Any opinions on this plan for ER?

[JWV]

I'm sure all of this is interesting to Sue, but maybe we should give her thread back to her and you boys go play elsewhere.

Thanks,

Judy

 

[unclemick]

Ah yes the boring and mundane.

Sue - FireCalc and ORP calculators are fun to work up your numbers. Get a handle on your yearly budget now - and projected in ER. Peruse the archives here and find Dory's - 33% That's my story.

You have the nuts and bolts to work with - get to work!

Heh, heh, heh, heh.

Seriously - you are there - but you still have to work up 'your plan'. Motivation is the key.

 

[Eagle43]

El Avila 43:

Apenas porque robamos Tejas de la gama de México no mala tenemos que dar la detrás que cualquier manera por lo menos una puede beber el agua en la mayoría de Tejas, y si no por lo menos la cerveza.

Buenos dias. Quisero vino blanco. Beba mucho! No me gusta el agua ó la cerveza en México y Tejas. Voy a aprender español porque en Tejas es necessito. Estudio español desde hace tres mehs.

Lex, this is terrible, but I tried! ¿Està bien?

 

[Mountain_Mike]

Hi Sue,

Of course it is a personal decision, but if I were in your shoes, I'd be outta there so fast it would make your head spin!

$1.6M time 4 percent = $64,000 gross...in your ballpark...not counting future Social Security.

Enjoy the hiking while you can!!! Life is uncertain.

 

[Mr._johngalt]

HI unclemick. Re. Sue having "the nuts and bolts to work with", Sue may have the bolts part; the nuts I would question.

JG

 

[sgeeeee]

My spouse and I may lose our jobs in 3.5 years (our work project will be ending).   I am wondering whether we have the resources to ER at that time.

We should have (conservative estimate) 1.6 million saved (850 tax deferred, 750 taxable).   My spouse would be 60 and eligable for $16,000 in social security at age 62.  I am 54.  If our benefits don't change, we would have health care for both of us for five years (cost of $4000 per year).  We would need to purchase health coverage for myself for last six years.

We don't own a house (we live in a very expensive east coast city) and plan to move to a more affordable area.  So we would need money for that purchase. We are both in excellent heath, have no debt or kids, and are very careful with our money.   We would like an income of $50 to 60K per year.

Since our hobby is hiking, we would love to retire while we are still physically able to travel/hike across the country.  We both like the type of work we do, but our current work situtation is hostile/stressful.  We could probably get lower paying jobs for another couple of years if we lost our current jobs.  I am trying to decide whether having additional retirement resources is worth putting off our dreams of travel/hiking for a couple more years.

Hi Sue,

It looks to me like you will have the resources to retire comfortably but as unclemick says, you need to flesh out the plan. $1.6M when properly invested should support a lifestyle of over $60K per year. But you need to be careful about the home issue and the health insurance issue. If the $60K annual cost of living includes your housing costs, then there is probably no issue. You simply need to find a home/mortgage/insurance/taxes that approximately matches your current housing costs. The issue with health care is simply that it always seems to be more difficult to get health insurance than people anticipate. Don't wait till the last minute to shop for your insurance.

And good luck.

 

[Sue]

Thanks for all your responses. Our relucentance seems to stem mainly from mental worries rather than financial concerns (like Sparky pointed out) although I still am concerned about health care costs, inflation and an overvalued stock market. Also we still have a certain amount of emotional investment in our work project because it's intelluctually stimulating. I guess its time for some serious finanical planning.

I am grateful that we packed lunches, gave up pretty baubles, fancy vacations and dinners out so that we now have choices rather than having to scamble for our jobs.

 

[Sparky]

I am grateful that we packed lunches, gave up pretty baubles, fancy vacations and dinners out so that we now have choices rather than having to scamble for our jobs.

I know what you mean. To have made the above choices, and now to be in a position to work or not to work is about as extraordinary as I can imagine.

My worry right now is the hyper real estate market. But our freedom from work makes living with these worries, somehow, easier.

There is a sense of accomplishment that comes from taking total responsibility for our cash flow and health insurance and not relying, as we did for decades, on an employer.

It took some time to get used to it.

 

[gayl]

I live in San Diego, when my wife was pregnant we thought she might be miscarrying, so we went to the emergency room.  It took us 4 hours to be seen, whatever the reason, things with our medical system are broken in our neck of the woods. I hear doctors who make housecalls are back on the rise, more expensive, but makes sense the market is filling a demand....

Given the current state of the Emergency Room situations, your wife was lucky. The wait can be up to 12 hours or more. Some County ERs have waits of up to 24 hrs. [I know this b/c of the job I left] So much for just getting ER care with NO follow-up

Sue, I vote for your hiking out. I left with considerably less at 52 and still have enough to travel extensively. Wish I had left at 50 as originally planned but did not diversify well enough to ride out 3/2000 ... so had to put it off 4 yrs

 

[LEX]

Theres a great movie any ER should see, made back in the 1980's called "Lost in America".  Its about two young professionals in Los Angeles that quit/loose their high paying jobs, sell their outrageously over priced house, buy a motor home, and attempt to see the USA.  One scene has Albert Brooks, who was passed over for a promotion, realizing that "only Rats win the Rat race" and screaming at his boss:  "I want the last five years I wasted at this dead end job back...gimme my five years back!"...To me that is the point in FIRE, get your life back, folks, and live it richly enough that money is at most an irrelevant afterthought and not a burdensome prerequisite...  

 

[kayelem]

I love this movie (although it does get slow after the Hoover dam scene).

My favorite is the "nest egg" speech. I'll be having "things on toast" for breakfast tomorrow.