38 and 3 months to go...

[diehard1997]

Hello Everyone,

I've been an avid reviewer of this board since last year it has helped me a great deal. I appreciate the time and energy given to these threads by some very intelligent individuals. I figured it was about time to introduce myself and share my story.

I am 38, DW (SAHM) is 40 and DD is 8. I sold my business a couple years ago and am currently working for the acquiring company. Work life now is much different now than it was previously and I have made the decision to separate in a few months. This is something I expected and have actually managed to stick around much longer than I initially expected.
I plan to slow things down a bit, potentially do some consulting (10-20 hours/week with current company and have already received approval for this type of engagement) and spend some “real” time with my family and friends. The last 18 years have consisted of very long hours and continuous stress. I was the ripe age of 22 when I started my business as I left college early to start my professional career.

Our assets consist of the following:

Checking/MM: 110K
Tax Advantaged (SIMPLE/TIRA/ROTH): 400K
Taxable: 3.2MM

College Funds
529: 32K (adding $250/month)
*In-state tuition paid via fully paid, state sponsored 529.

Our home is conservatively worth around 800K and we carry no mortgage.
I am 50% owner in a commercial office building which grosses me between 30K - 55K before tax per year (based on occupancy). There is no mortgage on this property and it was appraised at 1.5MM in 2010.

Other Assets of around 100K (cars, jewelry, etc.) and we have no outstanding debt aside from credit cards paid in full each month.

99% of investments are in Vanguard with an AA of 70/25/5 (stocks, bonds and cash).

From an expense standpoint we have been using Quicken since the late 90’s and track everything down the penny. We spend 57K/year w/o health care/dental or deferred expenses such as A/C replacements, roof, painting, vehicles, etc. which may ding us every 8-14 years. Adding in health care/dental of around 15K/year along with the deferred expenses brings expenses to around 83K/year plus taxes (We are both healthy with no pre-existing conditions so our HDHP premiums only run us $271/month on the private market right now for 10K max-out-pocket (Who knows what they’ll be in 2014 when the ACA kicks in!). My employer did not contribute much to HI so it made more sense to go private last year (our cost was almost $600/month). Our property taxes run around 10K/year so we will likely downsize in the next 8-10 years.

As with most folks on this board I am worried about health care, college and funding a potentially very long retirement. I have thought about all the potential gremlins out there and feel I have a sufficient enough financial buffer assuming I stick to the plan and don’t make any stupid investment moves. Firecalc says I can take out up to 120K/year with 100% success rate.
In personally analyzing my situation I assume my biggest issue will not be financial (hopefully!) but more related to fulfillment given an early exit of my
full-time career.

I would love any feedback, opinions or words of warning from minds much greater than mine.

Thanks!
diehard1997

[jclarksnakes]

At age 38 you are in the very rare position of being able to do whatever you want. Perhaps you could take 6 months to a year off and relax and just think about what you most want to do with the rest of your life.

[heeyy_joe]

My feedback is that you have been sandbagging all of us. Start posting and give some advice too!

[retire2020]

Congratulations on outstanding financial achievement at just the age of 38! 32K for 529 is too less. I would fund 100K and then have 250/month just to be 100% sure if my child goes to private four/more years of college. To qualify for ACA subsidy, your MAGI should be less than 400% FPL. With some careful withdrawal planning, you can keep your MAGI down and get good amount of subsidy to fund your HI. Below is current FPL. It'll be about 78K for family of three in your case.

Household Size 200% 300% 400%
1 $22,980 $34,470 $45,960
2 31,020 46,530 62,040
3 39,060 58,590 78,120
4 47,100 70,650 94,200
5 55,140 82,710 110,280

[diehard1997]

@joe - LOL, hopefully after June when I have more time I will will be able to supply some worthwhile content to this board. There are some smart cookies here but I will try!

@2020 - I think that's a great point regarding the 529. I have tuition covered for in-state public school but it would make sense to have the option for private if we (meaning DD) decide to go that route which would require significantly more funds. Thanks for the numbers on the ACA subsidy as well!

[diehard1997]

@jclark - Thank you, and I feel you were reading my mind. I'm sure I'll need to do a bit of consulting in the first few months but I plan on really decompressing and doing some deep thinking about the future over the first 9-12 months. This will be the first time in my adult life I will have had the time.