astromeria
Moderator Emeritus
- Joined
- Aug 13, 2005
- Messages
- 1,375
I've been hanging out as a guest for a long time, enjoying FIREcalc as well as the board info and entertainment (infotainment?!) and thought I'd introduce myself at last.
We moved out of the fast lane a little over 3 years ago and now live comfortably on 25% of our peak Silicon Valley income. We moved to a lower cost of living area, we're debt free, and the kids are independent <well, there's DD's wedding next spring--eek!>. Anyhow, after working part time for 3 years, I retired--yesterday! (YESS!!) Meanwhile, my husband went from software engineering/mgt to college teaching. With 3 months off in summer and 1 in winter, he feels semi-retired himself. I'm 55 and he's 56.
I'd like comments on the financial aspects of our retirement plans. (If we're not gonna make it, just break it to me gently!)
-- $60k in gross income, $36k for basics and $24k for extras. This is what we live on now. When DH retires, if he's <62 I plan to take a 4% WR off our portfolio (would be $48k now), then at 62 decrease to 3% and add Social Security ($24k for both, so they say), and at 65, some possible pensions (anywhere from 0 to $15k, so I don't count them).
-- We max our Roths, his pension fund (with 100% match on his 6%), and his TIAA-CREF 403b (no match). In order to afford this, we're essentially "laundering" taxable money into the 403b and Roths. Does that make sense for the 403b? (FYI, 65% of our stash is taxable.)
-- Our portfolio is a conservative 50% stocks and 50% fixed income, and the stocks include 30% foreign and 5% REITs. Kind of a mish-mosh of index funds, managed funds, and individual stocks as well as corporate bonds and CDs.
-- If DH teaches long enough (10 years, which would be age 63), we can continue in the state health insurance plan.
We moved out of the fast lane a little over 3 years ago and now live comfortably on 25% of our peak Silicon Valley income. We moved to a lower cost of living area, we're debt free, and the kids are independent <well, there's DD's wedding next spring--eek!>. Anyhow, after working part time for 3 years, I retired--yesterday! (YESS!!) Meanwhile, my husband went from software engineering/mgt to college teaching. With 3 months off in summer and 1 in winter, he feels semi-retired himself. I'm 55 and he's 56.
I'd like comments on the financial aspects of our retirement plans. (If we're not gonna make it, just break it to me gently!)
-- $60k in gross income, $36k for basics and $24k for extras. This is what we live on now. When DH retires, if he's <62 I plan to take a 4% WR off our portfolio (would be $48k now), then at 62 decrease to 3% and add Social Security ($24k for both, so they say), and at 65, some possible pensions (anywhere from 0 to $15k, so I don't count them).
-- We max our Roths, his pension fund (with 100% match on his 6%), and his TIAA-CREF 403b (no match). In order to afford this, we're essentially "laundering" taxable money into the 403b and Roths. Does that make sense for the 403b? (FYI, 65% of our stash is taxable.)
-- Our portfolio is a conservative 50% stocks and 50% fixed income, and the stocks include 30% foreign and 5% REITs. Kind of a mish-mosh of index funds, managed funds, and individual stocks as well as corporate bonds and CDs.
-- If DH teaches long enough (10 years, which would be age 63), we can continue in the state health insurance plan.