New Member "JRSpot

[jrspot]

Great to be hear and looking forward to other perspectives on our next move.

Vitals: Plus side
Age 50 and 47.
DH govt employee w/31 yrs but 5 more (age) to go - 90K
DW administrator (stressful) can go anytime - 100K
Home Business (Part time) - Clear 30K
TSP - from CSRS (not FERS) - 80K
Roth - 5K
402B - 103K
Home Equity - 150K
Real Estate (Land) - 39K
Bank - 15K
Condo (Timeshare) - 15K

Negative Side
Consumer Debt - 47K
Mortgage - 650K
Real Estate (Land) - 29K

Plan is to retire at 55, DW will be 52. (Ex-Wife will get a %). Not sure how this works after 16 years of marriage.

Sell 6500 SF home (completed this year) and build 3000-3500 SF upon retirement to capture tax free capital gains. (Expecting 2500 or more high paying government jobs to come this way w/i next 5 yrs.)

DW insurance covers medical for now, but forum reminded me that I must get back in govt insurance now (5 year rule).

Issue At Hand: Decision to retire is not something DW is comfortable with right now. Very Conservative! Feels that as long

Other factor is that I'm okay with job but don't want to die here. Work 2 more years for another $200 a PP etc... is not worth it. FREEDOM sounds good but FINANCIAL FREEDOM sounds better!

Need ammo to fight this battle. In our shoes what would you do?

[Nords]

Welcome to the board, JR.

It looks like your salaries & business income supprt a great savings rate-- or at least a heckuva mortgage payment. You probably get a TSP match on contributions but after that I wonder if paying down the consumer debt & mortgage would make you eligible for a better rate on a smaller mortgage. That depends on your current interest rate, but there's a potential to save more on smaller mortgage payments than perhaps you might make by investing your current savings.

You're five years away from retirement and a lot can happen in that time. Perhaps your spouse will feel different in a few years. Either way the decision to continue working or not is HER decision, and it's probably best to support her in that. It doesn't seem like the timing of the home sale is especially critical?

As for you, the decision to work is YOUR decision. Several of us board members are happy to collect our pension checks and run the family & household while our spouses work. It's a great club.

As for financial independence, you'd have to balance your annual expenses against the size of your portfolio and run the numbers on FIRECalc. Its success rate might make your spouse feel more comfortable about destressing. 4% is the conventional wisdom on a safe withdrawal rate, but 5% might even be suitable if Social Security isn't far off.

[jrspot]

Thanks for the reply and welcome Nord.

Current interest rate of 6% is pretty good for size of loan. However it is a 5 yr ARM. No intentions of refi before term.

Need to clarify that DW would retire today if she chose to therefore my club membership would be void from the start. She is hesitate about us both going out. The way I feel today I would go considering what sticking around would net.

Agree that I need to run #s.

Thanks again!

[yakers]

First I agree you should get into the federal medical coverage so you would have coverage in 5 years if you decide to retire then. Then it is up to you. By a lot of folks standards you will have a decent pension whether these resources are adequate mostly on your standard of living.

Generally I am of the opinion that financial independence is more important than retirement. I like my job and some folks choose to continue working for reasons that they and I would find valid. But more important than either is being on the same wavelength as your spouse. Being unhappy in retirement (or having an unhappy spouse) even with adequate financial resources is some version of hell to me.

[Dreamer]

CSRS does not get a match on their TSP contributions. I would definitely enroll in the Fed Health plan as quickly as possible!

Dreamer