Thanks, everyone. What I should have explained is that we didn't even consider retiring early until a little over 2 years ago... so saving for retirement wasn't a priority because it wasn't on our horizon.
Hubby has been retired from the Air Force for a few years but works for a big government contractor now. His income has risen significantly in the last 6 years since we first got married. From about $70K to $108K.
I've been with the same company for 24 years and my income has gone from $20K when I first started to $103K now, with a big promotion 15 years ago and lots of nice raises. However, when I got divorced 12 years ago, first husband got half my 401K and half my retirement then (which he took as a lump sum at that time). That hurt.
So back in May 2012, we were $711,000 in debt with two houses and a vacation home, a HELOC, a 401K loan and a car loan on a 2012 Nissan Leaf (100% electric... we were early adopters and it cost us). Plus, we spent money on things we wouldn't consider today... like a housekeeper, etc. because we could.
Today, 2 1/2 years later, we are $58,000 in debt. So, while we haven't made great strides in savings we have definitely made a HUGE dent in debt.
For 2014, we will have paid $81,200 toward paying off the condo, $20,000 for college and another $20,000 on a surgery (that wasn't covered by insurance). So there's $120,000 out of our $160,000 net income for 2014. In 2015, we'll have another $20,000 in college expenses, pay off the $58,000 on the condo and build our cash reserves for retirement - about 40,000 if we work until the end of the year, $30,000 if we work until end of November, $20,000 if we work until the end of October.
So yes, we definitely WERE spending WAY more than $50,000 a year prior to deciding early retirement was the way we wanted to go but we have been pretty close to it since our decision (not including the debt payout). And we are doing just fine with the tightened belts.
As for 12 years not being enough of a forecast, since we will have access to our 401Ks in 7 and 8 years and they will surely be worth way more than $250K by then, and then at 62 we can take social security, which will equal almost what our pensions are (thereby doubling our income), I can't imagine inflation outpacing that.
We will live in a state that doesn't tax pension income so that's good. If something happens to one of us, we lose the other's pension but we have sufficient life insurance for the next 18 years (a 20 year term) to make up for that.
Our health care is covered by Tri-care thanks to hubby's 24 years of service to our country. Hooray! I will be leaving my job with $15,000 in a health savings account, too. Forgot to mention that.
Interestingly, we started following a plant-based diet right about the time we decided to retire early. We both have great test results from recent physicals so our goal is to be as healthy as we can for as long as we can.
Hope that explanation helps make more sense of our numbers. Appreciate all your responses and thoughtful evaluations. You guys ROCK!