Retirement Targets

brianhos

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as a couple in their mid 50's that probably could retire...things that are a concern on our minds:

1) health insurance - would be a killer for the next 10 years
2) purpose - we enjoy our work - how would we stay engaged
3) location - if we moved (warmer climate) it would effect our friendship group / church responsibilities / etc
4) health - we are both healthy and active

however, we know nothing is promised and that time will speed by quickly in our lives. so we are balancing finances with time with health with goals with etc.

we honestly feel humbled that we have options...now just the courage to make a decision

#1 is keeping me from retiring in my 50s. This problem needs to be solved.
 
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Bader

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Didn’t see someone post about Jack Bogle yet. Any Bogleheads here? Great place to start for any beginner, www.bogleheads.com. Book recommendations and a you name it gathering site for investing without or minimal costs.
A subreddit for those that use https://www.reddit.com/r/Bogleheads/

It's a mix of young people being told to stop chasing WallStreetBets, people with more money than god asking for financial advice from the internet, and the occasional valuable nugget. I will happily ride broad index funds off into retirement and beyond. If only the people running our 401k felt the same way
 

CascadeClone

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I'd say if you have #2 nailed down I'd work as long as possible.

A relative recently retired and completely fell apart after leaving a role she found important.

It's been stunning and sad to see. So much of her self worth was tied to her job. Now she's....lost
My biz partner is going to have issues with #2 as well. He just about lives here and doesn't have tons of other stuff going on with his life.

One thing we have talked about is part-time or some-time work. Just come in and do the fun parts of the job, when you feel like it. Can be a way to help stay connected but still give you freedom to go golf, take a quick trip wherever, do yardwork, whatever you prefer that particular day.

That isn't practical for everyone, but if you could find a way to transition or "keep your hand in" in some way that works for you and the company, that's a great way to have your cake and eat it too.
 

bos

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Why is health insurance any different from your mortgage or grocery bill? It's just another expense.
Kind of how I see it. If you wiggle your way out of all of your debts including mortgage, it should be doable. Another option is to keep working even part time to offset some of that if need be. I think even HD and Lowe’s offer med insurance for part time.
 
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BCClone

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Not exactly sure.
Kind of how I see it. If you wiggle your way out of all of your debts including mortgage, it should be doable. Another option is to keep working even part time to offset some of that if need be. I think even HD and Lowe’s offer med insurance for part time.
Guess that’s an advantage us self employed have, we already pay for insurance so it’s factored into our budgets. A reason why I usually have a higher retirement number I use than others. I pay 24k a year if I max out my deductible for me and 3 kids.
 
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Cyclones_R_GR8

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I'd say if you have #2 nailed down I'd work as long as possible.

A relative recently retired and completely fell apart after leaving a role she found important.

It's been stunning and sad to see. So much of her self worth was tied to her job. Now she's....lost
This is why I tell people that you need to have a plan for what you are going to do in retirement. You have to have a reason to get out of bed in the morning.
I have a couple more years to figure that one out
 
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BCClone

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Not exactly sure.
This is why I tell people that you need to have a plan for what you are going to do in retirement. You have to have a reason to get out of bed in the morning.
I have a couple more years to figure that one out
My reason I would get out of bed is because the wife would be yelling if I didn’t.
 

NickTheGreat

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I'd say if you have #2 nailed down I'd work as long as possible.

A relative recently retired and completely fell apart after leaving a role she found important.

It's been stunning and sad to see. So much of her self worth was tied to her job. Now she's....lost

I worked with a guy who kinda wanted to 'fade away' at work, and work into his 70's. But he ended up retiring in his early 60's. Less than a year later he was dead, some sort of cancer.

I think I'm glad he had his 2 months of retirement before the cancer treatments started.
 

Beernuts

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#1 is keeping me from retiring in my 50s. This problem needs to be solved.
I used to be in the camp that was against socialized medicine. However as I look back, I think of how my employment decisions would have been different if I didn't have to consider the health care of my family. I probably would have taken more chances on myself with employment rather than relying on the benefits of my employer.

It's just hard to put confidence in a government for health coverage that is over 31 trillion in debt.
 

CascadeClone

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Because it would be more than a mortgage on a $500K house.
For two people yeah, that's a decent comparison - $30k annual or so. I guess I just see it as another expense, even if it is a big one. If I don't have enough saved up for all my needs (whether mortgage, health insurance, groceries, et al) then I can't retire yet.

It is a lot, but remember you are paying some of that already, and you won't be paying FICA once retired, so incrementally it maybe isn't that much. And just until age 65.
 

dmclone

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Because it would be more than a mortgage on a $500K house.
Have you checked into healthcare.gov? When I plug in the numbers, they are not anything close to a mortgage payment on a $500k house. For 2 people it's around $1,200 month if you have an income of $80k/year. I just plugged in $80k income to be on the high side. I'm assuming most people retiring early will have options.
 

qwerty

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Have you checked into healthcare.gov? When I plug in the numbers, they are not anything close to a mortgage payment on a $500k house. For 2 people it's around $1,200 month if you have an income of $80k/year. I just plugged in $80k income to be on the high side. I'm assuming most people retiring early will have options.
I was going with $60k and coming up around $500-600 per month.
 

ricochet

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Have you checked into healthcare.gov? When I plug in the numbers, they are not anything close to a mortgage payment on a $500k house. For 2 people it's around $1,200 month if you have an income of $80k/year. I just plugged in $80k income to be on the high side. I'm assuming most people retiring early will have options.
Are you sure that $1,200 wasn't the tax credit? If you click through to the plans I think you can get a bronze plan for free, although that might depend on the ages you put in to begin with. Even the lowest deductable gold plans came out under $1,300 per month from what I saw.

In general I think Roths are a bit overrated but this is an area they may very useful. They don't count as income for this so you can live a $100K lifestyle while getting $40K level subsidies. At least I think so, I'm not a tax or financial professional.

Trying not to get political, but one risk is the entire thing is not guaranteed to exist in the future. Of course no person is guaranteed to exist in the future so life is always a series of unknown risks.
 

BCClone

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Not exactly sure.
Because it would be more than a mortgage on a $500K house.
Huh? My insurance for me and 3 kids at age 51 isn’t that. If you are at retirement age, you should be able to afford a high deductible and use a HSA to for the deductible to save some more there.
 

Dirt Boy 2

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Yes. I'm listening to a couple of young kids having a rough morning.

I don't recommend waiting until late in life to have kids. It wouldn't take much for me to not recommend kids period, but that's another topic.

Kids do throw a very large wrench in financial plans.
Because it would be more than a mortgage on a $500K house.
A subreddit for those that use https://www.reddit.com/r/Bogleheads/

It's a mix of young people being told to stop chasing WallStreetBets, people with more money than god asking for financial advice from the internet, and the occasional valuable nugget. I will happily ride broad index funds off into retirement and beyond. If only the people running our 401k felt the same way
I wish I had found some of this years ago. I had l tried doing a google search for an appropriate percentage of income to contribute to my retirement plan 15 years ago. My parents were not a good source of info at the time. Must have been using the wrong search words because I didn’t find much. So I picked 10%, because that was double the 5% I was contributing and I wanted make sure I could retire at MRA.
Eventually found some websites suggesting starting at 10% and increasing yearly. I’m at 19% now but still a long ways from maxing out at the IRS limits. It is fun to see those balances finally take off though the last year or so a little down. I guess I’m buying low!
Made mistakes along the way like trying to time markets and re-allocating too often. Bogle’s system is easy enough for everyone, even one with no money background like me. Just no time like the present to make changes for the future.
 
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CascadeClone

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I wish I had found some of this years ago. I had l tried doing a google search for an appropriate percentage of income to contribute to my retirement plan 15 years ago. My parents were not a good source of info at the time. Must have been using the wrong search words because I didn’t find much. So I picked 10%, because that was double the 5% I was contributing and I wanted make sure I could retire at MRA.
Eventually found some websites suggesting starting at 10% and increasing yearly. I’m at 19% now but still a long ways from maxing out at the IRS limits. It is fun to see those balances finally take off though the last year or so a little down. I guess I’m buying low!
Made mistakes along the way like trying to time markets and re-allocating too often. Bogle’s system is easy enough for everyone, even one with no money background like me. Just no time like the present to make changes for the future.
I think the "right" number these days is considered to be 15% - including any employer contribution.

I have done the math, and you can build a 25x pot (i.e. 25x your annual salary, enough to use the 4% rule) by contributing 10% of your salary and making 8% annual return over 40 years. That works at any income level. There are a couple key simplifications in that, but it shows if you save 10% over 40 years then you would be good to retire with same lifestyle you have lived for those 40 years.