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Recently retired... loving it.
Old 11-09-2011, 05:40 PM   #1
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Recently retired... loving it.

Hi all. I'm 44 and ERd earlier this year after 20+ years in the tech industry. DW still works a few days a week, but we're spending our time exercising, traveling and enjoying life. I'll probably go back to work, but not in the near future.

Financially, the tech jobs got us to the point where we had 'enough' (as John Bogle would say). On the debt side, we have our primary residence mortgage and recently purchased a rental property (financed half of it). We saved regularly, decided not to have kids and probably own the smallest house on the block. All have helped get us to FIRE.

Our biggest concern is health care costs. We're on COBRA for now, but will need to look for private insurance in a few months. So I'll be researching the boards on this topic.

That's about it. Glad to be here.
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Old 11-09-2011, 05:43 PM   #2
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Welcome to ER.org. It's great to see folks ER'ing in their 40's when mostly what we hear is doom and gloom.
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Old 11-09-2011, 05:45 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by markelp View Post
Our biggest concern is health care costs. We're on COBRA for now, but will need to look for private insurance in a few months. So I'll be researching the boards on this topic.
Welcome! At least you'll have the time and energy to get (or keep) yourself in the best possible physical condition when it's time to brave the big, bad world of individual health insurance coverage...
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"Hey, for every ten dollars, that's another hour that I have to be in the work place. That's an hour of my life. And my life is a very finite thing. I have only 'x' number of hours left before I'm dead. So how do I want to use these hours of my life? Do I want to use them just spending it on more crap and more stuff, or do I want to start getting a handle on it and using my life more intelligently?" -- Joe Dominguez (1938 - 1997)
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Old 11-09-2011, 05:47 PM   #4
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Welcome to the boards and congrats on your recent ER!
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Old 11-09-2011, 05:54 PM   #5
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Welcome and congratulations on your very early retirement!
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Old 11-09-2011, 06:05 PM   #6
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Welcome & Congratulations!

If you & DW are in good health, insurance will not be a big deal. Use the services of an insurance agent to guide you to a suitable plan & also to help you navigate the forms.

All the best.
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Old 11-09-2011, 06:33 PM   #7
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Congrats and welcome! I can relate to your situation with "enough". Life away from the rat race is totally agreeing with me.
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Old 11-10-2011, 01:14 AM   #8
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Welcome, markelp.
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Very conservative with investments. Not ER'd yet, 48 years old. Please do not take anything I write or imply as legal, financial or medical advice directed to you. Contact your own financial advisor, healthcare provider, or attorney for financial, medical and legal advice.
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Old 11-10-2011, 01:10 PM   #9
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Welcome! DH and I retired at close to your age, and found that our health improved greatly after retirement, in no small part because now we have time and energy to put in a lot of quality gym time. Ditto what walkinwood said, go to an insurance broker who should, at no cost to you, be able to help you with their knowledge of what's available in your State, including any government programs if there is something that prevents you from getting accepted for private insurance. Find a broker who represents no particular company. Maybe they're all that way, I don't know, but my broker saved my cookies with her knowledge. Also, don't dilly dally, sometimes there is a long delay time between applying for private insurance and finding out if they accept you, and if there is a gap in coverage, that can be bad.
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Old 11-11-2011, 11:36 AM   #10
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Welcome and congrats. We're the same age and I'll be FIRE'd in less than six months.
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Old 11-12-2011, 12:06 AM   #11
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Welcome! Nice that you're enjoying your new life.
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Old 11-12-2011, 09:19 AM   #12
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Congrats on your ER! Like you, hubby & I lived in a small house with old cars & no kids and retired 3 years ago with no debt.

We also had to get new health insurance after quitting our j*bs and chose a high deductible plan ($10k) to lower premiums. Since we are fairly young (42 & 48 now) and healthy, we view it more as financial insurance. Should anything catastrophic occur health-wise it would not wipe out our savings.

Regarding coverage for "pre-existing conditions" such as they were, we were able to show something call "continuous coverage" from our employer's plan and were covered for those conditions with no waiting period after being accepted into the new plan. This might be something you'd want to check into, presuming that your COBRA constitutes continuous coverage.
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Old 11-12-2011, 09:48 AM   #13
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Sometimes, retirement is better than sex ...

Please note that I said "sometimes" (and yes, I've been retired since early 2007 )...
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Old 11-14-2011, 10:22 AM   #14
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Awesome! Thanks for the uplifting note about early retirement success.
Your note provides added encouragement to those of us that are still spinning the hampster wheel.
Congrats!
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Old 11-14-2011, 10:23 AM   #15
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Glad to hear things are going so well! Congratulations!
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Old 11-14-2011, 12:16 PM   #16
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Congratulations and enjoy! One thing I learned from the forum here, was if your both healthy now, consider getting on your individual plan ASAP ( assuming your COBRA is not a freebee) while you are healthy. I passes up my COBRA time and got on immediately. While my health is fine, in my case, I found the individual market cheaper than staying with my employers plan.
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