Hello from 53/43YO couple new to retirement in FL

[SakeShiraz]

Hi,
I'm a 53 year old who was until recently employed as a consultant in statistics and economics. I was for a long time a "rainmaker" at a couple consulting firms (sort of like a partner at a law firm). It was an "eat what you kill" situation, and my client base had dwindled due to certain changes in regulations and laws.

Anyway, we have no kids. Until now, we've split our time between Chicago and Florida. We just sold the Chicago condo for a healthy profit, since it's in a hot neighborhood. We plan to now live mostly in our SW Florida home. That home has about 200K left on the mortgage, which has a very low rate (2.75%), so I don't want to pay it off right now.

Our asset base is 2.4M, currently almost exclusively in stock ETFs. We plan on living on 100K/yr. This will be a step down for us, but we've lived all kinds of lifestyles before (graduate school on 800 a month!), so we're not too worried.

Health insurance is obviously a huge concern for us. In addition, I may do some independent consulting, but I can't be sure how much that will bring in or how much I want to do it (I don't really love it any more).

We're considering living abroad for a while, partially due to the health insurance issue, but also because we're adventurous people. Panama and Mexico have both come up as ideas. Also, I have dual US/Irish citizenship, so I can work anywhere in the EU.

Any advice or ideas are very welcome. Thanks!

 

[Rianne]

What do you think of the Czech Republic? I understand it might be difficult to actually move there permanently. I'm really interested in doing that.

Your situation sounds seems on solid ground. We were 59 FIRE with no debt. They always say stretch it 40 years and with health care the way it is...we will see. Our assets comfortably bring us 40 years, but I love the Czech Republic, so mysterious, so beautiful.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

hello, welcome. spending a 100 Grand means withdrawing more than that. Million dollar question what did Firecalc say when you plugged in the numbers? Oh, the $800 a month in Grad school? Im sure you could do it again but its not the first 47 and half top choices Im sure.

 

[SakeShiraz]

What do you think of the Czech Republic? I understand it might be difficult to actually move there permanently. I'm really interested in doing that.

Your situation sounds seems on solid ground. We were 59 FIRE with no debt. They always say stretch it 40 years and with health care the way it is...we will see. Our assets comfortably bring us 40 years, but I love the Czech Republic, so mysterious, so beautiful.

Thanks. Actually an old high school buddy left the US 20 years ago and is a very well known heavy metal musician in the Czech Republic. He lives in the countryside and loves it. I'll get in touch with him for more info. Thanks for the idea.

 

[SakeShiraz]

hello, welcome. spending a 100 Grand means withdrawing more than that. Million dollar question what did Firecalc say when you plugged in the numbers? Oh, the $800 a month in Grad school? Im sure you could do it again but its not the first 47 and half top choices Im sure.

Yeah, I definitely don't want to live like a grad student again, ha ha. Those were interesting times. Still, I just meant that we don't have super expensive tastes in things like cars etc. Now decent beer, that's different.
The Firecalc numbers were encouraging, with almost all paths ending positive.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

Yeah, I definitely don't want to live like a grad student again, ha ha. Those were interesting times. Still, I just meant that we don't have super expensive tastes in things like cars etc. Now decent beer, that's different.
The Firecalc numbers were encouraging, with almost all paths ending positive.

Then your good. Im my opinion even the 95 % is good. In the real world when your money is dwindling you dont blindly keep taking cost of living increases and still do the 30 day on the French Riviera trips. I wish I knew that before I was looking for a 100 % success. I would have been retired way sooner

 

[Teacher Terry]

Poland is also beautiful especially Krakow. We were thinking about spending a year there but my DIL said it is too unhealthy in the winter because they still heat with coal. That will be phased out and against the law in a few years. Everything is cheap there too.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

OK as usual I had to google something(rainmaker). Now I know what you did. Anyhow, when I hear the term FIRE'd. I usually envision having enough of money to live your current lifestyle, or possibly upgrade to do things you couldn't while you were slaving away at your job. The thought of going to an area of former Jewish Ghetto where many perished isnt my idea of a peaceful FIRE'd. Now I toy with the idea of moving to Peru, Mexico, Florida, I might want to get dual citizenship, with my ancient country etc. But I think most readers here know Im not going anywhere. I like to cry and explore other possibilities. With 2 plus million I think you will live very well here for a very long time. I would vacation at all these places for extended periods of time. See what you think, no rush or harsh moves. I only point this stuff out because I see your a new poster, and you remind me of when I read a book about living abroad by a woman publisher of some international magazine. When i was done I was ready to move to 5 different countries and live like a king. Oh, and BTW, I think rainmaker is a very cool title.