Am I home free or kidding myself?

[Anonymous]

No shot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

They are tricare as military retirees for health care. If they are enlisted, its under $600 a year and if you go off base, co-pays. On base, no co-pays (but its often hard as a retiree getting an appointment, especially as a defendant). Officers pay 2-3, maybe more than that a year in an annual fee. If they do not take private insurance, health care costs will be minimal.

[Anonymous]

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

Agreed. You can absolutely do it if you don't max out your savings on the house and land. Spend 250 even.

[Anonymous]

My husband is a retired Marine and we have Tricare Prime, around $500/yr for family coverage and it comes directly out of his retirement pay. We also have Delta Dental and it's $180/month for family coverage.

Get the highest disability % you can because it will increase your net pay. You'll get 2 monthly payments - 1 as retirement and 1 as disability.

[Anonymous]

I'm 21:22 poster - my husband was an officer, but I don't know if it makes a difference.

Oh, and he continued the $400k in life insurance and that's also auto deducted from retirement pay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

Agreed. You can absolutely do it if you don't max out your savings on the house and land. Spend 250 even.

Did you grow up wealthy or upper middle class? Or did you grow up middle to lower middle class? If you are used to luxuries then no you can't but if you are used to being frugal then you totally can in North Carolina. Are you going to resent having to camp for vacations or stay in motels, forgo extra extracurriculars for your child, or constantly budget? Life is short, you have a chance to spend time with your husband and young child. As long as you really get along with your husband the way he is now and you two won't drive yourself crazy by being at home all day together then I totally would do it. I hate working and am dreaming of doing the same thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

Agreed. You can absolutely do it if you don't max out your savings on the house and land. Spend 250 even.

Did you grow up wealthy or upper middle class? Or did you grow up middle to lower middle class? If you are used to luxuries then no you can't but if you are used to being frugal then you totally can in North Carolina. Are you going to resent having to camp for vacations or stay in motels, forgo extra extracurriculars for your child, or constantly budget? Life is short, you have a chance to spend time with your husband and young child. As long as you really get along with your husband the way he is now and you two won't drive yourself crazy by being at home all day together then I totally would do it. I hate working and am dreaming of doing the same thing.

http://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/NC/house_type/65674117_zpid/36_rid/250000-350000_price/931-1303_mp/37.635984,-74.998169,32.736461,-84.776001_rect/6_zm/

I think you could get by in something like this (sarcasm). It's all your frame of mind. Choosing what's most important to you.

[Anonymous]

sounds good to me! i would do it but not build a huge, custom home but downsize to not stress about the money

[Anonymous]

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

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

+1

A fighting chance to get to social security at 62.

This is too risky. It's fine to move to NC now, but you'll need to have some income until you can collect social security.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

+1

A fighting chance to get to social security at 62.

This is too risky. It's fine to move to NC now, but you'll need to have some income until you can collect social security.

A mortgage free home, a $4000 a month pension and 300-400k in the bank is more stable than the majority of people ever see in their lifetimes. There's no reason it can't be done if you have some common sense and realism.

[Anonymous]

You are proposing to live on 48k per year. Do people do it? Sure. But it's tough, and I bet the vast majority of them would say they would like more income. They are, and you would be, a few financial emergencies away from real trouble.

Since your only reason boils down to, "I don't wanna work anymore!" (Join the club, sister), I'd forget this extraordinarily selfish plan and continue working until you hit a realistic number.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You are proposing to live on 48k per year. Do people do it? Sure. But it's tough, and I bet the vast majority of them would say they would like more income. They are, and you would be, a few financial emergencies away from real trouble.

Since your only reason boils down to, "I don't wanna work anymore!" (Join the club, sister), I'd forget this extraordinarily selfish plan and continue working until you hit a realistic number.

But the difference is she's proposing to live on 48k/yr essentially as a retiree -- no mortgage, paying military retiree healthcare rates. That's what makes it doable.

OP -- where in NC? Why build a 750k house? You can get a whole lot of house in most of NC for like 300-350k. If you spend just 300k on a house and invest the rest, it'll grow over decades; I mean your kid is young -- you have over 10 yrs until you have to finance college, so why not make the money work for you.

Is there ANYTHING you or DH would want to do? Even part time or seasonal or a hobby job? I think the numbers do work, but at only 40, I'd feel a bit safer if there was some income coming in -- even if it was just part time retail which paid for my utilities and food. Then once you get started living this way and it works out, you could quit that job.

[Anonymous]

Why are people automatically saying "no shot"?

As I understand -- OP would live mortgage free bc she has the cash to build her home. Her DH's pension would bring in 4k and expenses are around 2-2.5k factoring in military healthcare. There would be an "extra" 1.5k/month to say for retirement and/or college, and some months they could forego that saving for a vacation or a home repair.

Why the automatic NOs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are people automatically saying "no shot"?

As I understand -- OP would live mortgage free bc she has the cash to build her home. Her DH's pension would bring in 4k and expenses are around 2-2.5k factoring in military healthcare. There would be an "extra" 1.5k/month to say for retirement and/or college, and some months they could forego that saving for a vacation or a home repair.

Why the automatic NOs?

Exactly. The people that are saying no seem quite out of touch with the reality of what people actually face outside of the DC bubble.
It's completely doable. I'd love to give that a shot.