Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i think you should continue to work. your problem isn't whether you saved enough, 50 y.o. is too young to retire (and more years to support in retirement)

I just retired at 50 with $3M in the bank. Financial assure me I never have to work again. I do have health care though so that helps.

At a 3% withdrawal rate (the max of what most would consider a “safe” rate when retiring that young) that leaves you with 90k a year pre tax. While that may be a comfortable retirement for your specific situation and needs it’s a pretty huge deficit for a family with 2 young kids currently making 350k.

Exactly!!! And having healthcare covered can easily be a 20-30K/year savings

It's difficult to retire with kids still at home/not thru college unless you are wealthy. Too many unknowns

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Previous poster again. Just saw the post where OP said she is 12 years until the end of college. So she has a 4th grader?

Yeah, don't retire. Your most expensive kid-related years are all in front of you.

Also, never assume your kid will attend XYZ college. We thought this and then lo and behold we have a kid attending an Ivy (never would have predicted this as we did not ourselves and we didn't push for it). A few months ago we received the formal first year cost estimate from the university and it's $97k. And we don't qualify for any aid on our HHI of $350k.

This. Your unknowns are too high right now. We are roughly your age but we have a kid in college and a kid who is a senior. When we say we have college funded, we mean funded for who we know our kids are and what we would like to give them to set them up. We didn’t know that for each kid until midway through high school. Also, your spending is pretty high.

My DH wants to retire soon. We have assets like yours. But he has said he won’t do it until 4 years from now when our youngest is a college senior. Kids change the game.

Definately! You must have a plan in place for the "kid expenses" and health insurance. Once kids are "launched" then you have more freedom to retire/cut back hours/etc. But still know that health insurance from 50+ until you hit 65 can get expensive, as you will pay a lot and most likely have terrible coverage compared to what you had thru your employer (mileage may vary). We are mid 50s, and ACA coverage (Non-HMO---we want EPO) will run us $2500/month for two of us with a $9k/18K deductibles. And no dental/vision. So we estimate spending $3500/month for healthcare once we retire. Totally doable, but much more expensive than our $300/month for M/D/V with a $1000 deductible and $3.5K in network Cap. You simply need to plan for those added costs. Because don't kid yourself, once you hit 50, even if you were "very healthy" shit starts to happen for many people. It's no longer just a 1-2 times per year visit and a few "urgent care I'm sick" visits. It could be much more, and it's more likely than not that you will need more medical care.

Anonymous wrote:Why does everyone keep insisting that the mortgage needs to be paid off before retiring? I’ve been early retired for 10 years, I’m still not 65, and we still have a mortgage. I could pay it off tomorrow, but it makes no sense to do that financially. It all depends on the interest rate, the tax deductions, and how diverse your overall portfolio is. You are all retirement planning amateurs for focusing so much on mortgages.

I guess I honestly don't care if I lose a little money doing that. I prefer to be on the hook for just real estate taxes and insurance when I retire. I don't want to worry about a mortgage or pull out of savings/investments to pay it every month.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i think you should continue to work. your problem isn't whether you saved enough, 50 y.o. is too young to retire (and more years to support in retirement)

I just retired at 50 with $3M in the bank. Financial assure me I never have to work again. I do have health care though so that helps.

We just ran our numbers with $12m in the bank and two paid off houses. One kid launched with good job, the other a junior in college. Decided we have about 3-4 more years of working before we retire. Everyone has a different threshold and wants.

You either have to reduce costs or work longer. You two can choose which path works better for you.

The Wade Pfau 4% rule says you can safely withdraw 4%. That's $40K for every million. If your expenses are more than that, you can't retire. If you can reduce your expenses, you can retire.

Pretty simple. Choice is yours.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i think you should continue to work. your problem isn't whether you saved enough, 50 y.o. is too young to retire (and more years to support in retirement)

I just retired at 50 with $3M in the bank. Financial assure me I never have to work again. I do have health care though so that helps.

At a 3% withdrawal rate (the max of what most would consider a “safe” rate when retiring that young) that leaves you with 90k a year pre tax. While that may be a comfortable retirement for your specific situation and needs it’s a pretty huge deficit for a family with 2 young kids currently making 350k.

Anonymous wrote:i think you should continue to work. your problem isn't whether you saved enough, 50 y.o. is too young to retire (and more years to support in retirement)

I just retired at 50 with $3M in the bank. Financial assure me I never have to work again. I do have health care though so that helps.

Anonymous wrote:Previous poster again. Just saw the post where OP said she is 12 years until the end of college. So she has a 4th grader?

Yeah, don't retire. Your most expensive kid-related years are all in front of you.

Also, never assume your kid will attend XYZ college. We thought this and then lo and behold we have a kid attending an Ivy (never would have predicted this as we did not ourselves and we didn't push for it). A few months ago we received the formal first year cost estimate from the university and it's $97k. And we don't qualify for any aid on our HHI of $350k.

This. Your unknowns are too high right now. We are roughly your age but we have a kid in college and a kid who is a senior. When we say we have college funded, we mean funded for who we know our kids are and what we would like to give them to set them up. We didn’t know that for each kid until midway through high school. Also, your spending is pretty high.

My DH wants to retire soon. We have assets like yours. But he has said he won’t do it until 4 years from now when our youngest is a college senior. Kids change the game.

Anonymous wrote:As a poor, I feel like all these threads should have a disclaimer:

***mommy and daddy money

*** substantial generational wealth transfer

Just so I don’t waste my time working my two brain cells on how the numbers work.

Hear, hear. I'll bet they are counting on more inheritance and just not saying it.

Your story is about the fixed value of a non-COLA adjusted pension.

OP is talking about the value of her family’s investment accounts.

How are these stories the same?

Let me tell you a true story that may scare your husband. Back in 2006 I worked at the NYSE on Wall Street. We had tons of ex NYC cops who retired after 20 years working there full time between 60 and 70 as Security Guards.

One old Guard who was about to retire after 25 years at exchange explained he first retired in 1976 when NYC cops made on average $12,500, he got some OT that year so made $14,000 and at age of 41 got a pension of 1/2 salary for life of $7,000 a month. The crazy inflation of late 1970s and early 1980s made his pension of $7,000 a month worthless and he quickly ran through savings too.

His biggest regret was not staying 40 years as a cop and retiring in 1996. Some of his friends did and by 1996 when city had tons of crime and 40 year cops were highest paid, they also got a lot of OT that counted in pension. So his friends made 100K in 1996 and retired on 100K pension for life. He was stuck at $7,000 for life.

He told me tales of so many folks who retired in 1970s on fixed pensions who worked till day they died when inflation hit.

My neighbor as a child in 1973 bragged about her $200 a month pension she got via an early retirement payout. By 2003 when she died she was near penniless.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you quantify “set” for 529s?

I project there will be about $250K in each 529 for college. If per chance that does not cover all of undergrad, we will cash flow the balance. I am not worried about the 529s.

That's not enough for a four year private college. I think your DH is a bit of an ass not to keep working so that he can give his kids the best college opportunities, unless he is sick or disabled.

Health insurance is expensive. It's not fair to leave that burden all on you.

That is barely enough for in-state by the time the 4th grader hits college. I personally would continue working a bit longer and saving aggressively for college, as well as living on less for a year or more, so you get the feel for what "retirement living" might financially be like

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Previous poster again. Just saw the post where OP said she is 12 years until the end of college. So she has a 4th grader?

Yeah, don't retire. Your most expensive kid-related years are all in front of you.

Also, never assume your kid will attend XYZ college. We thought this and then lo and behold we have a kid attending an Ivy (never would have predicted this as we did not ourselves and we didn't push for it). A few months ago we received the formal first year cost estimate from the university and it's $97k. And we don't qualify for any aid on our HHI of $350k.

Good god - who tf thinks it's a good idea to spend $97K per year on college when your HHI is $350K??

As someone who went to an Ivy but paid basically nothing, it's not remotely close to being worth it unless it's Harvard, Princeton or Yale. Even then, it's only worth it if they're a naturally very extroverted person who will organically benefit from the networking opportunities. If your kid is just a nerd, send them to a state school (and give them a $300K check upon graduation if you so desire).

While I agree it is not "worth it". If someone is able to save and have a fully funded 529, it is their choice. However, I consider "fully funded" to include the ability to pay for graduate school as well, so yeah if I only made $350K, my kid would be funded for $40-50K/year and they would need to live within that budget

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you quantify “set” for 529s?

I project there will be about $250K in each 529 for college. If per chance that does not cover all of undergrad, we will cash flow the balance. I am not worried about the 529s.

That's not enough for a four year private college. I think your DH is a bit of an ass not to keep working so that he can give his kids the best college opportunities, unless he is sick or disabled.

Health insurance is expensive. It's not fair to leave that burden all on you.