46 - may not retire early - hope to retire well

[psyprof]

Hello everyone,

Been lurking about a month. Joining to learn more and contribute.

I'm 46, married with three teens, all 2 to 5 years from college. Wife and I are both university professors.

Got a late start to retirement planning/saving, so ER may not be possible, but still hope to be able to retire well. Currently have $240k (combined) in our 401ks. Trying to save around $30k/yr, but home repair and kids' college may interfere with that. I'd like to save $2M before I retire, but not sure if that's realistic in terms of (a) what is achievable or (b) how much we will need.

I'll continue reading and learning here. Looking forward to eventually being able to contribute.
psyprof

 

[HawkeyeNFO]

With both of you working at the college, don't your kids get free or discounted tuition?

 

[psyprof]

Yes, free tuition. Still have to pay room/board/fees/books, but the free tuition is a huge cost saver!

We'd save more if they live with us while in college, but I want them to experience being "on their own" at that stage.

 

[psyprof]

Yes, free tuition. Still have to pay room/board/fees/books, but the free tuition is a huge cost saver!

We'd save more if they live with us while in college, but I want them to experience being "on their own" at that stage.

Also, there are no guarantees that all three will go here. If they go elsewhere, we'll help as much as we can, which could influence our saving rate.

 

[photoguy]

The college won't cover tuition at other schools? My wife works at a big name university and they will pay for tuition at the school itself or huge chunk at other schools.

 

[psyprof]

We're a small private college, so there's no tuition coverage if kids go out of state or even to the in-state big schools (OU or OSU).

Our college does some tuition-sharing, but only with other similar colleges. We'll steer our kids to that list first, if they want to go elsewhere.

 

[Gasdoc]

Good luck with your plans! Looks like you guys have a nice nest egg from which to keep growing. Hope you get a kid or 2 (or 3) to your school. That would be HUGE!!!

 

[photoguy]

I used to think the tuition benefit was a great deal until I realized that without it, it would be embarassing for the university that it's own faculty/staff couldn't afford to send their children to the school.

 

[obgyn65]

Welcome, psyprof.