Hi from Alabama

[House Divided]

Hi All,

If you are wondering I am Auburn and my DW is Alabama.
Football season is intense at our house.

I am 55 and I worked in IT for 30+ years, my DW is 54 and she has
been a homemaker for most of our marriage (36 years!). We have 2
grown children both graduated from college with no debit and are now married.
Our home and 15 acres in a rural community of north Alabama is paid off.
We have vacation property at the Alabama Gulf Coast and it is paid off.
All of our toys (RV, boats, car, trucks, ect.) are paid for. I have run
FIRECalc and it shows 0 failures for 30 years using a conservative stock ratio.
I have tracked our expenses in detail for 3 years now so I have a good
understanding of what we are spending and it has come in handy now that I’ve been
laid off from megacorp 12 months ago. I saw it coming for years they were
sending more and more work Offshore so I had time to plan for it. We are on a
budget of 52,000/year and it has worked well so far and we finished 2012 under budget.
I have Cobra Health Insurance until August then I have to find Health Insurance
for 4 months until Obamacare starts. Health Insurance is the scary part of ER.

 

[smileydog]

House Divided,
I had quite a few business contacts in Alabama through the years so I fully understand the house divided thing. It seems that not too many are luke warm with college teams in Alabama. Your are either an Alabama fan or Auburn fan - no middle ground - Pretty funny...

As far as the retirement plans it sounds like you are covering the bases with your retirement planning. Health insurance is scary - I have a retiree medical (that I feel lucky to have) but my part of the payments has really gone through the roof in the past couple of years. I hope this mess gets straightened out soon. I'm afraid it's not going to be a smooth transition.

 

[obgyn65]

Welcome to the board.

 

[Greg V]

Welcome and War Eagle!

 

[House Divided]

Yea, Health Insurance is the big unknown. We are currently paying just over 900/month for Cobra and that is a High Deductable Plan, and after cobra runs out Alabama has an AHIP plan that you can apply for that will give you credit for the coverage you had so there is not pre-existing exclusions. But it is a HDP also for around the same amount I am paying now. I have been reading everything I can find on the ACA, the state exchanges, and the premium subsides. So any insights into what other ER's on this site are doing or planning to do about Health Insurance or the ACA (Obamacare) would be helpful.

 

[rodi]

Welcome House Divided.

I have friends in a mixed marriage - UCLA and USC. It's not pretty at times.

My only thought on this is that 30 years might be too short a horizon for someone aged 55. You need to figure out if you have a backup plan if you live longer than the 30 years.

I'm a few years younger, but put in a longer horizon AND have the plan B of selling or reverse mortgaging our house if we outlive our investable assets.

 

[FIREd]

Hello House Divided,

welcome to the forum. I had to smile when I saw your username. I lived in northern Alabama for 8 years and still have lots of ties to the area (we own a house in Madison Co. and might retire there). The Alabama/Auburn rivalry is intense!

 

[oldtrig]

Welcome. I took at job at age 49 where I would have group health insurance. I stayed at that job until almost 65 and I retired one year ago . I wanted to go at 62 but again health insurance was the problem. My wife is two years younger than me and she now pays $300 a month for BCBS. She will be Medicare age in a year so we can handle that for that time frame.

I went on Medicare last August when I turned 65 and bought a good supplement. If I were you I would try to find a job with group insurance until age 63 1/2 and then take cobra until 65. I was self employed and needed insurance when I took the City job in 1997. I also built up more of a nest egg by working and being in the RSA for those years. I am also from Alabama.

If you decide not to join the workforce I sure wish you luck getting insurance for you and your wife. I was turned down when I tried to get BCBS last year and then I learned that I could take cobra for the five months before I reached 65. I just made a one time payment and I was covered without worry. The Medicare is good but really nothing is better than group insurance.

If you or your wife has ever had health problems you may be in for a surprise when you try to purchase it. I know I was. I am not sure about this new Obama health care. I think we are stepping back wards but I will not say anything else about that. War Eagle here.

 

[eytonxav]

Welcome, as to those two SEC teams, all I can say is Geaux Tigers!