Stay at home mom wants to retire ....

[kellygirl]

My life has been full of bumps in the road...
Been thru divorce & single parenting and
at 55 I have an empty nest & lost my husband to cancer last year.
That all sounds bad but I have 4 amazing kids and a great grandson and think I have handled it all wonderfully..
I have our house on the market because its too big for just me .

I have 600K in investments, hopefully 100K equity in the house & 70K cash from a land sale. My plan when my house sells was to roll the house equity
plus land money into a small house and have no mortage or only a small mortage left..

I am a speech pathologist but quit work 22 years ago to raise a family..
The speech jobs are plentiful here & I can choose my hours & be flexible
if I want to or go full time.

I have been planning to return to work full time and after 5 years
I would have health insurance benefits in retirement. Right now my health
insurance is 500 per month. Living expenses are about 2K+mortgage.

But as the time to go to work gets closer I am wondering if there is another way. Housing is up in the air totally after I sell this money pit..
I could rent or move somewhere with cheaper housing. Right now I live in North Raleigh, NC with a high cost of living . Family & friends are here so
if I move it won't be far..

Everytime I do the math , its just too tight to retire now. But maybe part time could be possible.

I have big decisions to make with housing & work and could use all the advice I can get. If I left out info that is needed let me know..

 

[Lazarus]

Welcome.

How are you generating an income now? Or are you living off savings?

 

[MichaelB]

Hi Kellygirl. Welcome to the forum. Do you know if you will be getting social security, and if so, how much it will be? It could be from our own work record or that of your late husband.

 

[martyb]

Hey kellygirl..my hometown's about 90 miles south of Raleigh (Rockingham, NC). I am in Texas & Louisiana now, but if I were to decide to move back to NC after retirement, I might consider the Southern Pines, Pinehurst & Aberdeen area. Are you familliar with that area? One of my daughters & grand daughter live there and they really like it. I think I could maybe stick around that area for awhile, even though I'm not a golfer. Only 25 miles to mom, sisters etc, but yet a little nicer area (to me). Home prices seem reasonable to me. Anyhow, just thought I'd throw that out there. Best of luck to you, and welcome.

 

[kellygirl]

During the past year I have been fixing my house which was in disrepair ...I have lived off
cash on hand and selling off cars & boat & other stuff. But bottom line is without working I will now be using savings (either land sale cash or investments)

I am pretty sure that I can get 1/2 my first husbands SS(over 10 year marriage )
I think that would be about $1000. I don't know how ss works for deceased spouses.

I know I could manage. But in my mind the choice is working 5 years and then having insurance & more $ per month in retirement or retiring now and having a much tighter budget.

I actually don't mind working, it will give me a routine & work friends but I won't like missing family & friend time ...Going to work 8 to 5 will be easier than the house rehab this past year but I will miss the flexibility to enjoy my family & friends at any time..

One option would be to work FT now while I am selling this house and reducing my monthly expenses. Then after the dust settles I may love it and not want to quit, or I may decide PT will be enough ...

 

[pb4uski]

+1 on checking into what SS retirement benefits are available to you as this will make your "can I retire" calculations closer. If you have reservations whether SS will be there for you you can always use a percentage of what SS tells you you will receive.

IF ObamaCare goes into effect you would likely be eligible for a substantial health insurance subsidy so your health care costs would likely decrease significantly.

 

[pb4uski]

....I am pretty sure that I can get 1/2 my first husbands SS(over 10 year marriage )
I think that would be about $1000. I don't know how ss works for deceased spouses....

You should check into it. I think a surviving spouse is entitled to 100% of the deceased spouses benefit (or 100% of their own benefit based on their work record) so in your case I think you would be entitled to 100% of your husband's benefit at your FRA. If I'm right the extra $1,000 a month would make a big difference.

See Survivors Planner: How Much Would Your Benefit Be?

 

[kellygirl]

Martyb...

I love that area !!! Horse country !!
I grew up riding and we went there for horse shows..
I like the peaceful country & my husband and I had just bought a Va property
with the plans to retire there..

But now that I am single I am realizing I need
the community and social life of being in a neighborhood instead ..

 

[kellygirl]

You should check into it. I think a surviving spouse is entitled to 100% of the deceased spouses benefit (or 100% of their own benefit based on their work record) so in your case I think you would be entitled to 100% of your husband's benefit at your FRA. If I'm right the extra $1,000 a month would make a big difference.

See Survivors Planner: How Much Would Your Benefit Be?

I will check..I assume I can't draw both my ex's and late husband's SS.
Either 100 % of deceased spouse or 1/2 of ex spouse would be 1000 to 1200.
But I need to see how early withdrawal affects that.
My own ss is low because of staying home raising a family...I think if you raise
4 great kids they should give you some SS credit for that

 

[kellygirl]

Working Full Time at Speech is logical..

My problem is that I have a restless & adventuresome spirit right now.
With kids grown and house selling I have this urge to travel country,
hike Appalachian trail, learn to housesit across the country.

So many things are popping into my head, like travel therapy. But then I
want home & hearth too...

 

[obgyn65]

Welcome to the forum, Kelly.