Gross pay | 82300 |
taxes | 12000 |
pre-tax retirement (403b/457b/required 6% to pension) | 34938 |
other withholding | 1200 |
Roth IRA | 7000 |
Net pay | 27162 |
Interest and re-invested dividends | 1100 |
Monthly | Annual | |
Expenses | ||
Mortgage (PI/no escrow) | 324 | 3888 |
HOA Fees (includes flood and hazard insurance) | 225 | 2700 |
Tax (200) and HO6 Insurance (30) | 230 | 2760 |
Home maintenance fund | 125 | 1500 |
Phone/internet/water/electric/pest control | 204 | 2448 |
Car - gas, maintenance, tax & tags, insurance, repair fund | 180 | 2160 |
Groceries/hba/paper goods/alcohol | 450 | 5400 |
Medications/co-pays/coins | 50 | 600 |
pets - food, meds, routine vet, misc | 160 | 1920 |
pets - major medical fund | 50 | 600 |
Non-essentials: entertainment, clothing/shoes, travel, household furnishings, electronics replacement, charity, membership fees, restaurants/bars, misc - each category ranges from $15 to $120 / month | 420 | 4800 |
Estimated RE additions | ||
Health Insurance till age 60 | 150 | 1800 |
Dental/Vision (insurance and/or self-pay?) | 100 | 1200 |
Income Tax | 352 | 4224 |
TOTAL EXPENSES | 3020 | 36000 |
Essentials-Only Expenses | 2600 | 31200 |
Post-RE Income | ||
Pension (gross) starts year 5 | 2692 | 32304 |
SS (75% of FRA est) starting year 11 | 1901 | 22815 |
or SS (75% of age 70 est) starting year 14 | 2300 | 27600 |
Liquid Assets | 638k | |
Cash | 41k | |
Bonds | 6k | |
Investments (100% equities) | 42k | |
457b (70/30 target fund, adding 2k/mo) | 15k | |
403b (52k cash, rest in index funds, adding 500/mo to Fid Balanced Fund) | 364k | |
Roth IRA (95/5) (maxed thru 2021) | 170k | |
Home value | 150k |
Mortgage | 69.8k |
Are you eligible for FMLA leave? If so it might be worth talking with a doctor to see if they could recommend you take some due to the burnout. If you could use FMLA and PTO to stretch to your 20 year point you would have a lot more flexibility, even if you decide to defer taking the pension a bit longer.
I personally would vote for at least trying to move closer to family if they are not all in HCOL areas. If you enjoy spending time with your nieces and nephews maybe you could do some PT child care if any of the families need it. That would be a way to provide a little bit of cash to supplement your other sources while you are building the relationship with the family and trying out living in those areas.
Looking at your numbers, in my opinion, you're good to go. It looks like you really only need to cover your expenses for five years before your pension kicks in and covers almost 90% of them. You should be able to easily do that and still have enough money left to cover the missing 10% until social security kicks in.
One thing: Have you priced ACA plans yet in your state? I'm not sure what state you're in, but I budgeted $200/month for my silver plan (now $109 with covid relief bill) and then an additional $125/month to cover the annual max out-of-pocket. That's with claiming income of $25,000 so that I am under 250% of the poverty line and am eligible for cost-sharing. If I were claiming an income comparable to yours, it'd be much higher. Hopefully, your state offers better prices.
Are you eligible for FMLA leave? If so it might be worth talking with a doctor to see if they could recommend you take some due to the burnout. If you could use FMLA and PTO to stretch to your 20 year point you would have a lot more flexibility, even if you decide to defer taking the pension a bit longer.
I personally would vote for at least trying to move closer to family if they are not all in HCOL areas. If you enjoy spending time with your nieces and nephews maybe you could do some PT child care if any of the families need it. That would be a way to provide a little bit of cash to supplement your other sources while you are building the relationship with the family and trying out living in those areas.
I’m going to second this. Look, financially you’re fine. You basically need $200k to live off to hit your pension payout in 5 years, you have that 3x over. Once your pension hits you only need to draw $4-10k/yr to cover the gap until SS. You’re good.
However, October isn’t that far away, and you’re so close I’d try to go until then just to preserve the option of accessing your pension if you need it sooner for any reason. It just gives you more options. In the meantime I’d use all the vacation leave and sick leave based on mental health and stress that you have. Also, perhaps consider investing in a therapist to talk through some of your issues and concerns and to help to prepare you for your new life as a retired person.
Biggest fears/challenges/potential wrenches-in-the-plan:
1) Housing: My current home is becoming increasingly flood-prone and I really need to get out of here ASAP, before we flood again. First problem is, because of my current burnout, my home has a lot of repairs that need to be done, like yesterday. I'm guessing the cost could be anywhere from $3k to $8k. On the plus side: I currently have 3.3k in my home maintenance/repair fund. Second problem is, I have absolutely no idea where in the world I want to live long-term. I don't hate the area I'm in now, but don't want to be here forever. I'd like to be near family, but I can't take the winters where they live. Third problem, I have a cat who has never known any other home and can't stand to go anywhere else. I can't just throw him in the car and travel around the country, scoping out potential new places to live. Then the obvious fourth problem, if I want to buy will I be able to get a mortgage? Or have enough to pay cash, if neccesary?
Other questions:
- Any holes or red flags in my budget? Even though I know my expenses to the penny for the last 10+ years, I feel like I've got to be overlooking something!
- How much should I let the Housing and Social Support fears rule my decisions right now? Are my fears overblown, or should I be knuckling down for another 10 years of work, or somewhere in between?
Yep.
Show up late and make up for it by leaving early. It'll take them a while before you're put on an "improvement" plan and then you'll have a few months to improve.
It looks to me like you not only have enough, but you have more than enough. Given that - plus what you said about your mental health, lack of ability to get FMLA, lack of PTO, etc. - I would definitely quit now. 4 months isn't that long, but it sounds like you'd experience significant suffering to have even more than more than enough. More than more than enough isn't worth the suffering in my opinion.
I do have a couple of questions though. Many pensions do not continue to adjust for inflation once you start to take it. Do you know if yours does? If your pension will be fixed (i.e. no inflation adjustment) after you start to take it then it will gradually erode in real value. That actually shouldn't be too much of a problem for you because even if your pension didn't exist you have just about enough to make it work. I ran the Rich, Broke, or Dead calculator with your numbers excluding the pension, and you just barely have enough to have a 0% chance of failure. (Note: Just because a calculator gives you 100% chance of success doesn't mean you do - but you probably understand that already).
My second question is if you have enough accessible money to get you to 59 1/2. I don't know the rules on 457b and 403b accounts, but if they're like a 401(k) you can't touch them before 59 1/2 without penalty. My guess is that your cash, bonds, investments (~90k) plus your Roth contributions is close to or more than the ~$180k you'll need to get to 59 1/2, but that's not clear from your numbers.