Original post is down below. Update:
Six months have gone by. Our 3 yr old is now 4. We're still 33 & 32.
Our net worth is currently about $565,000, and our investments alone are worth around $530,000, maybe slightly more. We recently finished major work on our house (which is why our investments are not as high as you would expect). Our mortgage balance is about $233,000. The payment hasn't changed.
We talked it over, and decided my husband will continue working for a while. His 25-30 hours a week have fallen to about 20-25, and even less some weeks. His salary increased very slightly from $90k to $92k. The job has gotten pretty dull and boring, but we really can't justify leaving for something else just yet--especially when it could not possibly get any easier.
We discovered my husband could keep the life insurance from his job if he leaves, but doesn't "retire." In order to be considered a retiree a distribution must be made from the University's retirement plan. So, we'll just not do that, and he can keep the life insurance he has now. This insurance isn't term. It's based on age, and cost increases as age goes up, but it stays what I would consider a reasonable price. So, we consider it a good option for us.
I don't expect the next six months will see any major changes for us, but we'll see where we are in January (when I do another update). We're taking things a paycheck at a time, and when we've either had enough of the job or get enough money we'll pull the plug.
1/3/18:
I'm not sure when we should retire. Please give me your assessment of our somewhat complicated situation:
Husband: 33, Wife, 32, a 3 yr old son. We won't be having more kids.
Our investments are about $500,000 right now. We would like to have $50,000/yr to live on.
Our mortgage, taxes and insurance are about $1,400/month, and we have 28 years left, so living expenses will not be dropping much any time soon. (30 yr at 3.375%) Also, we'd rather not move.
My husband receives VA disability (tax free) of $1,922/month. However, this will stop if he dies. Technically, the VA disability payment *could* go away, but due to his conditions, I'd say the chances of that are virtually zero.
My husband has $200,000 of life insurance through the VA, and an additional amount through his work, however only the VA life insurance will remain if he stops working. I think he could probably get life insurance through a private insurer, but I expect the rate to be quite a bit higher than average. I have $500,000 in term life insurance, (17 yrs left on policy) and am basically in perfect health.
My husband makes $90,000/yr at his job (professor). He has mandatory retirement plan contributions of 3%, in addition to being able to contribute to the maximum to a 403b and a 457. Due to this, our effective tax rate is 0%. We live in FL so we have no state income taxes. I am a SAHM, although I am employable at a decent wage, should the need arise.
As far as stress and things like that, the job is pretty easy, minimal hours, probably 25-30 hrs a week, so we'd rather be safe than sorry when it comes to jumping ship. I'd say we're looking for a 95%+ chance of success.
The GI bill he earned while in has not been touched yet. He has 13 years left to use it. From this, we can get about $1,700/month in tax free housing allowance for a total of 36 months. If he retired, he'd probably take a full semester off before starting school. There's no real reason for him to get additional education, but we'd be throwing away the $1,700/month housing allowance if he didn't go. Tuition would be covered 100%.
The VA also provides my husband with free healthcare. We could go on retiree insurance through his job, but the cost is astronomical in comparison to what we could get on the exchange. The retiree insurance would be around $2,000/month for our family, and my husband would be required to be on it so we'd be wasting a considerable amount of money.
We're saving about $50,000/year right now, and we have no reason to expect that will change anytime soon.
Our parents are in their 60s, and are in average health. I'll get little to no inheritance from my parents. My husband will likely get a decent amount from his parents--over $500,000, but could go as high as $2,000,000 depending on how long my FIL works, and their end of life healthcare/LTC expenses.
So Mustachians, what say you? When do you think we should pull the plug?