52 and dreaming of palm trees

[MC Rider]

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Originally Posted by ut2sua I have to defend our palm trees here. We have a total of 7 Queen palm trees in our yard, and they are pretty much maintenance-free. We have had them for ~20 years and they require the least care of all our trees. They are ~20' tall and the nuts are the size of play marbles. A few old leaves may need to be cut each year, and the trees will look great. The biggest draw back is: there is no coconuts on them. I would be willing to pamper the trees if they would give me sweet drinking coconuts. Our weather is not warm enough in the winter for coconut palm trees to live however. And yes, these palm trees are among my favorite in our yard.

That sounds nice, and I like trees, including palms. 20' is not too big. There are lots of different Palms. I think I would be happy each tree did not make a ton or more of coconuts every year, like someone posted above.



Close to me some trees have to be at least 50 foot tall, with 40 foot beards of dry untrimmed branches. I'm glad they are not on my property, not my expense. We have enough shade trees and mess as is.


What does the guy that climbs that 50+ foot tree with a chain saw and trims it get paid?

[LakeRat1]

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Originally Posted by LarryMelman Discussion on the "health ministries" is that they seem great until you really need the coverage. "Saving thousands" is not very helpful if the insurance is not there when you need it. What has been your experience?

Fortunately neither my DW nor I have had to personaly utilize the services. I have had a friend, join. 3 Weeks after joining, he had to have emergency surgery on a torn retina. After all said and done, he submitted his bills, within 3 months the entire charges were paid .......

I did a lot of research before joining, talked with others that have been members and utilized the services ........ I stand-by this organization in my case....... I have saved over $800 per month ($9600) this past year for the cheapest plan based on the 2020 rates. The savings will be more next year

[LarryMelman]

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Originally Posted by LakeRat1 Fortunately neither my DW nor I have had to personaly utilize the services.

Yeah, I thought that might be the case.

Everything I've read is that while these plans might be OK for some expenses, a typical person (with normal chronic health issues and a number of maintenance prescriptions) is not going to be well served by the ministry plans.

[foxfirev5]

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Originally Posted by LarryMelman Yeah, I thought that might be the case. Everything I've read is that while these plans might be OK for some expenses, a typical person (with normal chronic health issues and a number of maintenance prescriptions) is not going to be well served by the ministry plans.

Yep. Not much different than the HDHP DW and I had for the last 10 years. We were lucky and paid small premiums while accumulating big $ in our HSA. We got lucky. Others would have catastrophic issues covered which served the purpose of insurance. There are no free lunches.

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

There is a lot of maintenance in Palm trees and a whole environment living in the beards, rats, snakes, spiders, raccoons, possums and of course a multitude of birds.
Mine are Mexican Fan Palms and the beard alone is probably 15 feet long and it needs to come off, it's a fire hazard and it's going to cost me a fortune.
Just last week I watched a tree climber scoot up a distant neighbors tree and cut all the dead stuff off and he was fast. I wish I'd driven over to get his number for a quote, I'm thinking at least $1000 probably a lot more.

[Emerson11]

Health insurance IS THE THING. When I retired in 2005, I paid approx $350/mo for myself and my two teenage children (high deductible, HSA compatible policy with a $3000 deductible). In 2022, I'll pay $891/mo for a high deductible, HSA compatible policy with a $7000 deductible and that's just for myself and no dental, no vison.
I have healthy teeth, and have always had regular dental care; yet, for the last few years, I've spent at least $2000/year for dental care.
Make sure you plan for health & dental expenses exceeding inflation by a huge amount.

[arch57]

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Originally Posted by rodi IF - and only IF the plan allows it. The IRS rule 'allows' but does not 'require' 401k plans to support the rule of 55. And plans vary... some require a 1 time lump withdrawal, others require periodic withdrawals. Read the 401k plan summary doc's and consult HR.

So true. My wife’s megacorp 401k only allowed an all or nothing withdraw at 55 while my megacorp allowed partial withdrawals with no penalty. I discovered that feature and it opened the magic door to ER at 57 instead of 59 1/2 for me.

[catii]

When we bought out home here in Hawaii, the first thing I did was to plant three coconut palms in our front yard. Thirty years later, two of them still survive, & give us all the tasty coconuts we want. Just don't plant them where people walk.

[NW-Bound]

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Originally Posted by Amethyst When coconut palms are 40 feet tall and were planted in clusters years ago, they certainly do provide shade. Also, literal, actual tons of coconuts (according to our tree guy, 1 to 2 tons per mature tree per year). Also, it's expensive to have them trimmed, but you have to do it, lest you be overwhelmed with bowling-ball-size coconuts and volunteer coconut trees. Of course there are other kinds of palms than coconut palms, but even those need yearly trims. I still like them.

In order to prevent getting bombed by aforementioned bowling-ball-size coconuts, do you have to climb the trees to pick the fruits before they fall on your head?

[PointBreeze]

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Originally Posted by rodi IF - and only IF the plan allows it. The IRS rule 'allows' but does not 'require' 401k plans to support the rule of 55. And plans vary... some require a 1 time lump withdrawal, others require periodic withdrawals. Read the 401k plan summary doc's and consult HR.

Yes, unfortunately my plan did not support the rule of 55, which delayed my early retirement a few years, as I didn’t have enough saved in outside of 401(k) and Roth.

[pacergal]

Welcome to the forum
I would suggest tracking actual expenses for the next few years prior to retirement, make sure your budget is covered.

[Steeler75]

Yes Mexican Palms are messy and need regular maintenance (plus squirrels use them to nest in).

A good alternative is to plant jelly palms. I have two in huge pots for the two trees I have and make jelly from the sweet fruits they provide. Seem to give fruit every other year so far.

[NW-Bound]

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Originally Posted by PointBreeze Yes, unfortunately my plan did not support the rule of 55, which delayed my early retirement a few years, as I didn’t have enough saved in outside of 401(k) and Roth.

My wife and I are of the same age. She quit work at 50, and I thought about joining her. However, with two children in college, I did not think we had enough in our stash to feel comfortable. I kept working part time until 55, and that helped a lot, particularly as we went through the scary Great Recession.

And I discovered how fast we depleted the after-tax accounts between the age of 55 to 59-1/2 when we could tap the 401k.

Ironically, what helped was my facing a life-threatening disease (which I overcame), which took my attention away from the less important money aspect of life. If you have no life, all that money does not matter.

[RetirementNinja]

You are not crazy at all! I just pulled the trigger on retirement in November and am 52 years old and my overall #s are somewhat similar. Your calculated expenses (with buffer for me) are right on my own calculations - and I live in upstate NY. I targeted $1.35M for retirement savings based on running models through Firecalc. I wound up retiring with about $1.45M by time I pulled the trigger. I have yet to turn on SEPP because the federal rate updates in November and December have meant waiting would give me much larger payout for the next 7 1/2 year bridge period. At this point I intend to turn on SEPP in January, which will provide about $52K/year of income. I will have oodles of extra cash buffer for any contingencies as well.

I wish you luck and recommend retiring when you feel comfortable. Don't wait until you have "way too much". Life is short. I have no regrets and am now a regular rock climber! I recommend you look into it - a wonderful retirement hobby and workout, and also a great social activity with others.

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Originally Posted by tsdogs Hi, I'm happy to find this group and have been eagerly reading and learning! It's clear I have lots to learn. My spouse and I hope to retire in a couple years. No date set, but I'm eyeing Jan. 2024. We'll both turn 55 that year. We have one child in college, living at home. And about 25K more in college expenses that we'll be covering. Financials 770K in 401K 300K in Roths 185K in a pension that I need to figure out what to do with (lump sum or monthly) 40K in taxable Also have about 300K in equity in our home; 50K mortgage. No other debts. Eventually, we'd sell this and buy another home where the palm trees sway, likely spending slightly more. We'll save 45k/year in 2022 and a bit more the year after. I'm guessing 55-60K in annual expenses, but a big chunk of that is healthcare and I don't know what to expect there. Based on the numbers, I think SS should cover most if not all are expenses if we take at/near full retirement age. Am I crazy to buy us a retirement countdown clock for Christmas? We're both eager to escape the corporate world.