Good enough?

[srpuywa]

My wife and I are in our early 60, me 61 she is 63. I recently got laid off while my wife is still working 3 days a week and plans to work till 65. I'm collecting unemployment and looking for something to do for a couple more years,

We are both retired military and have monthly retirement income of around $4500 a month, plus a aerospace pension of $1090 for another year or so. Our retirement 401Ks and 403B are worth around $900K and bank accounts have around $130K

Our house is paid for and the only bills we have are living, taxes, utilities and a couple car payments of around $900 a month. Plan on paying off one of the cars (daughters 2019 crosstrek) in June and will only have my truck payment of $600.

Our health insurance is Tricare for Life and very reasonable.

We might sell our house in WA and move to AZ in a year or so if we both decide to retire.

Any recommendations

 

[davebarnes]

Pay off the truck loan as fast as you can.

 

[MBAustin]

If you haven't found them already, we have a helpful list of things to think about before you decide to retire:

Some Important Questions to Answer

Have you run your numbers through FIREcalc (link at bottom of each page here) and other retirement calculators?

Do you have a good handle on your expenses (recurring and spiky like major home repairs, etc.)?

I echo davebarnes recommendation to pay off the truck loan ASAP as well.

Welcome and keep us posted as you go!

 

[Gumby]

Pay off the truck loan as fast as you can.

It depends on the interest rate. If it was a 0% financing deal, then there is no real urgency to pay it off. My last non-cash car purchase was in 2017. I could easily have paid cash on the spot, but they offered me 63 months at 0%, so I took the financing. In 2019, we bought a new car for the young wife. They weren't offering a good financing deal, so we paid cash.

 

[OldShooter]

Pay off the truck loan as fast as you can.

And resolve to never again buy a car that you can't afford to pay cash for.

I cannot even conceive of having car payments at $900/month. The pleasure you get from owning something you can't afford just cannot be worth that much.

Edit: I just saw Gumby's post. At zero interest rate if you have the taxes-paid money to pay for the vehicle in hand at the time of purchase, then I would say you are not buying something you can't afford. But on principle I hate car loans, the only thing worse being car leases.

 

[srpuywa]

I just refinance the 2019 crosstrek and 2020 tundra at 2.5% that saved a little.

My other vehicles are paid for wife's 2017 RDX, my commuter car 2017 Subaru Forester and motorcycle 2016 BMW K1600 GT.

probably going to sell the Subaru in the near future

And resolve to never again buy a car that you can't afford to pay cash for.

With near perfect credit it's almost like free money

 

[pb4uski]

....Have you run your numbers through FIREcalc (link at bottom of each page here) and other retirement calculators?...

+1 I think you'll pass with flying colors based on what you wrote, but FIRECalc is the place to start. Just off-the-cuff it looks as if you're fine as long as your spending is less than $100k a year, which it appears to be from what you wrote.

 

[srpuywa]

I'll run through FIRECcalc

 

[Sunset]

I just refinance the 2019 crosstrek and 2020 tundra at 2.5% that saved a little.

My other vehicles are paid for wife's 2017 RDX, my commuter car 2017 Subaru Forester and motorcycle 2016 BMW K1600 GT.

probably going to sell the Subaru in the near future

With near perfect credit it's almost like free money

How about keeping your vehicles for about 10 years, so you get some value out of them.
It looks like you buy a new vehicle every 2-3 years.
How many vehicles can you drive at the same time

Most folks lose money buying cars and selling them a few years later, even if the interest is 0% , and in todays market 2.5% interest is far from free.

 

[travelover]

.........Any recommendations

Yes, tell your wife it is time to retire, too, then enjoy the rest of your lives. No one knows how long that will be and how much of it will be on two feet.

 

[Red Badger]

Yes, tell your wife it is time to retire, too, then enjoy the rest of your lives. No one knows how long that will be and how much of it will be on two feet.

+1.

Money is fungible. Your time on this rock is not.

 

[srpuywa]

How about keeping your vehicles for about 10 years, so you get some value out of them.

well I have gone thru a few to find what I want, I plan on keeping this truck (Toyota Tundra Crewmax) for 10 years or so

 

[srpuywa]

And resolve to never again buy a car that you can't afford to pay cash for.

I cannot even conceive of having car payments at $900/month. The pleasure you get from owning something you can't afford just cannot be worth that much.

Who said I can't afford them ?

 

[Gumby]

Who said I can't afford them ?

I believe that there was an edit to that post.

 

[LRDave]

Something on the minds of recent retirees in troubling times like we have now is Sequence Of Returns Risk (SORR). You can search this forum for a description of SORR and strategies to address it.

I think you will do fine with the numbers you presented - just think through your investing strategy (as well as your lifestyle/budget choices) carefully.

 

[srpuywa]

+1.

Money is fungible. Your time on this rock is not.

My wife and I have travelled extensively, lived in Germany back in the 80's for 3 years, I flew in the Air Force as a loadmaster and have over 9000 flying hours flying all over the world, including doing airdrops on the South Pole. My wife was a medic and Flight Nurse and has done a bit of travelling too. We want to spend most of our time now in the US seeing places.

Back in 2015 me and a Air Force buddy did a USA Four Corners Ride on our motorcycles. You have to make 4 stops to qualify - Blaine WA, San Ysidro CA, Key West FL and Madawaska ME. We rode around 8000 miles in 16 days. Made a facebook page so friends could follow us.

So we've crossed off a lot of squares in life already.

 

[travelover]

My wife and I have travelled extensively, lived in Germany back in the 80's for 3 years, I flew in the Air Force as a loadmaster and have over 9000 flying hours flying all over the world, including doing airdrops on the South Pole. My wife was a medic and Flight Nurse and has done a bit of travelling too. We want to spend most of our time now in the US seeing places.

Back in 2015 me and a Air Force buddy did a USA Four Corners Ride on our motorcycles. You have to make 4 stops to qualify - Blaine WA, San Ysidro CA, Key West FL and Madawaska ME. We rode around 8000 miles in 16 days. Made a facebook page so friends could follow us.

So we've crossed off a lot of squares in life already.

I miss your point. You've already traveled so work is a better alternative? Have at it.

 

[Amethyst]

He didn't say that. He said they want to travel in the U.S. now, because they traveled overseas for work. Makes total sense to me, plus it's easier to LBYM that way.

I miss your point. You've already traveled so work is a better alternative? Have at it.

 

[Red Badger]

My wife and I have travelled extensively, lived in Germany back in the 80's for 3 years, I flew in the Air Force as a loadmaster and have over 9000 flying hours flying all over the world, including doing airdrops on the South Pole. My wife was a medic and Flight Nurse and has done a bit of travelling too. We want to spend most of our time now in the US seeing places.

Back in 2015 me and a Air Force buddy did a USA Four Corners Ride on our motorcycles. You have to make 4 stops to qualify - Blaine WA, San Ysidro CA, Key West FL and Madawaska ME. We rode around 8000 miles in 16 days. Made a facebook page so friends could follow us.

So we've crossed off a lot of squares in life already.

Okay - my bad. Keep working if your bucket list is complete.

I retired as an E8 (Army) with 30 years service. I added another ~12 years at mega-c*rp as a global project manager. My man cave has a "been there-done that" wall. That said, I prefer to spend my retired / remaining (good) years looking forward.

 

[SnowballCamper]

Okay - my bad. Keep working if your bucket list is complete.

So, srpuywa, as you can see, it gets a little snarky around here. But there is some good info, and points of view that you might not have considered. Welcome!

 

[ivinsfan]

So, srpuywa, as you can see, it gets a little snarky around here. But there is some good info, and points of view that you might not have considered. Welcome!

It's snarky season I think because of COVID, but yea the poor guy asked simply if he had enough money to quit working and got an earful about his cars and his travel habits...


OP enjoy your retirement, your wife should work as long as she wants to, stay home or travel... and thank you for your service...

 

[HI Bill]

Welcome! Your introductory post is a little sparse on your monthly spending details (or I'm not understanding it). With your pensions, if your monthly budget is below $4500, then it seems like you're capable of retiring now. Like others have said, figure out your spending, put the numbers into FIRECALC, and see if you're financially ready. If I was of the age that you are, and had the same pension and assets, I'd be FIRED already with a hefty travel budget! Best wishes!!

 

[travelover]

He didn't say that. He said they want to travel in the U.S. now, because they traveled overseas for work. Makes total sense to me, plus it's easier to LBYM that way.

I was keying off the OP:

my wife is still working 3 days a week and plans to work till 65. I'm collecting unemployment and looking for something to do for a couple more years,

 

[WyomingLife]

Thank you for your service.

From where I sit, anybody who can maintain employment into their 60’s is admirable, even when the economy is booming, let alone now.

Those pensions are wonderful, and it looks like HC won’t be a burden.

I’d run Firecalc as folks suggest above, but it looks like you have won the race. Congrats.

 

[srpuywa]

So, srpuywa, as you can see, it gets a little snarky around here. But there is some good info, and points of view that you might not have considered. Welcome!

It's all good....I did the FIRECalc but it looked like a bunch of squiggly lines mostly in the positive. I was lucky to have done a lot of things during my military and working career that most people only dream about doing.

This is just new and uncharted water for me and my wife.