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My DH and I retired before age 60, it has worked out just fine. No, neither of us has a pension.
Too much doom and gloom on this forum. I think it is wise to advise caution when making financial decisions, but trying to make the point it is almost impossible to retire before sixty is unnecessary pessimism.
...............Great point about the SS and I have that baked in to the amount I will withdraw when I'm 70...and if indeed things do get really messy I can always opt to take out earlier
Out of curiosity - and I'm not expecting you to reveal actual numbers - what does it do to Social Security when you don't have income for the last 20 years?
The reason I ask:
We were self employed. In order to save money, she would take all the money one year and I would take it all the next. That way, only one of us would pay Social Security. Person A maxes out the income, and person B pays nothing. Switch, the next year.
We looked at it with our accountant, and while he admitted it was a little unusual, it was not illegal and it saved money, and it made no difference in our Social Security amounts.
When we retired my DH was just turning 50, I was 48. We paid for health insurance before being eligible for medicare, now we pay for our supplemental health and prescription insurance.
My DH just turned 70 last week, we are doing fine. We are financially comfortable, we have money for our expenses and vacations, etc. Today 08:41 PM
When we retired my DH was just turning 50, I was 48. We paid for health insurance before being eligible for medicare, now we pay for our supplemental health and prescription insurance.
My DH just turned 70 last week, we are doing fine. We are financially comfortable, we have money for our expenses and vacations, etc. Today 08:41 PM
They said above, no pension. But they didn't reveal where they live (COL) if they owned a home, propertty taxes, etc, etc. Its not doom and gloom, but lets compare apples to apples. Does anyone think that 70 today is the same as 70 will be in 20 years, cost wise?? You are married filing jointly. The OP is single. Your medical cost for insurance for the 15 years before Medicare pales immensely to what the OPs will be for the next 15. Etc, etc, etc. In the late 90s, when you retired, you came off 20 years of the highest returns on the stock market. Again, just saying. This ain't 1996 by any stretch.
To Listener: alternating salaries every other year would protect each of you in case of divorce, but it does not maximize your SS if you stayed married. The SS income depends on how much your salaries are, of course. The maximum would be to make sure both has their full 40 quarters, but allocate the majority to one earner all the time until max or near max SS contributions (for 35 years) are made that year, and the remainder to the other. Maximum income for the least SS payments would be for one to collect as much as possible and the spouse to collect half off the others at FRA. Of course, if you both earn max, it makes no difference. Use SSAnalyze to run scenarios.
How old is your GF and is she planning to keep on working? Is she okay with you retiring early?
From glancing at your posts you seem like a minimalist. Doesn't sound like you travel so that saves a lot of money right there. No expensive hobbies right?
Too bad you can't grind it out another 5 years to pad your savings. 40+ years seems like a long time assuming you live to 90+.
How old is your GF and is she planning to keep on working? Is she okay with you retiring early?
From glancing at your posts you seem like a minimalist. Doesn't sound like you travel so that saves a lot of money right there. No expensive hobbies right?
Too bad you can't grind it out another 5 years to pad your savings. 40+ years seems like a long time assuming you live to 90+.
She's 37.....shes happy as long as I'm happy...
I travel...not a ton, but take 1-2 vacations per year and that is accounted for in my expenses....
Out of curiosity - and I'm not expecting you to reveal actual numbers - what does it do to Social Security when you don't have income for the last 20 years?
The reason I ask:
We were self employed. In order to save money, she would take all the money one year and I would take it all the next. That way, only one of us would pay Social Security. Person A maxes out the income, and person B pays nothing. Switch, the next year.
We looked at it with our accountant, and while he admitted it was a little unusual, it was not illegal and it saved money, and it made no difference in our Social Security amounts.
Good question...when I go to my SS page it indicates like 43K per year at age 70, but that assumes I work I think until like age 63..
I visited the SS office and explained what I was doing....they said that based on not working another day that number goes to like 33K at 70.....
How old is your GF and is she planning to keep on working? Is she okay with you retiring early?
From glancing at your posts you seem like a minimalist. Doesn't sound like you travel so that saves a lot of money right there. No expensive hobbies right?
Too bad you can't grind it out another 5 years to pad your savings. 40+ years seems like a long time assuming you live to 90+.
Hi Stocky,
As I might have mentioned I've been selling for almost 30 years and been at the same company for almost 12. I'm just done. I know myself. I'm def done with corporate America. That doesn't mean after 6 months I won't consider doing something that brings in more income, but man the idea of just "not working" for a bit and doing things I truly enjoy is something I really look forward to!
If $600,000 in 1988 went to zero right before the biggest bull market in history with staggering returns in the mid-late 90's it's pretty safe to assume his investment choices were terrible.....or his spending habits were extremely high
Great point about the SS and I have that baked in to the amount I will withdraw when I'm 70...and if indeed things do get really messy I can always opt to take out earlier
You keep talking about SS being your backup, but you are still only 50. If major changes are made to SS in order to save it, the changes usually are for future beneficiaries. They don't effect people over 55, because they do not have enough time to plan for the changes. You seem to have enough money and few expenses right now, but if there is any risk that your situation could get bad, you may want to wait a few years to make sure your failsafe SS will be there.
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