Is planning/saving for FIRE worth it?

[Martha]

I turned 50 last week and determined I need to work 8 more years. Retiring at 58 sucks, but there is not enough in our retirement portfolio to maintain our present lifestyle mainly due to the high cost of healthcare insurance. This is a great disapointment to me.

What state do you live in? Have you looked at the possibility of moving to another state which might have lower cost insurance?

 

[wompo]

Hi, Merlin.  I think that the cost of healthcare is or will be a deal breaker for a lot of us.  Just a couple more thoughts, for what they're worth (not trying to be critical).  Would it be possible to reach some kind of compromise?  Perhaps find a job that is a lot more fun, pays less money, and provides healthcare insurance?  Maybe cut backa little, but not go back to the 80's lifestyle.  Anyway, good luck.

This is the way we are starting to look at things.  Find a job in an area we like.  As long as we make enough to pay the bills and get health care we can just let the money we have saved now keep building in the market and then retire when the numbers get right.  

OTOH, if my family had a history of dying young then I would probably just retire at 45 (my family history points to dying in my late 80s).  I think JG is right that if your dad died at 63 I would retire as early as possible.  

 

[wildcat]

The cost of health care is crazy. It is a deal breaker for everyone. I don't know what will happen but it desperately needs some reform. I don't necessarily mean socialized medicine, just affordable.

 

[retire@40]

I have been obsessed with early retirement for the last 25 years.  I am sure my wife and I have missed out on a lot of "fun" over the years because of my obsession with saving.

When I was 25 I thought I could easily "retire" by age 50.  I turned 50 last week and determined I need to work 8 more years.  Retiring at 58 sucks, but there is not enough in our retirement portfolio to maintain our present lifestyle mainly due to the high cost of healthcare insurance.  This is a great disapointment to me.

"Lifestyle" has crept up for us over the last 25 years.  If we reverted back to living like we did in 1980, we could retire today.  We didn't have a pot to pee in in 1980.

My sister, on the other hand, has no problem with the idea of working until she is 65 or older.  I think the main difference is she likes her job and I hate mine.

Our father retired at 62 and died at 63.

If you obsessed with savings for 25 years and you still can't retire, chances are when you hit 58, you still won't retire because you still will not have saved enough in your own eyes.

You either focused too much on savings and not enough on earnings, or you really didn't have a realistic plan to retire by a predetermined age.

In any case, at the very least, you should consider semi-retirement at this point, especially in light of your family history.

It might be even later than you think.

 

[RockMiner]

Hi Whoda Thunkit, Great handle by the way...Semi-retirement is our transitional solution. We're not comfortable with going cold turkey, given our finances and the uncertainties surrounding health insurance costs, SS, Medicare etc. Our plan is to maintain employer medical insurance for about five years (earning enough to avoid dipping into savings) and see how these factors play out. Hopefully there will be enough clarity by then (I'll be 55) to allow better planning. Hey, it could happen?

This approach will allow us to change our jobs and location while permitting savings to compound and get us closer to collecting SS. So, back on topic, our planning and saving has definitely been worth it. With more dicipline we could have been FIRE'd by now but I think that indulging our selves along the way kept us from feeling deprived and we have gotten a few things out of our system. I think this will make living on a budget a little easier since we have tried materialism and know that it isn't fulfilling.

 

[greg]

No!

 

[dusk_to_dawn]

Wow, there are so many good responses to this question.

The wife and I left the big city and moved to a college town that we wanted to live in. We sold the big house and downsized, paying cash for the next house and found jobs in the college town. We feel like we are semi-retired at this point because we have so much more free time and vacation. I guess we just moved from the fast lane to the slow lane, and we are not going back. Knowing what I know today, I would have done this years ago. I find it preferable to live where you want to live (assuming you can find acceptable work there) rather than live where the highest paying job is. We now make about 50% of what we made in the city, but expenses are much less, we still save a good bit of income and we enjoy life more. I would say it was a good trade.

 

[wildcat]

Wow, there are so many good responses to this question.

The wife and I left the big city and moved to a college town that we wanted to live in. We sold the big house and downsized, paying cash for the next house and found jobs in the college town. We feel like we are semi-retired at this point because we have so much more free time and vacation. I guess we just moved from the fast lane to the slow lane, and we are not going back. Knowing what I know today, I would have done this years ago. I find it preferable to live where you want to live (assuming you can find acceptable work there) rather than live where the highest paying job is. We now make about 50% of what we made in the city, but expenses are much less, we still save a good bit of income and we enjoy life more. I would say it was a good trade

Good post, thanks for sharing.

 

[BearlyWorking]

After talking with retirees from my work the one thing that stands out is something they all say - 'I should have done this years ago'. Ten years after I retire I want to say 'I retired at just the right time'.

mike