My wife and I (no kids) have been working and scrimping/saving for >18 years now. We were dirt poor in grad school and we never seemed to get out of that cheap way of living. Our annual expenses average ~18K/yr. We own our house (no mortgage), and cars ...
We've been maxing out 403/457 and roth IRA's since 1992. And have a little over 800K in those. We've also invested in CD's to about 400K (but many of those will mature this year and we're not sure how to invest that!). We have a lifetime annuity that will pay ~$500/month starting next year and growing at 2.5% per year until my wife dies (or at least 30 years if she dies early).
We're contemplating hanging up on full-time work next year. But I am terrified of healthcare/dental costs. We currently have insurance through our work. So I have no experience with private insurance. My wife was hit by a drunk driver 5 years ago and has some long term related issues (traumatic brain injury, leg fractures ...). She already had to drop to 3/4 time as her TBI issues were too severe for full time work.
I've worked with Tiaa-Cref and run a bunch of scenarios all indicating that we could pull ~35K/yr out (adjusting for inflation) and not run out of money.
We'd like to retire early (probably mixing part time for a while and racheting down). But with healthcare and our uncertain economic environment, I am very nervous. I'd hate to retire early and worry myself to death, or worse, run out of money and have to struggle through our elder years.
Anyway I'm looking for advice, others experiences/recommendations and anything else related to early retirement!
Anyone else mulling over I series bonds as a 5-10 year investment strategy?
Thanks
We've been maxing out 403/457 and roth IRA's since 1992. And have a little over 800K in those. We've also invested in CD's to about 400K (but many of those will mature this year and we're not sure how to invest that!). We have a lifetime annuity that will pay ~$500/month starting next year and growing at 2.5% per year until my wife dies (or at least 30 years if she dies early).
We're contemplating hanging up on full-time work next year. But I am terrified of healthcare/dental costs. We currently have insurance through our work. So I have no experience with private insurance. My wife was hit by a drunk driver 5 years ago and has some long term related issues (traumatic brain injury, leg fractures ...). She already had to drop to 3/4 time as her TBI issues were too severe for full time work.
I've worked with Tiaa-Cref and run a bunch of scenarios all indicating that we could pull ~35K/yr out (adjusting for inflation) and not run out of money.
We'd like to retire early (probably mixing part time for a while and racheting down). But with healthcare and our uncertain economic environment, I am very nervous. I'd hate to retire early and worry myself to death, or worse, run out of money and have to struggle through our elder years.
Anyway I'm looking for advice, others experiences/recommendations and anything else related to early retirement!
Anyone else mulling over I series bonds as a 5-10 year investment strategy?
Thanks