Congrats! Looking forward to that day myself in about 36 months. Sounds better than 3 more years.

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:

quote:

Originally posted by LDD:

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:
Trouble is, I can't tell if I am actually doing, or merely procrastinating.

Is it really procrastination, if you put of doing nothing?

Sounds like a good problem to have.

I'm determined to give it my all!

BTW, you may be interested in a new book, "Patient Procrastination" by yours truly. It will be available through Amazon.com if I ever get around to writing it

Wow, then your procrastination expenses might turn out to be deductible!

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:

quote:

Originally posted by Jimbo54:
Congrats on the decision you made.

I understand how important family ties are, so take this with a grain of salt. If you relocated to a different local outside of the Bay Area you could live like a king. No kidding! I have a relative living there and she has shared her expenses with me and holy shit! How the hell do you do it. If you can afford to retire in that area you could cut your living expense in half if you moved to the right location. Just say'n.

Jim

That's also in consideration. But it's a long term project. Have to find a place in a no or low tax free state, no extreme heat or snow, and close to medical services. And since it'll be a move, might as well be a gun rights state.

If anyone's got recommendations, I'm open. :-)

Don't know if you are a home owner in CA, but if so, you'll be amazed what one can accomplish when you cash out of CA. This is what we did, and we're looking at homes in DFW. Yeah, we can't ski and surf in the same day, for us, weather will be the one compromise. But everything else is worth the move. Who knows, a business or employment opportunity can pop up in a new location.

Congrats on early retirement. I'm in your age range and I can still continue my small business, but not for long

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:


Second half of May, I wanted to have a better idea of how long I can go without any income. I had a pleasant surprise. If I keep my spending to what my average has been, adjusted for work-expenses like gas and clothing allowance, I can continue indefinitely based on a modest 3% stock market return. I had an accountant friend to validate my numbers and he said that worst case, I wouldn't be going to the poor house soon. .

Congrats!!!!

one question I have is regarding how long one can self-fund assisted living, using the normal retirement calculation rules. It's like $6000 per month for a couple for the nicer places. Not that much cheaper for the less nice places. if memory care is needed, it gets real expensive real fast.

There's long term care insurance, but does anyone actually buy that? It covers some costs, but usually the payout is limited.

sorry for the drift, but always wondered how one affords their final years, which we all hope is many years down the road.

quote:

Originally posted by radioman:

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:


Second half of May, I wanted to have a better idea of how long I can go without any income. I had a pleasant surprise. If I keep my spending to what my average has been, adjusted for work-expenses like gas and clothing allowance, I can continue indefinitely based on a modest 3% stock market return. I had an accountant friend to validate my numbers and he said that worst case, I wouldn't be going to the poor house soon. .

Congrats!!!!

one question I have is regarding how long one can self-fund assisted living, using the normal retirement calculation rules. It's like $6000 per month for a couple for the nicer places. Not that much cheaper for the less nice places. if memory care is needed, it gets real expensive real fast.

There's long term care insurance, but does anyone actually buy that? It covers some costs, but usually the payout is limited.

sorry for the drift, but always wondered how one affords their final years, which we all hope is many years down the road.

That's a good question that I had to answer. For us, we're not figuring in paying for our old people's home. First, we're hoping to die as expected around age 85 to 86. Secondly, at this point, the projection is we'll still have a good enough pot to entice younger relatives to take care of us and manage our care past when we're able to do so ourselves.

That's the reality of it. I'm sure some people are able to buy long term care insurance but, for me, it's too big a drain. I've done as best as I can all along with setting aside for retirment that I don't feel guilty at this point about the things I can't cover.

I'm semi retired myself as of June 2016, if you asked me in June of 2015 if I'd be semi retired today I would have said no. I thought I'd have to work another 15 - 20 years but I'm drawing my us army reserve retired pay 4 years early, I accumulated enough points so that my check is equivalent to spending 20 years on active duty and I have zero debt other than my mortgage which is less than 1000 a month. No wife, no kids and no debt so I can live comfortable with a few grand left after I pay my mortgage and living expenses. I'm very thankful to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for allowing me to be in this position.

quote:

Interestingly enough, I have two pensions (nothing really big) but at first I thought it would be best to take those along with social security as soon as possible. What I found out is that it was really better to wait until full pension. The internal rate of return waiting for the full pension was like 20% and 30%. And the cash flow projection was better waiting.

It was counterintuitive for me as I thought it was better to preserve my IRA and get the pensions and SS sooner but I would have to earn an unrealistic rate of return to match the results of waiting to get the full pensions.

For many people I know of your age, the stumbling block is not income, but having decent Health Insurance until you reach 65 and get Medicare. I am curious if you would not mind sharing how you are handling that issue. I know for some people, having a younger working spouse with health insurance would be the answer. Thanks

I find myself helping manage the affairs of my ex-wife, with whom I remain good friends...

Here is a woman who earned a very nice scholarship to Northwestern University back in the late 50's, and graduated with honors with her Bachelors in Journalism from NU. Later she earned her teaching credential and later yet, a Masters in School Administration. A very intelligent and motivated lady, to say the least.

She retired after many years teaching, the last 18 of which were as a school principal. She then devoted herself to becoming a court appointed Guardian Ad Litem to help protect and improve the lot of children.

She had always taken excellent care of herself, maintaining her weight, watching what she ate, got exercise at the gym, yadda, yadda.

A year ago her two sons and I began noticing some subtle changes in her... by last Fall, she was beginning to experience night terrors, fear of living in her own house, unable to find her car in parking lots, etc. She also was beginning to experience tremors in one hand and later the same side leg.

Long and short of it: A diagnosis of Parkinson's Disease with a cognitive/dementia component. We ended up finding a nice Assisted Living facility, which is only a block from my place, and got her moved in the first week of last November. The monthly cost is right at $5000.00

The only GOOD news is that back in 2003 she purchased a very good Long Term Health Care policy, and took advantage of every rider to max the benefits. All of this was unknown to me.

Here is the rough bottom line: The policy cost from the first premium in early 2003, to the time that the Premium Waiver kicked in upon receipt of her first benefit check: $47,238

The policy will provide benefits for a total of five years (60 months) and because of the various riders, continues to offer increases of benefits as costs of the care facility rise.

At the present cost/reimbursement, and not including increased benefit payments, which are at present not payable, the total Payout will be NO LESS THAN $276,000.00!

So, for the initial and anual Premium cost of $47,238, she will be receiving a minimum of $276k ! And should costs continue to rise, it would max out at over $350k if necessary.

Should she outlive the coverage of this Long Term Care policy, she will have to begin drawing on her various investment accounts, but it would appear that due to her foresight and diligent pursuit of this concept, she will not need to worry about her care during her lifetime!

I only wish I had been as wise and diligent as she during my "planning years"!! I feel like the Ant half of the fable of the Grasshopper and the Ant! I suspect many of us fall into the same category...

Sorry for the long post, but this is important enough that I hope it might open the eyes/mind of some of my imaginary friends here on SIGforum... It is not too late in many cases to look into the concept of Long Term Care.

Don

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:

For many people I know of your age, the stumbling block is not income, but having decent Health Insurance until you reach 65 and get Medicare. I am curious if you would not mind sharing how you are handling that issue. I know for some people, having a younger working spouse with health insurance would be the answer. Thanks

Who knows what the government will force upon us in the future? I've been buying my own insurance for the past 25 years of self employment, so I plan to continue to do so.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:

For many people I know of your age, the stumbling block is not income, but having decent Health Insurance until you reach 65 and get Medicare. I am curious if you would not mind sharing how you are handling that issue. I know for some people, having a younger working spouse with health insurance would be the answer. Thanks

You're right. That's the biggest risk in my planning.

I'm handling it one of three ways. Currently, (and I know I may draw the ire of some members here) I'm taking advantage of Obamacare which is a lot less expensive than Cobra. If that gets repealed and replaced, I figure I can still manage for a while until we situate ourselves overseas with lower health costs and cost of living until we're 65 and Medicare kicks in.

quote:

Originally posted by calugo:
I'm semi retired myself as of June 2016, if you asked me in June of 2015 if I'd be semi retired today I would have said no. I thought I'd have to work another 15 - 20 years but I'm drawing my us army reserve retired pay 4 years early, I accumulated enough points so that my check is equivalent to spending 20 years on active duty and I have zero debt other than my mortgage which is less than 1000 a month. No wife, no kids and no debt so I can live comfortable with a few grand left after I pay my mortgage and living expenses. I'm very thankful to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for allowing me to be in this position.

I have to echo your thankfulness. My budget numbers before never seemed to work out when I was working. So I quit looking at the numbers and just trying to live out principles: save for tomorrow, give to other's needs, enjoy what I can today.

congrats on the retirement

So on the simplest of notes if one:

Calculates assets.
Ie: 401k, pension, real estate, cash.

Calculates monthly expenses.
housing,taxes, premiums, living expenses.

Calculates term of months 300 (25 yrs) life expectency.

So if you take your asset base. Divide it by your term of 300 months.
Compare that to your monthly expenses and you have a basis? No? I know this does not take into account performance of investments. What else is missing?

Thanks.

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:What else is missing?

Thanks.

Depending on how close you are on your budget, inflation. Some advisors suggest it is safe to ignore it once you are actually retired because your discretionary spending tends to be fairly high in the first few years (travel, etc) and drops as you get older. If you aren't planning for discretionary spending and your budget is all essentials, it would need to be adjusted over time.

That seems reasonable, but I would definitely inflate the number you are estimating for those members who may be several years away. Then again, if your budget has a huge slush factor, it may not be important.

Good for you!

I was not planning to retire. One day at work, I was up in a 45' lift and we were extended out and the guy driving moved and backed into has slush wy that had the cover removed. We got flung backward but were stopped by a steel beam.

It would have been really bad if the beam had not stopped us, but as it was I herniated 3 discs and pinched some nerves. I tried to go on but within 6 months I retired at age 52. I had enough time in.

I worked part-time for 9 years since I retired.
Made some "fun" money. I retired again. I was just called a week ago to come back and work part time again, where I had worked part-time at, but declined.

Keep busy, especially your mind.

quote:

Originally posted by oddball:


Don't know if you are a home owner in CA, but if so, you'll be amazed what one can accomplish when you cash out of CA. This is what we did, and we're looking at homes in DFW. Yeah, we can't ski and surf in the same day, for us, weather will be the one compromise. But everything else is worth the move. Who knows, a business or employment opportunity can pop up in a new location.

Congrats on early retirement. I'm in your age range and I can still continue my small business, but not for long

Oddball, I wanted to email you but you don't have one showing on your profile. Would you mind emailing me instead?

My purpose is to see if you'd be willing to share what areas and facts you've seen in DFW. Apparently, the wife has been looking separately at the DFW and Austin areas. Like I'd be interested in learning what areas you found to be good prospects or areas to definitely avoid. That is, if you'd be willing to share, pretty please.