Hello from Portland!

[Williston]

Hi,

I'm new here, and though I've been going through and reading quite a few older posts to try and educate myself, I really don't understand much of the math. So it seems like the best way to get involved is to lay out my situation, which is as follows:

I'm 61 and still working; my wife is 65 and also still working (so really not an early retirement person).

Current circumstances (with rounded figures):

Combined yearly income: $200,000

Total cash available: $130,000
Total IRA+401k: $950,000
Total non-IRA investments: $466,000
Home Equity (est.): $350,000-$400,000

Our portfolio (handled by a fee-based advisor) is about 60% mutual funds/40% bonds.

Social Security will pay a combined $48,000/yr beginning in 2014...if we take it then and I imagine we will.

Our current expenses are approximately $100,000/yr including health insurance, Medicare and medical co-pays/pharmacy.
This total does not include taxes.

We are hoping to retire at the end of 2013 and are looking at a budget of $80,000-95,000.

I've played around with Firecalc—and while I'm not the best with numbers everything seems to work out well with between 95-100% success rates. I have a pretty low confidence in what I'm doing there though.

So I'm just looking for thoughts and any input into what we are planning.

Let me know if there is something more I should add.

Thanks for checking this post out,
Williston

 

[Brat]

Welcome to the forum, another Portlander here.

Your finances look good to me but there are others on the board whose opinions should matter more.

Don't tell a soul about today's weather, just talk about yesterday's downpours.

 

[Packman]

Welcome Williston. Your finances certainly look sound, even if you don't have a private pension (you didn't mention that). You may want to do some research with regard to when you each take SS. With two incomes, and perhaps both on the higher end, you may find advantages to NOT take SS at the same time, at least not drawing your own. I assume your relationship with your financial planner is good, so he/she should be able to provide advice on your potential retirement as well as the SS strategy.

 

[retire2020]

Williston..Welcome to forum. You look all set. 95K-48K(from SS) = 47K needed...You've almost 1.5 M...so all you need is is 3.1%(47K) withdrawal from your portfolio first year and then withdraw amount adjusted for inflation. I would say you can safely withdraw 100K. How much to withdraw from which account and when? --- http://www.i-orp.com can give you best strategy to minimize taxes.

 

[Williston]

Welcome to the forum, another Portlander here.

Don't tell a soul about today's weather, just talk about yesterday's downpours.

Brat—
Hopefully the downpours are over for 2013!

Your finances certainly look sound, even if you don't have a private pension (you didn't mention that). .

Packman—
No pension in this lifetime. We got started a little late in the 401k department and made up a lot of savings ground in our 50s maxing out our contributions.

Williston..Welcome to forum. You look all set. 95K-48K(from SS) = 47K needed...You've almost 1.5 M...so all you need is is 3.1%(47K) withdrawal from your portfolio first year and then withdraw amount adjusted for inflation. I would say you can safely withdraw 100K. How much to withdraw from which account and when? --- http://www.i-orp.com can give you best strategy to minimize taxes.

retire2020—
Thanks for the analysis. I'll give i-orp a look.

Thanks everyone for the very quick replies.

 

[Brat]

"Brat—
Hopefully the downpours are over for 2013!"

Ya, sure! Remember Gov. Tom McCall?

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

And of course, the James G. Blaine Society.

 

[grasshopper]

Is Portland exactly like the TV show Portlandia? I mean we still have Cowboys and Indians in here in Arizona don't we.

 

[eytonxav]

I think the retirement traffic signal is green for you, congrats!

 

[Brat]

The city is not like Portlandia but their characters do reflect a few residents. We have a good laugh as the personalties of some who show up at city counsel meetings are taken to extremes.

 

[gerrym51]

Hi,

I'm new here, and though I've been going through and reading quite a few older posts to try and educate myself, I really don't understand much of the math. So it seems like the best way to get involved is to lay out my situation, which is as follows:

I'm 61 and still working; my wife is 65 and also still working (so really not an early retirement person).

Current circumstances (with rounded figures):

Combined yearly income: $200,000

Total cash available: $130,000
Total IRA+401k: $950,000
Total non-IRA investments: $466,000
Home Equity (est.): $350,000-$400,000

Our portfolio (handled by a fee-based advisor) is about 60% mutual funds/40% bonds.

Social Security will pay a combined $48,000/yr beginning in 2014...if we take it then and I imagine we will.

Our current expenses are approximately $100,000/yr including health insurance, Medicare and medical co-pays/pharmacy.
This total does not include taxes.

We are hoping to retire at the end of 2013 and are looking at a budget of $80,000-95,000.

I've played around with Firecalc—and while I'm not the best with numbers everything seems to work out well with between 95-100% success rates. I have a pretty low confidence in what I'm doing there though.

So I'm just looking for thoughts and any input into what we are planning.

Let me know if there is something more I should add.

Thanks for checking this post out,
Williston

i would read the thread taking ss early or not

 

[powerplay]

Welcome to the forum. Your numbers look pretty good so I'd expect you can move into retirement when you're ready.

I'm also in Portland and plan to thoroughly enjoy the sunshine today!

 

[Williston]

Is Portland exactly like the TV show Portlandia? I mean we still have Cowboys and Indians in here in Arizona don't we.

I work at an ad agency that I think is staffed primarily by Portlandians.

It can be funny. It can also be extremely trying.

 

[LitGal]

Welcome, Williston!

I'm not a financial person; have been on this site since June '12 and have barely absorbed 10% of everything it offers re. FIRE. So read what everybody else has to say. They can give you good direction.

Nonetheless, I hope you and your wife can ER soon; it's worth it. It looks like you have a lot more financial cushion than DH and I do; but the west coast is more expensive....so, it probably depends on the annual cost of living you anticipate. Many of us ER's agree, though, that we live on less than we expected to in retirement.

That said, despite the rain, I must log my vote for the beauty of where you get to retire: Oregon! My college roommate and her husband built their own log house on 65 acres outside Medford, with a view of Mt. Hood from their living room. I do love to visit them (even though they have to truck in water every week: the wells keep going dry). Their views are worth it.

Such a gorgeous state. I hope you get more time to enjoy it! (And take in some plays in Ashland!)

 

[Brat]

Humm, my view of Mt. Hood is blocked by the tower across the street but Mt. Adams is out in all glory. The roses on my deck are beginning to bud, maybe I should walk up to the Rose Garden to see what the gardeners are up to.

Our Portlandian type characters are exhausting if you are really trying to accomplish something. Sometimes I think they have no social filter.

LitGal, one thing that shocks the mid-westerners I know is our cost of housing. There are trade-offs in life.

 

[Williston]

I live in a condo near downtown. Years ago, when we first bought this place, I could see Mt. St. Helens from the kitchen window.

Then they built another condo.

We've thought about selling and moving to the Medford area but this is a very convenient place to be—streetcar stops right outside the front door and takes me most of the places I need to go.

 

[LitGal]

Dear Oregonians, Brat and Williston

I lived for 25 years in your shoes, in several suburbs in California. (The only break was three years in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mtns.) Lived in houses that seemed like good settings, only to see the postage stamp lot next door suddenly covered with new construction (and as much parking as possible). Yes, multiple "views" gone bad.

The reason I think so fondly of Oregon is that it became, over the years, a chosen refuge for friends who escaped the Bay Area (or other CA megalopoli (sp?)). Friends who came to visit when I lived in the mountains sold their CA houses and moved to Ore., Wash. and Idaho. They're all over the Pacific Northwest. I used to visit them, bringing my envy with me.

DH and I would have made a similar move, but an opportunity came to move to OH (where DH could get a lateral transfer). It has worked out well, though many locals here can't understand why anyone would leave CA.

West Coast real estate? Been there, done that, am still wearing the fixer-upper paint-splattered t-shirts. They are a reason I am grateful to live as a "Midwest Import." And it's nice to have a place where the Pacific Northwest friends can stop when they come camping across the country.

Your years in Portland will pay off down the road if you just sit tight and let that equity grow. Ours paid for a move across the country, and some more space to live in.

In the meantime, enjoy the views you have and the proximity to your jobs. When we lived south of SF, we knew each month that the mortgage payment shaved at least an hour off our commutes, each way. That time added back to our daily lives was worth it!

Here the commutes are shorter, the mortgages smaller, but jobs much harder to find. You're right. There are definite trade-offs.

 

[Brat]

I "lost" my daughter to the Silicon Valley. I know of what you write. Her position cannot be replicated in any other community. I wish she were closer but I must entrust her to the care of her husband's family who lives in SFO metro.

Community is more than place.

 

[LitGal]

So true, Brat.

 

[obgyn65]

Welcome to the forum. You are all set.