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If we do a 5% withdrawal of our assets for a year we will have about $3000 a month, which will be basic survival. In 2017, we can both collect $1300 a month in Social Security when we reach 62 and then can live on $5600 a month. ($3000 + $1300 + $1300= $5600.00)
So for a year we will live in relative poverty.
I don't follow your math. You said you've saved $400,000. 5% of $400,000 is $20,000. That's $1,666 per month. Do you have something like home equity in a house you'd sell that makes the number $720,000? That's $3,000 per month drawing 5%.
What happens if one of you dies next year? You have to work through that contingency plan.
Both of us are 61 and can't collect SS for another year.
We have $400K saved, should we just retire and move to a place with a very low cost of living?
Party for a year, move to a low cost of living area; and retire, taking Social Security. Celebrate, you are free! You can always work part time if you get bored. With low income, you will get a deal on Obamacare.
Last edited by Poncho_NM; 03-21-2016 at 09:43 PM..
there is to much else involved to say .way to much financial info missing like draw rate you need , investments , non discretionary bills ,lifestyle , expenses , wants , etc .
Bing!
Quote:
Originally Posted by curious folk
I wanted to work until I was 70, which the experts say I could get the best bang for my buck in Social Security. My wife and I figured that if we both retired at age 70 we could live on Social Security and anything else we had saved would be extra.
But the company both of us worked for laid off a good number of it's staff and we were both laid off the same day. Both of us are 61 and can't collect SS for another year.
We have $400K saved, should we just retire and move to a place with a very low cost of living?
(They say it is nearly impossible to find another full time job at our age unless you have unique skills.)
Anyone here face a layoff before you were ready to retire? What did you do?
Too many variable. Your math also don't make sense. Drawing 3k per month will not last long enough for a long life. If you have equity in your home then tap that in one of two ways. A reverse mortgage or sell and downsize. Either way your 400k sans any employer sponsored pension system will make for a very lean life. You could consider an overseas retirement to like Panama or Belize or even Ecuador.
I don't follow your math. You said you've saved $400,000. 5% of $400,000 is $20,000. That's $1,666 per month. Do you have something like home equity in a house you'd sell that makes the number $720,000? That's $3,000 per month drawing 5%.
What happens if one of you dies next year? You have to work through that contingency plan.
I forgot to tell you about my pension from the military which is about $1400 a month. (That is how I came up with $3000 for the year we have to survive before Social Security kicks in.)
Just got the ax, aka known as Work Force Reduction from my company on March 19th.
I am 62 and will be 63 next month.
My original plan, after talking extensively with my FA was to retire at the end April anyway and I took the payoff as well as unemployment compensation.
Waiting for my "annuity" Social Security to kick in at 66. Only have a short period until Medicare, so I will pick up an ACA at some point in the interim.
Since I am at the end of my marital separation process and headed to divorceland, I had already refied my smaller townhome and have a reasonable mortgage. With the 401K, a few bonds and a half decent bank account, I think all will be good.
Biggest downside is the Cobra health care with will cost about $600+/month.
It's not a one size fits all situation as you probably have already found by reading posted comments here. To each his own.
Party for a year, move to a low cost of living area; and retire, taking Social Security. Celebrate, you are free! You can always work part time if you get bored. With low income, you will get a deal on Obamacare.
They wouldn't get much of anything in an ACA opt-out state. Those are the low cost of living places. They'd have an ugly health insurance bill. If you want low tax like in the south, you get low service. If they're pulling in $50K per year between Social Security checks and IRA/401(k) distributions, that puts them at median household income. In most ACA opt-in states, that's too affluent to qualify for heavy subsidies. They likely have a problem until they're Medicare-eligible. It's very state-dependent so you'd need to know where they live and where they might be retiring to. Depending on where they worked, they might be looking at $20K+ in COBRA payments for their first 18 months.
This is a big chunk of why I'm not willing to consider retiring until I'm Medicare-eligible. 18 months from now, ACA might be gone and market rate for insurance as a 60-something is going to be astronomical.
I am becoming a fan of doing the best I can now with small/minimal changes and re-evaluating my options when things change or at certain milestone points.
So in this case, if it were me without knowing your circumstances, I would take unemployment plus whatever settlement the company offers for both of you (if any) plus your military retirement and live off that.
When your circumstances change (e.g. either one or both get jobs or unemployment ends) I would then re evaluate taking SS for one or both - depending upon the numbers.
It is rough to be caught in a job restructure/downsizing at our age and a shame you and your wife both got caught up in it. Good luck to you all.
I forgot to tell you about my pension from the military which is about $1400 a month. (That is how I came up with $3000 for the year we have to survive before Social Security kicks in.)
That makes this totally different math. It might not be great but there's VA health care as an option. When Social Security kicks in a year for so from now, that's almost $50K worth of monthly checks. There is 6 months of unemployment checks to help. It might require moving to control costs but it's certainly do-able.
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