Curmudgeon
Recycles dryer sheets
- Joined
- Oct 17, 2016
- Messages
- 255
Hello all, been lurking a while, time to come out. I'm at a crossroad in my life, and at the risk of this being TL DR for everyone, here's my info:
Age 54. Burned out in current career. Been thinking over the last year about going in a totally different direction with my life/career ( but where?), and planned on maybe pulling the trigger on that decision later this year, when I would be eligible for retirement from my employer. But, said employer chose to screw me by laying me off a few months short of my retirement date (this happened in May). Caught by surprise, I've been half-heartedly looking for a job in my line of work, but my biggest worry is that I'll actually find one and have to go back again to being in a job I hate and dreaming about what to do next.
The time off has given me some time to evaluate the financial situation:
No debt. Married, two kids, one just started college (financed mostly by scholarship & loans from me), second child is age 16. Spouse doesn't work. ~1.1M in a brokerage account, plus ~1M in IRAs (mostly non-Roth) and another 200K or so sitting around in short term CDs etc. I expect a 17K (non-COLA) pension to start when I turn 65. Our spending is around 70-80K per year, I think we can reduce this, but then I'll also be needing to buy health insurance out of my own pocket for the first time starting next year, so that's going to be a new burden.
Entering this into FIREcalc or ******** gives me pretty good percentages, depending on whether or not I think I'll actually get SS, etc. etc. But still I think it's too risky - with the stock and bond markets at peaks - to place a high confidence level on this money lasting for 40 years.
What I need most in my life right now is more free time - I hated working 40+ hours in a week - and a change of scenery (different career than what I had been in). I don't necessarily feel a need (yet) to be in full-time retirement. So, I'm thinking, maybe spend the next year or two picking up a new skill/hobby/degree/whatever that (1) I'll enjoy doing, and (2) gives me the possibility for more income - with flexibility - should I need it. I don't think I need a lot of money, just something to help keep me from drawing down on my investments too much, especially in bad years. Or put some extra money on the table for splurging on something. (On the other hand, there's a part of me that says go back to work full time, and keep padding the IRA until I'm 100% sure I can just go to full time retirement).
I guess I should throw in some specific questions here:
Can I still be part of this group if I'm only planning on partly retiring?
Has anyone else gone this route - move into a second, part-time career once you have ~ enough money to retire? What was your experience?
What do you guys have in place as 'backup plans' in case the nest egg starts getting drawn down too fast, or you just want some extra cash?
Any 'second career' or 'extra money' suggestions?
Thanks all!
Age 54. Burned out in current career. Been thinking over the last year about going in a totally different direction with my life/career ( but where?), and planned on maybe pulling the trigger on that decision later this year, when I would be eligible for retirement from my employer. But, said employer chose to screw me by laying me off a few months short of my retirement date (this happened in May). Caught by surprise, I've been half-heartedly looking for a job in my line of work, but my biggest worry is that I'll actually find one and have to go back again to being in a job I hate and dreaming about what to do next.
The time off has given me some time to evaluate the financial situation:
No debt. Married, two kids, one just started college (financed mostly by scholarship & loans from me), second child is age 16. Spouse doesn't work. ~1.1M in a brokerage account, plus ~1M in IRAs (mostly non-Roth) and another 200K or so sitting around in short term CDs etc. I expect a 17K (non-COLA) pension to start when I turn 65. Our spending is around 70-80K per year, I think we can reduce this, but then I'll also be needing to buy health insurance out of my own pocket for the first time starting next year, so that's going to be a new burden.
Entering this into FIREcalc or ******** gives me pretty good percentages, depending on whether or not I think I'll actually get SS, etc. etc. But still I think it's too risky - with the stock and bond markets at peaks - to place a high confidence level on this money lasting for 40 years.
What I need most in my life right now is more free time - I hated working 40+ hours in a week - and a change of scenery (different career than what I had been in). I don't necessarily feel a need (yet) to be in full-time retirement. So, I'm thinking, maybe spend the next year or two picking up a new skill/hobby/degree/whatever that (1) I'll enjoy doing, and (2) gives me the possibility for more income - with flexibility - should I need it. I don't think I need a lot of money, just something to help keep me from drawing down on my investments too much, especially in bad years. Or put some extra money on the table for splurging on something. (On the other hand, there's a part of me that says go back to work full time, and keep padding the IRA until I'm 100% sure I can just go to full time retirement).
I guess I should throw in some specific questions here:
Can I still be part of this group if I'm only planning on partly retiring?
Has anyone else gone this route - move into a second, part-time career once you have ~ enough money to retire? What was your experience?
What do you guys have in place as 'backup plans' in case the nest egg starts getting drawn down too fast, or you just want some extra cash?
Any 'second career' or 'extra money' suggestions?
Thanks all!