Thank you

I think you are OK to retire, if the inheritance numbers work out more or less as expected. It might be worth waiting until that's all settled, since there could be unexpected delays, costs, and/or creditor claims (or flaky family members in some cases). Are you the executor/personal representative?

I think escaping a truly toxic w*rk environment is worth it even if there are golden handcuffs. Life is just too short. The question is, should you retire, or find another job instead (or start a company that makes you money)?

I have a general sense that your margin for error might be low, but I could be wrong (I haven't tried running your numbers in FIRECalc or anything). One thing I noticed is Federal pensions may be only sort-of inflation adjusted (and only starting at age 62). If so, checking the "inflation adjusted" descriptor in FIRECalc would be unconservative.

Using FI Calc to identify the retirement year yielding the worst portfolio performance, then requesting spreadsheet output for that year in FIRECalc, shows that for most stock allocations it's been stagflation (and primarily the inflation part) that kills the portfolio.
 
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Regarding Peoria, if you haven't lived through a full summer there, you may want to hedge your bets by renting your first year. Look at the climate graphs here: Peoria, Arizona (AZ) profile: population, maps, real estate, averages, homes, statistics, relocation, travel, jobs, hospitals, schools, crime, moving, houses, news, sex offenders

Of course, you're in Louisiana now so if you're OK with that weather you should be fine in Peoria.

As I understand it, there are also two major water issues likely to affect Peoria, the aquifer drawdown issue in the south part of the state and the Colorado River water issue that affects all of AZ. The current Colorado River legal arrangement gives CA preferential access, AZ has to cut back if there is a shortage. I don't know what if any new agreements have been decided yet.
 
Doolish1 said:
I am not crazy. I am buying 6 years of my best healthiest years, especially to work in a prison.
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^ ^ ^ ^
This.

It seems you have a good handle on why you want to retire now and on your current spend. The one thing I'd be careful about is that you're looking to buy a house that 60-80% more than what you have now, plus a golf cart. How might the more expensive house affect your overall spending? If you plan to play a lot of golf, how might that affect your overall spending?

I'm behind your getting out of the current toxic w*rk environment. Personally, I'm fairly financially conservative, so I'd be inclined to find a lower-stress, lower-paying j*b. But that's me. I think you can either go that way or fully retire now and re-enter the w*rk force later.

Best of luck! Please stick around and let us know how it goes for you.
 
The main thing that I would caution you on is that pre-retirement spending does not necessarily equal post retirement spending. We spent 80K or less pre-retirement and post retirement we spend closer to 125K and we are not going to lavish vacations or anything like that. Life is just more expensive now. Just something to consider.
 
OP, in your long-term analysis, have you considered the costs of assisted living as you age. The fact that you are single increases the likelihood that you will need costly support.
 
TickTock said:
^ ^ ^ ^
This.

It seems you have a good handle on why you want to retire now and on your current spend. The one thing I'd be careful about is that you're looking to buy a house that 60-80% more than what you have now, plus a golf cart. How might the more expensive house affect your overall spending? If you plan to play a lot of golf, how might that affect your overall spending?

I'm behind your getting out of the current toxic w*rk environment. Personally, I'm fairly financially conservative, so I'd be inclined to find a lower-stress, lower-paying j*b. But that's me. I think you can either go that way or fully retire now and re-enter the w*rk force later.

Best of luck! Please stick around and let us know how it goes for you.
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Yeppers, with a law enforcement (LE) background OP should be able to find something in AZ if they want.

My LE kid works in the big city but plans to 'retire' by their mid-50s to a small town as chief of police.
 
I will say right off the bat, I have not read this complete thread b/c we're about to load up the car to leave...but working for the prison system in Louisiana where you are not happy? Whether you "retire" permanently or temporarily to move and find other employment, something needs to change. Life is too short. That said, my hope would be that you would find something else that gives you both an income and peace of mind/joy as you enter into your 50's. Having a strong cushion is welcomed when healthcare costs enter the picture. You never think it will be you...That said, healthcare is definitely cheaper in other countries, just a thought...
 
PLAN

I basically want to take my current home (275Kish) and combine it with my inherited home (350Kish) and turn it into one final retirement home for me. (Excess for toys, if applicable)

Then take remainder from home swap, my 325K brokerage, 88K roth contributions and 250K cash inheritance for my bridge years.... 50/51-59.5

Trade in commuter car for retirement truck; Assess for golf cart and RV purchase. Part time w*rk to fund toys if required.

Then whatever is left at 59.5 with my 600K traditional TSP at 59.5

Then 17K pension at 62 to take pressure off that account.

Medicare at 65 ends ACA MAGI needs.

Then SS at 67 to take even more pressure off those accounts, hopefully almost completely.

It is a tough decision, right now I am leaning towards Jan, 2028 vs 2027 just to get over the 2M net worth number, let all my inheritance issues play out, and have lots of buffer room. Almost all the calc scenarios have me ending up with a pension with MORE than I started, not less. FIREcalc has it at 100% success.

I've done all the fireCALCs and AIs every which way to try to get it to tell me I am broke and it keeps telling me I am work optional with 100% success rates, with the inheritance cash but the inheritance house money is bonus making it severely overfunded. I run it every day over and over just to make sure I am not missing something. I am at the point where I actually finally believe it.

I worked since I was 12. I was a public school teacher for 15 years, before doing this prison work. We are trained that we are poor people. This is all mind-blowing that I will end up being a multi-millionaire looking at being a 50-51 year old retiree. Living off your money vs accumulating money is terrifying. It makes no sense to someone like me.

I am too young to enjoy retirement seems to be a theme. Law Enforcement live shorter lives than others if that makes it better lol.

Health care MAGI: I am looking at it and it might be harder to stay off Medicaid than worry about going OVER. I have roth conversions I can do to make sure I dont get on medicaid.

I've sold off some lower cost basis mutual funds that kick out cap gains in December and bought now (now) 100% cost basis ETFs that wont kick surprise income to help manage MAGI also. I'll pay the 15% LTCG tax now while I am working. I know I would likely pay 0% in retirement, this is just paying for more peace of mind the plan will work.

There is a button on the firecalc that freezes the pension amount value until the payments start then it applies the COLA. The Fire Calcs do give me 100% success rating and spending potential 70K to 95% success rate (much higher than my spending).

My sister is the executor and we get along, im not expecting anything weird.

I've been to Peoria many many times. I played 2 rounds of golf in a day in July, not that I plan on doing that again. It's hot in the summer. Any 110 day is better than snow. I plan to use the RV to escape to the mountains in the summer or head to NY to see family and friends.

The PHX water issues I have heard about for years and years. The news reports all say it isnt they will run out of water, it just might get more expensive, at least in my lifetime. Then one year you get a monster snowpack and those scary discussions are sidelined another couple years.

I might play more golf which increases the golf budget, but I am also not driving 94 miles a day anymore. So, these costs seem to offset to me. Most of my activities are cheap. Pickleball, hiking, bowling, walking dogs, going in the HOA pool, watching sports on TV, maybe put a 5 dollar bet on it. etc.... I just do not see me blowing up my spending. The things I like to do mainly cost very little. FIRECalc says I can go from up to 70K spending, and I spend basically 40K a year now.

Part time w*rk is fine for me. I think I would like being a rover dog walker/sitter. I think I would like 2-5 days a month sub teaching at the school. I can see waking up stupid early the way I do and turning on UBER to see if anyone wants to go to the airport.

I've got bad news for married people. Half of you will be widowed (I even see a lot more senior citizen divorces!) and need costly assisted living support. The remaining married people will have a partner will not be in good enough shape to be a caretaker and they will both need costly support at the SAME TIME, so single vs married is truly almost irrelevant to caretaking expense planning, unless you are planning on being a burden on your children as part of your retirement plan, which is horrible (and marriage is not required to do so).

So, EVERYONE, not only single people, not only early or late only retirees, should have a plan that doesn't rely on being a burden on others.

As far as assisted living, I will likely be able to self-insure with hundreds of thousands extra in almost all scenarios given to me by firecalcs, or I will buy long term insurance when I am 60 or so if the market didn't cooperate in this next decade. Worst case is you are done living in your primary home at that point, so you have to sell it to pay for long term care. My nieces stand to make enough off me to help me move to assisted living and help sell off my assets to pay for it. I'm more worried about making sure my dogs at that time can come or my nieces will take them.



Great feedback so far! I love all these comments!
 
Doolish1 said:
Part time w*rk is fine for me. I think I would like being a rover dog walker/sitter. I think I would like 2-5 days a month sub teaching at the school. I can see waking up stupid early the way I do and turning on UBER to see if anyone wants to go to the airport.
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FWIW - I knew a retired LEO who w*rked on an as-needed basis for the local utility company, providing armed security for their w*rk crews. He said in practice that it was getting paid $30/hr (this was ~10 years ago) to read books or watch videos on his iPad. Of course, he had to be ready if something happened and he was needed. He said that you essentially needed to be ex-LEO or ex-military to get that kind of j*b.
 
TickTock said:
FWIW - I knew a retired LEO who w*rked on an as-needed basis for the local utility company, providing armed security for their w*rk crews. He said in practice that it was getting paid $30/hr (this was ~10 years ago) to read books or watch videos on his iPad. Of course, he had to be ready if something happened and he was needed. He said that you essentially needed to be ex-LEO or ex-military to get that kind of j*b.
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My LE kid gets paid at least $50/hour for 'off-duty' work, but typically the going rate is closer to $75/hour.
 
Yup, Roth conversions are a simple efficient way to stay off Medicaid.
 
I see one huge flaw in your plan and that is continuing to work in a job you hate until January 2027 or January 2028. Much too long. You have plenty and can swap toxic work for part-time work doing something different. How about July 2026?
 
RETIRE! You can always make more money, but you cannot get back your time.
 
Two thoughts:
Long term care - my MIL had it and it was a godsend with her Huntington's. She died last November, a few months before it ran out. That said, LTC insurance has gotten stupidly expensive but the more pressing issue is that you have to jump through hoops to be able to qualify. Yes, Huntington's finally qualified my MIL unfortunately, but I really suggest you consider self-funding. You are still young. Appoint some money for LTC and invest that money with LTC in mind.
Secondly, sometimes just saying something out loud, as you've done here, gets the ball rolling. I can understand you not wanting to retire next month but please, please think carefully before working another year and a half in a job that you find unpleasant when you can think of and plan for so many other things you'd like to do. You are in an enviable position. Life is shorter than we think for some people. And we have no idea if that someone will be us or a spouse or a good friend or...Delayed gratification has its merits, but you've done that. Yours is an excellent example of where "Ready, Fire, Aim" makes the most sense. You've already done alot of "aiming". Just fire already; you won't lose your ability to aim for other things/adventures/work once you're out of the bubble you're in. Why not consider Jan 2027? New year, fresh start.
 
Thank you for all the feedback.

I've heard nothing but negative things about these LTC insurance carriers, it seems self funded is the best way.

Jan 12, 2027 is my target right now. The question is if I should wait for all the inheritance to settle out or not.

No fear about living retired. I was a public school teacher for 15 years. I had no issues with my 10 weeks off and after the 10 weeks off I was not "itching" to go back to work!

As everyone here knows, it is not "normal" to retire at 50. Therefore, whenever you are doing something "different", it feels "wrong", so you hesitate.

Like, I must be miscalculating my spending, or I must not be using Firecalc wrong, or all the AIs must be wrong, I must be putting in the wrong inputs.............

As a former teacher and now a prison worker, and a cautious saver, this feels like it should not be possible.................... But it is not only real, it's low risk with a pretty good margin.
 
Solid thinking. The only numbers you need to be mindful of are your $$ calculations and you've done those. As for your age, it doesn't matter if you retire at 50 or 60 or 38; someone will always have an opinion. All signs sound good to go on the inheritance. I understand your hesitation but you've thought through the process of the inheritance payout in your head and on paper and it will happen; the timing of when it pays out is simply an matter of patience.

All the best to you as you embark on this new adventure!
 
I am also in the feds. People think we get free medical. Even some people in the agency think its free! As a single person working, i pay 290 a month for health insurance, and the ACA will be less than this the way I can control my MAGI to get the Silver CSRs.
 
Good luck to you and congratulations! It sounds like you have a plan and you can retire whenever you’re ready.

It looks like my retirement timeline will be within the next year. I’m beyond excited and as you mentioned it does almost feel wrong because early retirement isn’t the norm.

I’m 52 and turn 53 next March so I’m going to either be 52 or 53 years old when I retire. That’s easily years before I ever thought possible.

I underestimated the power of compounding and the impact of consistent savings on the outcomes. Your money eventually works harder than you do and I’m more than willing to let my money take over.

Many people will point out the money you’ll leave on the table by quitting work. There’s always a cost of lost wages when you decide to retire.

Most people don’t factor in the cost of continuing to work. The expenses directly related to working, the lost time, and the health costs of continuing to work. Those are all real costs that should be factored into your retirement decision.

You seem like you have a good grasp on what you need to spend in retirement and you have a great financial foundation to provide for those needs. Good luck and congratulations. I hope you enjoy your retirement.
 
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