I’ve done some very careful planning and number crunching, used lots of the on-line retirement calculators and we even paid a FA for about a year’s worth of consultations and planning – all seem to indicate a ‘go’ for the DW and I to retire.
I thought I would summarize what are scenario is and get some seasoned opinions/recommendations from those actually in FIRE as this forum has proved to be a wealth of experience and ready advice!
Us:
Married couple(DH=55, DW=50), 2 kids, 1 started college this year, the 2nd will start in another two
Live in SoCal
House: Appraised $700K, 15yr 3% fixed mortgage w/ $100K left to go
No other debt: no cc balances, no car loans, no other loans
Me – plan to FIRE Jan 2015
55 in this October
Working at Megacorp
Contributing the max ‘catchup’ to my 401k with matching contributions
Plan does allow for withdrawals at 55 w/o penalties
Non-COLA pension will be $1,465/month at 55
Estimated SS benefits: 62=$1671/month, FRA 66/10=$2345, 70=$2940
After Tax Assets:
$247K (25% Calif double tax free munis, 68% US equities-various MFs, 7% Intl Equities)
401k Assets:
$620K (28% Bonds-index ETFs, 62% US equities-various MFs and ETFs, 10% Intl Equities)
Rollover IRA from previous job
$148K (56% Bonds & TIPS, 44% US equities-MFs and ETFs)
2012 Back door ROTH conversion:
$57K (2% Cash, 53% US equities-MFs and ETFs, 45%-Emerging Market ETF)
2013 Back door ROTH conversion:
$132K (0% Bonds, 78% US equities-MFs and ETFs, 22%-Intl Equities)
I also have about $18K in my credit union savings & checking account
Total Current Assets: $1.2M
DW – plan to FIRE in 2019
Works for CA State
Has enough time in service to continue full medical/dental benefits for all of us when she FIREs
Contributing $20K/$20K to 403b/457 plan per year
COLA Pension (with restrictions) will be $4776/month if she sticks it out to 55
J
Estimated SS benefits: FRA=$2492/month, 70=$3112/month
After Tax Assets (I don’t have the granularity…yet, of her asset allocations)
$136K Group 1 After Tax
$209K Wells Sharebuilder
$15K Fidelity Stock Investment Plan
Deferred Tax Assets:
$60K CAP Retirement
$632K 403b
$103K 401 after tax
$148K 457 Pre tax
ROTH IRA:
$45K
Total Assets: $1.3M
Kid's College:
We have saved $400K earmarked for college expenses, completely separate from above assets
$93K Cash
$58K 529 Plan - TIAA CREF
$255K Vanguard ETFs
The current son has yearly college expenses of $25K/year (in state college)
The second son (junior HS) is undecided on where he wants to go
Expenses:
I’ve been tracking our current lifestyle expenses for 2 years and we total about $80K per year.
We could cut back on some expenses, but we’d like to increase others – like travel! So, I’ve been using $85K for initial retirement expenses, then decreasing a bit later, and then increasing late in retirement for anticipated health care expenses.
I really want to get that final warm and fuzzy for both myself and my DW to avoid the OMY syndrome – I SO want to walk out the door and start this next phase of life.
Any red flags that you see or glaring imbalances or shortcomings, recommendations?
Hope to see you in FIRE in 2015!