earlyretirement
Dryer sheet wannabe
First of all, don't pick on my name. I had used it for my 401k and it just carried over to a couple of forums besides this one.
As a member of the ER community about 10 years, I haven't taken much advantage of it. My intent was to retire in my low 50"s (will hit FRA next September). Unfortunately life hit me square between the eyes with health issues, first with me at 49 1/2 and later with my better half. Just started treatment again after all this time which should give me a long stretch without having to worry about it. I will retire before the end of the year as long as my prognosis is good, problem is I have made a lot of poor decisions the last number of years, I have been WAY underinvested. I've still managed to have saved what seems like "enough".
Details-
-House is paid for and is worth approx. 350k. Plan to sell it and to move to warmer weather, the wife if miserable in the cold. Probably will spend about 150k more for the new house from what I can see.
-Assets are about 2.3mm total not including the house, 750k in cash account and the remainder in retirement accounts both taxable and ROTH. Presently much of the retirement money is sitting in cash.
-Aside from normal living expenses, the only bill I pay is for a 2021 Outback at 0 percent. I chose to go that route in case there were any problems with it, certainly I could have paid cash which is my normal way. Call it $850 month for 32 more months.
More Details-
-Getting hammered a few times in the market and the big hit I took on APPL options about the time I joined this forum has turned me into a chicken. I know buy and hold wins the race but I've been reluctant to buy back in for a while as it seems like a correction is getting closer.
-I went to a "free seminar" a while back, not the first time and was again told I have won the race and annuities were the way to go. I felt that getting a guaranteed 5% wouldn't be a bad thing (the last offer) but my son who works for an insurance company and was an underwriter says not to do it because he thinks insurance companies will be taken over by the government within 10 years and I could lose it. Probably bad advice but.
Help-
-Where do I go from here. Are my fears finally to the point where they may actually happen with the next crash and it waiting now the best course of action? Should I dump at least some of it into annuities and hope for the best? Bury gold in the back yard
-One last question, I have a Vanguard account and am thinking that I really don't like them, as a long time TD Ameritrade user I just don't like their website. Is Fidelity any better site wise? The last thing is that I like to dabble in options (yes, still after the drubbing I got in AAPL), is Fidelity better for that than Vanguard and do either of them allow options in retirement accounts, calls, puts, vertical spreads?
Any thoughts will be appreciated, thanks ahead of time-- ER
As a member of the ER community about 10 years, I haven't taken much advantage of it. My intent was to retire in my low 50"s (will hit FRA next September). Unfortunately life hit me square between the eyes with health issues, first with me at 49 1/2 and later with my better half. Just started treatment again after all this time which should give me a long stretch without having to worry about it. I will retire before the end of the year as long as my prognosis is good, problem is I have made a lot of poor decisions the last number of years, I have been WAY underinvested. I've still managed to have saved what seems like "enough".
Details-
-House is paid for and is worth approx. 350k. Plan to sell it and to move to warmer weather, the wife if miserable in the cold. Probably will spend about 150k more for the new house from what I can see.
-Assets are about 2.3mm total not including the house, 750k in cash account and the remainder in retirement accounts both taxable and ROTH. Presently much of the retirement money is sitting in cash.
-Aside from normal living expenses, the only bill I pay is for a 2021 Outback at 0 percent. I chose to go that route in case there were any problems with it, certainly I could have paid cash which is my normal way. Call it $850 month for 32 more months.
More Details-
-Getting hammered a few times in the market and the big hit I took on APPL options about the time I joined this forum has turned me into a chicken. I know buy and hold wins the race but I've been reluctant to buy back in for a while as it seems like a correction is getting closer.
-I went to a "free seminar" a while back, not the first time and was again told I have won the race and annuities were the way to go. I felt that getting a guaranteed 5% wouldn't be a bad thing (the last offer) but my son who works for an insurance company and was an underwriter says not to do it because he thinks insurance companies will be taken over by the government within 10 years and I could lose it. Probably bad advice but.
Help-
-Where do I go from here. Are my fears finally to the point where they may actually happen with the next crash and it waiting now the best course of action? Should I dump at least some of it into annuities and hope for the best? Bury gold in the back yard
-One last question, I have a Vanguard account and am thinking that I really don't like them, as a long time TD Ameritrade user I just don't like their website. Is Fidelity any better site wise? The last thing is that I like to dabble in options (yes, still after the drubbing I got in AAPL), is Fidelity better for that than Vanguard and do either of them allow options in retirement accounts, calls, puts, vertical spreads?
Any thoughts will be appreciated, thanks ahead of time-- ER