Dreaming of Retiring

[Kragness]

Hi everyone! I am new to this forum. I am 43 years old and I dream of retiring everyday. Can I do it? Probably not right now, but would love to by age 55. I have a home that it is paid off, a second home in another state that is also paid for. We are set in vehicles for a while. Between my husband and I (who is 7 years older than I) we have approximately $800k in 401k and IRAs, 200k in a whole life policy, 200k in an annuity, and 400k in personal savings. We max out our 401ks and IRAs every year and are always looking for another investment tool to sock money away for retirement. I figure we need about $100k/year during retirement, at least for the first 15 years. We have been married 18 years and do not have any children, nor plan to have any. We also do not have any debt. However, our taxes, insurance and HOA fees are high...together on both home we pay about $3,100/month. We do not intend to sell either home in the near future. Our income level in the future will not be at the level that it has been the past 5 years as we have a business that is in decline. However, it will likely still render us $200k per year working full time. When can we retire?

[LRDave]

Welcome to the Forum!

FAQ has tons of "When can I retire?" links and threads.

What are you going to DO if you retire, besides manage the care and feeding of two homes?

[Kragness]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LRDave Welcome to the Forum! FAQ has tons of "When can I retire?" links and threads. What are you going to DO if you retire, besides manage the care and feeding of two homes?

Volunteer work, care for more pets, and take better care of myself[emoji2] [emoji2]

[Dtail]

Welcome to our wonderful forum.
Your 400k in personal savings appears to be high as a ratio of your total investments. What is that 400k invested in?
37k on taxes etc for 2 homes appears to be on the high side. If the homes are in a HCOL, would there be some consideration of having one home down the road be in a LCOL area?

[Kragness]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dtail Welcome to our wonderful forum. Your 400k in personal savings appears to be high as a ratio of your total investments. What is that 400k invested in? 37k on taxes etc for 2 homes appears to be on the high side. If the homes are in a HCOL, would there be some consideration of having one home down the road be in a LCOL area?

Currently the $400k is in CDs while I figure out what to really invest in. Maybe real estate, rental property, etc. Not sure yet so it is waiting in the wings. The only way to get to a LCOL area is to dump the condo with high HOA fees and buy a single family house, which will likely have similar maintenance expenses. I don't see that happening.

[Dtail]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kragness Currently the $400k is in CDs while I figure out what to really invest in. Maybe real estate, rental property, etc. Not sure yet so it is waiting in the wings. The only way to get to a LCOL area is to dump the condo with high HOA fees and buy a single family house, which will likely have similar maintenance expenses. I don't see that happening.

Ok then. I thought the personal savings might just be in HY savings, which is too much at your age.
Understand on the LCOL. Still consider 37k as part of your retirement budget could be a very high %.

[JakeinChina]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kragness Hi everyone! I am new to this forum. I am 43 years old and I dream of retiring everyday. Can I do it? Probably not right now, but would love to by age 55. I have a home that it is paid off, a second home in another state that is also paid for. We are set in vehicles for a while. Between my husband and I (who is 7 years older than I) we have approximately $800k in 401k and IRAs, 200k in a whole life policy, 200k in an annuity, and 400k in personal savings. We max out our 401ks and IRAs every year and are always looking for another investment tool to sock money away for retirement. I figure we need about $100k/year during retirement, at least for the first 15 years. We have been married 18 years and do not have any children, nor plan to have any. We also do not have any debt. However, our taxes, insurance and HOA fees are high...together on both home we pay about $3,100/month. We do not intend to sell either home in the near future. Our income level in the future will not be at the level that it has been the past 5 years as we have a business that is in decline. However, it will likely still render us $200k per year working full time. When can we retire?

The fastest way to retirement IMO is to become a landlord and purchase property and rent out the units. You have assets aside from your 401k that could be used to purchase real estate, which could generate income, however that would require for you to sell your two homes. If you don't want to sell your two homes and retire before 55, then start by buying one home to start with your savings from your income. The big question is however, do you really want to be a landlord? Collect rent, screen potential tenants, deal with complaints. You could use a property manager but that would cost you one months rent usually out of the year. There are also many tax advantages to renting out your property.

[robnplunder]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kragness Hi everyone! I am new to this forum. I am 43 years old and I dream of retiring everyday. Can I do it? Probably not right now, but would love to by age 55. I have a home that it is paid off, a second home in another state that is also paid for. We are set in vehicles for a while. Between my husband and I (who is 7 years older than I) we have approximately $800k in 401k and IRAs, 200k in a whole life policy, 200k in an annuity, and 400k in personal savings. We max out our 401ks and IRAs every year and are always looking for another investment tool to sock money away for retirement. I figure we need about $100k/year during retirement, at least for the first 15 years. We have been married 18 years and do not have any children, nor plan to have any. We also do not have any debt. However, our taxes, insurance and HOA fees are high...together on both home we pay about $3,100/month. We do not intend to sell either home in the near future. Our income level in the future will not be at the level that it has been the past 5 years as we have a business that is in decline. However, it will likely still render us $200k per year working full time. When can we retire?

Everything above says you can retire well before 55. You are in better shape than I was at that age and I retired at 53. Just keep up with what you are doing. Welcome to the forum.

[Retired Expat]

Plug your numbers into a bunch of retirement calculators. The more complex ones that allow for future events like selling property, inheritances or what ever. Try lot’s of scenarios, expense levels, delayed retirement, extreme saving for a few years etc

When no matter what you choose comes up positive you know you are ready.

[Jerry1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by robnplunder Everything above says you can retire well before 55. You are in better shape than I was at that age and I retired at 53. Just keep up with what you are doing. Welcome to the forum.

I agree. You’re in good shape for 43 and 50. Ten more years and you’ll be able to retire. Maybe sooner depending on the market and such things. I would get that $400K of personal savings working a bit harder for you unless you’re pretty aggressive with your 401K/IRA.

Why is the business declining? Won’t you be able to sell that in the future? A business that’s generating $200K is worth something. Usually it’s some factor of revenue (not net), but you might want to think about what you can get from selling the business.

[brucethebroker]

well done-keep it up.

welcome, btw

[cyber888]

Sure you can retire at 55 yrs .. looks like you are set.