Why am I so nervous about ER?

[Beryl]

Hello everyone,

I guess I'm one of those lurkers... skimming this great site while contemplating ER.

My specifics...
Male, Single, Never Married - 48
NW: 1.6m (soon to be 4.4m)
Annual Expenses: 35k to 40k
Debts: 130k mortgage
Dependents: 1 wonderful Dog

This thread is especially appropriate to enter the FIRE community, since anxiety has kept me from pulling the trigger thus far. Like so many previous posts... a lot of soul searching has pushed me to understand why I might be hesitant...

- A strong work ethic
(instilled by my father who, in passing away recently, will offer me an ironic independence)
- A fear of losing social interaction
- A fear of the unknown

You are in fine financial shape. Most people FIRE with much less. A 1.6M NW alone is pretty good for a single person. The great thing about your situation is that you do not have to work for anyone unless you enjoy it. Congratulations!

Fear, in my opinion, is no good. You are in good enough shape to sort out your fears either on your own (vacation, sabbatical, etc.). Or with professional help (nearly everyone has a therapist in California).

You obviously have a lot to offer the world and lots of time and resources to try out different things. Good luck to you.

 

[Arnie]

A strong work ethic
(instilled by my father who, in passing away recently, will offer me an ironic independence)

Condolences on your father. My dad taught me a work ethic but also taught me you can pass on at 57. Good for you for getting out when you can. Best of luck.

 

[rescueme]

Any creative options folks have used to get around pricey health insurance in ER?

Having a w*rking wife (or other)?

Just trying to answer the question ...

Seriously, in our case the monthly premium is just under $600 for full coverage for both of us, under my former employer's plan. While some may think it is a lot, others would think it is cheap.

All I know that it was accounted for in our retirement budget, and will become less of an impact in under two years, as we go to Medicare.

For somebody who is doing it "on their own", it certainly is a challange...

It's not the question of the cost, but rather does your retirement budget/income cover the cost...

 

[Seeking Hobbes]

Do you really need a financial adviser? A NW of $4.4 mil will last forever for the said expenses!

Thanks everyone,
I guess I just want a plan for for my father's estate disbursement. Although I'm sure my broker would love to get his hands on every check... I feel better knowing that an independent advisor has offered some direction as well.

 

[mexico]

Thanks for all the comments guys. I guess in a nutshell, the one thing that holds me back is still a significant insecurity about the future of our economy.
I'm still sorta waiting on the double dip taking the DOW to a fraction of where it is now.

I would be more concerned with the how much time you have left to live your life while you are healthy verus running out of money. You have enough money and 58 is not that young to be retiring. I am 46 and waiting another yr, 2 the latest, to say goodby to the corporate world. If I could do it today, I would.

 

[Delawaredave5]

I would be more concerned with the how much time you have left to live your life while you are healthy verus running out of money. You have enough money and 58 is not that young to be retiring.

+1. We fret over financial risks. Yet our biggest risk is mortality. Death rate at 55 is around 1% -- so retiring early at 55 vs 65 has a 10% risk of dying and not making it to 65.

And our risk is more than "death". There's a bigger risk of "sucky life" - debilitating medical conditions that make "w*rk look good" - cancer, etc.

"Sucky life" risk is probably 2x death risk (wild _ss guess).

So if you add "death risk" plus "sucky life risk" -- you might only have a 70% chance of an enjoyable early retirement.

Kind of makes fretting over 85% vs 90% portfolio survival rate look trivial.

 

[ItDontMeanAThing]

Any creative options folks have used to get around pricey health insurance in ER?

I haven't tried this option yet, but it intrigues me. I'm a combo of PT and have a retirement visa for Thailand. My new health insurance covers me for up to 90 continuous days in the country that issued my passport, the US of A. The policy doesn't say how many times I can go to the US per year but it does state I have to be an expat. I've asked for the precise definition of 'expat'. If, for example, it means I have to spend more than half the year outside the states then that gives me the option of living there less than half the year while taking two 3+ month long vacations to Thailand each year.

 

[patela6]

Other than going without or moving to another country, I don't think so.

An option we like the idea of...is having a home in Vancouver during ER. We both like the Vancouver/BC area. It would still be just 2-3 hours away from we are now, SF bay area. The idea would be to set up "base" there, be able to take advantage of medical benefits etc, still be able to "visit" SF /London/Europe whereever else.

Any thoughts on this? We havent thought it through more than this...its still a while away...

 

[mh]

An option we like the idea of...is having a home in Vancouver during ER. We both like the Vancouver/BC area. It would still be just 2-3 hours away from we are now, SF bay area. The idea would be to set up "base" there, be able to take advantage of medical benefits etc, still be able to "visit" SF /London/Europe whereever else.

Any thoughts on this? We havent thought it through more than this...its still a while away...

there was a "moving to canada" thread of some kind in the past here.
the impression i got was that it was not particularly easy to get into canada.
you might want to do some searching on canada in the archives..

 

[rescueme]

RE the posts about setting up a "second home" in another country for retirement medical care - what do you do for an extreme emergency (example stroke/heart attack?) which may require long term hospital care? Do you get on an air ambulance for extraction to your "country of medical care". DW/me buy travel insurance whenever we are out of the country, primarily to cover this specific need. But "retirement travel insurance" could be expensive, indeed.

Having medical coverage/insurance is OK for routine matters, regardless of where you reside. I would question the "big hitters" - those that result in long-term care requirements such as cancer, heart disease, etc.

 

[BunsGettingFirm]

Two other books that may be of interest to you are Feel Free by David S. Viscott and The 4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss. I quoted a passage from Viscott's book in the What Have You Read Recently thread that is very relevant to the situation you described.http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f29/what-have-you-read-recently-43066-42.html#post1042819.

The feeling is not surprising at all. I recently spent over 3 months dithering over wether to quit a job that was so boring that I wanted to claw my eyes out every morning when I logged on to my computer. The problem with the job was that in a big company, as soon as the start up project had become a semi-success, they threw in everybody and his brother in law on the project, so what was a great project with an entrepreneurial feel turned into yet another white collar version of turning a bolt as a car passes by on the assembly line complemented by the ceaseless bickering of a bunch of insecure people posturing for their little slot on the assembly line. With that said, it still took me 3 months of figuratively clawing my eyes out to ditch the security of a boring pay check to do something on my own which despite modeling and researching repeatedly, talking to mentors who have done the exact same thing successfully, and seeing others doing the exact same thing as I'm doing it, still feels scary as hell.

 

[patela6]

there was a "moving to canada" thread of some kind in the past here.
the impression i got was that it was not particularly easy to get into canada.
you might want to do some searching on canada in the archives..

Thanks. I'll do this.