ExFlyBoy5
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Greetings All,
I have been a lurker on the board for a couple of years now, and have posted a couple of odds and ends since becoming a "bonafide" member but thought I would introduce myself...properly.
How do you summarize so much in so little space? Wow...well, let's see if I can give you the abridged version.
I turned 40 this May and have been in the Air Force for just about 22 years. I have "officially" w*orked since I was 15 (and a couple of years before that in the family biz) and from the first time I clocked in (Little Ceasar's Pizza), I realized that I didn't want that life.
As fate would have it, I married young (21) and spent like a mad man for a good solid 7 years, trying to keep a crappy marriage together with by buying lots and lots of STUFF. This really went against the grain of my upbringing and I lost lots of sleep over it. There were many other issues in the marriage but the straw that broke the camel's back was my ex's statement about credit card debt: "Well, if I can make the minimum payment, what does it matter?!?". Oye! So...not too long after that, we divorced and I went into extreme LBYM mode and realized I had a lot to catch up on.
A number of years later, I was "enjoying" my j*b, but it is still a j*b. Most days were quite OK, but about a year ago, I started reading lots of stuff about early retirement. I had convinced myself that I would hang on for a few more years (2016'ish) since I didn't want to throw away good money. For the last 9 years, I have had an effective savings rate in the neighborhood of 65%. The money has been easy, and watching it grow has been amazing. Anyway (long story short is getting long!), the j*b has begun a slow "death by a thousand cuts" that has really become unbearable. So, after running numbers for the 4 millionth time, I decided to punch the button for retirement. For the first couple of days, I was a bit apprehensive of my decision, but that quickly faded. I am now looking very forward to sleeping in, avoiding crappy traffic, spending time on the deck, the lake and on my hammock and most importantly, NOT WO*KING FOR THE MAN ANYMORE!!!
Now, the specifics. My current wife (been together since 2005) is super with money (on our second date, we shared our credit reports with one another
) and we have no children. She was self-employed for a number of years and did very well, but she was working way too much. Now, she has a corporate gig that pays well and has great benefits and she seems to enjoy. She could retire with me, but has elected to stay where she is. She believes I will be bored in a couple of months and will want to find a j*b. I tend to believe that she's WRONG. She's not wrong often, but most likely wrong on this one.
Now some numbers:
No debt including no mortgage. This is the best thing ever.
Assets:
Primary Home: 220K'ish
IRA: 75K (mine alone)
Taxable Accounts: 220k (mine alone)
Rental Property: 200K'ish
Expenditures:
Fixed: 25K
Discretionary: 10K
Income (including COLA protected pension, MY dividend income and rental income) (Does NOT include spouses ordinary income or her dividend income): 64K
So, although the net assets aren't that high and much lower than what some people would require to RE...I think the best thing is the pension income that is COLA protected. I have estimated (conservatively) that it's worth about 1.2m Not only to mention that I will have Tricare for my health care, so those costs (for now) will be very low...at least in comparison with the average costs.
Hopefully, I haven't bored you too much. I look forward to spending more time on the board...especially starting Nov 23rd...my last official day of w*rk!!!
I have been a lurker on the board for a couple of years now, and have posted a couple of odds and ends since becoming a "bonafide" member but thought I would introduce myself...properly.
How do you summarize so much in so little space? Wow...well, let's see if I can give you the abridged version.
I turned 40 this May and have been in the Air Force for just about 22 years. I have "officially" w*orked since I was 15 (and a couple of years before that in the family biz) and from the first time I clocked in (Little Ceasar's Pizza), I realized that I didn't want that life.
As fate would have it, I married young (21) and spent like a mad man for a good solid 7 years, trying to keep a crappy marriage together with by buying lots and lots of STUFF. This really went against the grain of my upbringing and I lost lots of sleep over it. There were many other issues in the marriage but the straw that broke the camel's back was my ex's statement about credit card debt: "Well, if I can make the minimum payment, what does it matter?!?". Oye! So...not too long after that, we divorced and I went into extreme LBYM mode and realized I had a lot to catch up on.
A number of years later, I was "enjoying" my j*b, but it is still a j*b. Most days were quite OK, but about a year ago, I started reading lots of stuff about early retirement. I had convinced myself that I would hang on for a few more years (2016'ish) since I didn't want to throw away good money. For the last 9 years, I have had an effective savings rate in the neighborhood of 65%. The money has been easy, and watching it grow has been amazing. Anyway (long story short is getting long!), the j*b has begun a slow "death by a thousand cuts" that has really become unbearable. So, after running numbers for the 4 millionth time, I decided to punch the button for retirement. For the first couple of days, I was a bit apprehensive of my decision, but that quickly faded. I am now looking very forward to sleeping in, avoiding crappy traffic, spending time on the deck, the lake and on my hammock and most importantly, NOT WO*KING FOR THE MAN ANYMORE!!!
Now, the specifics. My current wife (been together since 2005) is super with money (on our second date, we shared our credit reports with one another
) and we have no children. She was self-employed for a number of years and did very well, but she was working way too much. Now, she has a corporate gig that pays well and has great benefits and she seems to enjoy. She could retire with me, but has elected to stay where she is. She believes I will be bored in a couple of months and will want to find a j*b. I tend to believe that she's WRONG. She's not wrong often, but most likely wrong on this one. Now some numbers:
No debt including no mortgage. This is the best thing ever.
Assets:
Primary Home: 220K'ish
IRA: 75K (mine alone)
Taxable Accounts: 220k (mine alone)
Rental Property: 200K'ish
Expenditures:
Fixed: 25K
Discretionary: 10K
Income (including COLA protected pension, MY dividend income and rental income) (Does NOT include spouses ordinary income or her dividend income): 64K
So, although the net assets aren't that high and much lower than what some people would require to RE...I think the best thing is the pension income that is COLA protected. I have estimated (conservatively) that it's worth about 1.2m Not only to mention that I will have Tricare for my health care, so those costs (for now) will be very low...at least in comparison with the average costs.
Hopefully, I haven't bored you too much. I look forward to spending more time on the board...especially starting Nov 23rd...my last official day of w*rk!!!
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