Retired this week at 58

[Twolves]

That is great. I found out it is good to have few hobbies. Enjoy your retirement.

[Live Large]

Welcome to the Land of Retirement!

Great first post ~ decision made ER’d. Drop the mic

I can’t remember how I discovered this great site that is full of great advice but glad I did! Thanks for adding to it ~

By the way, Maintained 2 homes past 18yrs last 3.5 into retirement - 70mi apart Condo/Ranch City rural contrast - number of folk here keep two if can. Also, the rental crew - those that + home/apt as source of income.

[DRC726]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AZ2020 As of 8/1/2020 I retired from my job at a large company in AZ. Planned on retiring since my mid 20's. My wife retired a few years ago. Daughter is starting college. 2 houses, no debt, 3M net worth. Seems like it was the time to be done working. Looking forward to enjoying the time off. I've been reading a lot on this site for a long time, but this is my first post. I've learned a lot, and hope to learn even more. -AZ2020

Congratulations! I also retired 8/1/2020 at 60 years old after 35 years with a mega company. I could feel the stress just melt away. Similar financial numbers as you and no debt which is key. Health insurance is brutal for DW and I but we'll address that as we go along with possible subsidies. All the best to you and welcome to this site!

[dklaus]

Congrats - My first response to any post (been lurking for years).

I'm in a similar situation... would like to retire but for now, I'm practicing how to generate income to replace my salary.

Curious to know how do you plan to invest the $1M cash to generate an income stream? Or are you just going to sit in cash and draw it down to cover your expenses?

[kimcdougc]

Congrats and welcome to the other side of freedom. Enjoy.

[d.davis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dtail I am guessing you already checked it out, but do you have enough in your taxable account in order to minimize your medical costs via subsidies through the ACA?

Jumping in:
We're taking a different route showing income to the limit of the 12% bracket with ROTH conversions. Tax savings vs. higher medical is a wash but at the end of the year the ROTH balance is higher.

[firewhen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dklaus Congrats - My first response to any post (been lurking for years). I'm in a similar situation... would like to retire but for now, I'm practicing how to generate income to replace my salary. Curious to know how do you plan to invest the $1M cash to generate an income stream? Or are you just going to sit in cash and draw it down to cover your expenses?

We are heavily invested in stocks, 2% dividend return, have been reinvesting all the years but will shut that off and have the dividends automatically deposited into my money market account.

[Retired Expat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AZ2020 As of 8/1/2020 I retired from my job at a large company in AZ. Planned on retiring since my mid 20's. My wife retired a few years ago. Daughter is starting college. 2 houses, no debt, 3M net worth. Seems like it was the time to be done working. Looking forward to enjoying the time off. I've been reading a lot on this site for a long time, but this is my first post. I've learned a lot, and hope to learn even more. -AZ2020

Welcome to retirement, come on in! The water is fine. Your gonna love it!

I fired 8 years ago at 52 with similar numbers. Market run up these past 8 years has been impressive so NW has grown in that time and as not having a steady paycheck bothered me (even if my numbers theoretically were fine) I found some investments that generated the cash I needed to live on without selling appreciating assets.

Take your time to figure out what the next stage will be. Sleep in...or don’t, stay up until all hours of the morning....or don’t. But do grill yourself a nice lunch in the middle of the “work week” and enjoy the simple pleasures of knowing your time is your own now. Well, if your spouse agrees of course!

[cnocmmz]

:-)

[cnocmmz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by badatmath I can't even earn 3M in the rest of my life put together much less save it - good job. I been saving since 20s though so i will get where I get and live with that.

:-)

[AZ2020]

Quote:

Originally Posted by O2Bfree Yay for ya!! Be sure to post tomorrow, Monday, and let everyone know how it feels.

I decided to wait 2 weeks to see if how I felt changes, and no, it has not changed.

It feels great!

[AZ2020]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mohanish Nehete Congratulations !!! I can imagine how it feels like. Can you share your learnings ?

In no particular order:

LBYM, invested the rest. Every raise/bonus went to investments. Still living in the fist house I ever bought. Read Andrew Tobias back in the day. Decided not to end up like my parents. Didn't care if my in-laws thought I was broke. Owned most cars for 10+ years. Married for 35 years. Still trying to convince her we have enough to get by. Enjoy life because it will be over soon enough.

[AZ2020]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dklaus Congrats - My first response to any post (been lurking for years). I'm in a similar situation... would like to retire but for now, I'm practicing how to generate income to replace my salary. Curious to know how do you plan to invest the $1M cash to generate an income stream? Or are you just going to sit in cash and draw it down to cover your expenses?

The 1M is mostly invested in an after tax account, only some of it is in cash.

Normally I would have it all invested, but I backed out of spending cash on a large transaction when Covid-19 hit. I decided not to invest it again because I thought the market wold probably stay low for a long time. Who knew it would bounce back so quickly. It is enough to live on for a few years so I'll probably just use it as needed until it runs out.

Because I have enough cash on hand, I'll have to think about doing a Roth conversion next year when I won't have any income.

[AZ2020]

Thanks to everyone who welcomed me to this forum.

I've never had such a positive reaction on a forum before. Everyone has been so friendly. There is so much bad news these days, it is nice to see something so positive.

I hope this puts a smile on your face as big as the smile on mine!

[ImThinkin2019]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Retired Expat Welcome to retirement, come on in! The water is fine. Your gonna love it! I fired 8 years ago at 52 with similar numbers. Market run up these past 8 years has been impressive so NW has grown in that time and as not having a steady paycheck bothered me (even if my numbers theoretically were fine) I found some investments that generated the cash I needed to live on without selling appreciating assets.

We are doing something similar. Planning to live on income-bearing investments and letting the stock market investments fluctuate without having to depend on them. Helps us sleep at night.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AZ2020 In no particular order: LBYM, invested the rest. Every raise/bonus went to investments. Still living in the fist house I ever bought. Read Andrew Tobias back in the day. Decided not to end up like my parents. Didn't care if my in-laws thought I was broke. Owned most cars for 10+ years. Married for 35 years. Still trying to convince her we have enough to get by. Enjoy life because it will be over soon enough.

LBYM seems to be a very common behavior of people who are financially stable. I hear it here regularly.

I was at the transfer station (in the olden days this would be the "dump") on Saturday and the Public Works employee manning the shed told me about his plans- "65 and out-that's the maxiumum pension I can get. I am OK financially - just spend less than your paycheck."

Interesting to see that although his pay was likely moderate, by his habits he now has financial freedom!

[pacergal]

Congratulations and welcome to retirement!

[Born2Fish]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AZ2020 Thanks to everyone who welcomed me to this forum. I've never had such a positive reaction on a forum before. Everyone has been so friendly. There is so much bad news these days, it is nice to see something so positive. I hope this puts a smile on your face as big as the smile on mine!

Congrats on your retirement and thanks for the positive post!

Sure put a smile on my face!

[nadnerb]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dtail I am guessing you already checked it out, but do you have enough in your taxable account in order to minimize your medical costs via subsidies through the ACA?

This is not a topic I'm familiar with - not retired yet. Any suggestions for where to go here for further study on this?

[Dtail]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nadnerb This is not a topic I'm familiar with - not retired yet. Any suggestions for where to go here for further study on this?

For starters, you can check out the sites listed below to get a feel for medical costs under ACA plans.

healthsherpa.com
healthgov.org

See attached for what types of income is included in the calculations of MAGI (Modified Adjusted Gross Income), which is used to determine the income for calculations of potential subsidies.

https://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/pdf..._summary13.pdf

In general, folks try to limit their MAGI under the FPL (Federal Poverty Limits) in order to gain subsidies for the medical costs.
Typically this can be accomplished by using monies which are in a Taxable Account and lead to less taxable income.

[38Chevy454]

I retired almost exactly three years before your date, 08/02/17 for me. It's been a great 3 years so far, welcome to the club!