Life Situation: Married FJ, no dependents! (we raised a combined ELEVEN) In Colorado, we are 59 and 56 years old. I am a stay at home mom/wife.
We currently live within 8 miles of husbands work, we moved here from 1 hour NORTH on 9/15 after our last child moved out, we located there 11 years ago from western Colorado, as it was between Denver Tech Center and Cheyenne where a majority of husband's work was, but then all work moved to DTC. By then we had kids in high school and didn't want to leave our smaller community for Denver. We mistakenly relocated once in Loveland, and then were victims of the horrific 2013 flood, thankfully we were able to sell that home two years later, but took a big financial hit for all that combined trouble ($100K or so) but plan to leave the city and move to western Colorado (where we met) as soon as he can retire.
Two options at present. Retire at the end of this year - with guaranteed pension, but no health care, (then husband would need a job of some sort that provided health care?) or wait two more years, to build up our cash reserves and for provided health care that will probably cost us $300 per month for our current plan which is very generous. Basically a $15 co-pay for med and incredible dental and vision too. That is what we are planning at this point unless the company changes the retirement health care benefit option before then, but we don't see that coming.. yet.
Gross Salary/Wages: 10,200
Individual amounts of each Pre-tax deductions Health Ins $100, 401K; $1130, (employer match $390/month)
Adjusted Gross Income: $8970
Taxes: Fed:$1000, State: $320, FICA $513
Current Monthly expenses:
Mortgage - Principle: $240, Interest: $540, Property Tax $165 ,Home Insurance,$165 . Monthly combined payment $1112.
HOA $250 (when looking at houses near work in 9/15 - this was the best deal for the price even with this fee, plusses are we have access to a pool, park, pond, in a quiet,gated community, trash/recycling included and incredible resale value as it's in aa coveted, albeit 30-year-old neighborhood)
NetFlix $10
Car Insurance $113
Car Maintenance, Registration, etc. $135
Charitable contributions $815
Christmas/Holidays $50
Clothing/Shoes $50
Computer (paper/software/etc.) $20
Dentist - $50
Dining (Lunch/Dinner/Etc.) $50
Gifts (not charitable contributions) $25
Electricity $130
Emergency Fund $1,000
Entertainment $50
Fuel/$100
Gas/ heating $100
Groceries $500
Hair Care $25
Household; Maintenance $100
Internet/Off site backup/storage $95
Life Insurance $50
Medical (Doctor, Hospital, etc.) $50
Medicine (OTC + Prescription) $50
Miscellaneous $200 or so - but we've cut it to nearly zero.
Parking/Tolls $30
Pets $150
Phone (cell) $80
Recycling/Trash Included in HOA
Subscriptions (paper/magazines/etc.) $10
Travel/Vacation $200
Umbrella Insurance $10
Water/Sewer $50
Work/Professional fees $200
Non-mortgage total $4970
Expected ER expenses: We are planning on living on around $45K a year or less.
Assets: Home: $492,000, (Redfin estimate. Zillow is off the charts at $567K, we paid $463K) Vehicle: $9000, Gold: $35000, (lost $15K in value since we bought it - ugh) Guaranteed Pension: $360,000. 401K: $193000, Two Roth IRA's total: $15,800. Cash on hand is low - we paid off our credit card in the last two months, about $3000,and have been too spendy. We have recently begun vigorously cutting expenses and increasing our savings.
Liabilities: Original (bridge, short term, while other house sold/closed) Loan amount on 9/15: $370,400, Current loan balance: $152,200, Rate 4.25%. We DO NOT plan on having a mortgage post retirement, but will buy with the cash we get out of our home which should be $350,000, +/-. We actually plan to spend LESS than that on our next home.
No other liabilities/debt.
Specific Question(s): Our thoughts are to retire in 3 years to get the health care benefit, roll the pension into the 401K and only take out the interest earned - say $30K a year - with us doing something part time to earn another $25-$30K to supplement for a very comfortable life, waiting to take Social security as long as possible.
Do you see any major holes? What are we missing besides really reining in our expenses RIGHT NOW?
We are re-evaluating our current spending and can probably add more to build up our emergency fund, while also putting away money for a couple of vacation trips for the year. Most of our recreation is very cheap - hiking, biking, walking.
My personal challenge is to not let living in an urban environment be depressing.
My husbands personal challenge is to keep the stress level worth the job for a couple of more years.
