56 1/2 which happens October 1 of this year.
Original plan was $2.5mm and that includes my lump sum pension pay-out - even with the pandemic we've humbly exceeded that. Wife is 51 and wants to keep working which is okay dokey by me. No inheritance but we are planning on social security.
We're also moving tomorrow to CoSprings for our retirement start (for me anyway).
Run the numbers, then run numbers from as many different models as you can. And you also really need your cash burn rate. Reddit sub called FIRE - financial independence retire early - is interesting but those guys are spartans when it comes to this.
Last thing - you HAVE to be confident in your models but you can never set it and fagetabboutit...
Saving money is simple and not spending money is simple. Neither are easy however...
Sweet. Congrats. Get out while can still be active is good. This COVID deal has certainly changed our spending. Of course nowhere to go really, but has also changed the spending on small things that add up each month. We have found we really don't miss stuff we thought we had to have even though small purchases. I like cooking at home anyway as I can pretty much make anything as good as most restaurants (not a see food guy so don't prepare that type) so I don't miss going to any restaurants.
I probably look at numbers too often, like every day the market is open. Probably should not be quite that fixated.
I would plan to do current line of work for maybe 8 more years and then switch to something more fun for a few years even if much lower pay as we will have enough banked unless we get a 1929 style collapse and great depression. If that happened then I will be working up to the time they embalm me.
I am kind of "cheap" too. My phone is 5 years old and like my vehicles (all current ones have rust inside the doors and are 10 years old) I use them til they quit and then get a replacement model that is a year or two older than the new ones.
Our target before taking any distributions would be around $4M or so I think. Wife wants to travel and I have always pushed off on that as I don't really care to much, so probably will cave and travel more. I will say I do enjoy it once I go, but the idea of going I don't get excited for. I like being around home mostly. We do hope maybe to spend a few months of winter elsewhere. At least the months of January and February.
I am not really planning on social security but expect there will be something coming.
Like everyone else though, health will dictate a lot and may cost a lot in retirement. I tell my wife that stuff is not fun to plan for and save for, but man we don't want to be scrimping to pay for medical care or long term care if needed and we don't want to be dependent on kids or anyone else. Those days eventually come where the services will be needed.
I hope beyond all hope that politicians do not end up punishing us savers who sacrificed and add new taxes and fees because we are better off than a lot of others and the government has a propensity to spend.