Retire in June or OMY?

[Magus]

call me curious: Paid off house and your spend is almost 200K/yr? Wow? I have mortgage of 38k/yr, go on 2-3 trips to the Virgin Islands every year, eat out once or twice per week and our spend is nowhere near 200K. This community has taught me that one of the most important #'s regarding FIRE is the expense #. Get a true handle on what the actuals are. Good luck to you.

Was thinking the same thing. My mortgage/tax/insurance/utilities are 40k/year and my total annual expenses are about $80k-90k, and that includes 4 international trips a year plus several US trips, my wife's luxury shopping/makeup and eating out all the time.

 

[pacergal]

>$200,000 is definitely fatfire in my book. You can always make more money, not always have more time.
Is the 27k SS just your DH and Will you have SS income?

Figure out your minimum base income needed to cover living expenses and go from there. Flexibility is the key. Wants and desires are secondary to needs.

Best of Luck to you in making your decision.

 

[PandaBear]

I always like to hear the end of the story and I have an end to this one (although it’s also a beginning). I made the decision to retire at the end of this school year. I submitted my notice yesterday. So, my last day will be June 1. Unlike many other professions, in education, giving your notice earlier doesn’t penalize you. My school district gives an extra year of paid medical premiums if you inform them by February 15 and this year a small retirement incentive was given as well. There is always a big job fair in early March so they like to know staff they may need to hire for. Since I work 50%, I have about 30 days left. I shared with a couple of friends and they were all surprised-I've been pretty devoted to this school district since 1991 and they didn't think I'd do it.

I’ve really talked over our budget with my dh and he is extremely confident we will be fine. He thinks I have WAY over budgeted what we will spend and that we don’t need that much. And of course, he’s probably right. I will be 60 this spring and dh will be 64 in fall. I am anxious to use this time we have to travel and visit my mom. We attended a funeral for a young man yesterday……22 years old…….I coached him as a middle school student and he was a part of my sons Boy Scout troop. That really impacted me and helped me hit the “submit” button on my paperwork.

Of course, making the decision as our retirement savings went down is stressful! I wish I were going out on a “high note” as it were, but it is what it is.

I am already planning my retirement celebration.....a cruise out of Boston in September, I hope.

 

[Unpaintedhuffhines]

huge congratulations, PandaBear. You will be fine and have made an excellent decision. Enjoy the last few weeks, and more importantly, enjoy retirement!

 

[Bigdawg]

Good job Panda. I agree with your DH that you guys will be fine. He is 1.5 years from Medicare and you are 5 years. Medical insurance should be fine for you guys. When you have more time after you stop working you shoud be able to tweek the budget and find ways to live easily under 200k/yr. Best of luck to you as you start the next chapter.

 

[Flyfish1]

Congrats!

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

Congratulations!

 

[Romer]

Congrats on your decision

Your income of $200K and savings look like a recipe to success to me

A couple of things, you said "sorry" a lot in working through questions and answers. learning exploring, clarifying and revising as part of the process are no reason to apologize. I am just saying we all came here to learn and it is part of the process. Do you want your students to apologize as they grasp something you are teaching them?

I am not questioning your expenses. Mine turned out to be a lot less that I thought.

I took my Quicken expenses the last 4 years. I then removed my Mortgage (paid off), removed 401K contributions (don't do that after retirement), removed the savings for after tax, removed the big things never do again like my daughters weddings. Removed taxes, ss and med tax.

I modified health insurance based on what I would have to pay

I then calculated state and Fed tax based on expenses.

The average over 4 years with expected taxes and Insurance was $30K less a year than I had actually been spending when I "normalized" it for retirement. I buy stuff when I want. One of our trips every year is international and we fly business class. We have cleaning people come twice a month, etc

Have you done something similar to normalize your expenses over the last few years to project future expenses? Maybe you have and with the help to a family member your expenses are still higher

With you income and investment balance you seem in good shape, but we dont know your actual situation.

Congrats on your decision and start thinking about what you will do next June.

Congrats again!

 

[PandaBear]

Congrats on your decision

Your income of $200K and savings look like a recipe to success to me

A couple of things, you said "sorry" a lot in working through questions and answers. learning exploring, clarifying and revising as part of the process are no reason to apologize. I am just saying we all came here to learn and it is part of the process. Do you want your students to apologize as they grasp something you are teaching them?

I am not questioning your expenses. Mine turned out to be a lot less that I thought.

I took my Quicken expenses the last 4 years. I then removed my Mortgage (paid off), removed 401K contributions (don't do that after retirement), removed the savings for after tax, removed the big things never do again like my daughters weddings. Removed taxes, ss and med tax.

I modified health insurance based on what I would have to pay

I then calculated state and Fed tax based on expenses.

The average over 4 years with expected taxes and Insurance was $30K less a year than I had actually been spending when I "normalized" it for retirement. I buy stuff when I want. One of our trips every year is international and we fly business class. We have cleaning people come twice a month, etc

Have you done something similar to normalize your expenses over the last few years to project future expenses? Maybe you have and with the help to a family member your expenses are still higher

With you income and investment balance you seem in good shape, but we dont know your actual situation.

Congrats on your decision and start thinking about what you will do next June.

Congrats again!

Thank you for your input and kind words. I think you are correct, I'm noticing that we are having some reductions in our spending. For example, we ate a lot more take out when we were both working. Now we eat from home almost all the time, because we prefer it.

My decision really felt cemented today. A colleague at my school was absent yesterday and then today. We were notified today her husband died on the way to work. They think it was a heart attack. A very sad reminder to me that I made the right decision.