brewer12345
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- Mar 6, 2003
- Messages
- 18,085
Mostly because I am losing my mind trying to cope with my work situation, I am casting about for unconventional alternatives. One that waggles in front of me is the thought of ESR. DW and I fully intend to relocate when we get to FIRE as NJ is unaffordable long term and we would prefer to be elsewhere. Colorado is top of the list as a destination, both on its own merits and because DW's family is there. We like a number of areas, but Fort Collins seems like a pretty nice place to live and appears to be affordable. I penciled out a simple budget to get a rough idea of the numbers, and I get to an annual budget of about $55k/year for a family of 4. Rough monthly numbers are:
Add in a (very rough) guesstimate of $700/month for health insurance. It appears that we could sell our current home in NJ and purchase something larger and nicer for cash with the equity we have in our present home. And from what I understand the schools are quite good, so I would not be spending time worrying about private school tuition.
So sitting on my butt, contemplating my navel I would need to draw $55k, suggesting a minimum portfolio of something like $1.3MM. We are shy by a few hundred thousand. OTOH, if we generated something between $20 and 50k a year in income, we would pay bupkis in income taxes and draw little or nothing from the portfolio. If one of us managed a job with health insurance, the budget would be noticeably lower and so would the portfolio draw.
Obviously a larger portfolio would make this "safer" but I am thinking the concept has some merit. What am I missing here? Probably lots, but figured getting a reality check by people not being driven nuts would be helpful. A realistic view from any Coloradans would also be helpful.
taxes
200
utilities
400
Insurance
250
food
750
clothing
100
House maintenance
250
gas
150
car maint
100
student loans
100
subtotal
2300
entertainment
1000
misc
500
total
3800
Add in a (very rough) guesstimate of $700/month for health insurance. It appears that we could sell our current home in NJ and purchase something larger and nicer for cash with the equity we have in our present home. And from what I understand the schools are quite good, so I would not be spending time worrying about private school tuition.
So sitting on my butt, contemplating my navel I would need to draw $55k, suggesting a minimum portfolio of something like $1.3MM. We are shy by a few hundred thousand. OTOH, if we generated something between $20 and 50k a year in income, we would pay bupkis in income taxes and draw little or nothing from the portfolio. If one of us managed a job with health insurance, the budget would be noticeably lower and so would the portfolio draw.
Obviously a larger portfolio would make this "safer" but I am thinking the concept has some merit. What am I missing here? Probably lots, but figured getting a reality check by people not being driven nuts would be helpful. A realistic view from any Coloradans would also be helpful.