Starting The Process

[Countdown To Freedom]

Greetings and Salutations! I am in the process of exploring the very real possibility of retiring in March 2022. I will be 57. I have begun meeting with our HR Retirement Specialist as well as my financial advisor about this life-changing decision. I won't lie; I feel like I am about to step off a ledge and worry if I really can pull this off. Here are some general stats about my situation and any and all input is welcome!

My age: 56
Husband's Age: 57
Location: MA
Mortgage: 0
Home Value: Around 280K-300K in this housing market
Property Taxes: Around $3200/yr
Auto Loans: 0-cars are 2015 Honda CRV and 2018 Subaru Forester-both paid in full
Auto Insurance: Approximately 2K/yr for myself and husband
Other Loans, including Home Equity: 0
Credit Card Debt: Averages around 1K-2K/mo and always paid off in full. We put everything on credit cards, including our cable/phone/internet bill, auto/home insurance, and gas.
My Income-approximately 80K/yr
My 401Ks: Approximately 640K-at one point with company match was saving 41% of my pay. Now with company match, saving 21% of my pay. Dropped contribution amount to free up cash when husband retired in 2019.
My IRAs: Approximately 22K
Savings: Approximately 60K
My Pension Upon Retirement: Approximately 2K a month as of 2019 calculations. Expect around $2200/mo pretax with 2021 calculations. No COLA for pension.
Health Insurance Post Retirement: Approximately $300/mo through my company and taken out of my pension. May be less as right now my son is on my insurance but will be dropped early next year after turning 26. At age 65, we may switch to my husband's employer for Medicare Part B as my employer will only provide an exchange subsidy for us once we are Medicare eligible.
Husband's Pension: Approximately $2100/mo after taxes. COLA eligible. Retired in 2019 at age 55 due to illness (heart attack). Doing fine now healthwise.
Husband's 403b: Approximately 102K
I plan on taking SS at age 62. Per my latest SS calculations, that will equal approximately $1600/mo. My husband worked for the state and is not eligible for SS.

Thanks for reading and again, any and all input is welcome!

 

[RetireeRobert]

You are debt free, and own your home. You have health insurance covered at reasonable price. You are apparently past any need for college savings for kid(s). So, I would say you will not be stepping off any fatal ledges!

You don't say your desired or expected level of spending post retirement, other than mention of credit cards bills each month. But from your detail you and husband will have over $50,000 annual income immediately, with another $19,000 SS coming on line in five years with annual COLA. Seems adequate to more than cover stated living expenses. In addition you have over $800,000 savings. At a very conservative 3% "safe" (or perpetual) withdrawal rate, that could produce another $24,000 a year income for you with annual inflation adjustment.

If your strong desire is to retire in March 2022 and your husband is already retired, it seems entirely doable to me.

Congratulations, and welcome.

 

[mystang52]

When estimating ER income and expenses, don't forget to include income taxes as expenses.

 

[HarveyS]

Hi and thanks for your post. As Robert mentioned, you need to know your expenses to really know what is possible. If you could go back 5 years and look at overall expenses that would help give confidence. You don't have to be very detailed at first. A simple here's what we made (Gross, not net to account for income tax), less what we saved (either IRA or after tax savings), plus any withdrawals from savings, is what we spent. Don't include any investment gains in this exercise. Don't worry about where you spent it, just get the number.

Make sure you are/were not pulling from savings to supplement living expenses after DH retired.

Next, look to see if there were any significant one-offs in the spend. New car, a/c, medical, etc. I'd say anything over $5k.
Are the annual spends about the same? They should be. If not, go back and look for one-offs or an explanation for the delta.

Assuming your spend was about $70k/year, as Robert said, you are OK. Not great but OK. I say not great because you will have home and auto maintenance issues that crop up, other unforeseen expenses that crop up (for me dental care), and your pension is not COLA'd.

If your spend is about $50k, then, clearly, you are in much better shape.

Take a look at your spending and report back. Then the community can weigh in with more informed thoughts.

 

[MBAustin]

Welcome Countdown - great user name! If you haven't found them already, we have a helpful list of things to think about before you make the leap:

Some Important Questions to Answer

As mentioned above, having a good handle on your spending is key.

Thanks for joining us!!

 

[RetireeRobert]

When estimating ER income and expenses, don't forget to include income taxes as expenses.

But also remember, after retirement there will be no more SS deductions.

 

[pacergal]

Welcome to the forum.
The link MBAustin shared is a great one, answering the questions really helped us at the time.

 

[SevenUp]

I plan on taking SS at age 62. Per my latest SS calculations, that will equal approximately $1600/mo. My husband worked for the state and is not eligible for SS.

Might be worth trying Open Social Security: Free, Open-Source Social Security Calculator for its perspective.