Hi, 48 and winding down (hopefully)...our situation

[Hexanova]

Hey all, been perusing the site for a couple years but recently started getting serious about retiring early. I think we're on the right track, and a combination of accumulating assets (surprisingly, it snuck up on me a bit) and burnout are weighing heavily on me.

I'm an engineer and have been working most recently in a very high stress and competitive Fortune 50 high tech company and I want out ASAP. Before that it was school, grad school, then bouncing around jobs a bit before being able to get established.

Here's where we sit...

Married (me 48 engineer/ wife 45 teacher), we are partners in this endeavor and in it until the end
No kids
Would like to retire Jan 1, 2020 (me 55, wife 52)
Wife would get ~$500/month pension
I would get little to no pension (it's dependent on company 401k balance when you leave the company)

Current assets:
-$525K combined in our 401k/403b accounts
-$250K in other cash, equities, bonds, mutual funds
-$250K in company stock (some of it returning up to 8% dividend yield due to purchase discounts)
-$200K in home equity
---------------------
~$1.25 million

Debts:
-$150k on house @ 3.25% which will be paid off in 6 years.
-No car, credit card, etc, debt
-No plan to take on any additional debt

Future savings/investing (yearly for next 7 years):
-$17.5K in to 401K
-$10K in to wife's retirement account
-$87K pumped in to other cash, equities, bonds, mutual funds, depending on conditions, etc
-$20K company stock (purchased at discount, and stock awards)
-$3k in to tax deferred HSA

I've run the numbers on some retirement calculators, and I have my own spreadsheet that does some modeling...and things seem on track. Unless things really go down the crapper in the next 6-7 years my conservative estimate is about $3 million in assets when we hit 55/52. Naturally the one and only thing that scares me (and pisses me off) is medical care. It's like a gigantic black hole in all of our plans. If it weren't for that I'd be going in to work every day for the next 7 years whistling and laughing at all the utter garbage I have to deal with.

Can anyone offer some wisdom and (hopefully) words of encouragement based on their FIRE experiences?

Thank you. (sorry for the long post )

 

[obgyn65]

Welcome from another participant who is turning 48 this year. Looks like you are on the right track.

 

[Jackson D]

It looks like you are in great shape and you are obviously living below your means as evidenced by your planned savings between now and retirement. I have two suggestions which you may or may not be doing:

1. Track your spending so you really know where your money is going as this will give you a good idea over the next few years of what your budget will be for retirement.

2. Make a list of the things you want to do in retirement and start doing as many of them as you can now and don't wait. You are saving so much that it appears you could save 10K less per year and probably be absolutely fine while not putting off doing the things you want to do.

 

[retire2020]

With your savings plan for 7 years, you look all set. 137K/Year savings will be very impressive. My plan is same as yours but savings/year will be about 25K. I already have 2.3M saved so far and wanting to withdraw 120K/year starting in 2020. I'm counting on obamacare subsidy to fund part of my health insurance. I'm 48 and DW is 43.

 

[MBAustin]

It looks like you are in great shape and you are obviously living below your means as evidenced by your planned savings between now and retirement. I have two suggestions which you may or may not be doing:

1. Track your spending so you really know where your money is going as this will give you a good idea over the next few years of what your budget will be for retirement.

2. Make a list of the things you want to do in retirement and start doing as many of them as you can now and don't wait. You are saving so much that it appears you could save 10K less per year and probably be absolutely fine while not putting off doing the things you want to do.

+1

Welcome. By this time next year you should have a much better line of sight on the health insurance question, so that should help a lot. And the friendly folks here will be happy to answer questions as your planning continues.

 

[NanoSour]

Welcome Hexanova. If you want out ASAP and you are eligible for SS then I believe you can leave anytime you want. Particularly if your wife continues to teach for a few more years.

Congrats on your savings.

 

[healthyandfun]

Suggestion----look at the requirements for wife's pension. As an educator, I've seen teachers change their plans slightly to maximize their monthly amount. One friend found out in her state that the difference between 24 and 25 years of service was an incredible amount. Another friend actually ended up quitting. She and her husband downsized and worked part time and took the pension 3 years later. A new rule in my state is that if a person is retiring (not quitting), they can work through December and it counts as a full year. I plan to bail out in December of this year instead of working on 'til the end of the school year. Districts/states are tinkering with the requirements all the time so it may be worth
it to investigate the requirements to get the best deal for your needs/situation. Good luck!

 

[Hexanova]

Thanks for the feedback.

I've been tracking budget over the past year, and will refine it as we get closer to the day when dream becomes reality.

healthyandfun, I will look deeper in to her state pension plan. Thanks for the tip.