Retire on 3k per month thoughts...

[KB]

Maybe that's a blessing that it's not covered. If you did file a claim, they might cancel you.

 

[John Galt]

Yeah, I agree. Operating as we do............ that is, very close to
the edge budget-wise, anything unexpected requires
some real creative energy. Most of the stuff I can see
coming can be finessed somehow. It's those pesky
surprises that cause loss of peaceful slumber.

JG

 

[Nords]

Water leak under the foundation?

We just finished fixing a water line leak under our slab foundation ..... have not got the bill yet but it will be in the neighborhood of $2500.

I'm curious, Charlie, how did you find the water leak? Or did it find you first?

What cost $2500?!?

 

[charlie]

Nords,

We had a small leak in an outside faucet. After
the repair, the plumber noticed that our water
meter was showing about 1 gal/minute usage
with nothing turned on. This prompted me to
check water usage on the bill ........ my wife pays
the bills and did not tell me that the last one was
abnormally high.

We have a slab foundation and all the pipes are
run under the slab. They had to jack hammer
a hole in our utility room. One cold water pipe
had 3 leaks withing a 3' span ...... I told them to
quit digging and bypass the bad line by routing
a bypass outside of the house.

All of the leaks were from the inside-out. That is
the cavity was larger on the inside than the outside.
The plumber said that the problem was probably
caused by nearby lightning striking a utility pole
behind our house and some of the surge was
grounded through our water system. Who knows
if he is right. Anyway, there are no more leaks for
now at least.

We were lucky in that the water lines running
to the other side of the house were not affected.
The one that was bypassed was only about 1'
from the inside edge of the foundation and it
only provided cold water to the kitchen.

We are holding our breath hoping that nothing
worse develops. The pipes to the rest of the
house run under a brick floor in our den that
would be very difficult to repair.

This is the slab house owner's nightmare ...... and
most mid priced homes built in Texas since
the 60s are slab.

Cheers,

Charlie

 

[Nords]

We're on a 16-year-old slab, too...

Thanks, I think I'll go check our grounding rod now...

I've heard of a few homes in our neighborhood with the same leak problem, but the leaks sought out the owners. Puddles inside the front door, walls collapsing, and other subtle hints of trouble.

The putative cause is thin-walled copper pipe with acidic public water. I've never heard of a lightning-inspired water leak but we don't get much lightning here either. I'm just hoping that our water conditioner keeps the problem away, and I'd sure hate to see what lightning could do to a Hawaii home!

 

[charlie]

Nords, It could have been a corrosion problem
compounded by a bad run of pipe. Our water
in Texas is notoriously "hard" or alkaline.
In the 50s before they started using copper
pipe, corrosion was a very common problem.

Cheers,

Charlie

 

[gayl]

For anyone who has had difficulty finding health insurance due to a preexisting condition, I would suggest your best option is finding a public-sector job.  Hold it for 5 years (if you're keen to retire) or to the minimum retirement age, and you'll be able to retire and keep your benefits.

Slight correction: in order to be able to have HC benefits as a retired public sector employee, you must be eligible to a pension. In most CA positions, that means that you must have been employed at least 10 yrs / retire at 50 or a 30 yr safety employee retire at any age or 5 yrs retire at 70+. Sounds like you have an unusual advantage if you only have to work 5 yrs and retire at any age whether you can draw a pension or not.

Also the amount that you contribute towards your pension is higher than most realize. The yr before retirement, I was contributing 1600 a month ... my sister currently contributes 12% of her salary per month and it is due to go up. Yes, the retirement benefits are wonderful but you will contribute a major portion of the funds.

 

[RJK]

36k plenty, some years won't even spend that much.
As we age won't be able to travel/sports/etc. Spend it
while your looking at the flowers from above...

 

[wzd]

Being an owner of a business, even a part time owner, how much I take out is somewhat in my control until bonus time (when calculations are made as to what we are actually entitled). Therefore, when I told our accounting department I wanted a draw of 36,000 a year, accounting deducted from that amount taxes, my 401(k) contribution, flex benefits and insurance payments. This is what reduced my purported 36,000 a year to 632 dollars twice a month. Therefore, my exercise in pretend retirement didn't work. However, it will be an interesting exercise in frugality.


:-/

Martha - For pretend retirement, you need to be sure the taxes are the taxes on $36000, not including your year end bonus. Also, 401k withholding is not a valid retirement expense. So be careful to treat yourself fairly in the experiment!

Wayne

 

[Martha]

No kidding Wayne. I was going to up the draw to be a more accurate representation of 36,000, but decided to heck with it, leave it at 1200 net a month. Actually, to be a true retirement test I should make it zero.

 

[azanon]

Same with your lifestyle.
If most of us could cut back 50%, we would still be in
the top 1% world wide. Think about it.

That is so true. I'm not religious but we are so blessed here in america that even living very frugally, we have so much more than most people in the world.

Its all a matter of perspective and its unfortunate that its normal for our perspectives to adjust up when our means rise.

I will say one thing that has helped me is that ive made close friends with several people that make less than me and my wife also had much less than i did growing up, so that allows me to save at an ER rate, yet still feel and live comparable to those I surround myself with in my life.

 

[thomas hansen]

John,

I am generally a big fan of your posts, but I do not understand your analogy re:  "...like Grant took Richmond."  From my reading of the history of that War, Grant had a very hard time taking Richmond.  Was that your meaning?

I think it is supposed to be like grant took vicksburg, after a long seage, he crossed the mississippi and took it with little trouble once on the same side as the confederates, they surrendered with resupply cut off.

 

[rjk514]

As the gutting of the middle class continues and wages for the average working family continue to go down, I believe my $3000.00 per month looks more reasonable each day. Price of things have to come down, or nobody will be able to afford things.

 

[Mr._johngalt]

If you can't retire on 3K a month we are in big big trouble as my plans don't include ever coming close to that in our lifetimes.

JG

 

[Mr._johngalt]

Oops! Correction................3K is doable after all.
That's what I get for shooting from the lip

JG

 

[Mr._johngalt]

In re. "Thomas" post of Jan. 27. I confirmed previously that
"like Grant took Richmond" is not correct as a metaphor
for an easy victory. Not sure he had any real "easy'
victories. After he took over as commander of all the Union armies they suffered a defeat (forget what battle).
His troops were amazed and enthused when instead of
retreating they got organized and keep heading south.
Under previous Generals they were used to retreat and inactivity following a loss. You can take a lesson from Grant. What worked for him (dogged determination,
patience, and cojones) can produce a successful ER.

JG

 

[RockMiner]

We couldn't do it on 3K per month...but what I really mean is we're not willing to do it.

I respect those who have the dicipline, but if a life of saving couldn't buy us a little more latitude than that I would just keep working till it could, or take on a lower stress job and coast till age 62.

For me, pinching pennies would take some of the fun out ER. I'd rather keep the 3K budget as a fallback. It just depends on your conditioning and expectations.

 

[Mr._johngalt]

Hello Rok! Now this is what makes it fun. 3K a month
would be "livin' large" to us. Hell, we are no where
near that presently. Fall-back would be the $50 per day
budget, much discussed and examined here already.
Fall-back from there would be "Possum Living" as
per BlackHillsBob's recent post.

Here is a slightly different slant on this from someone
(that would be me) who has been retired a while.
Most folks here seem to think we are living on the edge of poverty
(not true). BUT, if I had known what I know now, I would have been gone even sooner, and then we would
likely be living on even less money. Why? Mainly because money can't buy you more time. It doesn't matter how much you accumulate or who you are.

JG

 

[Dawg52]

3k a month would be living high on the hog for me too. Of course I'm single so that makes it easy.

 

[vic]

As long as we are still working the 3K/month is very generous for the two of us. We are just too damn busy sitting in a cubicle, commuting, working in our business and building our new house that I don't have much time to spend it. (3K is without new house construction cost). I would definitely expect my expenses to go up once I free up that 8+ hours of daily cube time for other interests.

We are getting by on less than 3K a month but the IRS is taking 3K a month. So who am I working for? I can't wait to put a huge dent into the IRS payment.

Vicky

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

3k a month is well over my budget average too, but theres no mortgage, car payments or debt servicing to make payments on. And our monthly costs are pretty well kept down by bargain shopping, cooking 95% of our meals at home, neither of us spending much on our wardrobes (we're both jeans and a tee shirt types), and we're not heavy travellers.

A lot of it depends on your lifestyle and what you think is 'important'.

 

[bruce1]

Working so still have some commuting and clothing expenses and am probably spending $2500 a month. Living pretty high at times too with good lunches and restaurants in the evening on occasion. This December the pension will be $2200 if I go then. Should not make a lot of difference when compared to what I am spending now. Currently clearing $3400-$3500 month but not spending it.  Get most everything I want with no worries.  Just myself with big dog and small nervous cat. Caution third glass of wine post.

Somebody tell me to give notice for December  now

Bruce

 

[dm]

I have been tracking my expenses and 3K a month is doable when the kids are on their own. And no mortgage or any other debt. I am currently still working but have started getting things in place to ER soon. With two kids in college the expenses are running alittle high right now.

We are currently spending around 5K to 6K per month but the kids are going through 2k of that a month easy. Hopefully they will be on their own in a year or two.

I guess it just depends on what a person wants. I would say 3k is doable if your debt free.

 

[vic]

Somebody tell me to give notice for December now

Bruce

Give notice! Or even better, get laid off.

Vicky

 

[GTM]

Give notice! Or even better, get laid off.

Vicky

Now.. how does one go about getting laid off?