Hello & recommendations from those wiser than I.

[SecretlyFI]

Or, like my late BIL, Mega Corp changed the rules and didn't grandfather current retirees. He never shared tbe details but I know BIL had to scramble to find coverage. This was befoRE the so-called ACA.

+1
Mega corps are notorious these days for cancelling retiree healthcare, with very little notice. It’s gotten too expensive for them to want to sustain. It’s almost as popular as frozen or no-longer-existing traditional pension plans. Like a 401k where you’re making the contributions, today’s employees are largely on their own when it comes to funding all aspects of retirement.

OP, you might want to check out healthcare.gov to get a sense if premiums, deductibles and oop maximums. Of course they will be in today’s dollars, so you’d have to consider years of inflation until your wife leaves her job. Don’t mean to be a downer on this, but it’s very expensive, so it needs to be in the planning.

 

[Koolau]

Me too. Very fortunate.

But if that’s not a retiree perk for them, it’s certainly a cost they should consider.

And it's not always easy to calculate - especially what the maximum OOP might be (depending on what diseases come along and what meds one needs). One year we paid OOP $10,000 BUT I knew that could happen (most years it didn't). So I was prepared and I knew it wouldn't go any higher than $10K. Very comforting - though uncomfortable paying out $10K.

 

[equakesfan]

Hello everyone,

I am 52 and hoping to retire no later than 55.

Net worth is well above averages for my age/demographic.

Started using Firecalc and it is great! Thanks to those that put it together and maintain it.

I am married with 1 child who is 14. My wife is 8 years younger than I and will work to ~55 and I will get my health care through her work.

<Edit> I forgot to mention that we carry no debt: home is paid for, 3 cars are paid for, no credit card balance, no student loans, etc.

Let's assume base expenses are $6k per month, to continue into retirement. Firecalc is giving me results saying that I am good to go for retirement.

Am I missing something?

I was in a similar situation as you when I retired last April. I was 52 and my wife 48 and my kids were 10 and 12. Since my wife is so young, I planned for 52 year retirement. I also planned for my wife or I to die young and both of us to live a long life. My worst case scenario was me dying just before I take SS. Make sure you plan for the worst case scenario. (I didn't plan for a divorce, we're very happy at the moment, but if we get divorced the whole plan goes out the window.)

I budgeted $11/k per month but I'm spending $13k. I'm actually spending less than budgeted if you take out what I'm spending on deferred maintenance (I budgeted $500/ month for maintenance but I'm spending $2500/month on maintenance). I could spend $13k per month (inflation adjusted for the rest of our lives) and still be Ok, but if I needed I could cut my expenses to about $8k per month (and still be pretty happy). Make sure you can live within your budget, include travel, vacation, splurges in your budget.

I've budgeted for kid's college, kid's weddings, help with the kids to buy a houses, remodeling the house, long-term care, cars, and helping my nieces and nephew with college. Make sure you budget for expenses like these.
I don't know what is going to happen to Social Security but I budgeted only 75% of the what they say I'm going to get.

Also I think the stock market is over valued at the moment, would you still be ok if the stock market dropped 20%? 40%? I wanted have big buffer retiring early. I could easily work now but probably not so much in 20 or 30 years.

It's a big decision, make sure you think of everything.

 

[Koolau]

Also don't forget the possibility of her wanting to retirement in a couple of years after she see you having fun in retirement. This is not an uncommon scenario which can result in a sense of jealousy. Can you both stay retired if push comes to shove?

Yes. This happened to BFF. He got a chance to retire from my Megacorp with a great package. Otherwise, he might have been laid off with no package. But unless his wife continued to w*rk, they couldn't make it. She agreed to keep w*rking. Once he retired, she just up and quit her j*b (not a retirement - just walked out) because she didn't think it was fair that he was retired and she still had to w*rk.

SO he had to drive a school bus for several years just so that they could make ends meet. Not a happy situation.


It's important that both members of the couple are completely on board with the retirement of the other.

 

[mrfeh]

Hello everyone,

I am 52 and hoping to retire no later than 55.

Net worth is well above averages for my age/demographic.

I hope you aren't using net worth as an input value for firecalc. You're portfolio value is what matters.

 

[Koolau]

I hope you aren't using net worth as an input value for firecalc. You're portfolio value is what matters.

True, most of us here exclude the value of our primary residence when calculating FIRECalc since it's our portfolio which produces spendable growth.

It's true that our homes have value and they even produce implicit income (IOW in leu of, say, rent). But you can't (easily) spend down your house like you can your bank account or 401(k).