I am 48 and currently living in Northern NJ. This September we will have a senior as well as a freshman in High School, so that means we are done with the local schools in 4.5 years. We will stay here until my youngest is done with school then who knows. My wife has worked as a consultant for the past 10 years quite successfully from home. Though she only worked 20% in ’09 and things have dried up to date, she expects to pick up work when the economy improves and can work from anywhere. I work in financial services, specifically indirectly involved with those pesky credit derivatives and subprime mortgages. I most likely will remain employed for 2010 but maybe not. If I am let go or leave there may not be severance payouts and when I leave there is no going back to the same industry. Thus, my new interest in early retirement.
My house is paid off, college funds done and retirement accounts appropriately funded ($1.1mm in retirement; $883k in savings and 529s; $1.1mm home equity; total Net Worth is approximately $3mm). Although I am in financial services, I was not great with investing and lost several hundred in company stock. Now, everything I have is at Fidelity with them actively, conservatively managing $500k with the remainder in retirement mutual funds and cash – 2009 was a great year for return. Fortunately my salary is high and expenses low. I can put about $6k each month into savings/retirement.
Recently, my wife and I went to (on a lark) a show in the local Hilton where NC, SC retirement communities were showcasing their communities. It was nice to see that you can buy a new home in a nice community for $300-$400k though we are not familiar with that region. We thought we can sell our house and move out of the area in 4.5 years and leave the rat race.
I would be interested in hearing about:
My house is paid off, college funds done and retirement accounts appropriately funded ($1.1mm in retirement; $883k in savings and 529s; $1.1mm home equity; total Net Worth is approximately $3mm). Although I am in financial services, I was not great with investing and lost several hundred in company stock. Now, everything I have is at Fidelity with them actively, conservatively managing $500k with the remainder in retirement mutual funds and cash – 2009 was a great year for return. Fortunately my salary is high and expenses low. I can put about $6k each month into savings/retirement.
Recently, my wife and I went to (on a lark) a show in the local Hilton where NC, SC retirement communities were showcasing their communities. It was nice to see that you can buy a new home in a nice community for $300-$400k though we are not familiar with that region. We thought we can sell our house and move out of the area in 4.5 years and leave the rat race.
I would be interested in hearing about:
- Retirement communities in the NC, SC area; my wife does not like Florida (my folks are in Naples and I could go there);
- What does one do about health insurance at a young retirement age;
- What does one do in early retirement; I see myself working somewhere fun, friendly and relaxed though at low comp rates;
- Is selling the house the minute the last child goes to college bad;
- How do one ever know how much you need to retire early;
- Etc., etc., etc.