firemediceric
Recycles dryer sheets
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2017
- Messages
- 207
As you can discern from my screen name, I am a firefighter/paramedic. Come November 1, 2022 I can retire with 85% of my salary plus some supplements that will put me at just above 90% of my average salary for the past 5 years. At that time I will be 54 years old.
Currently 9% of my salary gets deducted from my paycheck to go towards my defined benefit pension. Money also comes out for union dues, insurance and contribution to a 457 retirement plan. Those will all be expenditures that will go away upon retiring, the effect of which puts me at a net of above 100% of what my take home is now.
With the above numbers in mind, my monthly retirement check will be at least equal, more likely several hundred dollars more, to what I am currently taking home. I am debt free. Anticipated expenses in retirement however give me pause.
The largest expense that I am concerned with is the cost of health insurance. I currently pay roughly $260 per month for insurance. If I continue to purchase it through my employer after retirement, it will cost me $800 per month. That’s the current rate for single retirees. You can be sure it will increase. I chafe at the idea of paying what’s nearly equivalent to a mortgage payment for insurance that I hope to use minimally.
Another fly in the ointment, due to negative changes in my personal life, I am recently divorced and no longer a homeowner. Upon retirement I would like to move out of state to an area more suited to how I envision my retirement. I’m leaning strongly towards eastern Tennessee.
In the way of investments, I have at present $45,000 invested in a Roth IRA, $15,000 in a 401(k), $40,000 invested in the 457 plan mentioned above, $15,000 invested in a stock trading brokerage account, and about $20,000 cash on hand at present. I plan to grow that over the next 4 years with the intention of using a large portion to go towards a home purchase. Although I am certain my mortgage will be more than the $1000 per month in rent that I’m currently paying, I hope with enough money down my mortgage payment will not be drastically above what I am now paying in rent.
Of course I would like to have more saved to draw from but things are what they are. The obvious vehicle with horsepower for my retirement is the pension benefit. Although I could stay another 5 years beyond 11/1/22 to take advantage of the DROP provision which would put roughly $500,000 into an investment account at the end of the 5 years, I’m inclined to not go that route. I think I would prefer the time of not working over the money that would come from continuing to work.
I feel pretty confident in 4 years I’ll be ready to go, but the health insurance as mentioned above is the elephant in the room that I’m not sure how to deal with. Only time will tell what the real estate market will hold for me, too. In the meantime I’ll just keep trying to sock money away.
Please give me your thoughts, insights and suggestions.
Currently 9% of my salary gets deducted from my paycheck to go towards my defined benefit pension. Money also comes out for union dues, insurance and contribution to a 457 retirement plan. Those will all be expenditures that will go away upon retiring, the effect of which puts me at a net of above 100% of what my take home is now.
With the above numbers in mind, my monthly retirement check will be at least equal, more likely several hundred dollars more, to what I am currently taking home. I am debt free. Anticipated expenses in retirement however give me pause.
The largest expense that I am concerned with is the cost of health insurance. I currently pay roughly $260 per month for insurance. If I continue to purchase it through my employer after retirement, it will cost me $800 per month. That’s the current rate for single retirees. You can be sure it will increase. I chafe at the idea of paying what’s nearly equivalent to a mortgage payment for insurance that I hope to use minimally.
Another fly in the ointment, due to negative changes in my personal life, I am recently divorced and no longer a homeowner. Upon retirement I would like to move out of state to an area more suited to how I envision my retirement. I’m leaning strongly towards eastern Tennessee.
In the way of investments, I have at present $45,000 invested in a Roth IRA, $15,000 in a 401(k), $40,000 invested in the 457 plan mentioned above, $15,000 invested in a stock trading brokerage account, and about $20,000 cash on hand at present. I plan to grow that over the next 4 years with the intention of using a large portion to go towards a home purchase. Although I am certain my mortgage will be more than the $1000 per month in rent that I’m currently paying, I hope with enough money down my mortgage payment will not be drastically above what I am now paying in rent.
Of course I would like to have more saved to draw from but things are what they are. The obvious vehicle with horsepower for my retirement is the pension benefit. Although I could stay another 5 years beyond 11/1/22 to take advantage of the DROP provision which would put roughly $500,000 into an investment account at the end of the 5 years, I’m inclined to not go that route. I think I would prefer the time of not working over the money that would come from continuing to work.
I feel pretty confident in 4 years I’ll be ready to go, but the health insurance as mentioned above is the elephant in the room that I’m not sure how to deal with. Only time will tell what the real estate market will hold for me, too. In the meantime I’ll just keep trying to sock money away.
Please give me your thoughts, insights and suggestions.