Almost 2 Years in HELP ME SPEND THAT MONEY!

[FireCat]

Greetings to all! I cannot thank you all enough for the wonderful education that this board and its members provided me in the years leading up to my retirement. And now as I am retired I find myself with new questions that I hope you all can help me with.

So here I sit still wondering how I am doing and what to do in the spending years!

I am 54, wife is 57 retired almost 2 years ago. Sold everything and I mean all of it and bought a Catamaran that we have been living on full time in the Caribbean and off the East Coast of the US and plan on doing so less full time with more time traveling off the boat in the coming years.

The Good. We have no debt and thus far have been living off my pension only more or less which includes paying for our son's College and all the basics including health insurance, etc. Pension is COLA'd at 3% max per year and I pay out of pocket for our health insurance.

My big question is what do I do with all this accumulated wealth?


How much per year should I spend out of it for the extras, travel, funding grandkids education, splurges.? We have lived a pretty frugal life and saved a ton for a fireman and his nurse wife so we will probably not go crazy on the spending, but would like to go, perhaps a "little crazy."

I'm happy with my AA, but should I be worried about just being in index funds?

Should I be more conservative in IRA and Roth's and less so in my taxable account?

Firecalc says we can spend $41,000 per year from our portfolio of $750,000 which is mostly in Index equities to index bonds across IRA's, Roth's, and a Taxable Account.
VTI
VXUS
BND
BNDX

$108k Taxable 75/25
$104k Roth 80/20
$521 IRA's 60/40


In addition we have 60k in savings.

The $41,000 doesn't include our present living expenses that would be all additional spending on whatever.

The Firecalc estimate includes wife's $25k SS at 67 so our 41k withdrawal rate would only be for the next 10 years.

Given our past history of being frugal we would have some trouble, but a heck of a lot of fun spending an extra $41,000 per year, am I crazy to think that I can?


Thanks again to all on the board who have and continue to contribute great information to the masses.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

How does your son come home for the holidays to visit? You pull up to the pier and he hops on?I saw a movie And The Sea Will Tell, it was a great retired life on the open water,then of course someone decided they wanted to kill them and steal their boat. This ruined my idea of living on the water.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

We spent 3 years in the Caribbean on an X Moorings RC 47. Was fun, but now we are well settles on Dry land. Happy Memories.

 

[FireCat]

How does your son come home for the holidays to visit? You pull up to the pier and he hops on?I saw a movie And The Sea Will Tell, it was a great retired life on the open water,then of course someone decided they wanted to kill them and steal their boat. This ruined my idea of living on the water.

Greetings BCG! Are you NYPD retired? My son spent the summer last year with us and flies down during his breaks between quarters. Life on the water has been great so far no pirates and no petty theft either. We haven't even met anyone who has experienced either. So all in all I'd say much safer and way less crime than my former big city of Seattle. We spent a few days anchored off City Island next to the NYPD shooting range. I never felt so safe in an anchorage as those few days in NY.

all the best.

 

[Blueskies123]

Find some truly needy and suffering people to help. A few thousand dollars goes a long way in providing medicine and vaccines in Africa or any other country you have an interest in.

 

[FireCat]

Find some truly needy and suffering people to help. A few thousand dollars goes a long way in providing medicine and vaccines in Africa or any other country you have an interest in.

Blueskies, Thanks and we do give generously each year to a variety of our favorite charities some in Africa as well.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

Greetings BCG! Are you NYPD retired? My son spent the summer last year with us and flies down during his breaks between quarters. Life on the water has been great so far no pirates and no petty theft either. We haven't even met anyone who has experienced either. So all in all I'd say much safer and way less crime than my former big city of Seattle. We spent a few days anchored off City Island next to the NYPD shooting range. I never felt so safe in an anchorage as those few days in NY.

all the best.

Yes I am retired NYPD. Next time you come to NYC email me, my friend is a big wig in the harbor unit. Maybe he can arrange that water cannon salute next time you come to town. The Boat basin on 79th street sometimes houses just breath taking yachts.

 

[Aerides]

Presumably at some point in the next decade or so, you will want/need to return to dry land. Or at least permanently dock, so first I'd be thinking about those expenses, where you would want to live, and securing that in your plan.

 

[FireCat]

BCG, That would be cool. Maybe I'll take you up on that one! I spent a month at GZ in Sept. a few years back you must have been there as well. Thank you for your service. I met a lot of really great coworkers' of yours while there. We will be there next summer so I'll be looking forward to a cool water display. On a side note I have enjoyed reading your posts as well.

 

[FireCat]

Presumably at some point in the next decade or so, you will want/need to return to dry land. Or at least permanently dock, so first I'd be thinking about those expenses, where you would want to live, and securing that in your plan.

I don't think that changes our plans at all as we will sell the boat and use the proceeds to pay cash for a house somewhere. Did I say its a big boat? Most likely where our future grandkids make their first appearance. I don't plan on spending anymore on the upkeep of our future home than we currently spend on the boat every year.

 

[evilanne]

Greetings FireCat. Interesting retirement story, retiring on the water

 

[Mdlerth]

I know just the guy for you

Congratulations on retiring in fabulous style. I daydream of living aboard a sailboat, but I know that DW would enjoy it for about a week. Then it would be back home to her usual hobbies and comforts.

In answer to your OP title, you should search the posts on this forum by RobbieB. In his quest to blow through his fortune, he embraces luxuries I wouldn't have known from Adam's housecat, like white truffles or wagyu beef. If there is an epicurean pleasure to be found, that man knows about it. Good luck!

 

[Golden sunsets]

With respect to how to spend an extra $41,000/year you may find yourself spending some of it on higher health insurance premiums-that might be known sooner rather than later. $41,000 doesn't seem like that great a buffer. I might increase spending a bit, but squirrel the rest away to support you in a down market, which will inevitably occur at some point.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

 

[splitwdw]

I don't think that changes our plans at all as we will sell the boat and use the proceeds to pay cash for a house somewhere. Did I say its a big boat? Most likely where our future grandkids make their first appearance. I don't plan on spending anymore on the upkeep of our future home than we currently spend on the boat every year.

Big boats aren't that easy to sell, are they? Friends of ours that were into boating for years, sold their large home and bought a small condo and traded up to a BIG boat. They did a lot of boating and were rarely at the condo, then his wife got sick. They are lucky that the condo and boat are paid for but they can't use the boat any more and haven't been able to sell it for 3 years. They are paying to keep the boat in top condition.