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Old 04-22-2011, 07:26 AM   #21
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@Aiming_4_55: I haven't decided on what city yet. I don't want to retire overseas. that's good advice.

What does YMMV mean?
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Old 04-22-2011, 07:30 AM   #22
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YMMV = "Your Mileage May Vary"

One quick and easy way to research rentals in the US, consider Craigslist as a starting point. It'll give you very general numbers without much effort. I would never rent or buy, until I learn the area.
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Old 04-22-2011, 07:32 AM   #23
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@Aiming_4_55: Thank you.
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Old 04-22-2011, 07:37 AM   #24
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Given my position, what would you do? Should I start investing? Should I start putting my money in CDs?
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Old 04-22-2011, 07:53 AM   #25
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mrcollie, you can find the meaning of many of the acronyms we use here: http://www.early-retirement.org/foru...rum-34884.html
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Old 04-22-2011, 07:59 AM   #26
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Given the facts that 1) you want to move back to the US and 2) you are a very conservative investor, I would say you need to work a little bit longer.

CDs currently have negative real returns. You can find 5-year CDs paying 2.25%, but inflation has been running at 2.6%+ over the past year and has accelerated over the past 4 months. It has run at an annualized 7.8%+ since the beginning of the year. It means that, with CDs, your future purchasing power is eroding, even if you reinvest the interests. If you spend the interests, things get even dicier.

Plus the health care situation in the US is in flux. We don't really know what kind of system we will end up with. If Medicare goes away for people in our generation (I am 37 too), I think we will have to completely rethink traditional retirement strategies.
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Old 04-22-2011, 08:03 AM   #27
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@REWahoo: Thank you. I will read up on the acronyms.

@FD: That's scary. From all counts, I need to get away from my cash holdings and invest..............2.6 and 7.8, damn.......I am only getting roughly 1.15 right now......I'm losing money and that is not a good thing, not at all.......considering the risk I am taking. I am in Iraq right now. Damn.
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Old 04-22-2011, 10:25 AM   #28
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If you can keep your spending at your current rates and inflation stays low you can last for quite a while. It may be difficult to keep your spending down at the 10K (adjusted for inflation) level. One or two trips back to the US would blow your budget pretty easily. At a interest rate of 1.15% with inflation at 3.5% you can last 50 years.

My guess it would be very difficult to keep spending at your current level over a time period that long. It will be difficult to find health insurance in that budget before Medicare kicks in and one major hospital trip will wipe you out.
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Old 04-22-2011, 10:31 AM   #29
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@brianinsf: I agree. I have to get my head out of the clouds and come back to reality. Warzone money is only temporary.

..........my brother was uninsured and he broke is leg............major hit to his finances..........I have to be smart now. I have big nestegg.......and I am still relatively young. The question is, what now?........I'm a novice when it comes to things like this. I'm actually terrified. Odd that I just found this forum. Responsive, it is, and for that I am thankful..............I'm quite skilled and have been with my current employer for 13 years; however, I have to plan for the future...........weird...............I'm an engineer, yet, I'm freaking retarded when it comes to simple stuff like investing/finances...............where have you guys been all my life?!?1
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Old 04-22-2011, 10:56 AM   #30
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Start searching for a good woman who is a citizen resident of a country where you would like to live. Keep saving your money, eventually marry the best one in the best country with health coverage you can find.

This does not apply to the US.

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Old 04-22-2011, 11:00 AM   #31
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Are you for real?
Nope.
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Old 04-28-2011, 04:10 AM   #32
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I would be looking at ways for that $665K to be making you money on its own. Once you accomplish that, you can most definitely retire now.

The best ways I can think of are 1) real estate and 2) business ownership.

I would pick #1 and with $665K you should be able to generate approximately $7K++ monthly, if not more, in revenue. Subtract cost of insurances and property taxes and you still have a good amount to live on.
Plus, you still have all your cash, just transformed into equity which you can borrow on at any time should you ever need to.

You could put $665K into real estate, generate your rental income, then pull out 25% - 50% of the equity and get even more real estate or anything else -- like buying a business.

If you buy smart, then you are buying at the bottom of the real estate market and you don't really have to worry about any further declines.
You basically have the pick of the litter on which city/state to buy property in now since you are not tied down to any particular location already.

So what you accomplish with this is living 100% off returns on capital and never having to eat into your principal.
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Old 04-28-2011, 06:44 AM   #33
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By definition the members here have a bias to "approving" early retirement. But at age 37 you have a long life ahead, which potentially includes many financial bumps in the road. My 2 cents - you don't have enough, yet.
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Old 05-01-2011, 05:39 PM   #34
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Not only that, why would you want to retire so early. It is a privilege to work, especially these days!
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Old 05-01-2011, 05:53 PM   #35
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It is a privilege to work, especially these days!
Pull the other one: its got bells on.
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Old 05-01-2011, 07:15 PM   #36
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@mrcollie1 - If I was 37 again with kind of nest eggs you have, I'll keep 6 months of living expenses in cash and invest all in various dividend stocks. Find companies that have been around and steady dividends. http://www.businessinsider.com/35-gr...-ratios-2011-3

I would retired right now if I had nest eggs like yours. You are never too young to retired and never too old to go back to work if you need after FIRE.
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Old 05-01-2011, 09:08 PM   #37
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@mrcollie1 - If I was 37 again with kind of nest eggs you have, I'll keep 6 months of living expenses in cash and invest all in various dividend stocks. Find companies that have been around and steady dividends. 35 Growing Dividend Stocks With Low PE Ratios

I would retired right now if I had nest eggs like yours. You are never too young to retired and never too old to go back to work if you need after FIRE.
This is some pretty simplistic advice. What does OP do? Is he in a career where any kind of time off would kill it and he'd have to start something anew if he ever had to go back to work? Yea it would be great to retire at that age, but say he gets to 50 and only has a few 100K left with only a small SS pension to look forward to, he is pretty much screwed. Not alot of options beyond Walmart greeter after a 10+ year resume gap
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Old 05-02-2011, 08:49 AM   #38
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This is some pretty simplistic advice. What does OP do?
Almost all internet advice is simplistic. If the advice givers were to be held to any sort of responsibility they would all quiet down fast, as it is clear that these things are always unpredictable and risky.

In Sandhogs case, he wisely did not give "advice", but only said what he himself would do in the situation given.

Ha
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Old 05-02-2011, 08:58 AM   #39
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...he is pretty much screwed. Not alot of options beyond Walmart greeter after a 10+ year resume gap
+1
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Old 05-02-2011, 09:44 AM   #40
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Can you come back and work in the US at least long enough to get a handle on what expense you might have in retirement? You've done a great job of piling up a nest egg. Now that you may be there or close, you need a reasonable estimate of what your expenses will actually be. What they were overseas is pretty meaningless for this aspect, though it's commendable that you were able to keep it so low and sock money away.
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