 |
Decisions decisions - $can I leave work$ ??
11-16-2008, 09:58 PM
|
#1
|
Confused about dryer sheets
Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 1
|
Decisions decisions - $can I leave work$ ??
What would you do if you were me? I'm 52 and my wife is 54. I have a terribly stressful job. She'll retire with a NYS pension of $65K on her 55th birthday in June 09. We need $75K net to maintain our quality of life. House is paid. Health insurance will be $200/month. I'll have 200K cash when she retires and another 150K Roth IRA, 100K Traditional IRA, and 500K in tax defered retirement annuities (403b), all available to me in 7 years. At 62 I'll get $1300/month SS and she'll get $1200/month if we stop working next year. We did the SSA calculator and received those statements in the mail. Both of us had a sibling die suddenly in their 40's and we realize that life is too short and we want to enjoy life together, without working. We got married this past April after 18 years together. I think we can afford to stop working next year. Hoping someone else can crunch the numbers to either set me straight or reassure.
|
|
|
 |
Join the #1 Early Retirement and Financial Independence Forum Today - It's Totally Free!
Are you planning to be financially independent as early as possible so you can live life on your own terms? Discuss successful investing strategies, asset allocation models, tax strategies and other related topics in our online forum community. Our members range from young folks just starting their journey to financial independence, military retirees and even multimillionaires. No matter where you fit in you'll find that Early-Retirement.org is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!
You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with our members, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create a retirement blog, send private messages and so much, much more!
|
11-16-2008, 10:00 PM
|
#2
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Collin County, TX
Posts: 9,273
|
Have you used FireCalc yet?
__________________
There's no need to complicate, our time is short..
|
|
|
11-16-2008, 10:04 PM
|
#3
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Texas: No Country for Old Men
Posts: 49,321
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by bbbamI
Have you used FireCalc yet?
|
I second that question.  You can find the calculator here.
__________________
Numbers is hard
|
|
|
11-17-2008, 07:42 AM
|
#4
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: west bloomfield MI
Posts: 2,222
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by mippy56
What would you do if you were me? I'm 52 and my wife is 54. I have a terribly stressful job. She'll retire with a NYS pension of $65K on her 55th birthday in June 09. We need $75K net to maintain our quality of life. House is paid. Health insurance will be $200/month. I'll have 200K cash when she retires and another 150K Roth IRA, 100K Traditional IRA, and 500K in tax defered retirement annuities (403b), all available to me in 7 years. At 62 I'll get $1300/month SS and she'll get $1200/month if we stop working next year. We did the SSA calculator and received those statements in the mail. Both of us had a sibling die suddenly in their 40's and we realize that life is too short and we want to enjoy life together, without working. We got married this past April after 18 years together. I think we can afford to stop working next year. Hoping someone else can crunch the numbers to either set me straight or reassure. 
|
I think a significant amount of this SS will be taxed (85% will be taxed?). If your income plus half your SS is around 44k, then 85% of the SS is subject to tax. Have you factored that in?
You have stated your goal- retire soon
Have you analyzed the goal based on market performance, your finances and a 40 year withdraw strategy? Firecalc will help with this analysis.
__________________
Light travels faster than sound. That is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak. One person's stupidity is another person's job security.
|
|
|
11-17-2008, 08:50 AM
|
#5
|
Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: At The Cafe
Posts: 6,873
|
You say you two can afford to retire next year; but you ask what I would do? I would figure out how soon I can leave that stressful j*b. Is there any advantage in waiting until the end of the year, like a bonus that won't kick in if you walk out today? I found it very difficult to give notice.
The first data item you give us is "terribly stressful j*b"! Really to me that says it all. But sometimes I'm an extremist. You will get a lot of advice on this thread, I'm glad to see you here, Welcome.
The SS thing jumps out at me, inflation will have 8-10 years to do its thing on those amounts before you collect.
Yes, you gotta look at the brevity of life thing--my brother went at the age about a year before my retirement age, it was a significant anniversary and I lost a best friend at 17 and two others at 33.
Enjoy the forum, read other threads, a lot of us came here wondering if our numbers would work and trying to balance that with a j*b that no longer enchants.
|
|
|
11-17-2008, 09:05 AM
|
#6
|
Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: At The Cafe
Posts: 6,873
|
P.S. I'm moving your thread to the "Hi, I am" section.
|
|
|
11-17-2008, 11:43 AM
|
#7
|
Dryer sheet aficionado
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 34
|
disclaimer...only you can make the call...do not rely on my opinion...but I don't even need to to use a calculator to make my guess at the the answer...those numbers look good. Is her pension COLA'd? You have almost $1 million outside of SS and pension. Use your $200k post tax to make up the difference between her pension and your annual budget needs. When you reach 62 SS plus being able to tap your pretax investments should keep you in FAT city...congratulations. You could also tap your IRA at 59.5 I think.
bd
|
|
|
11-17-2008, 01:13 PM
|
#8
|
Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Lexington
Posts: 708
|
Agreed, both of you are done once the pension kicks in (though it may be a bit tight if the pension isn’t COLA’d and there are no survivorship benefits).
|
|
|
11-17-2008, 04:47 PM
|
#9
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 14,328
|
You may also find that you don't really "need" $75K to live on - somehow the majority of people in the US manage on much less.
And once you find out how nice it is not going to that stressful job, you may find $10K of fat in the budget.
|
|
|
11-17-2008, 09:16 PM
|
#10
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Bossier City
Posts: 2,183
|
I'd be outta there so fast I'd probably give myself whiplash!
__________________
“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.”
-John F. Kennedy
“Hard work never killed anybody, but why take a chance?” - Edgar Bergen
|
|
|
 |
Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
|
|
Thread Tools |
Search this Thread |
|
|
Display Modes |
Linear Mode
|
Posting Rules
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
|
» Recent Threads
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
» Quick Links
|
|
|