Am I home free or kidding myself?
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Anonymous
| OP, what about putting this plan into place but looking for a job in the area where you'll be building. I know you want to get off the 9-5 treadmill, but I'm sure you can tough it out for another year or so. Spend a year living off just your husband's pension and banking every single penny you make (no exceptions for things you think you won't need/want once you're not working, everything single thing gets paid for out of the pension) and see how it works. At the end of the year you've managed to save all of your income and some of your husband's pension, then quitting is something to think about. If you were living pension check to pension check, you might want to consider working for a bit longer because you don't have much wiggle room for emergencies. If you have to dip into your earnings during that year, then you know you need to keep working, but you still probably will have saved some of your income toward retirement. All of this gets you closer to ultimate goal, even if you're not getting the immediate gratification. |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
| Do it! People in DCUM cannot see beyond the DC bubble and cannot imagine living with less than 500k. |
Anonymous
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There are a ton of Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE) blogs and websites on the internet that could help you make that decision.
4k/mo for life + 750k in the bank to retire on sounds amazing. There are some people out there who only retire with the 750k in the bank. |
Anonymous
You must not have read closely. OP will not have $750K in the bank, as she plans to spend the majority of it on a house, she intends to build. Maybe I live in a DC bubble, but OP does not know how to live frugally. Building a $650K house in a low cost of living area is not living frugally, which is what she needs to do for this plan to work. In fact it's downright dumb. And between cost overruns, furnishing the place, and the carrying costs while the house is getting built, I wouldn't be surprised if she spends the entire $750K. I can't imagine her husband would even be on board such a plan. OP wants an upper class existence on a $50K/year budget, with a young child (that presumably would want to go to college). It's ludicrous. |
Anonymous
Time for them to flex those frugal muscles! |
Anonymous
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There is NO reason you need to spend $500k building a house. Seriously. Spend $300k building the house, $150 on the land and you'll have $250k in the bank. Put it to work and let it earn you some money (roughly $6-7k per year). Re-invest or use that for vacations and what not.
I know it sounds like you can make it right now, but keep in mind a larger house (and pool) come with added expense... a lot of added expense. Yes, you could do retail, but even they often want someone working 30-40 hours a week (do you want to work weekends and evenings away from your child/husband?). Most places will not allow a new employee to only work between 9-3... In your head I know you have the absolute best case scenario happening, but you need to consider real life here. You need to plan through the worst case scenario's and ensure you'll be able to survive. I couldn't think of anything worse than some bad events happening close together and you all of a sudden need to sell the house and both get full-time jobs. Seriously. Be responsible for your child and don't blow all the cash on a house... |
Anonymous
Yep. Every girl's dream is not having to work. |
Anonymous
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I think the numbers work out for OP – bringing in about $3000/month and barebones expenditure of $2000-2500, IF she does nothing besides pay her bills. Seriously – if you’ll be happy with a life that consists of watching TV or walking around the mall (but not buying), it is doable. But you have a young kid – presumably you’ll want to take him to movies, amusement parks, vacations etc. and that costs money. Also you’re going to be young retirees, so you and DH will likely want to be going out and that costs money.
Plus you mentioned wanting your home to be a destination home. I presume that also means you’d want your house to be the “friend” house once your DS starts school? Those kinds of homes are super-fun – people over all the time, swimming, socializing etc. But the costs add up quick. People will be drinking your sodas. They’ll be hanging out over lunch time and you’ll throw some burgers on the grill for everyone. There are days where you’ll be exhausted but not wanting to kick anyone out, so you’ll call and have 5 pizzas delivered to feed everyone. All that is great, but it adds up quick and you don’t have that kind of spending room in your budget right now. The only people that I’ve known who make their homes the “friend” homes are typically people with a lot of money – so they aren’t worried if this weekend an extra $200 went out the door for groceries and they have no need or desire to make everyone chip in a few dollars for Chinese takeout – they can simply cover it. People on a budget as tight as the one you’re suggesting simply can’t make this work. |
Anonymous
| Charlotte schools suck |
Anonymous
| What she's not disclosing is that they are getting another 4000/mo non taxable disability from the VA if he's 100% disabled. OP, do you really want to be at home 24/7 with your disabled spouse, for 40 years? And there is no guarantee Tricare as we know it will remain the great deal that it is (think Obama care). |
Anonymous
Np: Retirement pay is decreased based on amount of disability pay. |
Anonymous
| Start to live on 4k a month now. You will 1. save more money and 2. see if you can do it. |
Anonymous
| 1954: nope. They stopped that years ago. Full retirement plus non taxable disability pay |
Anonymous
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calculate options on a cheaper home what about a mortgage? I am a veteran just took a 600K mortgage 0 down 0 PMI payment $2980. Even 10 years of paying 2980 i'd only use up roughly 360K. Plus I could grow the other nest egg in the meantime.. and in 10 years the kid is close to college and a downsize is in order.
a VA loan for anyone military is worth its weight in gold. |