Think I'm OK, but not overly confident

[euro]

You are way overthinking it. Put in your notice tomorrow.

What HE said! Only reason not to quit tomorrow is if you have a decent shot at tapping into a redundancy package in the next 6 months. Me, I would not even wait for that - you are not getting any younger

 

[kimcdougc]

Retire now. Life has a way of getting harder quickly. You have more than enough to last the rest of your lives. Go live the rest of your life and have a great time!

 

[Whisper66]

.....if you want to continue over working it, rerun firecalc with the option in the last tab set to investigate what the maximum you can spend yearly with a 95% confidence. That will give you some idea of how much "fat" you have in your plan.

Out of curiosity, I ran this calculation myself. I get that you could spend $182,000 per year for the rest of your life with 95% confidence that you would not run out of money. For 100% confidence, need to "limit yourself" to $171,000 / yr.

I don't know what you need to be confident but most here would be extrodinarily confident in your situation and wouldn't hesitate to retire (if finances were the only concern).

 

[tdv2]

Picking 100% success rate in firecalc with your figures gives you a $233,000/year spend rate for 30 years.....more than enough cushion based on your $143k spend for the first few years. For me Firecalc says I can spend $205k for 40 years.....never spent more than $82k/y--been tracking the past 5 years....I'm 53 and pulling the plug this year. BTW I live about 7 miles west of Westfield....also an Engineer and overthinking things.

 

[Aiming_4_55]

I think you were ok last year. You have $50k pension income at retirement and total of $105k pensions/ss within 2 years. This reduces your safe withdraw rate around 1.5% overall. (estimate only)

It seems like you need a push. Just take advantage of all your health care benefits now and research your healthcare options, but Cobra is easy option if you have any current issues. Start planning activities with your extra time!

 

[nativenewenglander]

Only you can make the decision to give your notice and retire. My dad retired at 62, my mother and he had twelve good years before my mother stated to fail, then he became a caregiver. She died in 2012 and he died last year. Think about the time you have left and how you want to spend it, working or with you wife and family.

 

[Ready]

Perhaps the OP has other reasons for not having retired by now than just financial. Loss of routine, loss of social interactions at work, loss of purpose...all of these can cause people to be reluctant to quit even if they are financially ready to do so.

 

[Fedup]

I accept the fact that some people will never retire but they never admit to it.

 

[ready53]

Thanks to everyone for your responses. All of the feedback makes total sense to me. I think my hesitancy is largely an emotional issue. After working for 38 1/2 years, I do feel some anxiety about closing that chapter of my life. The finality of it spooks me a bit. Many of those 38 1/2 years were very good years and my career overall was very good to me and my family. The last few years have definitely gone downhill and I really am ready for a change.
I have to believe that what I am feeling is not unique. I will not miss the routine or the relationships. Many of my truly valued relationships have moved on (i.e. retired) already. I have plenty of meaningful activities waiting for me when I finally leave.
The financial implications still linger in my head a bit I must admit, but that is not the real issue. Why is this so difficult, when it should really be a happy and fulfilling time in my life?
Thanks again for all of your comments. It helps put things into the prop[er perspective.

All the best,

ready53

 

[Zona]

Why is this so difficult, when it should really be a happy and fulfilling time in my life?

It's human nature to be anxious about big changes to life situations. Sometimes you just need to take the leap and throw yourself in wholeheartedly. Get excited about all the things you will be able to do in retirement and try not to worry about small margins of having "just that little bit more" in your stash. You are more than ready -- I have a few years to go still (early 40's) but even at my age if I had your numbers, I'd FIRE today! Congrats and best wishes!

 

[chris2008]

You and DW might not have enough ideas and plans what to do in retirement and how to structure your new life.
Start talking about that with DW. Start reading books like Ernie Zelinski 'How to retire happy wild and free' ( the get-a-life-tree exercise is great!) or Ralph Warner 'Get a life - you do not need a million to retire well'.

You will be ready to leave when the axe goes around at work next time. Then volunteer...

Or do you secretly plan to buy houses for all your kids or to have them retire immediately on their parents' passing away

 

[exnavynuke]

Two suggestions.

1. Retire now.
2. Spend more than you currently plan. Your current estimated spending can be increased noticeably without anticipating any financial problems. Go take more trips or something .

 

[Winemaker]

In any good book, one good chapter finishes and leaves you yearning for the next chapter.

Start yearning.

 

[DrRoy]

I think my hesitancy is largely an emotional issue. After working for 38 1/2 years, I do feel some anxiety about closing that chapter of my life. The finality of it spooks me a bit. Many of those 38 1/2 years were very good years and my career overall was very good to me and my family. The last few years have definitely gone downhill and I really am ready for a change.
I have to believe that what I am feeling is not unique. I will not miss the routine or the relationships. Many of my truly valued relationships have moved on (i.e. retired) already. I have plenty of meaningful activities waiting for me when I finally leave.
The financial implications still linger in my head a bit I must admit, but that is not the real issue. Why is this so difficult, when it should really be a happy and fulfilling time in my life?

My situation is very close to yours in many respects. I have 8 DAYS LEFT to RE!, and I feel like a school kid waiting for summer break! We have earned it. Try to relax and enjoy. Good luck.

 

[Dawg52]

You are one year closer to dead. You have more than enough money to walk and start enjoying a stress free life.

Do it.

+1.

 

[CindyBlue]

Financially, you have a slam dunk. Move on and quit over working it. Congrats!

Edit - if you want to continue over working it, rerun firecalc with the option in the last tab set to investigate what the maximum you can spend yearly with a 95% confidence. That will give you some idea of how much "fat" you have in your plan.

I'm trying to figure out how to do what you suggested, but it keeps saying "Error." Could you walk me though what I have to do, and where (which choice?) with the last tab?

 

[Whisper66]

I'm trying to figure out how to do what you suggested, but it keeps saying "Error." Could you walk me though what I have to do, and where (which choice?) with the last tab?

I've posted response to your query back on your "Do I have Enough" thread so it reflects your situation rather than this OP's. Hope it helps.

 

[Vagabond2020]

You have waaaay more assets than you will ever need. The more realistic scenario is that you will die with a higher net worth than you have today......

64 is still young enough to enjoy a few decades of time away from work. I would jump in and start figuring out what you want to do with your time, the financial aspects are covered through and through again.

 

[Midpack]

+1 What you might do is to use the sensitivity tools in Firecalc to see how much you could spend and still be at a high success ratio... I suspect that it will be much more than you think you need and perhaps that might make you feel comfortable.

When I was making the decision I ran just about every retirement calculator that I could find using the same, conservative assumptions and they all gave me various versions of a green light and I then became more comfortable with pulling the trigger.

+2. But each of us has to decide for ourselves when we're financially ready to pull the trigger. Some people are fine with 70-80% success rate (lowest I've seen), others are looking for 200% (twice as many $ as the 100% threshold), and others somewhere in between - and all are right! Each of us will live with the decision, no one else, no one here or anyone else. If you're not as confident as you'd like to be, maybe you should work until you are, most of us can't undo retirement - it's a one way street. But you'll never be 100% confident, and it's likely you will miss some aspects or people from work, so don't wait for that. And if you wait a few years, or many years, odds are you'll still be retired for a good long time.

Best of luck...

 

[ready53]

+2. But each of us has to decide for ourselves when we're financially ready to pull the trigger. Some people are fine with 70-80% success rate (lowest I've seen), others are looking for 200% (twice as many $ as the 100% threshold), and others somewhere in between - and all are right! Each of us will live with the decision, no one else, no one here or anyone else. If you're not as confident as you'd like to be, maybe you should work until you are, most of us can't undo retirement - it's a one way street. But you'll never be 100% confident, and it's likely you will miss some aspects or people from work, so don't wait for that. And if you wait a few years, or many years, odds are you'll still be retired for a good long time.

Midpack, I think you are on target. Financial readiness in retirement is a personal decision. There are so many factors that influence the decision, and only the individual who has the complete picture can make a full assessment. That said, it still is helpful to get opinions from others even if they don’t know all the factors. This forum is an excellent resource for soliciting those other opinions.



From many of the responses to my original and follow-up posts, I get the impression that others view me and my wife to be somewhat out-of-touch worry warts. I do certainly appreciate the feedback, and to some degree it is reassuring, but I don’t think we are worry warts. I have lots of concerns about withdrawal strategies, tax strategies with impending RMDs, long term care strategies, paying for healthcare, inflation, etc. How these play out can certainly have an impact on our financial wellbeing during retirement. I understand that I will never be 100% confident, but I would like to be as close to 100% as possible. I probably need to be more specific in my posting, and maybe need a number of more focused posts on different issues. I think everyone would benefit from dialogs on these topics.


You also touch on the fact that pulling the trigger on retirement isn’t solely a financial decision. That certainly is the case for me. I am definitely not happy in my work life right now and I don’t see that changing. There are no aspects of my current work that I will miss (other than a steady paycheck), and I can always maintain contact with the people that I have close relationships with. There are also plenty of purposeful activities waiting for me and my wife when I finally leave. For me, I think it is largely an emotional issue. I have been working non-stop all my adult life, and there is something about the finality of the retirement decision that gives me anxiety and a bit of paralysis. As I stated in an earlier post, reorganizations at the company I work for will likely impact me, but that could still be several months away or might not happen at all. The thought of being there for several months or longer is not very appealing. Hopefully I will get the guts to move on to my next chapter soon.


Once again, I really appreciate all the feedback I have received on this forum. It is a great resource that wasn’t available in the not so distant past.