End one phase, on to the next...

[PIE314159]

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Have been a long-time lurker, coming out of the shadows now that plans for ER are in the process of being enacted by spouse (54) and self (56). Both of us reaching the end of our respective ropes in dealing with company business practices and questionable long term decisions.


DW ER'd after 31+ years in the tech field a couple of months ago. I will continue to work, with plans to wrap up 2014 with 8+ weeks of vacation starting in November, with ER finalized in January 2015 (after 32+ years).
Bulk of pension income comes from my company. Financial Planner has been telling us we've been good to ER for the last few years and our more negative/stressful calculations agreed with his, but picking the time to ER has always been a difficult decision given what happened a few years ago with the economy.


Kids out of college : No debt.
House paid for, but not included in net worth, budget estimates, or planning (other than upkeep).
No debt.
No health issues (yet).
Retirement War Chest = Roughly 2.5M by end of 2015 (conservative estimate)
Breakdown of 50/50 on Stocks & Bonds : Mixture of pre- & post-tax cash, 401Ks, & IRAs
Company Pension Income ~ $55K+/yr
Planned Retirement Expenses = $120K (20% above current lifestyle, use for travel while we can)


We basically arrived at our living expenses after comparing what our current lifestyle is, including what the company had paid for health-care (ouch!) against what we'd recently saw as full time nursing home care in this area, times 2. Admittedly, nursing home care is probably going to continue to grow faster than expected, but it was a good number to start with.


One countdown complete, one to go. The next six months are going to drag for me as I continue to exist in the cube-farm, In the mean time, we'll both will be going over the numbers repeatedly to make sure we haven't missed anything.

 

[samclem]

π,
Thanks for coming out into the light. It sounds like you guys have been giving this a lot of thought for quite some time.

 

[AnIntentionalRoad]

Welcome!

Looks like you are in great shape and will have less than a 3% WR.

It doesn't get much better than that. Enjoy!

 

[heeyy_joe]

Many retire on half of those assets or less. Well done.

 

[MBAustin]

Welcome, PIE. Like your DW, I ER'd after 31+ years in tech - not many of us females around who can say that, so good for her! Enjoy crossing each day off the calendar - many of us found the last couple of months much less stressful since we were no longer so invested emotionally in our w*rk.

 

[pinejake]

My numbers and situation are almost indentical, and I'm getting out early in 2015 @ 56, DW will retire in a week. Replacement is on board, so I can't change my mind now, not that I really want to.

But, I think 2nd thoughts come with the territory, particuliarly when you read retirement stuff like the MSN story today about 70 being the new retirement age and people retiring earlier than that being fooliish or crazy. Of course, the MSN retirement stories are all over the board and probably not worth reading.

I'm going for it regardless!!

 

[Major Tom]

Looks like you are in great shape and will have less than a 3% WR.

I think your WR should be 3.14159%

Welcome aboard!

 

[PIE314159]

Biggest fear is one twist of the economy and that's exactly where we'll be...

Thanks.

 

[Golden sunsets]

You have plenty of wiggle room in your budget and a conservative WR.

 

[38Chevy454]

Agree your savings is more than sufficient to ER, with a conservative withdrawal rate. Get out sooner and enjoy the time traveling.

 

[MBAustin]

I think your WR should be 3.14159%

Welcome aboard!

+1!