Retired @ 52, Wife Retired @ 59.5 New to this Forum

L

LakeRat1

Recycles dryer sheets
Joined
Nov 24, 2015
Messages
234
Location
Fort Myers, FL & Lake Of the Ozarks, MO
Hello ..... New to retirement, a bit young so we are still getting use to the change ......

A bit about us:
Married for 31+ Years
Wife worked as an RN her entire life, retired in November 2013 at 59.5
I left my job and career in the IT Field in January 2014 at 52

We both have contributed heavily to our 401k Plans for the past 30 years

Currently we have a condo at Lake of the Ozarks, MO as well we purchased a small home in a 55+ community in Fort Myers, FL. We became FL residents, as there is no State Income Tax, or PP Tax on vehicles in FL.....

Summers are spent in MO at the lake and our winters in Ft Myers.....

I am on this forum to contribute and ask questions ..... Looking forward to participating on this forum :)
 
Welcome to the forum LakeRat1. It sounds like you have built a very nice life for you and your wife - congratulations! Let us know how you are enjoying retirement.
 
Welcome! I look forward to hearing more from you as you explore this next stage!
 
LakeRat1 said:
There are times I begin 2nd guessing my decision to retire :) Still getting use to this change
Click to expand...

Would enjoy hearing what makes you begin to 2nd guess sometimes. Good feedback to those on the edge of retirement and looking to be sure it's the right decision for them.
 
Greetings from Texas and welcome... you'll adjust to the changes at your own pace... you'll know it when your face begins to hurt because you're smiling too much....

Cheers!
 
LakeRat1 said:
Thank You for the Welcome ...... I wish I had found this Forum 5 years ago :)

There are times I begin 2nd guessing my decision to retire :) Still getting use to this change
Click to expand...
DW and I retired this year at 53... so not so young.

I've had several offers for work, but have not taken any of them... but some were good offers.

I agree with the above comment about discussing what has you 2nd guessing. Money, missing the social aspects of work, missing the identity work gave you, don't know what to do with yourself:confused:?..
you likely will find someone who has had the same reservations and have a good discussion. And your discussion may help others.

but ... welcome to the forum
 
We both have been retired since the end of January 2014, spent last November 2014 through March 2015 renting a place in Fort Myers, then came back in July and purchased a place, and now we have been here since October, staying through Mid April ......

We truly enjoy Sun, Boating, and Fun ..... Winters in SW Florida, then our summers back at Lake of the Ozarks......

These first two years, we have spent more money that I had planned, so we are getting taxed more ......

The good news is we are now Florida residents, this will save us roughly 16K per year on State Income Tax and Personal Property taxes on our vehicles, and no rent in FL.....

We paid cash for the FL Place, HOA Dues are only $300 per quarter, includes water, trash, and mowing.....

Biggest challenge is the Health insurance as well as changing our spending habits..... We like to have fun, travel, etc.....

I would like to live on 70K per year, but we are not there yet .....
 
Hi Lakerat1,
Sounds like you and your spouse are living the dream! :) Having the two residences is something my we and I are considering. I just retired at 53 from an IT career and spouse (55) is wo*king till about 2018. We luv southwest Florida and hope to get a place there. Were starting out by planning to take extended stays in various areas.
I think that the movement between homes would be interesting and also throw in a few vacations here and there to add some adventure would be nice.
We so far are targeting ~90k, but not sure if we we will keep a mortgage or not. Would luv to hear about your experiences figuring out ACA and taxes.
How do you like Ft. Myers? Is there much of a crowd in the winter? That is on out list of places.
 
Welcome Lakerat1, where abouts at the lake are you? We're in the Gravois, close to Millstone. I'm heading down to enjoy the sunny 55 degree days they are calling for, can't wait to enjoy it now that the crazies are off the water.

Congratulations on your decision.
 
Welcome to the forum, sounds like you are settling in well. Now that you have the FL home, you can start to have a more set pattern and be able to determine budget and expenses better.

I have some similarities with you, will be retiring at 52.5 (from engineer career) in approx 6 months; and my wife is an RN. So far my second house is my motorhome, I intend to put a lot more miles and use on it next summer.
 
Making more time to actively be a part of this Forum .... :)

Prior to our purchase in Fort Myers, we had looked into winter weather temps. We knew we wanted as much sun as possible, pool, close to fuel stations, super market, and shopping in general...... We decided on Cape Coral, Bonita, Fort Myers as our short list...... November 2014 we were driving through 55+ Gated Community RV Parks... We quickly learned you look for "For Rent" signs, stop at the office, and look at the peg boards...... The most important thing is to talk with people around the pool, to find out what is for rent, what is good or bad .... I call it the pool of Knowledge :).

We were fortunate to call on a place and rent a "PM" (park model 800 sqft trailer house) for $1500 per month..... So we rented from 12/14 through 3/15...... We quickly went back to MO, packed a few clothes, took care of personal business and headed back to SWF 10 days later......

Spent the next 4 months, socializing around the pool, learned so much from the "pool of knowledge" as the average age is in the 70s...... We were the youngest in the park....

We began looking at purchasing and becoming FL residents, as we would save on rent (Land Lord and others saw that the economy had really changed from two years ago) and told us that for this season, he wanted $2200 Per Month, as that is what others were getting.... The park we are in, you own the lot, HOA Dues are only $100 per month, two pools, tennis courts, horse shoes, volley ball, shuffle board courts, and activities going on all the time....... The crowd is a bit older than I am use to, but I am adjusting...... As well, I have quite a few friends that visit SWF during the winter, so as they visit, we will meet for cocktails, go to the beach or boating, etc......

Long story short, this past summer we purchased a PM 800 sqft unit, did some painting, new flooring and furniture and now we have our Florida home. DW and I have our drivers licenses, tagged our vehicles, got our voting registration card and are now FL residents....

The current plan is to live in our condo at Lake of the Ozarks (20MM) from May through September, then our place in Ft. Myers the remaining 7 months..... Our lake condo is on the main channel, water front and we just love all the activity both during the week and on weekends ........

We are going on two years of retirement, we had not planned on purchasing a place in FL, nor did we realize how much people collect for rent during season...... With that said, we have not stuck to our budget...... As time goes, I know I will reel ourselves in as I do not want to run out of money........

Right now I am still on the edge if we made the correct decision starting this retirement so early :)
 
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Mind sharing how much you paid for the 800 sf Florida place? I know someone who is considering a place like that further north of you and would appreciate the reference point. Thanks and congrats.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum
 
The park we are in, you own the lot ..... We paid 75k.....
There are 685 Units in the park, since this past January 56 units have sold, most sell within a week or two, some within 24 hours ...... Lowest I have seen was 35k most expensive was 150k ...... Rents are from 1500 to 2500 During season .....

We looked a several condos as well, their HOA dues were 300+. In our park the HOA dues are only $100 Per Month, include lawn, upkeep of the park, trash, and water ...... I pay $325 at my Condo in the Ozarks .....
 
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Had a motor home for 20+ years, sold our last one 3 years ago as part of our down sizing, plus no place to keep it at our condo in MO. When traveling we stay in hotels. Should the trailer house get blown away in a hurricane, we may replace with an RV ;)
 
Living Forward, really do enjoy retirement ..... Both in SWF and Lake of the Ozarks ...... I still worry at times about running out of money and question if I did the right thing or if I should have continued working until I reached 59.5.......

We are now back in Missouri for the summer to enjoy the lake living. Because we enjoy boating, we joined a boating club while in Florida. When we return this fall, we will be able to reserve a boat, then go out whenever we like..... This will be nice

DW turned 62 at the beginning of May, she will begin drawing her SS in July .... This will be nice, as we live off her IRA /401k Rollover

I still plan to draw my pension in one more year at 55, then draw from my IRA/401k Rollover at 59.5, then SS at 62......

I was reminded today that life is short, so Live Life to the fullest each and every day ......
This morning, I get a call that a good friend that a friend of ours, collapsed at 7AM this morning and passed. He was recovering from surgery on his foot, the first thoughts are he died from a blood clot. His wife is an RN, she performed CPR until EMTs arrived, but they could not bring him back..... Tom was 54 years old and in good health .....
 
LakeRat1 said:
Living Forward, really do enjoy retirement ..... Both in SWF and Lake of the Ozarks ...... I still worry at times about running out of money and question if I did the right thing or if I should have continued working until I reached 59.5.......
Click to expand...

Hi LakeRat1, another Missouri poster, ex IT too. Glad to never have a phone call or text in the middle of the night ever again.☺(let alone 600)

You mentioned worry about running short of funds a couple of times. Have you used Firecalc or other modeling tools to see if you are on track? I'm revisiting our numbers after 3 years. Making me feel more comfortable.☺ For me I have to force myself to deal with numbers and not fear. Best wishes.
 
Hello MRG,

Heck NO ..... I do not miss the calls :) I have not utilized Firecalc, but have been utilizing the Fidelity "Planning and Guidance" Tools. Based on those calculations, as well as working with the advisor over the past two years, things appear to be OK..... But, I am not convinced :)

Fear is my problem, I am not in a good comfort zone
 
LakeRat1 said:
Hello MRG,

Heck NO ..... I do not miss the calls :) I have not utilized Firecalc, but have been utilizing the Fidelity "Planning and Guidance" Tools. Based on those calculations, as well as working with the advisor over the past two years, things appear to be OK..... But, I am not convinced :)

Fear is my problem, I am not in a good comfort zone
Click to expand...

Fidelity RIP(Retirement Income Planner) is my goto. I'm definitely not a Firecalc power user but it's easy to set up for a second take. RIP has been the most conservative planner I've found but......

We could always start fixing old assembly and COBOL code again(plan Z).:)
 
LakeRat1 said:
Hello MRG,

Heck NO ..... I do not miss the calls :) I have not utilized Firecalc, but have been utilizing the Fidelity "Planning and Guidance" Tools. Based on those calculations, as well as working with the advisor over the past two years, things appear to be OK..... But, I am not convinced :)

Fear is my problem, I am not in a good comfort zone
Click to expand...

Hello LakeRat1,

I am new to the forum as well, so welcome to a fellow newcomer! While not yet retired I am somewhat close and do have concerns about when to retire and if I am able. Being a bit of a spreadsheet geek I've done my own projections but have found comfort in getting supporting input from multiple retirement calculators. For note I am 53.

I've used FireCalc, ******* Calc, Financial Engines, Market Watch and the tools offered by Schwab and T-Rowe Price. Liking that kind of exercise I've found, while not exact, the tools independently seem to verify that I'd be ok to retire during the next couple of years. I know that FireCalc, ******* Calc, and the Market Watch tool are available without needing to have an account, but donations are happily encouraged. I've found that it takes some time to identify the nuances of each but they may be worth your time for some peace of mind.

Best of wishes in your new lifestyle!
 
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