Am I home free or kidding myself?

[Anonymous]

I hate working. I'm 40 now and from the first day of my full time job (which is actually an interesting career) I have hated being on someone else's clock. So in three years, DH and I are projecting to have 700k in the bank. We want to build our dream house in N Carolina, near our family, and raise our son there. He will have a pension of 4k per month. We have no debt or car payments, and I think I can cut our fixed monthly expenses to 1k/mo (ie all insurances, cell phones, Internet, cable, property tax). Our child will just be starting k at an excellent public school system. Can we basically retire if we have 3k disposable income coming in and that's it?

[Anonymous]

And to clarify we'd use the bulk of the 700k to build our house and acquire the land.

[Anonymous]

Kidding. But you are sweet.

[Anonymous]

What will your emergency fund be? How will you provide for college?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hate working. I'm 40 now and from the first day of my full time job (which is actually an interesting career) I have hated being on someone else's clock. So in three years, DH and I are projecting to have 700k in the bank. We want to build our dream house in N Carolina, near our family, and raise our son there. He will have a pension of 4k per month. We have no debt or car payments, and I think I can cut our fixed monthly expenses to 1k/mo (ie all insurances, cell phones, Internet, cable, property tax). Our child will just be starting k at an excellent public school system. Can we basically retire if we have 3k disposable income coming in and that's it?

health care for your family will run you another $1,000 a month, and will only increase over time

[Anonymous]

A nice dream, but it's just that. A dream.

Be realistic and get a job that you like more.

[Anonymous]

Aw, this is cute.

Dream on girl. Dream on.

[Anonymous]

As others have said, your fantasy is cute but not realistic. What does DH do for a living? Does he hate it too? At 40 years old, you both have many more years of working in front of you (luckily).

[Anonymous]

DH is military with a bunch of deployments and injuries. He's in constant pain from his back and needs two hearing aids. I haven't done the math on the health insurance but his insurance will cover our family. (However that is a cost that constantly goes up). I did a college savings calculator and if we put $400/mo in for DS he should have a good start if he goes to an in state school in NC, and those schools are good. I think we could realistically have 50k in the emergency fund.

[Anonymous]

Do you really never want to go on vacation again? How would you replenish the emergency fund when something breaks in your dream house or car?

[Anonymous]

I can not imagine how hard it is for you to support your spouse given the disabilities you described. I would imagine that there are days when you need to drop everything and help him. Building a custom house near family is a great plan.

I assume the pension you are referring to is a part of being a disabled vet. Will you get SS in 20+ years?

Is there something you an do as a side job that you enjoy that can help support your family financially? Do what you do now as an independent consultant remotely?

[Anonymous]

Spend $350 on a really nice house and bank the other $350k. Then you have a fighting chance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DH is military with a bunch of deployments and injuries. He's in constant pain from his back and needs two hearing aids. I haven't done the math on the health insurance but his insurance will cover our family. (However that is a cost that constantly goes up). I did a college savings calculator and if we put $400/mo in for DS he should have a good start if he goes to an in state school in NC, and those schools are good. I think we could realistically have 50k in the emergency fund.

But how will you rebuild that $50k if you have a major emergency? Unless you're planning to sit and home and twiddle your thumbs, you're not leaving yourself much of a margin for when something inevitably goes wrong. Also, is there any COL adjustment in his pension? I don't know how military pensions work. What you can cover with $1,000 now could easily end up costing you $1,200-1,300 in ten years.

[Anonymous]

Is DH drawing his pension now or will he be able to draw that 3k (or 4k -- not sure which you say 2 numbers) at age 40? Is there ANY possibility that a military pension can be altered or cut in any way? I know nothing about military pensions; all I know about is corporate pensions and then tend not to hold up well when companies undergo bankruptcy, mergers etc.

Insurance. Have you looked into what you'd have to pay for family insurance post-retirement? If you're paying $100/paycheck now and thinking that rate will continue -- look into it and be 100% sure about that. Almost all employers (and esp the gov't) heavily subsidize health insurance. The top notch (or at least middle notch) family plan that you have now that may only cost you $200/month for a family of 3, can EASILY cost you $1000-1200/month when you have to buy privately. Also health insurance goes up EVERY yr without fail. Wouldn't those costs keep getting passed to you every yr since your DH won't have a current employer to eat some of those costs?

You don't mention car insurance -- for 2 cars, I know NC is cheaper but I'd be shocked if you'd pay less than $50 per car per month. So there's another $100.

Sounds like you're looking to build a larger home -- utilities will cost you esp in the NC summer; I'd say at least $150/month for electric, add in gas, water/sewer etc. and you're at $200/month.

Cable/cell/internet -- I think that can all be taken care of for $100/month.

By my count that comes up to $1600/month barebones. You still have to eat -- let's say $150/week which means $600/month.

If you account for those things and NOTHING else (no going out; movies; vacations; new cars; travel; clothing; seeing something you like at Target and splurging) -- you're at $2200/month. If you have $4000 coming in, that's $1800 left over to save each month for yourself and your kid's college. But all you need is a few huge jumps in property tax or health insurance (and both of those things do happen unexpectedly) and your cushion is down to zero.

If I were you, I'd consider doing this for a short time -- maybe you move to NC and spend a yr taking time off and building your house and THEN focus on the job search. You're ONLY 40. If you start down this road now not working and something changes in 10 or 15 yrs -- it will be next to impossible to get back in. I'm not saying you have to work until age 65, but even living off his pension while bringing in some part time expenses will give you some breathing room/protection against the future.

[Anonymous]

If you are near a military base and using prime, your health care costs will be minimal as retirees. However, I'd be worried long term if you spend all the money on a house and are that tight as you are not budgeting in for anything like house repairs or emergencies. If he is an officer with 30 years in, its possible for him to get that much pension. My husband was enlisted and 20 years and 1/3 that. By the time they take out taxes and annuity (which you need so it transfers to you or your young child if he passes) and tricare. If you are going on standard, there could be lots of expenses, especially with multiple health issues. COLA's are minimal.