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[Nomad4hire]

Welcome to the forum. If Firecalc says you are good to go, then you are good to go.

Thank you! It sure is tempting! While we are close, I am concerned about the healthcare costs. Our estimated expenses are a bit over giving us a buffer. We are very ready, but might push to 2014 to make a final decision.

 

[Sarah in SC]

Thank you Militaryman. The more I read and with the input here on this forum, I am thinking we need to get closer to 60. We actually might try to relocate to an area where cost of living is lower and we own a home with no mortgage. Taking a less stressful job might be the ticket to getting through the next few years.

Thanks for your input!

What about a break from the current job, a sabbatical for a half year or so, then a less stressful job? You could live on some of that cash, while letting your nest egg accumulate, and then find something that could cover the lower expenses you think you'll have, again giving the egg time to grow undisturbed until you are closer to 60.

This is a bit closer to my plan, albeit one that is a ways off.

 

[Nomad4hire]

What about a break from the current job, a sabbatical for a half year or so, then a less stressful job? You could live on some of that cash, while letting your nest egg accumulate, and then find something that could cover the lower expenses you think you'll have, again giving the egg time to grow undisturbed until you are closer to 60.

This is a bit closer to my plan, albeit one that is a ways off.

My wife said that's a great idea! It was her exact thought last night.

I go back and forth on it. As you can tell from my posts.

I truly appreciate all of the input.

 

[Sarah in SC]

See, women are always right!

My DH (who is 50) is leaving his job in July for a sabbatical of about a year, maybe. I'm taking 6-7 weeks off at the start of his sabbatical, and then back to work. He'll probably do something after the break, at least for a while, until I feel comfortable leaving my work for good. That's where my perspective comes from. Good luck to y'all!

 

[Nomad4hire]

See, women are always right!

My DH (who is 50) is leaving his job in July for a sabbatical of about a year, maybe. I'm taking 6-7 weeks off at the start of his sabbatical, and then back to work. He'll probably do something after the break, at least for a while, until I feel comfortable leaving my work for good. That's where my perspective comes from. Good luck to y'all!

Thank you much for the thoughts. Are you comfortable with your expenses and income plus nest egg?

 

[Nomad4hire]

Thank you much for the thoughts. Are you comfortable with your expenses and income plus nest egg?

And you are right - women are always right. Just ask my DW!

 

[Sarah in SC]

Comfortable...well, I know that we can live up or down the scale, depending on what we want to do. Our normal life expenses are pretty cheap, on the same level as yours. It is the wild and crazy stuff that blows our budget, like travel.

I think that we'll be fine with what we've got saved, not touching it, if we leave it til I'm a bit over 50. That is dependent on Mr. Market, of course, but that's my gut. I just figure that for us, work and not-work is a flowing thing, where we work sometimes, and don't work sometimes, until we feel like we need to retire full-time. The Travis McGee system is what I call it, after the John D. MacDonald character of the same name.

I am not looking for sure things and permanent retirements. I can do something, somewhere, if I need/want to, or I can do nothing if the markets are good. It is a long time, hopefully, til we die, and I just want the luxury of time off between jobs.

 

[MichaelB]

See, women are always right!

I was with you all the way, 'till this.

Nomad, will you get any Social Security? I don't see it mentioned. With a gross income of $36K you are eligible for health care with a premium below your $4.8K estimate, so it looks like you are in the affordable range. Not much $$ to do things, but that is a choice and trade off we all make.

Taking time off to figure things out is not a bad option.

 

[Nomad4hire]

Comfortable...well, I know that we can live up or down the scale, depending on what we want to do. Our normal life expenses are pretty cheap, on the same level as yours. It is the wild and crazy stuff that blows our budget, like travel.

I think that we'll be fine with what we've got saved, not touching it, if we leave it til I'm a bit over 50. That is dependent on Mr. Market, of course, but that's my gut. I just figure that for us, work and not-work is a flowing thing, where we work sometimes, and don't work sometimes, until we feel like we need to retire full-time. The Travis McGee system is what I call it, after the John D. MacDonald character of the same name.

I am not looking for sure things and permanent retirements. I can do something, somewhere, if I need/want to, or I can do nothing if the markets are good. It is a long time, hopefully, til we die, and I just want the luxury of time off between jobs.

That makes perfect sense to me. I think we will be a bit closer to that option and lifestyle in about a year.

 

[Nomad4hire]

I was with you all the way, 'till this.

Nomad, will you get any Social Security? I don't see it mentioned. With a gross income of $36K you are eligible for health care with a premium below your $4.8K estimate, so it looks like you are in the affordable range. Not much $$ to do things, but that is a choice and trade off we all make.

Taking time off to figure things out is not a bad option.

Hi MichaelB....yes we will get SS. Mine is about 25,000 and DW will be 20,000 (estimates). She is ten years behind me though.

Can you explain what you mean by the lower HC premium?

 

[rodi]

I plugged in the base numbers ($1.1M nest egg, 36k spending, and an assumption of 40 years) into firecalc - Yes - it returned 100%

And that was without social security.

Like others - the spending is the part that raises my eyebrow a little. I assume you have no kids, or the kids are launched. But there are several folks who post here often who live on about that or less. So it's doable.

As for the LTC discussion. Are you planning on leaving an estate? If not, it might make sense to self insure - or let Medicaid pick up the tab if you run out of money. (We're doing estate planning for in-laws right now - and I've become very familiar with the medicaid spend down rules.) The comment earlier about the government clawing back for medicare and medicaid shows a misunderstanding. Medicare is just there... once you turn 65. No clawbacks... it's medical insurance. Medicaid doesn't kick in till you've spent EVERYTHING (except 3k). (Some exceptions for spouse to remain in the home, and set aside a decent chunk of assets). So assuming you did the spend down, and depleted your assets - it will pick up the shortfall of the long term care, after ss, pension, and other income streams are paid.

Also - not all medicaid qualified nursing homes are awful. We have my father-in-law in a very nice home, it gets top ratings for inspections, staff levels, customer satisfaction... and it takes medicaid. Others are awful.

It's worth researching before assuming you need LTC insurance.

(For us - our home equity will provide a buy in for a CCRC and an income stream to pay the rent, when the time comes. )

 

[sengsational]

Also, we both have subsidized health care throu our employers better than ACA subsidies. Our costs are about $7200 a year. I'd plan on $8000 through Obamacare - bare minimum.

Thank you! It sure is tempting! While we are close, I am concerned about the healthcare costs. Our estimated expenses are a bit over giving us a buffer. We are very ready, but might push to 2014 to make a final decision.

Can you explain what you mean by the lower HC premium?

I'll take a stab at this, since it looks like it might be confusing. Maybe I'll muddy the waters even more, hehe.

The price of health insurance will probably be much more than you are paying today. I'm planning for a 35% to 45% higher price for my planning calculations. seraphim is suggesting a 60% increase. Whatever...that's an unknown. But what Michael is saying is that because your income is low enough, you will qualify for a discount. A big discount that will take you down below your $4,800 estimate! So, higher price tag, but you'll be paying less. These are some of the rules for the new healthcare act. Prices will be on the state "exchanges" in October.

So +1 on obgyn65 says...if firecalc says 'go', I'd feel pretty good about it.

--Dale--

 

[wmc1000]

Welcome to the forum! If my understanding is correct, As to the lower HI premiums, starting in 2014 a couple can have MAGI of up to 400% of the FPL = a little over $60K per year and qualify for a subsidy that potentially reduces the cost of HI "bronze" level, max OOP of $12500 for an amount not to exceed 9.5% of your AGI.

 

[Nomad4hire]

A delayed but very sincere thank you to all who offered us input. Much appreciated. We are going to let things simmer into 2014 with a new goal of ER 2014.
Thanks again everyone! Nomad

 

[ducky911]

Health care goes up as you age along with outpacing inflation. A high deductible plan today for a healthy 60+ couple is over 10k...and may go much higher.

 

[Dawg52]

We are going to let things simmer into 2014 with a new goal of ER 2014.
Thanks again everyone! Nomad

Probably a good idea. Build up a little more cash and see how you feel about your situation then. And it's not a decision of retiring at 60 or 52. Maybe age 54-56 might be a better sweet spot for you to retire. Or perhaps a part time job might be a good way to slowly move you into retirement. Lot of options to consider.

Best of luck.

 

[Nomad4hire]

Probably a good idea. Build up a little more cash and see how you feel about your situation then. And it's not a decision of retiring at 60 or 52. Maybe age 54-56 might be a better sweet spot for you to retire. Or perhaps a part time job might be a good way to slowly move you into retirement. Lot of options to consider.

Best of luck.

Thank you!

 

[Live And Learn]

I'm a little late to the game here, but the low spend rate concerns me also. I'm planning on expenses of 88k of which 29k is for health care. Its probably overkill but I know that once I leave megacorp that I'll never find another job at my salary, and that it would take a year or two to find another "decent" paying job (50 - 70% below current salary). I tend to err on the side of caution since I think ER is a one way street. If it turns out that I come in underbudget my plan is to spend 25% of it and use the other 75% to add greater cushion to my numbers. I'd rather give myself a "good problem to have" rather than create cause for worry.

As others have suggested, another 2 - 4 years may be more than enough to get to a good comfort level.

 

[Nomad4hire]

I'm a little late to the game here, but the low spend rate concerns me also. I'm planning on expenses of 88k of which 29k is for health care. Its probably overkill but I know that once I leave megacorp that I'll never find another job at my salary, and that it would take a year or two to find another "decent" paying job (50 - 70% below current salary). I tend to err on the side of caution since I think ER is a one way street. If it turns out that I come in underbudget my plan is to spend 25% of it and use the other 75% to add greater cushion to my numbers. I'd rather give myself a "good problem to have" rather than create cause for worry.

As others have suggested, another 2 - 4 years may be more than enough to get to a good comfort level.

Your points are very similar to others. Seeking a slowdown might be wiser than a full blown ER for a couple of years.

We are excited that other than a car and small student loan, we have no debt and no mortgage. So we are full speed ahead on maximizing our savings.

Our big challenge, like others here, is to control our BS bucket.

Thanks again!

 

[wmc1000]

Without a mortgage or auto loan our expense level will be set to $40K of taxable income with HI. While we will have the ability for draw more if necessary from non-taxable income sources for major purchases or repairs. That allows me to budget 9.5% of MAGI for ACA HI premiums. Planning to FIRE at the end of 2014.

 

[Live And Learn]

Our big challenge, like others here, is to control our BS bucket.

I hear that ! My BS bucket is filled to the brim and about ready to overflow, which is why I'm ER'ing this year even though the Monte Carlo simulators "only" give me a 90% success rate to age 90 (100% with FIRECalc).

I'm contemplating taking on a part time j*b (assuming I can get one) to earn about 5k a year for the next 10 years. Its amazing how even that little bit of extra earnings impacts the success results. Of course there's the risk that the BS in the PT j*b will be nearly as bad as the current BS ... but then again, I worry too much

 

[Nomad4hire]

I hear that ! My BS bucket is filled to the brim and about ready to overflow, which is why I'm ER'ing this year even though the Monte Carlo simulators "only" give me a 90% success rate to age 90 (100% with FIRECalc).

I'm contemplating taking on a part time j*b (assuming I can get one) to earn about 5k a year for the next 10 years. Its amazing how even that little bit of extra earnings impacts the success results. Of course there's the risk that the BS in the PT j*b will be nearly as bad as the current BS ... but then again, I worry too much

At least if the PT job is bad you can roll into another. I am hoping for 2014. Even a scaled back FT job in a new location creates some relief-- I hope! -Nomad