New to forum, but been planning awhile...

[Amandupsk]

Hello everyone,
I am a longtime lurker but have finally decided to bite the bullet and register for this site. I am 34, married with no kids, and looking to semi-retire this month. DH and I took several years off recently to sail full-time around the Caribbean. We came back to work early last year after putting the boat in storage and have been working nonstop ever since, thanks to the "little bounce" the economy took last year. But our contract here in Arizona is up (thanks to the magic of offshore outsourcing) and we are heading back to the boat for at least the 09-10 cruising season.

We are doing quite well with our investments, own a modest home (that we could pay off if we wanted to) and if we live within a budget of 30K/yr could probably get by without working at all but we tend to spend a little more than that which is why I say semi-retire instead of full FIRE.

Anyway I have really been enjoying the threads on this forum, especially hearing from those of you who have found or are looking for your "ideal" retirement spot, since we plan on eventually selling the boat in a few more years and deciding where to really live. Since we've both lived in AZ our whole lives, the Pacific NW is looking very attractive...we loved the Olympic Peninsula and Whidbey Island. Never been to Oregon but would love to do a nice long road trip up that way.

Cheers!
A.

 

[Mill]

wow! So how did you get to (almost) FI at 34? What do you and DH do for w*rk?

 

[Bestwifeever]

Welcome to the forum! Nice for you to be able to look forward sailing (I'll be shoveling snow while you're out on the bounding seas).

Some of us (okay, me) are worrywarts about this question: Do you have health insurance/health care planned for?

 

[Amandupsk]

wow! So how did you get to (almost) FI at 34? What do you and DH do for w*rk?

I know it seems young...I have always been a saver/LBYM-er and was on a good path before meeting my husband, who has also always spent way less than he earns. He got me into independent consulting (we are both computer programmers). Going the independent route really bumped up the income stream but we continued to live in a modest 2BR house and share a car (we carpool to the same j*bsite).

I've been coming to this site just to learn a little more about how to invest the savings -- up til now we've kind of been 80% in the market in an S&P 500 index and the rest is in money market savings or tied up in the house and boat. So I am trying to learn how to allocate for the long haul. The usual advice you hear if you are 30-ish is that you can afford risk now because you'll be earning for many more years but that doesn't exactly hold true if you are trying to retire early! So it's been great to find a resource like this site and learn from others' experiences.

 

[Amandupsk]

Welcome to the forum! Nice for you to be able to look forward sailing (I'll be shoveling snow while you're out on the bounding seas).

Some of us (okay, me) are worrywarts about this question: Do you have health insurance/health care planned for?

Thanks for the words of welcome...I'm sure its no fun to shovel but you also have the benefit of snow for the holidays (I grew up in Chicago and living in AZ the winter holidays just aren't the same!)

I appreciate your concern about the health insurance...I am also a worrywart that way and would not consider going un- or under-insured. We will continue to pay for our private health insurance, which we already have since we are self-employed. It is the most expensive item in the budget, after the mortgage! But worth it...earlier this summer DH had a minor cut that required stitches and we sure were glad to have insurance...two hand surgeries later we totaled up the benefits statements and realized it would've cost over 20K without insurance. I can't imagine if it were a more serious or long-term illness! I'm sure there are already threads on this site that deal with this topic but healthcare in this country is in a sorry state.