Hello, and glad to be here!
I am a 47 y/o man, recently unemployed, divorced about a year ago from a 23 year marriage because of my wife's adultery, and am feeling the draw of what this site is all about. I have no debt other than monthly rent/modest utilities/car and health insurance, etc. Expenses are about $15,000-$18,000 a year total. I am physically fit, exercise daily, eat well, repair and maintain everything myself, and live a frugal but good lifestyle. Money or no money, materialism never meant a darn thing to me, and that remains constant.
One big goal is to not keep paying rent, and own a modest home on a few acres perhaps in NE Ohio NW PA, or maybe the Finger Lakes region of NY. I have lived in many places, lived overseas as a military officer, and would consider just about anywhere now that I can. However I live, in whatever dwelling, I want to keep the cost under $100,000 and pay in cash.
As for what I have with regard to investments and cash to pursue this potential retire at 48 gig, here goes:
$600,000 in a Vanguard taxable portfolio, mostly index funds that track large US indices, some US and foreign bond index funds. All dividends are reinvested.
$170,000 stock portfolio
$250,000 In various IRA mutual funds with Vanguard and Janus
$325,000 in cash earning .5%, and ready to either buy a home or get it working again by being invested... Maybe keep $25,000 in a bank as an emergency fund.
By my math, that's $1,345,000
With what I have written, how does it look to be able to never work at a regular job again, maybe do some PT work to stay busy. I know the calculators say it can happen, but I would love to hear from real people, not calculators as to real world viability.
I currently do volunteer work that is very rewarding, but I have to admit never commuting again, getting stuck with crappy hours/weekends, office politics, and general nastiness sounds VERY appealing! So, for those of you who were are in a similar circumstance, hell bent on retirement around my age and with similar, or less amounts of resources, how did you do it, what was the catalyst to hit the go button?
Thank you very much for the help; I eagerly await your wise replies... And hope this is the right place to post this...