Author Topic: 57, ready to walk...but getting nervous. Am I missing anything?  (Read 10576 times)

snowdog

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57, ready to walk...but getting nervous. Am I missing anything?
« on: February 05, 2019, 07:11:33 AM »
Hello all.  I would love to get your opinions on my retirement readiness.  I’m 57 and wife is 55. We’ve already paid for college for our kids who are out of the house.  We have zero debt in LCOL area. 

I’m struggling with walking away from the steady paycheck.  I’ve just started making really good money in the last 5-6 years but I’m feeling like I’ve had enough of the corporate grind plus I travel 100% of the time.  I was going to pull the plug last year but decided on OMY.  Now it’s crunch time and I’m Just wondering if my financial plan is solid. 

Here’s the finances:  ~$3.2MM NW including $325K paid off home and $530K company equity which I value at 50% of current value to account for any future drops in valuations. $2.3MM in financial assets allocated 80% equities and 20% cash & ST bond funds.  43% taxable and 57% IRA/401K.

Household spending last 2 years ~90K.  Lots of eating out and other areas of opportunity to cut here.  I travel 100% of the time so while I’m home we splurge a lot.  Wife enjoys her job and plans to work until at least 60.  If she works until 60 we will be able to continue her employer health benefits to age 65.  Wife take home is about $4K/month.  We can withdraw $3K per month from portfolio (1.6% withdrawal rate) and live what I consider to be a nice retirement.  This does not include approx. $36K in SS if I take at 67 and another $22K if she takes at 67.  At this age I think that our SS is fairly safe.  I’m fairly Type A so I do worry about boredom in retirement although I do have several hobbies.  I’m thinking that some combination of part time teaching/coaching, pursing my hobbies, volunteering, and catching up on years of home projects will be a good start to my life 2.0.       

This looks rock solid to me, but I would love to hear any feedback.  I believe in a bucket approach to cushion the market swings and that’s why I have about $450K in cash/ST bonds.  This provides 5 years of expenses even if the wife quit.  Let’s me ride out the market swings with ease.  I’ve always been 100% equities and only recently built up the cash to prep for retirement.  I rode out 2008 and kept on buying.
 
Thanks in advance for your feedback.   

CowboyAndIndian

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Re: 57, ready to walk...but getting nervous. Am I missing anything?
« Reply #1 on: February 05, 2019, 07:14:49 AM »
Go for it. It looks like all your bases are covered.

RWD

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Re: 57, ready to walk...but getting nervous. Am I missing anything?
« Reply #2 on: February 05, 2019, 07:20:41 AM »
$3 million net worth and no debt... Uh yeah, permission granted to retire.

jps

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Re: 57, ready to walk...but getting nervous. Am I missing anything?
« Reply #3 on: February 05, 2019, 10:34:57 AM »
Wow, way to go! Looks like you will be more than safe!

kei te pai

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Re: 57, ready to walk...but getting nervous. Am I missing anything?
« Reply #4 on: February 05, 2019, 10:57:16 AM »
Nervous is normal, although many here would have been out the door earlier! You know the numbers are fine. Maybe your trepidation relates more to the life change than the finances.
Have a read of some of the post fire threads.
best wishes.

BicycleB

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Re: 57, ready to walk...but getting nervous. Am I missing anything?
« Reply #5 on: February 05, 2019, 11:04:20 AM »
Yep, finances fine.

What to do with your day is the issue. Read some of the threads and blogs about decompressing from work. (Livingafi, maybe? Dr Doom's retirement chronicles?) Being Type A, maybe you will just rebound after a bit of forced "rest" and find something new to do, or even a fun variation of what you've always done. You can choose anything, so explore. Have at it!

MrThatsDifferent

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Re: 57, ready to walk...but getting nervous. Am I missing anything?
« Reply #6 on: February 05, 2019, 12:16:11 PM »
Dude, you’re fine. Pull that plug and live your Life!

SpecialSnowflake

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Re: 57, ready to walk...but getting nervous. Am I missing anything?
« Reply #7 on: February 05, 2019, 07:34:00 PM »
All looks well based on your wife providing 4k per month, and health ins to 65.

If she were to lose her job, decide retirement looks too fun to pass up, or predecease you, do you have a solid plan for the same lifestyle? 

Calvawt

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Re: 57, ready to walk...but getting nervous. Am I missing anything?
« Reply #8 on: February 06, 2019, 05:18:32 PM »
very impressive, its time to give notice.  you check every box needed. Congrats!

Lots of cash
insurance covered
no debt
spouse still brining in $ to cover lots of expense
low expected withdrawal rate

Don't do OMY.  RETIRE NOW!

CowboyAndIndian

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Re: 57, ready to walk...but getting nervous. Am I missing anything?
« Reply #9 on: February 06, 2019, 05:19:12 PM »
Quote
I travel 100% of the time so while I’m home we splurge a lot.

You are going to have a shitload of time on your hands since you were traveling 100% of the time. Find enjoyable activities to fill up all the free time that you now have or FIRE is going to be horrible.

Heres your homework. Read this and figure of what you are going to do for the rest of your life. https://livingafi.com/2015/03/09/building-a-vision-of-life-without-work/

Some suggestions, your spouse may not enjoy being tied to the hip with you during FIRE.  I suggest you find some activities that both of you can enjoy together as well as some activities that interest you and not her (Hint, meetup.com is a good place to start to find activities that you could enjoy).

Dicey

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Re: 57, ready to walk...but getting nervous. Am I missing anything?
« Reply #10 on: February 06, 2019, 05:29:39 PM »
Here's my favorite line, with apologies to those of you who have seen it before:

"Retiring too early is a mistake that can be recovered from. Too late and there is no recovery."

Seems like the time is right to me!

- Dicey
Six years post FIRE

snowdog

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Re: 57, ready to walk...but getting nervous. Am I missing anything?
« Reply #11 on: February 09, 2019, 07:32:12 AM »
Thanks to all for the replies and encouragement.  This really helps! I'm targeting giving notice on 2/27 but now I'm also struggling with how much notice to give.  I'm not sure what is standard for C-level.  30 days sounds too short.   

Dicey

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Re: 57, ready to walk...but getting nervous. Am I missing anything?
« Reply #12 on: February 09, 2019, 08:09:23 AM »
Thanks to all for the replies and encouragement.  This really helps! I'm targeting giving notice on 2/27 but now I'm also struggling with how much notice to give.  I'm not sure what is standard for C-level.  30 days sounds too short.
I just re-read your post. It really does appear that you're doing everything right. We seem to have a fair bit in common. My DH still works, for reasons similar to your wife's. He loves his job. We stay very busy and he often jokes that he goes to work so he can rest. He gets a full pension, including good health care benefits, in two years, at age 59.

Since you're not screaming to FIRE, you could pose the question of notice to your employer. Pose it as a hypothetical. "I'm thinking about retiring early. How much notice would you prefer?" It's possible that they'll show you the door right away. It's more likely that they will think you mean at some distant point in the far-off  future. You will hear how much you are needed and appreciated, which is actually quite nice. Then you have what you need to make your decision, and they're less likely to feel jilted.

When I left, I gave three weeks notice, primarily because I wanted to tell my customers face-to-face, and that's how long it would take. New boss (aka The Last Straw) told me I could leave by the end of the week. His boss got wind of that and told me I could work my notice as planned, which is exactly what I did. I needed the time to wrap things up, but it was still hard as hell to work those last weeks, once the cat was out of the bag.

snowdog

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Re: 57, ready to walk...but getting nervous. Am I missing anything?
« Reply #13 on: February 09, 2019, 10:04:47 AM »
Thanks for reply Dicey.  That's a good approach that I had not thought about.  Also one that I could perhaps leverage into severance i.e. I'm giving x weeks notice, but would be willing to stay until successor is in place to insure a smooth transition, in exchange for y months severance or payout of accrued bonus. 

MrThatsDifferent

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Re: 57, ready to walk...but getting nervous. Am I missing anything?
« Reply #14 on: February 09, 2019, 01:59:01 PM »
Thanks for reply Dicey.  That's a good approach that I had not thought about.  Also one that I could perhaps leverage into severance i.e. I'm giving x weeks notice, but would be willing to stay until successor is in place to insure a smooth transition, in exchange for y months severance or payout of accrued bonus.

Congrats to you, that’s a good plan. I would have said 4 weeks, unless they’ve been awful to you. But be careful of the, until you find a successor, that could take a long time. I’d say 4 weeks is your goal, but you’re willing to do 6 if they need it. And then, book yourself a trip somewhere at the end of that 6 week so you can say, I’ve booked my vacation so I have to be gone by then. Your job will replace you and survive, you’re not indispensable, none of us are. If you dropped dead tomorrow, they’d keep on going. Don’t keep giving yourself reasons to stay around and you don’t need more money, so just go and live your life. You’ve won! Celebrate!

whywork

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Re: 57, ready to walk...but getting nervous. Am I missing anything?
« Reply #15 on: February 09, 2019, 04:08:21 PM »
I'm not sure if you are asking if you have enough to retire. That's not the question here as the answer is obvious in your case.

The real question is what made to you continue your job despite being FI for a while now. How will you deal with not having that once you retire? I would suggest take a sabbatical and see how you like the retirement life

Linea_Norway

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Re: 57, ready to walk...but getting nervous. Am I missing anything?
« Reply #16 on: February 12, 2019, 06:39:46 AM »
Just give a short notice. You have nothing to gain from this company in the future. It is not your problem that you are leaving. Many people have written on this forum that a longer notice has resulted in an unpleasant period. Better to be done with it as soon as possible.

soccerluvof4

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Re: 57, ready to walk...but getting nervous. Am I missing anything?
« Reply #17 on: February 12, 2019, 10:18:57 AM »
Run and Join the party you did it! Enjoy the Fire'd life!

Chrissy

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Re: 57, ready to walk...but getting nervous. Am I missing anything?
« Reply #18 on: February 13, 2019, 10:12:58 AM »
Congratulations!  You're done.  You're not missing anything except maybe structuring your notice so you don't leave money on the table or cause yourself a hassle.  You might already know about this stuff, but it bears repeating...

Bonus
Take a careful look at bonus dates.  Because companies view bonuses as a retention tool, many won't pay out if you give notice, even if you've already "earned" the bonus (according to their policies) before your last day.  Often, people give notice the day after a bonus hit their bank accounts, so they're sure not to lose it.

Health Insurance
If your family is currently on your health insurance, try to plan your last day so that you can seamlessly move from your insurance to your wife's.  Which will probably take awhile to accomplish!  You want to retire and still have a month (or two weeks, or whatever) of coverage.  This may mean your last day is the 2nd or the 16th, etc.  My family just do-si-do-ed with a couple of months of COBRA due to DH's job change, and it was a royal pain in the ass.

Retirement Accounts
Front-load if you can.

PTO
Unless it pays out, take it ALL before you give notice. 

Come back and tell us how it goes!

snowdog

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Re: 57, ready to walk...but getting nervous. Am I missing anything?
« Reply #19 on: February 14, 2019, 05:17:52 AM »
Thank you all for the feedback and encouragement.  Now it's up to me not to chicken out.  I'm still coming to grips with the thought of turning off the cash hose.  But I think I'm there.
« Last Edit: February 16, 2019, 06:20:21 AM by snowdog »

Brother Esau

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Re: 57, ready to walk...but getting nervous. Am I missing anything?
« Reply #20 on: February 14, 2019, 09:55:12 AM »
Congratulations! You have won the game. Enjoy retirement!

Trifle

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Re: 57, ready to walk...but getting nervous. Am I missing anything?
« Reply #21 on: February 23, 2019, 06:17:54 AM »
@snowdog -- Feel free to come join the 2019 FIRE Cohort:  https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/welcome-to-the-forum/2019-fire-cohort/1900/

Lots of good discussion and encouragement from those of us pulling the plug this year. 

snowdog

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Re: 57, ready to walk...but getting nervous. Am I missing anything?
« Reply #22 on: February 24, 2019, 12:03:41 PM »
Thanks Trifele! Did not know about that and I'll definitely check it out.

Dicey

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Re: 57, ready to walk...but getting nervous. Am I missing anything?
« Reply #23 on: February 24, 2019, 12:44:27 PM »
Lots of inspiration in the 2018 cohort too. Heck, I'm six years post-FIRE and I loved that thread! What an inspirational bunch!
« Last Edit: February 26, 2019, 05:19:41 PM by Dicey »

mbl

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Re: 57, ready to walk...but getting nervous. Am I missing anything?
« Reply #24 on: February 26, 2019, 12:47:55 PM »
Thanks Trifele! Did not know about that and I'll definitely check it out.

At your asset level you could also take a look at the "Hi, I am" forum on early-retirement.org.
You'll probably find many others with similar experiences to your own.

WheresMyMule

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Re: 57, ready to walk...but getting nervous. Am I missing anything?
« Reply #25 on: February 27, 2019, 10:44:01 AM »
Thanks to all for the replies and encouragement.  This really helps! I'm targeting giving notice on 2/27 but now I'm also struggling with how much notice to give.  I'm not sure what is standard for C-level.  30 days sounds too short.

So, are you giving notice today?!?

BicycleB

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Re: 57, ready to walk...but getting nervous. Am I missing anything?
« Reply #26 on: February 27, 2019, 01:57:20 PM »
Thanks to all for the replies and encouragement.  This really helps! I'm targeting giving notice on 2/27 but now I'm also struggling with how much notice to give.  I'm not sure what is standard for C-level.  30 days sounds too short.

So, are you giving notice today?!?

Rock on, @snowdog. We're rooting for you.

snowdog

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Re: 57, ready to walk...but getting nervous. Am I missing anything?
« Reply #27 on: February 28, 2019, 06:06:10 AM »
Thanks for asking!  Well it's 2/28 and I have pushed my date due to a delay in closing a transaction.  I'm getting a payout upon close so I'm not saying a peep until it's in my account. It was supposed to close 2 weeks ago.  Now I'm approaching another vesting date so my plan is a 3/18 notice date with 4/12 as last day.  I'm 95% convicted to get out.  I really cannot see OMY.  Good news is that nobody knows my plans so it's my call to make.  I appreciate the encouragement and accountability of this forum!   

snowdog

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UPDATE: Re: 57, ready to walk...but getting nervous. Am I missing anything?
« Reply #28 on: October 03, 2019, 07:30:19 AM »
Hello all.  I would love to get your opinions on my retirement readiness.  I’m 57 and wife is 55. We’ve already paid for college for our kids who are out of the house.  We have zero debt in LCOL area. 

I’m struggling with walking away from the steady paycheck.  I’ve just started making really good money in the last 5-6 years but I’m feeling like I’ve had enough of the corporate grind plus I travel 100% of the time.  I was going to pull the plug last year but decided on OMY.  Now it’s crunch time and I’m Just wondering if my financial plan is solid. 

Here’s the finances:  ~$3.2MM NW including $325K paid off home and $530K company equity which I value at 50% of current value to account for any future drops in valuations. $2.3MM in financial assets allocated 80% equities and 20% cash & ST bond funds.  43% taxable and 57% IRA/401K.

Household spending last 2 years ~90K.  Lots of eating out and other areas of opportunity to cut here.  I travel 100% of the time so while I’m home we splurge a lot.  Wife enjoys her job and plans to work until at least 60.  If she works until 60 we will be able to continue her employer health benefits to age 65.  Wife take home is about $4K/month.  We can withdraw $3K per month from portfolio (1.6% withdrawal rate) and live what I consider to be a nice retirement.  This does not include approx. $36K in SS if I take at 67 and another $22K if she takes at 67.  At this age I think that our SS is fairly safe.  I’m fairly Type A so I do worry about boredom in retirement although I do have several hobbies.  I’m thinking that some combination of part time teaching/coaching, pursing my hobbies, volunteering, and catching up on years of home projects will be a good start to my life 2.0.       

This looks rock solid to me, but I would love to hear any feedback.  I believe in a bucket approach to cushion the market swings and that’s why I have about $450K in cash/ST bonds.  This provides 5 years of expenses even if the wife quit.  Let’s me ride out the market swings with ease.  I’ve always been 100% equities and only recently built up the cash to prep for retirement.  I rode out 2008 and kept on buying.
 
Thanks in advance for your feedback.

Finally done!  It's official.  Last day was 9/24.  So far I'm loving it!!

Dicey

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Re: 57, ready to walk...but getting nervous. Am I missing anything?
« Reply #29 on: October 03, 2019, 07:33:14 AM »
Congratulations! What happened between your last two posts? Inquiring minds want to know!

snowdog

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Re: 57, ready to walk...but getting nervous. Am I missing anything?
« Reply #30 on: October 03, 2019, 09:09:05 AM »
Congratulations! What happened between your last two posts? Inquiring minds want to know!

Good question.  Well they offered me a huge monthly transition bonus to stay on until they found a replacement plus ability to continue to vest in equity.  I happily agreed and it finally ended last week.  Financial impact added a big cushion to the stash and essentially had the effect of working OMY or more.  It was a win-win and I left on great terms. 


2sk22

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Re: 57, ready to walk...but getting nervous. Am I missing anything?
« Reply #31 on: October 03, 2019, 09:35:23 AM »
Congrats! Walking away from a big salary is always hard but very happy for you. Looks like it took a lot longer than you initially expected.

Dicey

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Re: 57, ready to walk...but getting nervous. Am I missing anything?
« Reply #32 on: October 03, 2019, 11:20:01 AM »
Congratulations! What happened between your last two posts? Inquiring minds want to know!

Good question.  Well they offered me a huge monthly transition bonus to stay on until they found a replacement plus ability to continue to vest in equity.  I happily agreed and it finally ended last week.  Financial impact added a big cushion to the stash and essentially had the effect of working OMY or more.  It was a win-win and I left on great terms.

I love it when a plan comes together...even if that wasn't exactly the plan...

BicycleB

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Re: 57, ready to walk...but getting nervous. Am I missing anything?
« Reply #33 on: October 03, 2019, 11:53:19 AM »
Smooth exit, @snowdog. Congrats.

mistymoney

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Re: 57, ready to walk...but getting nervous. Am I missing anything?
« Reply #34 on: October 04, 2019, 08:01:34 AM »
Congrats!

shinn497

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Re: 57, ready to walk...but getting nervous. Am I missing anything?
« Reply #35 on: October 13, 2019, 02:05:01 PM »
You have one of the most rock solid retirements I've ever seen. Well done.

I think maybe you are wondering just what to do and where to get purpose from? I say take up a cause, hobby, or maybe go find work somewhere you REALLY want to work in. The world is your oyster mang. Good job!

happy

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Re: 57, ready to walk...but getting nervous. Am I missing anything?
« Reply #36 on: October 13, 2019, 03:47:57 PM »
Congratulations snowdog. Your exit sounds like a very satisfactory way of going.

lylemyers

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Re: 57, ready to walk...but getting nervous. Am I missing anything?
« Reply #37 on: November 20, 2019, 01:46:49 AM »
Congrats and enjoy retirement!

CowboyAndIndian

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Re: 57, ready to walk...but getting nervous. Am I missing anything?
« Reply #38 on: November 20, 2019, 06:43:11 AM »
Awesome hearing the update.

How are you spending your days in FIRE? Have you found a bunch of hobbies? I know, there is a decompression period where I did nothing and was happy with that.

snowdog

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Re: 57, ready to walk...but getting nervous. Am I missing anything?
« Reply #39 on: November 20, 2019, 07:09:25 AM »
Awesome hearing the update.

How are you spending your days in FIRE? Have you found a bunch of hobbies? I know, there is a decompression period where I did nothing and was happy with that.

Thanks for asking.  So far all is great. So good in fact that I've already turned down a lucrative consulting gig because I'm just so into this new pace and lifestyle.  As for hobbies, that has never been a problem for me as I have several life long passions that I'm now able to focus more time on.  Plus I'm getting a lot of projects done around our home that are past due.  Also enjoying cooking each night and making my wife's lunch as she is still working and love's her job.  The weird thing is, is that I had no dreams about my job until this past week.  I'm a very active dreamer and I thought I'd immediately have wild work dreams each night.  Only this week did a couple of wild work dreams surface.  I feel like my decompression process is right on schedule.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!