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I'm with you!, no time / patience / desire to 'train another / or be trained by another' time is short, not planning to add pain (to myself or others) (And I don't need Sub's Neighbor's live-in "filling my house with Pastries!!!" Nice thought... tough on my 'physique'! Back to my HS weight, but the W-I-D-T-H is pretty elusive! (Did we really have 23" waists!)
Good point... Kelly may need one of my $35 WVO (Free fuel) cars. (I have 33 spares...)
Roof... IIRC, currently renting(?) or in condo. Short term... if home has had regular maint, the need for a new roof SHOULD be covered by HO insurance (Keep that!), Long term... yes... a method to cover 'reserves' (for HC and property deductibles / copays / crisis (those adult kids...) and 'other' unPLANNED expenses (trips to Thailand...))
I'm really warm to her idea.
Enjoy the time / smell the roses / don't fret (plenty of that in the past and future, no need for now)
I consider that I am spending time and money from age 50 - 70 on things I am able and desire to do. I will be content to 'hang around home more' in the future (tomorrow if necessary), but today I am OFF on another adventure! +/- (more expensive than planned) not fretting about it.
Sounds like you are on track. I'd suggest holding off as long as you can on starting SSA. It gets bigger in the long run so unless you need to meet expenses don't tap it yet.
That has been a hard one to calculate for me.
Withdrawing less SS but earlier allows less investment savings to
be withdrawn before 67. But I like the idea of
the bigger SS check from 67 on.
Original plan was to work enough to meet all expenses until 67,
and that would maintain investments and SS.
My dream for years has been to move to Oak Island, a sleepy NC coastal town. Plenty of housing there in the same price range of my townhouse in Raleigh. Ready to trade Raleigh rush hour traffic for fishing, clam digging, kayaking, turtle rescue, and beach walks. The more time I spend there the more I don't want to return to Raleigh.
My least favorite time there is the hot crowded tourist season, June-August. I could rent out my house during that time and do a 13 week Speech Travel Therapy stint somewhere else.
hmmm..
I have to sell in Raleigh before house shopping in Oak Island. The transitional housing between selling & buying is the only thing I haven't figured out.
Great post, appreciate how much thought you put into it.
I buy my own health insurance and plan to until I can get medicare at 65.
But that is included in my monthly budget.
My Soc Sec options are interesting.
I can draw on my own SS acct , on my divorced ex's SS (10 year marriage) or as a widow on my late husband's account. I have researched the options and gotten expert advice on that question. An interesting side note is that if my ex husband were to die I would get his full SS amount (vs 1/2) and draw about 3400 per month. But I would certainly never wish for that to happen.
Your overall thinking is similar to mine. A tad extra in the savings is sure better than a tad too little.
Just remember that amount is at your FRA not now (at 60) so you have at least 5 or more years to plot his demise. Just make it look like an accident.
My dream for years has been to move to Oak Island, a sleepy NC coastal town. Plenty of housing there in the same price range of my townhouse in Raleigh. Ready to trade Raleigh rush hour traffic for fishing, clam digging, kayaking, turtle rescue, and beach walks. The more time I spend there the more I don't want to return to Raleigh.
My least favorite time there is the hot crowded tourist season, June-August. I could rent out my house during that time and do a 13 week Speech Travel Therapy stint somewhere else.
hmmm..
I have to sell in Raleigh before house shopping in Oak Island. The transitional housing between selling & buying is the only thing I haven't figured out.
I took golf trips to Oak Island. I did read your post about the 13 week travel option. I mean that is a great resource for you and you are very lucky to have that option. I am loving this plan, a house rental in summer should pay big bucks. This is a perfect plan but can you afford a home in a beach town?
Oh and by the way a new roof is not covered by homeowner insurance as another poster claimed,
Kelly237 I definitely would! Honestly it sounds like you have done very well for yourself. I retired from my job as a hospital social worker and with my small pension and the special supplement (given by the federal government to retired employees until they turn 62), I feel we are doing very well. DH is retired and between both of us we have an income of about $50K/year.
We live in Miami, a fairly expensive city but manage to do OK. Home is paid off, almost no debt to speak of. We take several trips a year either cruises or travel to Western Europe using budget travel. Honestly we are very happy and I would not trade retirement AT ALL.
That being said, I am keeping my professional license active in the event I want/need to return to work.
Great post, appreciate how much thought you put into it.
I buy my own health insurance and plan to until I can get medicare at 65.
But that is included in my monthly budget.
My Soc Sec options are interesting.
I can draw on my own SS acct , on my divorced ex's SS (10 year marriage) or as a widow on my late husband's account. I have researched the options and gotten expert advice on that question.
An interesting side note is that if my ex husband were to die I would get his full SS amount (vs 1/2) and
draw about 3400 per month. But I would certainly never wish for that to happen.
Your overall thinking is similar to mine. A tad extra in the savings is sure better than a tad too little.
I don't know how much your health ins. is, but mine is about $1k a month. And that's a cheapo HMO.
You said your budget is about $24k a year, but then health ins premiums alone would take half of that, wouldn't it? Or is your ins. a lot less where you live?
(There is a way for retirees to get the subsidy, but looks like that may be going away.)
I see now that you have options with your Social Security, so you are not really going to get just about $15k a year or whatever. You can get more than that. Hence, you are not as concerned as I was about financial security.
I don't see that the OP is going to have any kind of tax liability where a Roth would help. Why would you adopt tax avoidance strategies when you're in the 12% bracket? The top of the 12% bracket is $37,700. There's a $12K standard deduction. Worst case, Social Security is only 85% taxable. The OP isn't going to have more than $50K in income. 2018 tax law makes an awful lot of 2017 tax avoidance strategies pretty useless.
I also haven't read anywhere that leads me to believe that the $500K is 100% tax deferred retirement savings. I saw "not working because I fixed up and sold a house".
I wouldn't try early retiring with those numbers. There's too much risk that ACA will vaporize.
Legal and proper avoidance of taxes is of primary important to financial plans for everyone. Saving is saving, even if others consider it a small amount. It's not small to her. Everything is relative.
Who knows what her tax rate or even her bracket will be in 15 years?
Savings is savings. If she withdraws $10k from a Roth in the future, and her tax bracket is 12%, she has saved $1,200. $1,200 will buy a lot of groceries or fund a hobby or pay for maintenance on the car.
I have a lot of $$ in my Roth, for my income bracket. I am in a lower bracket. Believe me, the tax savings on that Roth, when I have to withdraw it, is like manna from heaven. The tax savings alone would pay for something substantial. Every dollar is important, when you're in a lower bracket.
I don't know if you've ever been poor, but there was a time that I was. At that time, even $1.00, literally one dollar, made a difference. Four more cans of beans, another gallon of gas, etc.
Legal and proper avoidance of taxes is of primary important to financial plans for everyone. Saving is saving, even if others consider it a small amount. It's not small to her. Everything is relative.
Who knows what her tax rate or even her bracket will be in 15 years?
Savings is savings. If she withdraws $10k from a Roth in the future, and her tax bracket is 12%, she has saved $1,200. $1,200 will buy a lot of groceries or fund a hobby or pay for maintenance on the car.
I have a lot of $$ in my Roth, for my income bracket. I am in a lower bracket. Believe me, the tax savings on that Roth, when I have to withdraw it, is like manna from heaven. The tax savings alone would pay for something substantial. Every dollar is important, when you're in a lower bracket.
I don't know if you've ever been poor, but there was a time that I was. At that time, even $1.00, literally one dollar, made a difference. Four more cans of beans, another gallon of gas, etc.
What does any of that have to do with the reality that the OP will be in the 12% bracket?
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