eastnortheast
Recycles dryer sheets
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2015
- Messages
- 124
Long time lurker, relatively infrequent poster. Like many here, I am struggling a bit on when to pull the trigger. Family is me (52) DW (45) and five kids.
Yep, looked through the questions to ask before retiring and have been following the forums also. Lots of great advice and appreciate the collective wisdom here.
Here is our situation in a nutshell:
“Core” Expenses: ~ $6 – 6.5K/month (been tracking these for a while)
Includes the following:
Insurance (house + cars)
Property Tax ($1K/month - ouch!!!)
Utilities
Food, dining, entertainment, music lessons, clothing, sports, etc.
Non-college educational expenses
$1250 into college savings plans ($250/month for each kids 529)
lumpy expenses (car repair, unexpected items) are averaged in here
Etc.
Does NOT include
College expenses (more on that below)
Medical insurance + out of pocket medical costs
Federal and State Taxes
Miscellaneous Notes
House is fully paid for (i.e. no mortgage). No plans to move for the foreseeable future
We have made the decision that we will pay for four years of college education for each of our kids. So, we have 20 years of college to fund. Between what has already been paid (two kids currently in college, one starting next year, the last two in 4-5 years), and what we have saved, we currently have about 15 years fully funded with monies outside of retirement savings
DW is a SAHM. Does some minor odd jobs, but that is her "mad" money, and not included in monthly income.
Current Assets:
$1.1MM before tax accounts
$0.3MM after tax accounts
Both are mainly stock funds (~85%) the the majority of that in an S&P 500 indiex fund. The rest is in a bond fund. Low expense ratios on all funds so no plans to change. Should also note that these will be accessible with no penalty.
Have a pension that will currently pay ~ $50,000/year (bit over $4K/month) though non-COLA’d. This will go up about $4500/year if I continue working, or will increase 4%/year every year I delay after retiring. If I retire, the plan is to take the pension immediately.
If I do pull the plug, I have “guaranteed” side gigs that will pay roughly $1K/month
SS would be ~ $30K for me and $13K for DW at FRA. *Actually took 75% of what SSA indicates mine will be to be conservative
When I ran FIRE Calc and ***** sim, I make the following assumptions:
$75K/year in expenses
Plus
Job is medium stress, but like a lot of people who work for a mega corp, it has been death by 1000 cuts over the past few years (reduction in benefits, minimal/zero pay increases, layoffs, etc.). I have come to the realization that money can buy a lot of things, but it cant buy time.
I was initially thinking 2022, then thought 2020, but after looking at the numbers, maybe mid 2017 is the time to go.
Thoughts?
Yep, looked through the questions to ask before retiring and have been following the forums also. Lots of great advice and appreciate the collective wisdom here.
Here is our situation in a nutshell:
“Core” Expenses: ~ $6 – 6.5K/month (been tracking these for a while)
Includes the following:
Insurance (house + cars)
Property Tax ($1K/month - ouch!!!)
Utilities
Food, dining, entertainment, music lessons, clothing, sports, etc.
Non-college educational expenses
$1250 into college savings plans ($250/month for each kids 529)
lumpy expenses (car repair, unexpected items) are averaged in here
Etc.
Does NOT include
College expenses (more on that below)
Medical insurance + out of pocket medical costs
Federal and State Taxes
Miscellaneous Notes
House is fully paid for (i.e. no mortgage). No plans to move for the foreseeable future
We have made the decision that we will pay for four years of college education for each of our kids. So, we have 20 years of college to fund. Between what has already been paid (two kids currently in college, one starting next year, the last two in 4-5 years), and what we have saved, we currently have about 15 years fully funded with monies outside of retirement savings
DW is a SAHM. Does some minor odd jobs, but that is her "mad" money, and not included in monthly income.
Current Assets:
$1.1MM before tax accounts
$0.3MM after tax accounts
Both are mainly stock funds (~85%) the the majority of that in an S&P 500 indiex fund. The rest is in a bond fund. Low expense ratios on all funds so no plans to change. Should also note that these will be accessible with no penalty.
Have a pension that will currently pay ~ $50,000/year (bit over $4K/month) though non-COLA’d. This will go up about $4500/year if I continue working, or will increase 4%/year every year I delay after retiring. If I retire, the plan is to take the pension immediately.
If I do pull the plug, I have “guaranteed” side gigs that will pay roughly $1K/month
SS would be ~ $30K for me and $13K for DW at FRA. *Actually took 75% of what SSA indicates mine will be to be conservative
When I ran FIRE Calc and ***** sim, I make the following assumptions:
$75K/year in expenses
Plus
- $20K/year for insurance (through Medicaid age, then drop to $12K/year) (Ran a test on healthcare.gov and it looks like we would be eligible for significant subsidies, but am not counting on it, hence the $20k/year)
- Added $40K/year for six years beginning in 2018 to cover college costs.
Job is medium stress, but like a lot of people who work for a mega corp, it has been death by 1000 cuts over the past few years (reduction in benefits, minimal/zero pay increases, layoffs, etc.). I have come to the realization that money can buy a lot of things, but it cant buy time.
I was initially thinking 2022, then thought 2020, but after looking at the numbers, maybe mid 2017 is the time to go.
Thoughts?
Enjoying the first month of retirement. Between some side jobs and kids still in the house, am keeping plenty busy, and has been a seamless transition so far. I think that after the new year, it may start to become more real. I will keep updating as I continue on this next phase of my life. 
