48 and semi-retiring with ~800K

[ut2sua]

Is your estimated out of pocket based on normal doctors visits, routine maintenance, or if something catastrophic happened, like surgery, cancer etc?

The possible $8K->10K OoP mentioned was for serious medical need in the worst years. If you will just do the yearly physical exam, the total OoP cost could be close to zero since ACA will cover physical exams fully.

 

[got2retire2025]

I'm not saying one way is better, just that I took a different way to look at it. I compared the pension amount which runs until death but nothing left for heirs, to the annuity which also runs until death with nothing left to heirs, and to Bengen's original 4% SWR most commonly used to evaluate the amount one can withdraw over 30 years without failure, taking him to age 95. FWIW I am using age 100 not 65. Using a 7% withdrawal as a plan does not take into account sequence of returns and variable growth over time. Now if you proposed taking a flexible annual amount that matched the previous year's growth and if it had a loss that year, somehow deposit that same amount into the account, I would think that would be more towards your now-proposed142k for heirs. We take different viewpoints, that's all. The OP needs to look at every option and chose what fits his situation & comfort zone.

You are correct in that “I” (OP) wants all views and opinions! So thank you for all the contributions to this string!

I am trying to attach a screenshot shot of my latest pension pages. Would the 5 year, certain, 50% 75%, 100% survivor benefits play into any of the decisions/calculations?


Also, working for a major conglomerate that’s always taking away from it employees, could they take the pension away at any point after I leave the company whether it’s paying investors more, going into bankruptcy, selling the company, splitting the company into many different entities . Are pensions protected by the government?

With having no kids, and besides, making sure my wife is taking care of 100%, we are not interested in leaving a pile of money for anyone… I like the bouncing my last check on my deathbed idea. LOL!

 

[got2retire2025]

I guess we are one of the closer ones to your situation. We retired in 2015 with about $1.3m and aside from some couple of years where I was trading stocks, we kept our income in the $30k/yr range, supplemented by cash from selling a home. Today we have another home we built and $1.6m in the market, plus some mountain land, so feeling *ok*. I still keep our income at about $29k a year at age 54/55 in order to pay zero federal tax and get all the freebie scraps you rich folks throw down here

We set up a 72t to keep that $29k income level and I guess that could be an option for you? It was super easy but it looks like your spouse will be able to tap funds in less than 2 years so not sure if it would be something you are interested in.

Healthcare costs other than dental and vision are near zero. Actually they are kind of negative as our plan gives us hundreds of dollars to spend on certain categories (utilities for one) if we complete some health surveys and get flu shots. It is weird to be paid to get healthcare but whatever.

Because of the no kids, I say go for it. It really is never too early to retire, look at Shannen Doherty.

Thank you for sharing your story and the vote of confidence!

So when under ACA we will get additional financial funding if we do heath surveys and get the flue shot? Any other little nuggets we can look into ? : )

 

[Fermion]

Thank you for sharing your story and the vote of confidence!

So when under ACA we will get additional financial funding if we do heath surveys and get the flue shot? Any other little nuggets we can look into ? : )

Well, that is just with Ambetter in Washington state. I have no idea if other ACA plans offer similar incentives. I think this year I did all the little things for points (I was bored) and got something like $550 total for watching the videos (sort of watching....I opened them in one window then browsed ER.org in another window while they were playing). In my defense, some of the videos were actually about financial health and I probably got better info on ER.org.

 

[Jerry1]

Is there a way to tell if my pension is protected by the government if my company goes out of business, claims bankruptcy, or is sold to another company?

Yes. Talk to your HR department. There’s a plan document that will support the pension for you to read. My very uneducated thought is that if it’s titled as a “pension”, it should be covered by regulations and the pension guarantee board. There still would be some risk in taking the pension but there’s risk if you take the lump sum too.

Personally, I’d take the pension. That’s what i did.

 

[got2retire2025]

Yes. Talk to your HR department. There’s a plan document that will support the pension for you to read. My very uneducated thought is that if it’s titled as a “pension”, it should be covered by regulations and the pension guarantee board. There still would be some risk in taking the pension but there’s risk if you take the lump sum too.

Personally, I’d take the pension. That’s what i did.

I was checking into this on my end and now see pension language that the pension is near 100% funded and now I see language, stating the pension is insured through PBGC. So I’ve learned all on this topic today!! Thanks for pointing me to look into this in more depth. I do feel better about not losing the pension by waiting until 65.

Did you have survivor benefit options? If so which percent did you select?

 

[pb4uski]

One alarm bell for me.

My wife makes $15K a year with her dog walking and boarding business (cash, not included in ACA calcs)

So after all you have done to build your wealth you're willing to risk trouble with the IRS to avoid paying a little more in ACA health insurance and some taxes?

It's unclear from what you wrote, but it sounds like for your frozen company penson that when you are 65 that you can chose between a $45k lump sum or $1,533/month for life? Is that a joint life benefit or just your life? I assume that it is fixed and not COLAed. When that time comes you can compare the benefit vs the lump sum at immediateannuities.com. It looks like the $1,533 would be the clear winner.

For social security claiming stratagies, check out opensocialsecurity.com and be sure to chk out the little chcek box for special situations.

One interesting thing to do with FIRECalc is to click the last option on the Investigate tab to solve for safe spending at a specified success rate.

When we were camping, we enjoyed the US Army Corps of Engineers campgrounds. We found them to be nice enough and reasonably priced. Also, state campgrounds.

Good luck.

 

[pb4uski]

If the option is to take the $45k today, I don't know that waiting 17 years for the $1500/month is necessarily the correct choice. The breakeven would be more than 3 years if the lump sum is today, because the $45k will grow for 17 years. If we figure a 7% annual growth rate, the $45k would grow to $142k. And the breakeven is about 8 years. That would be to age 73. This assumes no further growth during withdrawal - but, of course there will be continued growth. So, as $1533 is withdrawn monthly, from the $142,000, the $142,000 is still growing by 7% a year...or about $9800 in year one. So, the net is about negative $8000/year initially. Might still be a good choice to wait 17 years for the pension, but not for certain, especially since it's frozen.

I plugged the numbers into a calculator for how long the money would last starting with $142,000, $1533 monthly withdrawals, and continued growth of 7%. The result was 12 years and one month. So that would be to age 77 for breakeven. Again, not clear which is the better alternative in my view.

OP - please clarify - is your $45k lump sum if you take it now?

I wouldn't agree. Let's go with your assumption that the OP could take $45k today and invest it at 7% for 17 years and have $142k at 65. According to immediateannuities.com, if you were a 65 yo male from Missouri today and bought a joint life SPIA with $142k premium, the monthly benefit would only be $856/month and a single life benefit would only be $901/month so the $1,533/month sounds like the winner.

 

[Al18]

Regarding my earlier comment, if it was me, the both of you should continue working until she is 59 1/2 and can access her IRA without penalty.

Being retired 5 1/2 years, I can tell you it’s not worth it to be without a backup plan in case the economy takes a dump. In my case Covid hit 15 months after I retired and was quite nervous in March, 2020 when the economy and stock market took a dive. All those side jobs that many people had suddenly ended with almost no warning.

 

[Koolau]

The pension (at most companies) has so much built in safety (Good funding in many cases, PBGC, Megacorp backing and prestige, etc.) that I would probably take the pension in almost any scenario. I'm sure you have to run some estimates on a do-it-yourself scenario, but I've proven to myself that there is a lot more variability when doing that. Just my 2 cents worth (for free so YMMV.)

 

[ziggy29]

The pension (at most companies) has so much built in safety (Good funding in many cases, PBGC, Megacorp backing and prestige, etc.) that I would probably take the pension in almost any scenario. I'm sure you have to run some estimates on a do-it-yourself scenario, but I've proven to myself that there is a lot more variability when doing that. Just my 2 cents worth (for free so YMMV.)

To me it depends on what else I had for retirement income. There is some value to the certainty of a pension (if it is safe) even if it looks financially suboptimal to investing a lump sum buyout for the long term, especially if you feel like you want more guaranteed income for life. That said, it's also worth running the numbers to see what that lump sum buyout would give you purchasing a SPIA compared to keeping the pension.

 

[FlaGator]

Hello from the flyover city of O’Fallon MO (St. Louis area)

I'm 48ys and my wife is 58ys and we have no kids.

Our age gap will make the following scenario unique, but I'm hopeful there is someone out there that was, or currently in, a similar situation and can share their thoughts on our plan.

Financials: 1.1M in total assets (~800K invested/cash)
Home: $300K paid off
Current 401K: $463K. (20% ROTH,80% traditional.) Current strategy is 90% stocks.
Wife’s IRA: $100K
My old IRA: $60K
Shared Brokerage Account: $100K
HSA: $23K (all but $2k is invested)
Cash: 30K

Future Income:
Frozen company pension: $1,533 a month when I turn 65 or $45K lump sum if rolled into an IRA (I included the $45K my total assets calculation)
My Social Security at 65: est $2,228 (this will drop since I will semi-retire so early)
Wife’s Social Security at 65: est $1,400

We are in our 2nd year of tracking our expenses and we know we can flex between $35K-$45K a year.
Essential spend: $35K a year ($2,916 a month)
$10K in flexible spending (vacations, camping, other controllable spend)

Next years health care plan would be with the ACA. The estimates I see seem very reasonable ($0-$88 a month) based on our estimated future taxable take home.

I would like to work part time as an usher for our local MLB team (dream job ~80 games a year) + a couple days a week at a Lowes or Home Depot. I am planning for ~$28K a year between the two. My wife makes $15K a year with her dog walking and boarding business (cash, not included in ACA calcs)
Between the two of us, the $43K should cover our expenses so I don’t think we will have more then a 2% withdrawal rate anytime in the near future.

FICalc shows 0 cycles failed, for a success rate of 100.0% when I enter in my above scenario.

We don’t foresee any major lifestyle changes in the future. This year we purchased (cash) a "new to us" travel trailer so we plan on camping with our dogs more in early-retirement.

Is there anyone out there like us? Are there any blind spots in our plan? Any major red flags or hard STOP warnings?

Really looking forward to anyones thoughts.

Thank you,
Dreaming to semi-retire in 2025.

From all the info OP has provided:

Great job paying off the house, banking what you have, and keeping your COL low. Lessons there for many people.

And now for the rest......
-this proposal has all the signs of someone who realized they have a net worth bigger than they ever imagined and are wondering what they could do with it. I know how that goes, was there in 2006-early 2008 (note my join date ). Life and the market take their own course and it was 7+ years later when I bailed.
-It's not a $million+ to support you for the next 35-45 years, it's ~$150K available immediately, maybe taxes would reduce it. Everything else has some extra cost or time to access. And there are a lot of years ahead for you for life to complicate things. But fewer for the DW.
-Forget the home equity. You need a place to live. If that was in your Firecalc run, remove it and see how the numbers work. Maybe you can sell the house and vagabond around for a few years with your TT with no home base, and have the cost be less than maintaining your current residence. Others have done so, most I am aware of decided to put down roots after a few years. But there goes the "tax free" dog walking income and your dream job and the other one helping me find furnace filters on Saturday night.....
-It appears what you're really considering is downshifting and taking on 2 PT jobs that will presumably pay less than you're making today. But those will have you tied to a schedule that you can't control. Is this better than your higher paid WFH job with benefits?

A few things to think about if you delay your plans:
-Have the wife find a regular W-2 job if she is able. Might be more money and would add to her SS payout.
-Build up your cash reserve. Too much is never enough after the big paychecks stop.
-Consider reducing your 401k contribution to the lowest level to get the maximum employer match. Put the rest to work building up cash or in your taxable brokerage account.

There's a lot to think about, and it's hard to go back after you leave if it doesn't go as expected. My compliments for putting this out there and soliciting comments from people like me

 

[got2retire2025]

From all the info OP has provided:

Great job paying off the house, banking what you have, and keeping your COL low. Lessons there for many people.

And now for the rest......
-this proposal has all the signs of someone who realized they have a net worth bigger than they ever imagined and are wondering what they could do with it. I know how that goes, was there in 2006-early 2008 (note my join date ). Life and the market take their own course and it was 7+ years later when I bailed.
-It's not a $million+ to support you for the next 35-45 years, it's ~$150K available immediately, maybe taxes would reduce it. Everything else has some extra cost or time to access. And there are a lot of years ahead for you for life to complicate things. But fewer for the DW.
-Forget the home equity. You need a place to live. If that was in your Firecalc run, remove it and see how the numbers work. Maybe you can sell the house and vagabond around for a few years with your TT with no home base, and have the cost be less than maintaining your current residence. Others have done so, most I am aware of decided to put down roots after a few years. But there goes the "tax free" dog walking income and your dream job and the other one helping me find furnace filters on Saturday night.....
-It appears what you're really considering is downshifting and taking on 2 PT jobs that will presumably pay less than you're making today. But those will have you tied to a schedule that you can't control. Is this better than your higher paid WFH job with benefits?

A few things to think about if you delay your plans:
-Have the wife find a regular W-2 job if she is able. Might be more money and would add to her SS payout.
-Build up your cash reserve. Too much is never enough after the big paychecks stop.
-Consider reducing your 401k contribution to the lowest level to get the maximum employer match. Put the rest to work building up cash or in your taxable brokerage account.

There's a lot to think about, and it's hard to go back after you leave if it doesn't go as expected. My compliments for putting this out there and soliciting comments from people like me

@FlaGator, thank you for the time you took to review our situation and your detailed comments! Also thank you for the acknowledgment and pat on or backs.

You kind of hit the nail on the head, now 48 and taking the time to lift my head up from the grindstone, seeing how much debt we paid off, have invested/saved, the growth of our accounts over the past and hopefully long term future... yes, the growth is more then I would have imagined at 48. However, I do realize it’s not a big number like the $1 to 3 million I see in other posts, so I’m appreciating all the honest comments here. I'm learning and understanding more of the blind spots I might have. A few years ago our goal was for me to retire at 55, which we (and our Financial Advisor) were well on track for. Now at 48, I have hit a mental wall, carrer wall and work style burnout. This is resulting in our exploration/execution of the "2025 semi-retirement plan". My wife and I have wondered if there is a little “Midlife” going on, but she is very, very understanding in me needing a change, and that change should not be finding the same as I have now, just with a different company and just starting the cycle all over again. She too was in the corporate world before starting her own business, and she could not be happier!

I don't have the house in the FireCalc, I feel this would only come into play at the end of our lives if we needed to move into assisted living, or something along those lines.

I like your idea of dialing down the 401K contribution, why lock so much money into a future account. I'm already almost at the max 23K this year, so the rest of the year we will work towards continuing to build up the brokerage account and cash savings. Note: I will continue to fund the HSA 100% throughout 2024.

Regarding the exchanging 1 full time job for 2 part time jobs topic... downshifting is a good way to sum it up. I’m glad you mentioned this and hope it spurs other to vet out my thoughts. The way I'm looking at this is I will be exchanging the mentally draining 9 hour a day keyboard workday, for two seasonal jobs, The Cardinals play ~ 81 home games a season (April - Oct.) They leave town roughly every other week, so I would have around two weeks off a month. From what current ushers tell me, I could also pickup working a concert or two at the stadium while they are out of town.

I haven’t explored the Lowes/Home Depot gig to much yet, they seem to be hiring every spring for part time work. It could really be any store, and I would look to keep it to only a couple days a week.

This is how I'm framing it up in my head. Anyone currently executing a similar part time work plan? If so, any thoughts or advice you can share?

 

[Cayman]

Pb4youski nailed it. Not smart. Pay your taxes. Then enjoy your ER

 

[Koolau]

Pb4youski nailed it. Not smart. Pay your taxes. Then enjoy your ER

Yeah, only way to play it.

 

[got2retire2025]

Pb4youski nailed it. Not smart. Pay your taxes. Then enjoy your ER

Good point. I’m definitely not trying to cheat out of paying taxes! It was just nice to a 0 cost a month for healthcare while I’m building my plan for next year.
If I include my wife’s 2025 estimated $15k for dog walking into the ACA calculation it moves from $0 to $97 a month. Still really cheap considering ..Not worth keeping under the table.

All the other scenarios in my plan seem fairly reasonable?

 

[FindingForward]

Good point. I’m definitely not trying to cheat out of paying taxes! It was just nice to a 0 cost a month for healthcare while I’m building my plan for next year.
If I include my wife’s 2025 estimated $15k for dog walking into the ACA calculation it moves from $0 to $97 a month. Still really cheap considering ..Not worth keeping under the table.

All the other scenarios in my plan seem fairly reasonable?

Plus, keeping everything above board taxwise allows her to take a few legal business deductions that will offset some of those earnings: cell phone if she's using that for biz, any marketing costs like email/internet (if communicating with customers online), home office space (if dedicated solely to her business) etc

 

[ApeX]

Hello from the flyover city of O’Fallon MO (St. Louis area)

I'm 48ys and my wife is 58ys and we have no kids.

Our age gap will make the following scenario unique, but I'm hopeful there is someone out there that was, or currently in, a similar situation and can share their thoughts on our plan.

Financials: 1.1M in total assets (~800K invested/cash)
Home: $300K paid off
Current 401K: $463K. (20% ROTH,80% traditional.) Current strategy is 90% stocks.
Wife’s IRA: $100K
My old IRA: $60K
Shared Brokerage Account: $100K
HSA: $23K (all but $2k is invested)
Cash: 30K

Future Income:
Frozen company pension: $1,533 a month when I turn 65 or $45K lump sum if rolled into an IRA (I included the $45K my total assets calculation)
My Social Security at 65: est $2,228 (this will drop since I will semi-retire so early)
Wife’s Social Security at 65: est $1,400

We are in our 2nd year of tracking our expenses and we know we can flex between $35K-$45K a year.
Essential spend: $35K a year ($2,916 a month)
$10K in flexible spending (vacations, camping, other controllable spend)

Next years health care plan would be with the ACA. The estimates I see seem very reasonable ($0-$88 a month) based on our estimated future taxable take home.

I would like to work part time as an usher for our local MLB team (dream job ~80 games a year) + a couple days a week at a Lowes or Home Depot. I am planning for ~$28K a year between the two. My wife makes $15K a year with her dog walking and boarding business (cash, not included in ACA calcs)
Between the two of us, the $43K should cover our expenses so I don’t think we will have more then a 2% withdrawal rate anytime in the near future.

FICalc shows 0 cycles failed, for a success rate of 100.0% when I enter in my above scenario.

We don’t foresee any major lifestyle changes in the future. This year we purchased (cash) a "new to us" travel trailer so we plan on camping with our dogs more in early-retirement.

Is there anyone out there like us? Are there any blind spots in our plan? Any major red flags or hard STOP warnings?

Really looking forward to anyones thoughts.

Thank you,
Dreaming to semi-retire in 2025.

If your costs stay down then seems reasonable. I'd want more cash built up personally. Regardless, nice job and congratulations on being in the position to have lots of good options!

Have you considered LTC costs at end of life?

 

[KarenF]

If somebody else posted this and so missed it, sorry for the repeat. Make sure you understand what your SS FRA is and the annual or monthly income limits if you draw SS early. It looks to me like your income would be above the limits.

 

[KarenF]

One other thing, I have a small pet sitting business (about 10k a year) and do pay taxes. I also pay hardly any taxes at all because of the deductions. I would be happy to help with taxes. I had to do some studying but I now have a spreadsheet that tracks the business and it is quite easy.

 

[orbops]

Hello from the flyover city of O’Fallon MO (St. Louis area)

I'm 48ys and my wife is 58ys and we have no kids.

Our age gap will make the following scenario unique, but I'm hopeful there is someone out there that was, or currently in, a similar situation and can share their thoughts on our plan.

Financials: 1.1M in total assets (~800K invested/cash)
Home: $300K paid off
Current 401K: $463K. (20% ROTH,80% traditional.) Current strategy is 90% stocks.
Wife’s IRA: $100K
My old IRA: $60K
Shared Brokerage Account: $100K
HSA: $23K (all but $2k is invested)
Cash: 30K

Future Income:
Frozen company pension: $1,533 a month when I turn 65 or $45K lump sum if rolled into an IRA (I included the $45K my total assets calculation)
My Social Security at 65: est $2,228 (this will drop since I will semi-retire so early)
Wife’s Social Security at 65: est $1,400

We are in our 2nd year of tracking our expenses and we know we can flex between $35K-$45K a year.
Essential spend: $35K a year ($2,916 a month)
$10K in flexible spending (vacations, camping, other controllable spend)

Next years health care plan would be with the ACA. The estimates I see seem very reasonable ($0-$88 a month) based on our estimated future taxable take home.

I would like to work part time as an usher for our local MLB team (dream job ~80 games a year) + a couple days a week at a Lowes or Home Depot. I am planning for ~$28K a year between the two. My wife makes $15K a year with her dog walking and boarding business (cash, not included in ACA calcs)
Between the two of us, the $43K should cover our expenses so I don’t think we will have more then a 2% withdrawal rate anytime in the near future.

I retired at 50 starting with 1.7M, and that was 7 years ago. My wife is 4 years older than me, but her income is negligible due to being a writer. Here are my personal experiences/observations based on your description:

Concerning healthcare, we currently have a Silver Marketplace plan which is about $30/month. I had switched to a HDHP & HSA since (we were both healthy) last year to get the $9550 MAGI credit (over 55) - which helped lower my MAGI, but it backfired. Our max out of pocket was $14K, and I ended up having a quadruple bypass, and then my gallbladder failed 2 months later. My wife was in a serious car accident, so we used up all the max of pocket. So now we got a lower max out of pocket of $7K now and dumped the HDHP and are not contributing to an HSA anymore. It wasn't worth the MAGI credit to have an HDHP plan. We now make an assumption that the max of pocket may be used up each year as part of our budgeting. We plan on just leaving the existing HSA alone until we're 65, and using it to pay premiums at that point.

Your dream job is with the Cardinals? My dream job would be the guy online who keeps updating all real time pitches/stats for the Dodgers!

The $43K that covers your expenses is similar to the $35-45K we bookkeep for MAGI. For us, we do small Roth conversions each year to cover most of the AGI. If you can do a small Roth conversion every year that keeps you in your tax bracket (15% in 2025), then you should be able to reduce your RMD at 75 quite a bit.

Since you have $100K in a brokerage and $30K in cash, I would use that for the next 1.5 years. The key date is when your wife turns 59.5. At that point, you can start withdrawing from her IRA for any additional expenses without any penalty.

Once I retired, I reduced our stock/fixed income ratio from 85/15 to 70/30.

 

[PointBreeze]

My spouse is 15+ years older than me and has had a lot of scary medical issues, so I retired at 57 and used the ACA for 7 years (just started Medicare a few months ago, but haven’t started Social Security yet). Every plan is different, but I definitely had medical [and dental expenses] every year with an ACA gold plan. Probably averaged about $600/year for me. I’m finding Medicare premiums to be much more expensive than the ACA, but I didn’t choose to go with an Advantage plan; I’m paying $175/month for Part B, $116/month for my Plan G supplement, and $0.50/month for Part D (that last one will probably jump up a lot for 2025). Out of pocket expenses and dental will likely be under $400/year going forward.

 

[PointBreeze]

One other thing - I may have missed it, but I didn’t see a post warning about Sequence of Returns Risk (SORR). If the market value of your investments drops precipitously in the early years of your retirement, it could have a significant impact. Likewise if we get another period of high inflation.

If it were me, I’d want a bigger cushion. But only you know your true risk tolerance.

 

[eyenitnoy]

Hello from the flyover city of O’Fallon MO (St. Louis area)

I'm 48ys and my wife is 58ys and we have no kids.

Our age gap will make the following scenario unique, but I'm hopeful there is someone out there that was, or currently in, a similar situation and can share their thoughts on our plan.

Financials: 1.1M in total assets (~800K invested/cash)
Home: $300K paid off
Current 401K: $463K. (20% ROTH,80% traditional.) Current strategy is 90% stocks.
Wife’s IRA: $100K
My old IRA: $60K
Shared Brokerage Account: $100K
HSA: $23K (all but $2k is invested)
Cash: 30K

Future Income:
Frozen company pension: $1,533 a month when I turn 65 or $45K lump sum if rolled into an IRA (I included the $45K my total assets calculation)
My Social Security at 65: est $2,228 (this will drop since I will semi-retire so early)
Wife’s Social Security at 65: est $1,400

We are in our 2nd year of tracking our expenses and we know we can flex between $35K-$45K a year.
Essential spend: $35K a year ($2,916 a month)
$10K in flexible spending (vacations, camping, other controllable spend)

Next years health care plan would be with the ACA. The estimates I see seem very reasonable ($0-$88 a month) based on our estimated future taxable take home.

I would like to work part time as an usher for our local MLB team (dream job ~80 games a year) + a couple days a week at a Lowes or Home Depot. I am planning for ~$28K a year between the two. My wife makes $15K a year with her dog walking and boarding business (cash, not included in ACA calcs)
Between the two of us, the $43K should cover our expenses so I don’t think we will have more then a 2% withdrawal rate anytime in the near future.

FICalc shows 0 cycles failed, for a success rate of 100.0% when I enter in my above scenario.

We don’t foresee any major lifestyle changes in the future. This year we purchased (cash) a "new to us" travel trailer so we plan on camping with our dogs more in early-retirement.

Is there anyone out there like us? Are there any blind spots in our plan? Any major red flags or hard STOP warnings?

Really looking forward to anyones thoughts.

Thank you,
Dreaming to semi-retire in 2025.

I think your in good shape. The numbers work as your spending is low.

A few points:

Be sure to factor in your costs for medical insurance prior to social security age.

Be sure to factor in taxes on your 401(k).

If possible, consider delaying social security to get a larger payment down the road.

Don't get too hung up on a less than 100% Firecalc score. 95% is just fine and this is a good tool but just an estimating tool. In those go broke scenarios you wouldn't just lay there. You'd cut expenses, get a part time job, downsize a house or do something to save the day.

Good Luck.

 

[waynezo]

Definitely take the $1,533 per month in pension when you turn 65. After 3 years, you would come up ahead of taking the lump sum.

Your numbers look good.

I agree the lump sum is a ripoff. At 49 I took 6mos off with the intention of going back to work and ended up retiring. I don't regret one minute. Time is the premiere asset. Tomorrow is promised to no one.