10 years to go

[KDC1972]

Hi,

I am a government employee and plan to retire January 2029 at 56 with 33 years of service. I am covered under the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) and will have a 20 yrs law enforcement retirement and 13 years civilian retirement pension.

My retirement plan includes:
Annual pension of around $61k
FERS Social Security supplement around $19k (ends at 62)

TSP (Gov employees 401k) estimated balance of $1.2 million at retirement
Roth IRA estimated balance of $400k at 62. I plan to continue to contribute until my SS supplement ends. I estimate based on continuing max contribution and 6% return, I’ve had much better returns over the life of each account but am estimating on what I consider the conservative side.

The TSP payment calculator says I can take over $5000 a month for over 30 years before my balance is depleted so I figure I have that income in to my mid to late 80’s.

I don’t plan to start taking social security until I am 67, and as of my last benefit statement it is currently $2740 a month

My wife also is a Govt employee, she is a few years older so is eligible to retire the summer of 2025. She is not law enforcement so her pension is less, she has both a Roth & TSP but lower balances, that being said I think she will be good.

We have a house but are not trying to pay off the mortgage as it isn’t located where we want to live in retirement. We will probably sell it sometime after she retires but before I do. Any income we make from the sale is a bonus as we don’t use that in any of our estimates.

We have our retirement dreams, we plan to be snowbirds and own a motor home and 2 small houses, a summer place in Wisconsin or Minnesota and a winter place hopefully on the Gulf Coast of Texas. We have no kids so no need to leave any money to heirs

Unfortunately dementia runs in my family and it scares me quite a bit so I want to cram as much traveling and fun in to my early retirement years as possible.

I look forward to learning from everyone else’s experiences.

[brokrken]

Welcome and sounds like a good plan. I wish you luck. Stick around here and you'll learn a lot from some smart folks.

[Dtail]

Welcome to our wonderful site. Keep up the savings and investing and it sounds like everything will be great.
Try checking out this site's calculator called Firecalc.

[KDC1972]

10 years seems like forever but I know it will be here before I know it. I want to do everything I can to have as comfortable a retirement even if it means having a little less right now. What doesn’t go towards retirement mostly goes to paying off debt (car and credit cards), don’t get me wrong we still do vacations but don’t splurge on our everyday stuff, less eating out no real luxury purchases.

My Dad died this past summer and his death really motivated me to really take preparing for retirement seriously. He got a solid 20 years of retirement before dementia really took its toll and I’d like the same opportunity.

[Golden sunsets]

"My wife also is a Govt employee, she is a few years older so is eligible to retire the summer of 2025. She is not law enforcement so her pension is less, she has both a Roth & TSP but lower balances, that being said I think she will be good."

I'm sorry but can you explain what you mean by "I think she will be good"? Is there a reason you analyze "your retirement" numbers and "her retirement" numbers as opposed to "our retirement " numbers?


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

[KDC1972]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Golden sunsets "My wife also is a Govt employee, she is a few years older so is eligible to retire the summer of 2025. She is not law enforcement so her pension is less, she has both a Roth & TSP but lower balances, that being said I think she will be good." I'm sorry but can you explain what you mean by "I think she will be good"? Is there a reason you analyze "your retirement" numbers and "her retirement" numbers as opposed to "our retirement " numbers? Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

It is the way we have always handled our finances, we each have our own savings, checking and credit card and we have a shared account as well. A portion of each of our paychecks goes to the joint accounts for bills but whatever is left is our individual money to spend as we please. I don’t pay her car payment or credit card bill and she doesn’t pay mine—we share mortgage, groceries, utilities & insurance, Health/dental/vision insurance comes out of my check as I am the higher earner.

I don’t contribute to her retirement so I have no idea what her current TSP or IRA balance although I do know she contributes regularly I know she does not max out the contributions.

There will probably be less of the separation in retirement but this is what has worked in our marriage so far, finances are never an issue of contention with us.

[Golden sunsets]

“I don’t contribute to her retirement so I have no idea what her current TSP or IRA balance although I do know she contributes regularly I know she does not max out the contributions.”

Well that sure answers my question about you “thinking” she’ll be OK. Let’s just say I don’t find it totally unusual that you don’t comingle your assets, (obviously retirement assets are individual), but I find it very unusual to not know how much money your spouse has at least in round numbers. What would you do if she hadn’t accumulated enough retirement assets to carry her through her retirement?

[KDC1972]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Golden sunsets “I don’t contribute to her retirement so I have no idea what her current TSP or IRA balance although I do know she contributes regularly I know she does not max out the contributions.” Well that sure answers my question about you “thinking” she’ll be OK. Let’s just say I don’t find it totally unusual that you don’t comingle your assets, (obviously retirement assets are individual), but I find it very unusual to not know how much money your spouse has at least in roynd numbers. What would you do if she hadn’t accumulated enough retirement assets to carry her through her retirement?

I have a rough idea of what she has but with the recent market struggles I really can’t say for sure where she stands. Since I don’t have those numbers nor do I know exactly what she contributes it is a bit hard for me to project her accounts going forward. We should have enough assets with just me alone and her pension & SS, so her IRA and TSP is really just gravy. If I were to guess I would say $600k in TSP and $100k in IRA at retirement for her, but that is just a guess.

We do sit down with our financial advisor once a year together and go over everything so I should know then.

[SumDay]

Welcome! Sounds like you'll have a great, comfortable retirement. Reading your pension #'s made me wish I'd stuck with federal employment. Oh well, it all worked out.