Since 2007, the DW and I have been targeting FIRE in July 2012 (@ my 55th birthday). We have used every retirement calculator out there, and after finding this GREAT place, been using FIRECalc every possible way. All results show no problem.
We even met with 2 different financial planners to check our progress and both were in agreement with our goal. For 2 years we tracked ever penny spent to make sure our expense figures were good (and we doubled those just to be safe).
We were planning to retire without health insurance because neither of us had any issues. We planned to rely on COBRA to start, then a high deductible plan (generous allotment in the expense plan for this) until Medicare kicked in. Risky maybe but the desire to FIRE was strong!!
Well, you probably guessed it. At a recent routine physical, I came out with a diagnosis of T-2 diabetes. I have worked through the emotion tree (shock, anger, resentment, denial and acceptance). While it has only been a few months, I am managing it well with diet, exercise and pills (versus insulin).
So now what does that do to my FIRE plan in 17 months? I am not sure! Certainly a pre-existing condition knocks me out of most private insurance coverage –though looks like there might be some that will allow it after a waiting period. The routine cost of managing it (testing and medication) will fit within our FIRE Plan. It is just potential complications from this or another issue that is the concern.
In hindsight, not getting the physical would have been smart (short term thinking) but I believe someone here previously implied that just being over 50 is a “pre-existing condition.” Of course ignoring the disease for 18 months would probably not be a smart thing. Some of the reading I have done, indicate that even well controlled T-2 reduces your life expectancy so that impacts the FIRECalc.
Fortunately no one in the work place or even very folks outside the work place know of the July ’12 FIRE target, which is good. Another good reason not to announce your intentions too soon.
So for now, while I’d like to be on the 2012 list, I think we are back to the calculating and planning stages. One thought is that a bigger nest egg cannot hurt, especially while we see what happens with the Healthcare bill in the near future. Of course finding some post FIRE job with benefits is another option but one I was hoping to avoid.
Thanks for listening
We even met with 2 different financial planners to check our progress and both were in agreement with our goal. For 2 years we tracked ever penny spent to make sure our expense figures were good (and we doubled those just to be safe).
We were planning to retire without health insurance because neither of us had any issues. We planned to rely on COBRA to start, then a high deductible plan (generous allotment in the expense plan for this) until Medicare kicked in. Risky maybe but the desire to FIRE was strong!!
Well, you probably guessed it. At a recent routine physical, I came out with a diagnosis of T-2 diabetes. I have worked through the emotion tree (shock, anger, resentment, denial and acceptance). While it has only been a few months, I am managing it well with diet, exercise and pills (versus insulin).
So now what does that do to my FIRE plan in 17 months? I am not sure! Certainly a pre-existing condition knocks me out of most private insurance coverage –though looks like there might be some that will allow it after a waiting period. The routine cost of managing it (testing and medication) will fit within our FIRE Plan. It is just potential complications from this or another issue that is the concern.
In hindsight, not getting the physical would have been smart (short term thinking) but I believe someone here previously implied that just being over 50 is a “pre-existing condition.” Of course ignoring the disease for 18 months would probably not be a smart thing. Some of the reading I have done, indicate that even well controlled T-2 reduces your life expectancy so that impacts the FIRECalc.
Fortunately no one in the work place or even very folks outside the work place know of the July ’12 FIRE target, which is good. Another good reason not to announce your intentions too soon.
So for now, while I’d like to be on the 2012 list, I think we are back to the calculating and planning stages. One thought is that a bigger nest egg cannot hurt, especially while we see what happens with the Healthcare bill in the near future. Of course finding some post FIRE job with benefits is another option but one I was hoping to avoid.
Thanks for listening
