Retiring @ 47 in Feb 2026

[RetiredHappy]

Seems like you are very easily covered for life with that huge pension. Work just enough in 2026 to get 4 quarters which would require $7560($1890 per quarter). Not that you even need the SS but it would require very little work to add another couple hundred thousand dollars of lifetime income.

OP can get (ex-)spousal and survivor benefits but it is always nice to be able to claim on his own accord, especially he may want to get married again.

 

[aaronc879]

OP can get (ex-)spousal and survivor benefits but it is always nice to be able to claim on his own accord, especially he may want to get married again.

I personally would not work another day if I had that pension but if OP is one of those people who always needs to do something then he could work a little side job to have something to do and would just happen to get more SS as an added benefit. He doesn't need it financially.

 

[RetiredHappy]

I personally would not work another day if I had that pension but if OP is one of those people who always needs to do something then he could work a little side job to have something to do and would just happen to get more SS as an added benefit. He doesn't need it financially.

He can already get SS benefits as an ex-spouse.

 

[aaronc879]

He can already get SS benefits as an ex-spouse.

I read his post wrong about spousal benefits. If half his spouses benefit is more than his full benefit then no reason to bother getting SS. Again, not like he needs it anyway.

 

[floss187]

healthcare covered,+ 80k pension and no house payment is really all i needed to hear.
keep your investments growing for when 80k is peanuts in 20 years.

you could sling burgers for fun if you want to.

enjoy!

 

[aaronc879]

healthcare covered,+ 80k pension and no house payment is really all i needed to hear.
keep your investments growing for when 80k is peanuts in 20 years.

you could sling burgers for fun if you want to.

enjoy!

$80K will likely still be over $40K in 20 years which is still enough to cover his bills. Add SS to that and he's covered without ever touching his savings if he doesn't want to.

 

[fognostic]

Health insurance is included [in $40K annual expenses], current rate is $855/yr. for my HDHP.

I need to restate income - the $82.5k is gross. It should reflect as net of taxes and insurances (health/vision/dental will be deducted from pension and paid net).

Have you double accounted for health insurance in both annual expenses and as a reduction in your pension here? It only helps if you have. Which is good, because I'm about to go full on devil's advocate on you ;-)

If you are running FIRECalc to 95% dollars based success, are you consistently planning with this level of assurance across the board? For example, if there is a 5% chance you may have to max out your HDHP deductible annually, does the plan survive that extra expense? Same with longevity, though the 50 years you've planned for takes you to roughly the 95th percentile and adding some years to the plan beyond 50 doesn't change things much once you are planning that many years already. And if you have 95% assurance on dollars and 95% assurance on longevity and 95% assurance on not spending your high deductible until Medicare kicks in at 65, are you still 95% sure this all works together? Or are you only 95%*95%*95% ~ 86% sure overall now? Comfortable with that risk? Just something to think about.

Your current healthcare cost is real close to a wash with Part B+D+Medigap G at 65, plus you lose the high deductible risk at 65, so that seems good to me. I can't think of anything to worry too much about there.

If the last 3-5 years of your life are spent in long term care at $150K/year in today's dollars, what does that look like in FIRECalc (you can force a minimum portfolio value at all times in the FIRECalc investigate tab)?

The workforce paying into social security is shrinking compared to the population receiving it. This isn't getting better anytime soon. If Social Security goes insolvent in 2032 and stays that way, it may only pay out 76% (or less) of that 50% spousal benefit. I grant you politicians may not let that happen to win elections, but if it does happen, how does that look in FIRECalc?

I'm not trying to rain on your parade so much as suggest things to help conservatively calibrate your spending early on until sequence of return risk and other risks have some time to pass you by, or happen to you. Either way, it will be some time before you know. And better to have not over-spent in your early years so that you can still handle "stuff happens" if it does happen.

I think you have a workable plan overall. You just need to be careful and disciplined with spending. I agree with others to finish out the SS credits to bank that. What if spousal support rules change to fix social security insolvency? Plus, by the time you stress test some more, you may want the extra earnings that generates anyway for some more fun money or risk reduction.

 

[livingalmostlarge]

you are good to go with that pension. Is it military at such a young age and guaranteed?

 

[AZsniper]

you are SET! You can create your own COLA with your savings if needed, even though you are way above spending. But maybe spend more! You got it. Then when you hit social security, you will be great between that and pension. I am 47 and just retired also!

 

[pjigar]

I would certainly complete 4 missing quarters for SS. Also use some calculators (firecalc) to account for non-COLA pension. Nominal numbers are tricky for a human mind. For example, a $80K pension would be worth $56K @10 years, $40K @20 Years and only $27K @30 years with a constant 3.5% inflation.

 

[Nick47]

Have you double accounted for health insurance in both annual expenses and as a reduction in your pension here? It only helps if you have. Which is good, because I'm about to go full on devil's advocate on you ;-)

I certainly welcome a devil's advocate analysis. I did not double count the health insurance, I left it out originally, but in a later post reduced the pension to what the net would be.
My high deductible is currently $2,500, I plan to continue to contributing to the HSA and I have almost 30 years of deductibles invested currently, so this really doesn't have much chance for impact.
Planning my longevity is the big known, but forecasting to the 95th percentile while living my entire life thus far in "cancer alley", I think that may even be pushing it.
FIRECalc only continues to increase through 50 years. The lower end looks like expiring with around $4MM. A few final years with high expenses should be manageable (I suppose it always has the possibility of being more than a few years, but can't plan for everything).
FireCalc projections do not include SS. None of my plans thus far have included SS, it is only a footnote that I should be able to claim eventually. I don't even have an estimate of benefits considering I have no credits in over 20 years.
I agree on being careful with spending. I have lived well below my means for decades and believe I have the discipline to continue.

you are good to go with that pension. Is it military at such a young age and guaranteed?

Local government employee. I am looking at leaving a 6 figure executive level position with 22.75 hard years and turning in accrued leave time of another 2.5 years to achieve 25.25 years of service credit.

You can create your own COLA with your savings if needed

That is the plan. Early excess funds will be invested in taxable to supplement in the future when COL increases.

 

[fognostic]

I agree on being careful with spending. I have lived well below my means for decades and believe I have the discipline to continue.

You're set. Congratulations! If you later start to find more spending would lead to better living, going full on pessimistic to dial in how much more you could spend might improve confidence in avoiding the opportunity cost of not spending more. But the best part is you don't have to spend more if you don't want to, and you have enough.

 

[Koolau]

To amass 4 more quarters of income seems fairly simple and very possibly worthwhile. I think I'd go for it but that's just me and YMMV.