can I afford to maintain my household if I don't work again?

[Anonymous]

You can get a job. Work retail. Even if you make $50,000 that will help and maybe provide health care.

[Anonymous]

You can, but you will have to be strategic and will be drawing significantly on your post tax dollars to supplement until you can withdraw from 401k--at that point, you will be more than fine, with withdrawals plus rental income.

You may want to do Roth conversions if unemployed, important to model, but either way, you will need to really rely on rental income so loss of tenants is an issue, but right now, if you do not have significantly higher expenses than listed, and can find an ACA plan for 2200/2500 month, with 8-10k deductible, you can just get by. It would be better to stay employed for health insurance, or if you lose your job at 55 so you can withdraw from 401k penalty free. Otherwise, your tightest years are the next few until 59.5--kids still at home for a while, no ability to draw from 401k without penalty, so you will be leaning hard on that 600k.

My advice, if you lose your job, is to find something part time or lower income--a 50k/year cushion or anything with health insurance. I would also, for now, reduce your 401k to the match and if you have access to it, max out an hsa.

[Anonymous]

PP here, also you mentioned your job may be going away in "a few years" and you are 52. I think if you can make it to 55, and sock away what you can now, you should be fine. If you lose your job at 55 you can start withdrawals from that plans 401k. I would try to sock away as much now as you can. You can always sell a rental for cash as a bridge if you absolutely need to, but with your expenses and projected 401k balance you should be fine.

[Anonymous]

I know Congress didn’t approve the extra HCA subsidies, but the basic ones are still in effect.

I think OP’s healthcare would be heavily subsidized (maybe free) at this income level.

A relative in FL makes $75000 per year and pays $0 for a bronze plan (silver and higher would cost something).

[Anonymous]

Become a teacher. I made that switch when I needed to leave my stressful job and was not quite ready financially to be retired. I found a great school with mostly motivated students. My days are shorter, and I work 192 days a year, or less with snow days and personal leave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thats incredible savings for a single person, especially having that much in retirement accounts!

How did you get so much in retirement— were you all tech? And THREE paid off rental properties on a $200k income? Please share your secrets!

+1
Maybe she bought properties pre 2002? Or perhaps they are not even in a metro area? Who knows.

Savvy person for sure!

Maybe generational wealth helped?

I’m sad that people are losing their livelihood. I’d probably move into a rental of my own & dump the current place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have plenty but the problem is that you are 52 and can't get into your retirement accounts without penalty until you at 59.5 and 300K in taxable. So if you were to lose your job in the next 6 years, you would need to sell a property. So in the meantime, I would put any extra money beyond 401K income in taxable.

That's not quite true, OP could do a 72(t) withdrawal. Normally I would say this is probably a bad idea, but OP has a pretty sizeable retirement account so this might be an option to consider.

I would look into this and also consider selling the rentals if needed. I think the main expense would be health insurance, as others mentioned, but there's a good chance you'd be OK even never working again (or taking a much lower paying job for insurance). Look into the FIRE movement - maybe post on that Reddit sub for more specific advice, but you're in a great situation!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can get a job. Work retail. Even if you make $50,000 that will help and maybe provide health care.

She has 2.5 million in the bank as a single person. There's no need for her to work retail if she doesn't want an excessive lifestyle. Have you worked retail? It's not easy.

[Anonymous]

You can make 50K in retail??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know Congress didn’t approve the extra HCA subsidies, but the basic ones are still in effect.

I think OP’s healthcare would be heavily subsidized (maybe free) at this income level.

A relative in FL makes $75000 per year and pays $0 for a bronze plan (silver and higher would cost something).

Another Floridian. I paid $1400 for a high deductible bronze plan. My understanding in Florida if your gross pay is $46,000 or more you get no subsidies. I don't believe your relative.

[Anonymous]

Health insurance will be the big expense.

Expect to pay $1500 per month for 1 person with a $7000 deductible. That would be for the cheapest plan under Obamacare--the Affordable Health are act.

You can go to the Obamacare government website and run numbers for your zip code. It only takes a couple of minutes.

Bronze plans are the cheapest. Gold and Platinum are many thousands per month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Health insurance will be the big expense.

Expect to pay $1500 per month for 1 person with a $7000 deductible. That would be for the cheapest plan under Obamacare--the Affordable Health are act.

You can go to the Obamacare government website and run numbers for your zip code. It only takes a couple of minutes.

Bronze plans are the cheapest. Gold and Platinum are many thousands per month.

That's not true. I've been on the Virginia healthcare site many time in the past couple of months. I never even consider bronze plans. And I have found many plans for one person (age 57) in the $800-$1000/month range.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thats incredible savings for a single person, especially having that much in retirement accounts!

She has kids. Perhaps she was married at one point in time and now divorced.

My ex wife gets $7500 alimony per month from me. I'm not saying OP got money from a divorce settlement but some single people especially women can have very high income if they were previously married to someone who made significantly more than them.

[Anonymous]

You should retire ASAP and start enjoying life. You’re almost ready. You have more than enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can make 50K in retail??

My husband makes over $200k in retail.