Hi I'm Jeanne and trying to ER very soon

[Travel-Jeanne]

25 years with same huge soul-sucking corp - will be 55 in a few weeks
share a home with life partner who has 33 years with same huge corp - he's already 55

Been trying to determine if we have enough $$ to leave... as of 12/1/11 we both qualify for pension and health insurance, but both gave up about half in previous divorces, so they aren't full pensions.

Just bought a house together in 2008 and don't want to move... love our house with it's nice park-like yard and pool. But in looking for solutions traveled to Panama in June with thoughts of moving there. After one visit, those thoughts are gone... will stay put for now.

So now real questions just yet, just saying hi and will be posting.

 

[FIREd]

Hi Jeanne, welcome to the boards.

 

[MichaelB]

Hey TJ, and welcome. I'm curious why you didn't like Panama.

 

[chris2008]

Welcome. You will find a lot of great ideas here.
Have you tried firecalc already? The calculator is a fantastic tool.

My favorite old fashioned approach:
Track expenses in great detail and in writing for some months. This will give you a reliable understanding on where your money goes today.
A lot of trackers have also found that tracking already reduces the expenses...

Then you can calculate if you need to adapt your lifestyle to make ends meet with the post ER income or if the life you want to lead post retirement needs additional funding.

 

[travelover]

Welcome. Have you run the actual numbers on your pension benefits? In a divorce the ex-spouse often gets half of the value of the pension as of the date of the divorce, not the final pension value. So, you might have more than you thought.

 

[obgyn65]

Welcome, Jeanne.

 

[TeeRar]

i too am curious @ Panama

Hi Jeanne,
Welcome - I know all too well about working for soul-sucking entities.

Where'd you go in Panama and what didn't you like about it?

Good Luck
TR

 

[Travel-Jeanne]

Welcome. Have you run the actual numbers on your pension benefits? In a divorce the ex-spouse often gets half of the value of the pension as of the date of the divorce, not the final pension value. So, you might have more than you thought.

Yes, we've run them. The only way we can get them at our company is to request it be calculated and mailed to us. Both spouses got 1/2 the lump sum value, and it reduced the monthly pension benefit. So we know what's coming on that front.

 

[Travel-Jeanne]

Hi Jeanne,
Welcome - I know all too well about working for soul-sucking entities.

Where'd you go in Panama and what didn't you like about it?

Good Luck
TR

We traveled most of the country via car for 2 weeks. I loved Boquete, and would consider living there, but unfortunately since we don't have equity in our home, if we wanted to buy, it would not be cheaper than the US. You could probably rent there more cheaply.

But we have a new 6 mo grandson and although it's close to the US, it's still an all-day trip especially if we lived in Boquete, since the David airport does not yet fly to the US. So we'd have to either drive to PC or fly to PC from David... very long trip.

 

[Travel-Jeanne]

Hey TJ, and welcome. I'm curious why you didn't like Panama.

Dirty, and if you're in PC the people drive like maniacs. But I HATED PC so wouldn't even consider living there. Out in the countryside, the driving isn't so bad. Not as cheap to live there as you might think unless you rent. A number of other reasons... guess international living just isn't my thing as this time

 

[Travel-Jeanne]

Welcome. You will find a lot of great ideas here.
Have you tried firecalc already? The calculator is a fantastic tool.

My favorite old fashioned approach:
Track expenses in great detail and in writing for some months. This will give you a reliable understanding on where your money goes today.
A lot of trackers have also found that tracking already reduces the expenses...

Then you can calculate if you need to adapt your lifestyle to make ends meet with the post ER income or if the life you want to lead post retirement needs additional funding.

Haven't tried firecalc yet... not even sure what it is or where to get it

 

[travelover]

Haven't tried firecalc yet... not even sure what it is or where to get it

Look at the bottom of this page.

 

[chris2008]

FIRECalc: A different kind of retirement calculator

It's a great retirement calculator.