Hello from BooBooBear

[dumpster56]

Great site you have here.

Me 51 ER as of this past Feb. Have a Cola Pension of 34,000 a year and paid medical benefits, I do pay 80 dollars a month for dental insurance which pays for 2 cleanings a year for both myself and wife and 1500 dollars of other dental work, Precription plan 8 dollar generic copay 90 day supply.

About 500,000 in home equity and cash not much saved in that regard, however had to get out of the hamster wheel of full time work. Life is too short to waste on that.

Mortgage is gone, no debt, our bills per month for utilities, electric, water sewer trash, natural gas, phones internet and cable are about 600 to 650 a month. Taxes on my house here in a small town in North Carolina are 3200 a year, my homeowners and auto and term life are about 3000 a year.

I have been doing some part time work on a golf course, ranger stuff and some bartending, make another 15 to 20 thousand a year, well that is the pace I am on since I moved here and quit my full time life.

I am so much more relaxed. The wife is very happy, she is going to have a small pension in a year of about 4,000 a year.

We will make it work. House is brand new it was nice to pay cash from the run up real estate market up in the northeast.

Thanks BooBoo

 

[Sarah in SC]

Welcome from a fellow Carolinean (south). You sound very relaxed and happy to be where you are--congratulations! Bartending sounds like a lot of fun and a great way to still be social--I'll recommend that as a possibility to my DH since he'll be ER before me and I need to keep him off the streets (but would it be wise to put him behind the bar?)!

 

[mickeyd]

Welcome BooBooBear...(cool name)

It is probably not a good idea to quote dollar amounts when posting here (or anywhere). Most folks use % or some other vague metric so that the main message come across w/o specifics.

You may want to consider editing your original post.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

And perhaps I should just get it over with and ask if you'd like to go get a nice pickanick basket?

 

[modhatter]

I see no reason why not. Everyone discuses numbers here extensively. They have shared their budgets and cost of living expences with us, as well as income, so I don't know why you are saying that.

 

[Sarah in SC]

Yeah, I use numbers. Maybe because I am bad at figgerin' percentages...

 

[Coach]

BooBoo, it sounds like you've got it all figured out. Congratuations!

Coach

 

[ExtinctBird]

BooBoo, just curious: is your pension providing survivor benefits? The reason I ask is I am wondering why you are paying for term life insurance. Unless the insurance is minimal to cover burial expenses, why bother paying for life insurance if the retirement income is already in place?

 

[FIREd]

welcome Booboo! NC would be among my top choices for retirement, so I think you made a very good decision to move from the NE to NC to enjoy your retirement. It is an amazing state! And congrats for realizing that life is too short for full time work!

 

[AltaRed]

BooBoo, just curious: is your pension providing survivor benefits? The reason I ask is I am wondering why you are paying for term life insurance. Unless the insurance is minimal to cover burial expenses, why bother paying for life insurance if the retirement income is already in place?

Was wondering the same thing. Or is the insurance specifically intended to provide a fixed legacy to heirs?

 

[dumpster56]

Good morning.

The term life 300K is for my wife. She has some health issues that will not kill her but will disable her at some point that working would not be possible. A form of MDA that her mom has, you end up having weakness in the legs and arms walking climbing stairs becomes difficult.

My pension has a good benefit to her if I die, however the medical insurance would disappear. So the extra 300K would be a help plus it cost me only 775 per year for the next 10 years at that time we both will be recieving SS.

 

[MooreBonds]

Good morning.

My pension has a good benefit to her if I die, however the medical insurance would disappear. So the extra 300K would be a help plus it cost me only 775 per year for the next 10 years at that time we both will be recieving SS.

As a side note...term life insurance pricing has dropped over the past several years, due to interest rates as well as changes in the reserves that the gov't has said they have to maintain.

I did a quick check in insure.com just for the heck of it. If you're in the top-rated class (no health problems, no tobacco, etc.), then you can get a 10-year 300k policy for under $500/year. Of course, if you have health issues, it might increase that.

It's not much difference...but would save you $275/year