Almost 60 and tired

[Gavin60]

Hi everyone,
First time post. I'm almost 60, was recently layed off for about two months ( at my request over this Corona event) and just got called back in last week.
I enjoyed my time off and didnt realize how burned out I was from working since 1975 uninterrupted.
I have some retirement savings that draws 1000 a month in interest and a emergency fund that could carry me to 62...about 2500 a month ( no debt)
I want to retire now or in 3 or 4 months max and let my interestin my retirement savings keep growing until I turn 62.
While I'm not wealthy and probably could have saved more in retrospect with some diligence on my part, it didnt happen.
However, I'm not in terrible shape and consider myself fortunate.
I find myself hating to go to work each day...while I'm cheerful and a " go getter" once there, still, I realized how much i enjoyed my time off....i guess I'm just sick and tired of being sick and tired.
The kid is 17 and her tuition for secondary education is covered, so no outlay there.
The better half, is very conservative with money and can pinch a penny so hard it screams....so she doesn't care one way or the other.
I thought about trying to go another 2 years, but this corona virus is tough on those around my age and turned the whole way of thinking upside down, so should I jus cut and run.. and be thankful I'm at this point?

I guess I need some positive reinforcement from the " been there and done that's"

[Dtail]

Have you tried using the retirement calculator attached to this site called Firecalc?
This could be helpful to assist you in on where you stand from a financial standpoint for retirement
Have you thought about what you wish to retire to?

[ivinsfan]

What is your annual spend projected to be including health insurance? Are you saying you can live on 2500 a month including all expenses.

Can you define your retirement saving a little more, your term interest is a little confusing. Is it all cash, is it before or after tax money. You are calling it retirement savings so it's not clear to me.

Keep asking questions and remember no question is a silly question.

[Gavin60]

Hi Dtail,
Thanks! My goal is basically contine my lifestyle without too much interruption. We do some camping about 4-5 times a year and our hobbies are low cost.
I used the calculator and came up with some interesting things.
My goal is to float out on my emergency fund until 62. Once I start social security my income will basically be SS and an income stream from dividends.
Here in SC the cost of living is not too bad and the tax structure is friendly to retirees. I have lived in the same town I was born in and will probably die here too, so I have no desire to move somewhere else. We are satisfied just too drag that camper to a new destination about 4-5 times a year

[Gavin60]

The emergency fund is 2500 a month.
The savings is a IRA which is a combination of a CD over 4 % and investment in stocks ( utilities) bringing in a dividend at just overv4%
Total about 1000 a month before taxes.
My actual retirement income will be around 3000 a month at 62 but for now I want to tread water on 2500 a month. The 2500 a month is after tax income, since it is in a regular savings account as my emergency fund.
I'm sure I can make it on my lifestyle but I'm torn with burnout/covid crisis vs risk staying and potentially not making it to retirement because of the work environment and covid.
I guess I'm asking if you folks were comfortable with you lifestyle would you risk it for two more years of employment and saving more in a 401k/ IRA or simply be grateful for what you have and walk away

[IMATERP]

Is Healthcare budgeted?

[Sunset]

OP - I'm suprised you don't have questions after doing firecalc.

I'm guessing you have about $300K in IRA, which I find pretty low, as you already noted.

What is your plan for claiming SS ?
Does your Wife work, never worked ? - this is important in the SS claiming part.

You are stating you can live on very little, have you actually tracked/written down your expenses for a year, or just estimating them ?

Do you own your own home, and did you include in your yearly costs:

• taxes,
• new roof, furnance, A/C, water heater spread over the years,
• cost of a replacement vehicle again amortized over a number of years,
• cost of vehicle repairs/tires/etc.

[ivinsfan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gavin60 The emergency fund is 2500 a month. The savings is a IRA which is a combination of a CD over 4 % and investment in stocks ( utilities) bringing in a dividend at just overv4% Total about 1000 a month before taxes. My actual retirement income will be around 3000 a month at 62 but for now I want to tread water on 2500 a month. The 2500 a month is after tax income, since it is in a regular savings account as my emergency fund. I'm sure I can make it on my lifestyle but I'm torn with burnout/covid crisis vs risk staying and potentially not making it to retirement because of the work environment and covid. I guess I'm asking if you folks were comfortable with you lifestyle would you risk it for two more years of employment and saving more in a 401k/ IRA or simply be grateful for what you have and walk away

You need to drill down more..what's your actual spend for at least the last 2 years.

What are your plans for health insurance...

Does your spouse that their own SS, if not taking your benny at 62 could leave your mate at risk of poverty after you are gone.

It's not about being comfortable with your lifestyle it's about making sure you have enough to continue that lifestyle until the end of life.

If you use your entire "emergency fund" for regular living expenses, you no longer have an emergency fund...not wanting to work is not an emergency. This might be possible for you if you drill down and put more numbers on paper but right now you are not ready. For one thing that CD income in your retirement fund is going to sink like a rock...

Post a few more details and remember we are rooting for you to get what you want.

[Gavin60]

Hi everyone, thanks for the responses!
The spouse no longer works but will have a social security stream a year after I " offically" retire at 62, she also has some dividend income stream and interest off an CD IRA to tap, together we will have 4000 a month income stream.
Yes, the CDs will eventually drop like a rock in about 3 years at maturity. Whereupon we plan on finding some more utility stocks under an ira umbrella, for that standard fare of just over 4%.
Health Care will be approximately 450 a month( obama care)
Vehicles are relatively new and paid for, I expect 10 -15 more years out of them. I do most of my own repairs and built the house we live in when I was 27.
The roof on the house is about 8 years old and have 30 year architectural shingles on them and I expect 30 years before replacement, and will consider doing it myself as long as I'm able

Utilities are on average 75 dollars a month (solar panels)

Insurance, taxes on house/property and health care will be within 10 dollars of 10k a year, so that leaves me 19k a year to live off of for each year , for the next two years which is about 1550 a month to buy food, household items and 300 of that set aside for items I cant repair myself and or cost of those items
A modest resturant about three times a month and our total chow bill is within 20 dollars of 500 a month.
We dont buy the latest and greatest and feel that any name brand item which has to denote affluence with the makers name as taboo since they are not paying us to advertise for them. 90 percent of our time is spent in shorts or Jean's so our clothing budget I would say might be 50 bucks a month.
Fuel 100 a month on average.
Indeed its tight in comparison to a lot of folks out there but should I cut my risk of sucking in covid on the job by hanging in there for two more years or call myself fortunate for not being in a hospital bed coughing up a lung and keep my risk to a minimum?

One option I have yet to explore is a hybrid type of situation where I could work mostly solo part time to span any potential shortfalls

[Scrapr]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gavin60 The roof on the house is about 8 years old and have 30 year architectural shingles on them and I expect 30 years before replacement, and will consider doing it myself as long as I'm able

If I do the math right I hope you aren't on your roof @ 90 years old! Or even 82.

I'd really try many different scenarios at Firecalc. Also most people here use a confidence level of 95% on results. How do you come out on the run?

the last tab there is a tab called Investigate. In that page there is a spending level calculator. There is also a button to see how delaying retirement does to your results. Of course Garbage In Garbage Out. So make sure your inputs are good. See how that works for you.

And remember that SS gets a big haircut when (not if!) one of you passes. So put in a buffer there

Good luck. We are rooting for you

[ivinsfan]

You gave some good info and if are willing here are a couple of pointers.

Pull up some SS threads here and read long and hard about the downsides of both spouses taking SS as early and possible and taking the max haircut on both checks.In your case it's double jeopardy because you are withdrawing from retirements accounts and taking a double haircut on SS... that's a far from optimal plan for a 30 year plus time frame.

My second point is to realize how little wiggle room you will actually have with no emergency fund and a low cost lifestyle. Now my comment about lifestyle might seen counterintuitive but it's very on point. Your budget has virtually no frills so if something bad happens you have nothing to cut. Some here have new cars every 3 or 4 years or perhaps a large travel budget. If the SHTF they have areas to pull back and free up cash for other stuff. You are not going to have that option and the chances you have accounted for all spending contingencies is low. You keep using the word "maybe" on some of your budget items. Go back and figure out how much you have actually spent in the last 2 years.

I know you want to quit but don't let fear of COVID push you into a lifetime of counting every single penny. I'm in your corner and want you to have a comfortable retirement.

[Sunset]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gavin60 ... I do most of my own repairs and built the house we live in when I was 27. The roof on the house is about 8 years old and have 30 year architectural shingles on them and I expect 30 years before replacement, and will consider doing it myself as long as I'm able ....

I'd like you to retire whenever you want, but also don't want you to retire and then be eating cat food in 15 years, so that is why the careful viewing of expenses vs income over the long range.

Good to hear you are handy, but there is a BIG difference between being handy at 27 and 65->70.
Just putting that out there as I've come to realize how much harder doing things becomes as one ages. That means hiring help for the heavy lifting which costs $$.

I find some of your guesses, too optimistic, the glaring one of course is the roof. It's 8 yrs old with 30 yr shingles on it. Yet you think you will get another 30 yrs out of it, when it's really about another 22 +/- some number of years.
I personally have seen 2 houses in my neighborhood with architectural shingles on them and tarps nailed over part of their roof, and these roofs look fine from the ground otherwise

Frankly, no way will you be able to re-roof your house at age 72 or older. Roofing is a young mans sport. I've done a number of roofs, so it's not just armchair talk. So plan on spending thousands ($8,000) to get it re-roofed (budget now at $30.30 / month for that cost).

[Teacher Terry]

Before we retired I went through all our expenses and was able to cut or reduce many. I made sure that we would be okay. Our situation is better because we each have a pension that doesn’t die when the person does. You won’t have the same with SS. A friend of mine died unexpectedly 6 months after retiring and his wife will only have one SS. She is moving into a mil apartment that her son added on as she cannot afford rent with losing part of their income.

[JerichoGirl]

Did not see anywhere if you checked on actual health insurance cost, 5 years is a long time to pay for 2 people. The Affordable Care Act may help you keep costs down but it could be repealed in those 5 years. The last thing you need is an expensive hospital bill that could take your house away from you.

You wrote "Insurance, taxes on house/property and health care will be within 10 dollars of 10k a year,".

I am 63, my husband is 64, our HMO health plan is $1600/month (x12= $19,200/yr). His supplemental plan when he turns 65 will be about $550/month. Hopefully you are not underestimating the cost of health ins which I feel will go through the roof next year.

[Sanstar]

Plus, who’s paying for DD’s wedding?

[mystang52]

Lots of good advice already given. I would add some caution to OP. Reading between the lines, I see some "confirmation bias" in his analysis. I suggest trying the opposite to see if his assessment remains valid. Try to determine negative financial events such as major home repair expenses, need for cars, out-of-pocket medical costs and see if the numbers still support retiring now.
Enjoying time off from work is understandable, but is not in and of itself enough to base a retirement decision. I distinctly recall one vacation, when I was about 40, that , and thought "yeah, I could do this the rest of my life." But I was nowhere close to retirement, financially.
OP should also write down all of his fixed monthly expenses to assess retirement readiness.

[Bob_Walter]

I would just put everything in firecalc and be conservative, meaning add 20% to your spending. Also be careful on assumptions for utility stocks and the likes. They have had a great run-up over the years, but that doesn't mean they can't fall either.

[pb4uski]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gavin60 The emergency fund is 2500 a month. ... My actual retirement income will be around 3000 a month at 62...

Neither of these make any sense.

An emergency fund is an amount... not an amount per month.

You seem to be suggesting that your social security would be $3,000 a month at 62.... that isn't possible... the maximum PIA is $3,142.70 per month so that would translate to an age 62 benefit of $2,200.... not $3,000.

WADR, if you want advice then you need to be more transparent.

If FIRECalc says that your success rate is 95% or more then your're probably ok. But be sure to think through how things would look if you or your DW were to die after you stop working.

[ER Eddie]

I think everyone has brought up good financial points. I don't have too much to add there, except to underline the importance of maintaining an emergency fund (which I'd say is about a year's worth of expenses), because emergencies happen.

I'll just add that, from a psychological point of view, it's not a great idea to make decisions based on fatigue and fears. Ideally, you want to make your decision from a place of careful, rational analysis based on fundamental principles. You want to have a sense of calm and peace about the decision, not be driven to it by fear and fatigue. I don't mean that emotions are irrelevant, just that they shouldn't be in the drivers' seat -- especially emotions of fatigue and media-stoked fear.

You're doing the right thing. You're not acting on impulse, and you're getting feedback from people here. Think carefully. It's a big decision.

[Born2Fish]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gavin60 Hi everyone, First time post. I'm almost 60, was recently layed off for about two months ( at my request over this Corona event) and just got called back in last week. I enjoyed my time off and didnt realize how burned out I was from working since 1975 uninterrupted. I have some retirement savings that draws 1000 a month in interest and a emergency fund that could carry me to 62...about 2500 a month ( no debt) I want to retire now or in 3 or 4 months max and let my interestin my retirement savings keep growing until I turn 62. While I'm not wealthy and probably could have saved more in retrospect with some diligence on my part, it didnt happen. However, I'm not in terrible shape and consider myself fortunate. I find myself hating to go to work each day...while I'm cheerful and a " go getter" once there, still, I realized how much i enjoyed my time off....i guess I'm just sick and tired of being sick and tired. The kid is 17 and her tuition for secondary education is covered, so no outlay there. The better half, is very conservative with money and can pinch a penny so hard it screams....so she doesn't care one way or the other. I thought about trying to go another 2 years, but this corona virus is tough on those around my age and turned the whole way of thinking upside down, so should I jus cut and run.. and be thankful I'm at this point? I guess I need some positive reinforcement from the " been there and done that's"

It might help if you provided information as shown below (Italicized) based on your actual savings/expenses so members can review and provide feedback. (I made these numbers up!)


House - Paid off, no mortgage
My 401k/Traditional IRA $300000 invested 45% stocks, 20% CDs, 35% cash
My HSA $12000
My SS starting August, 2022 $22000/yr
My pension starting August 2022 $3500/yr

Joint Checking/savings account $90,000

Spouse SS starting July 2023 $24000/yr
Spouse pension starting July 2023 $6000/yr
Spouse HSA $8500
Spouse 401k/Traditional IRA $50,000 60% stocks, 40% cash

Annual expenses including all Insurances, taxes, etc... $28,000


This information will allow others to provide additional feedback or requests for additional information.