HunterGatherer
Confused about dryer sheets
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2009
- Messages
- 4
I'm 42 and work in Silicon Valley for a pretty large Internet company. I was very happy in my job until a series of reorgs got me thinking about alternatives to my current position, one of which is early retirement.
Now that I am waiting for yet another reorg to come down, I feel like I'm at the point where I have emotionally moved on from my job (and not being sure of the future of the projects I am leading hasn't helped).
Thinking about and planning for a possible early retirement has led me first to the Bogleheads forum and then this forum, where I have been amazed at the quality of the people, discussion, and useful advice. I bought and quickly read _Work Less, Live More_, which provided a lot of practical useful advice. (I wrote a review for a book group I'm in if anyone is interested in reading it.)
There are a few aspects of ER that I am having trouble getting my head around and that I would like to ask about here, but first a little bit about my current situation:
Our ages are 42, 39, 8, and 6. We're all in good health (knock on wood). My retirement income would be about $100-120k, possibly higher with income from some part time consulting jobs. This income will come from withdrawal from my portfolio worth just over 7 figures and some commercial real estate that pays steady rent from a fast food corporation. We will either stay in California or move to Florida or maybe even Texas depending on events.
Here are some topics that I would like to get your thoughts on:
1. Health insurance
I asked about this on the Bogleheads forum and was referred here. Insuring my family is my biggest concern with ER at this point. COBRA from work is about $2k/month, including dental and vision. That seems very, very high to me.
I am working my way through the links in the FAQ and the excellent consumer guide that it referenced there.
I'm assuming that there is no shortcut to knowing what to do, and I'll have to educate myself about the insurance industry. Any tips? It might be relevant that we own our commercial real estate through an LLC.
2. Location location location
We are currently in Silicon Valley, where six figures doesn't go very far. Our house is practically paid for, but I still don't think we can afford to retire here long term. The intersection of my wife's desires (warm weather, good schools) and my desires (college town, larger house, low taxes) is leading us to consider parts of Florida or Austin, TX. How have other early retirees made this decision?
3. Kids
It feels vaguely selfish to retire when the kids are so young. On the one hand, we will be spending a lot more time together, and we will have the time to do more interesting things together. But on the other hand, they will have to forgo some things that are standard issue for their peers, like summer camps, gadget-y stuff that kids want, video games, etc...
I can convince myself that on the balance our kids will come out ahead in the long run, but it also feels a little like rationalizing my decision. Has anyone gone through a similar thought process and come to any great insights?
4. When to leave the job
There are a few events (like vesting of shares, making sure projects are transitioned) that make me want to stick around for a while. But how does one avoid the trap of staying "just a few more months" over and over? I imagine that there isn't a perfect time to leave, especially on one's own terms. My plan is to set a date and then work towards leaving on that date. What have other people done? It's important to me that I leave on my own terms and in a professional way.
Thanks for reading down this far. I started this post just wanting to say "howdy," but I wound up asking for a bunch of advice. I hope that's okay. Again, I really appreciate the quality of discussion and advice that I find on these forums. I hope one day that I can return the favor.
Now that I am waiting for yet another reorg to come down, I feel like I'm at the point where I have emotionally moved on from my job (and not being sure of the future of the projects I am leading hasn't helped).
Thinking about and planning for a possible early retirement has led me first to the Bogleheads forum and then this forum, where I have been amazed at the quality of the people, discussion, and useful advice. I bought and quickly read _Work Less, Live More_, which provided a lot of practical useful advice. (I wrote a review for a book group I'm in if anyone is interested in reading it.)
There are a few aspects of ER that I am having trouble getting my head around and that I would like to ask about here, but first a little bit about my current situation:
Our ages are 42, 39, 8, and 6. We're all in good health (knock on wood). My retirement income would be about $100-120k, possibly higher with income from some part time consulting jobs. This income will come from withdrawal from my portfolio worth just over 7 figures and some commercial real estate that pays steady rent from a fast food corporation. We will either stay in California or move to Florida or maybe even Texas depending on events.
Here are some topics that I would like to get your thoughts on:
1. Health insurance
I asked about this on the Bogleheads forum and was referred here. Insuring my family is my biggest concern with ER at this point. COBRA from work is about $2k/month, including dental and vision. That seems very, very high to me.
I am working my way through the links in the FAQ and the excellent consumer guide that it referenced there.
I'm assuming that there is no shortcut to knowing what to do, and I'll have to educate myself about the insurance industry. Any tips? It might be relevant that we own our commercial real estate through an LLC.
2. Location location location
We are currently in Silicon Valley, where six figures doesn't go very far. Our house is practically paid for, but I still don't think we can afford to retire here long term. The intersection of my wife's desires (warm weather, good schools) and my desires (college town, larger house, low taxes) is leading us to consider parts of Florida or Austin, TX. How have other early retirees made this decision?
3. Kids
It feels vaguely selfish to retire when the kids are so young. On the one hand, we will be spending a lot more time together, and we will have the time to do more interesting things together. But on the other hand, they will have to forgo some things that are standard issue for their peers, like summer camps, gadget-y stuff that kids want, video games, etc...
I can convince myself that on the balance our kids will come out ahead in the long run, but it also feels a little like rationalizing my decision. Has anyone gone through a similar thought process and come to any great insights?
4. When to leave the job
There are a few events (like vesting of shares, making sure projects are transitioned) that make me want to stick around for a while. But how does one avoid the trap of staying "just a few more months" over and over? I imagine that there isn't a perfect time to leave, especially on one's own terms. My plan is to set a date and then work towards leaving on that date. What have other people done? It's important to me that I leave on my own terms and in a professional way.
Thanks for reading down this far. I started this post just wanting to say "howdy," but I wound up asking for a bunch of advice. I hope that's okay. Again, I really appreciate the quality of discussion and advice that I find on these forums. I hope one day that I can return the favor.