively short period of time (like many who post here) it seems obvious to me that they should be able to tell when they have enough to support their lifestyle in retirement. In fact, this poster's husband will still be making $150K so I don't know why she would need our validation, just saying.

 

[WannabeRetired]

I give people the benefit of the doubt. It's a huge decision to hang it up. I think it may be even more difficult for some to stop working if their salary is much bigger than average even if they're fairly sure they've saved enough. It would be a lot of money to just walk away from.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

I somewhat agree. I see the type of assets people post here supposedly to ask if they can quit and I wonder the same thing. If someone has achieved a substantial amount of assets in a relatively short period of time (like many who post here) it seems obvious to me that they should be able to tell when they have enough to support their lifestyle in retirement. In fact, this poster's husband will still be making $150K so I don't know why she would need our validation, just saying.

Does this add to the conversation? No. If you don't like the post, simply find a different thread.

I personally appreciate when people share their finances, fears, questions..all of it. The numbers may be higher than you might expect and maybe this sparks a little jealousy. Just saying.

Congrats to the OP. I think you'll do just fine.

Sent From My Motorola Startac. Please excuse grammatical errors.

 

[2B]

I somewhat agree. I see the type of assets people post here supposedly to ask if they can quit and I wonder the same thing. If someone has achieved a substantial amount of assets in a relatively short period of time (like many who post here) it seems obvious to me that they should be able to tell when they have enough to support their lifestyle in retirement. In fact, this poster's husband will still be making $150K so I don't know why she would need our validation, just saying.

I felt this a bit and I'm afraid it tainted my earlier comments a bit. With all that has transpired, I think the OP was genuine and truly wants validation. It doesn't take my validation when their expenses are still going to be met with one of them still working. What they lose is the extra savings of the second salary. The question may be better phrased to question whether her "retirement" sentences her husband to infinite years of working even if he decides he would like to retire. Here the answer is still yes he could also retire. I'd have some suggestions for that but none were requested. Basically, I'm not big on self-managed real estate when you are calling yourself retired. Self-managing is a lot of work. You go from working for a wage to running your rental business. Just personal opinion - I know lots of people here do real estate.

What I get a kick out of are the posters that come on with "Help. I'm in a high stress job making $500K and have $8 MM in investments. I want to retire but can't imagine getting by on less than $300K. Can anyone help me?" I try to be nice but it's hard to feel much empathy. I also think that a significant number of those are just playing with us. They usually don't hang around very long.

 

[MichaelB]

So many threads about members not discussing their finances and ER plans with family, friends, co-workers. So they come here to discuss their plans.

Sunsnow isn't asking if she has enough money, she's sharing her first steps toward actually retiring. It's a big step. Hopefully she will continue to share.

.
.

 

[REWahoo]

You're gonna need a bigger pill...

 

[sunsnow]

MichaelB:
That is exactly my situation: I've been working towards this for a long time, am about to do it, and don't have anyone but DH to discuss it with. If I told my friends, they would be very envious and uncomfortable. If I told my family, they would make other plans for my money. It seems like this is a solid plan, but without outside eyes on it, who knows what could have been overlooked?

WannabeRetired:
Yes, it's hard for me to walk away from a big salary. I don't expect it to be waiting for me if I change my mind. I have seen a lot of capable, talented people unable to get hired. I've been in OMY mode for a while now, because I can just keep putting one foot in front of the other and earn big bucks. It's not killing me, so I can do it. But lately I've been thinking about the years that I will never get back.

Thanks again, to everyone who gave feedback. Even the posts that doubt my sincerity have been helpful. It all paints a picture that I'm not missing anything crucial, which is my main concern.