Retire at 58 w/ $4M or retire at 60 w/ $5M?

[CorporateSoldier]

Decision time for us. Wife and I just turned 58 and could retire this year with:

• ~$4M nest egg ($2.1M Taxable, 1.4M 401K, 300k Roth, 200k cash)
• No debt. Paid off $750k home in medium cost of living area.
• Kids all grown up and out of house
• At 62 we could get about $60k in SS. Not sure when we will file though.
• Yearly retirement expenses expected to be ~$120k (60-70k to pay the bills including healthcare, 50-60 to travel)

I have some financial incentives to work until 60 so would project us to have about a $5M nest egg if we work two more years. Our health is good and my company still likes me so I can stay if I like but leaning towards checking out now versus two more years.

Really struggling with this. My gut says go now.

Thoughts?

 

[TheWizard]

Depends on how hard they work you.
Like a rented mule? No way.
Lots of perks and upscale travel? Maybe...

 

[Koolau]

I always ask if prospective FIRE candidates have run FIRECalc, but even a cursory evaluation of your situation suggests you would get 100%.

I retired at 58. My health turned at 70. We aren't home bound, but our true traveling days are over. It appears traveling is important to you. Need I say more?

Best luck in your decision and check back often. OH, and YMMV.

 

[punkinhead]

We've been traveling heavily for the 3 years since I retired at 54. I wouldn't trade it for $1M.

 

[braumeister]

Decision time for us. Wife and I just turned 58 and could retire this year with:

• ~$4M nest egg ($2.1M Taxable, 1.4M 401K, 300k Roth, 200k cash)
• No debt. Paid off $750k home in medium cost of living area.
• Kids all grown up and out of house
• At 62 we could get about $60k in SS. Not sure when we will file though.
• Yearly retirement expenses expected to be ~$120k (60-70k to pay the bills including healthcare, 50-60 to travel)

I have some financial incentives to work until 60 so would project us to have about a $5M nest egg if we work two more years. Our health is good and my company still likes me so I can stay if I like but leaning towards checking out now versus two more years.

Really struggling with this. My gut says go now.

Thoughts?

Does the 120K include taxes?/
Have you looked through these:
Some Important Questions to Answer Before Asking - Can I Retire?

 

[REWahoo]

You should have retired yesterday.

 

[street]

You are looking very good on the finance side of things. I retired at 58 with ~the same amount but less expenses and my wad has doubled in 8 years of ER.

It really comes down to is to retire to something. It was a pretty easy transition for me with so many things I wanted to do and things I wanted to spend more time doing.

You will need to look into ACA and other possible way to minimize expenses without forfeiting any necessities.

Good luck and you are in great shape. IMO

 

[CorporateSoldier]

I always ask if prospective FIRE candidates have run FIRECalc, but even a cursory evaluation of your situation suggests you would get 100%.

I retired at 58. My health turned at 70. We aren't home bound, but our true traveling days are over. It appears traveling is important to you. Need I say more?

Best luck in your decision and check back often. OH, and YMMV.

Yes - FireCalc says we are100% good to go.

Sorry to hear your health turned at 70. That's the main reason we are leaning towards going now. Want to get as many healthy years we can to travel, play golf and tennis, hike, etc. We are pretty active right now but I know we could be a day away from not being so healthy.

 

[Flieger]

Financially, with that estimated spending, retiring yesterday is a no brainer. Emotionally, that's a decision only you can make.

I often wonder about these "I have $4MM and wonder if I can retire" posts....

Flieger

 

[CorporateSoldier]

You are looking very good on the finance side of things. I retired at 58 with ~the same amount but less expenses and my wad has doubled.

It really comes down to is to retire to something. It was a pretty easy transition for me with so many things I wanted to do and things I wanted to spend more time doing.

You will need to look into ACA and other possible way to minimize expenses without forfeiting any necessities.

Good luck and you are in great shape. IMO

Appreciate you sharing. Same here - we have a long list of hobbies and interests and things we want to do. Have played with the ACA site. First full year of retirement we should qualify for significant subsidies as we should be able to keep our income low due to the cash on hand and the taxable account being the biggest part of the nest egg.

 

[CorporateSoldier]

Financially, with that estimated spending, retiring yesterday is a no brainer. Emotionally, that's a decision only you can make.

I often wonder about these "I have $4MM and wonder if I can retire" posts....

Flieger

I hear you on that. I know we can retire now - could have last year. We grew up with very little and are very handy and frugal. I could live well on far, far less than we have.

 

[Dtail]

You are good to go financially of course.
Being you wish to travel, I would go now. 4m vs 5m is not going to make a difference in the end. Health is never a guarantee. 1M vs 2m yeah stay for the 2m.

 

[Dtail]

Financially, with that estimated spending, retiring yesterday is a no brainer. Emotionally, that's a decision only you can make.

I often wonder about these "I have $4MM and wonder if I can retire" posts....

Flieger

Usually I would agree with you that effectively it is a humble brag. However in this case the OP is not wondering if he has enough, but more so the question of 4m vs 5m with the waiting period to reach 5m.

 

[Sunset]

OP is fine to retire.
Might want to look into healthcare first, just to they know the numbers, and possibility of something from work ? - retirement benefit ?

 

[Car-Guy]

I could have retired at 58 too, maybe even earlier and would have been financially safe, but I worked a few more years. (OMY syndrome X3) That's the one factor in my retirement equation that I still regret. Oh well, can't get those younger years back now!

 

[NgineER]

You are good to go-the extra would be for your kids (if you have any). Two more years in retirement with good health would be priceless if you don’t need the money.

 

[street]

The thing about retiring earlier rather than later years is those younger years are so much more enjoyable. The older you get the less everything you have as far as energy, health and the desire to do the physical things a person wants to do. Your time is shorter and have to do less. It is just the facts of aging.

I figured if I worked to 65 I might as well work till 70 or longer. The younger age in retirement was the motivator for me.

 

[AZ2020]

I retired in 2020 at 58 with less than 4M. In the past 4.5 years we've spent about 18 months traveling. I wouldn't trade a single day for a day of work. The market has been good and we're at almost 5M now. We literally are not spending enough. Now that we are both in our 60s we realize that we are never going to be as active as we were in our 50s.

I say retire now and enjoy traveling while you can.

 

[Koolau]

Financially, with that estimated spending, retiring yesterday is a no brainer. Emotionally, that's a decision only you can make.

I often wonder about these "I have $4MM and wonder if I can retire" posts....

Flieger

Yeah, I think it is the desire for emotional clarity that prompts us to ask if we can retire - even when we have a nice pile of money. The money is necessary, but not always sufficient to answer the questions about readiness for FIRE.

For me, I think it was the potential for Black Swan events. Did folks here have them? How bad were they? How did you deal with them, etc.?

Also, I suppose, people wonder if we as old timers to FIRE have any regrets about FIRE. I can look back and see how, monetarily I could have been better off by staying (18 months later I would have been eligible for a nice package). BUT I don't recall many significant regrets here - except not FIREing earlier.

I think what we here who are long term FIRE survivors can offer is assurance that "Come on in, the water's fine." Most of the stuff I worried about pre-FIRE never happened and those things that did were things I could deal with for the most part.

 

[SnowballCamper]

Listen to your gut.

 

[Retiired]

Having been retired for 5 years now, I would NEVER trade years of my life for money, so not worth it to me.

 

[engineernerd]

You have plenty of money. Which way is your wife leaning?

 

[Ronstar]

I'd go with your gut. You'll eventually get to/past $5m anyway even if you retire at 48 with $4m, as long as you keep your spending under control.

Time > $.

 

[Out of Steam]

I retired at 58. My health turned at 70. We aren't home bound, but our true traveling days are over. It appears traveling is important to you. Need I say more?

My wife and I decided last fall at 65 and 64 that we could not afford to postpone any travel we planned to do.

While I haven't had a change in my ability to do things, I have had a diagnosis that calls my assumptions regarding above-average longevity into question. I hope your health remains good.

 

[pacergal]

If you feel good about the answers to the questions posted in #5 by braumeister, I would retire now, if that is what you want, especially if your DW is on the same page.
Your financials look good.
I had incentives to work until 60, so I did, even though my pension would have allowed me to retire at 54.