The “I want to retire soon” thread (3 Viewers)

[JohnnyU]

Homeowners insurance bill time. Anyone not keep it? Retired no mortgage.

I would never go without homeowner insurance. To me that wouldn’t be smart. The home is most people’s biggest investment. You have to protect it. What if it burned to the ground? What if some other catastrophe happens to the house? Don’t ever consider going without homeowners insurance. It’s not an option.

 

[JohnnyU]

I unofficially retired 5/16 and had right hip replacement. So that would be short-term disability until 6/30, then PTO out the month of July, with an official retirement date of 8/1. I'm now able to move around without a cane since surgery and have been off the prescription pain meds and only using over the counter pain meds now, so I haven't exactly been in retirement mode because of that. I'll probably sign on to work one last time in a few days and surprise them in the daily scrum before packing up my computer stuff and returning it. Maybe now I can actually get into retirement mode.

So 6 weeks from surgery? That's pretty good, wife is 8 weeks and pretty much 100%.

Yes, almost 6 weeks. Like I said, moving pretty good now,but not 100%. Probably 75% to 80%.

 

[jamny]

My wife has remained somewhat pessimistic about my retirement thoughts. She's old fashioned, thinking that you save as much as you can and retire at 65. But a couple of weeks ago she ran into someone from her gym that she hadn't seen in a while. When she asked him where he's been, he told her that he retired. She asked how old he is and he said 55, a year older than her. I could see in her face when she told me that it might have finally clicked with her. Yesterday, we had a zoom call with our FA and he confirmed that, just with a preliminary look, we could handle a withdrawal rate of 3.5% - 4% and our account would still probably grow. And that's without even adding in that she'd probably take some kind of part time bookkeeping job to stay busy. She's definitely rethinking things now.

Sometimes it's better not to push an opinion too hard and let the person discover something for themselves.

 

[Payne]

Homeowners insurance bill time. Anyone not keep it? Retired no mortgage.

For what you get, homeowners' insurance is dirt cheap.

 

[Desert_Power]

Yesterday, we had a zoom call with our FA and he confirmed that, just with a preliminary look, we could handle a withdrawal rate of 3.5% - 4% and our account would still probably grow.

Is he running a Monte Carlo type simulation for you? This is going to happen with most scenarios just because a prolonged period of asset declines is rare.

 

[jamny]

Yesterday, we had a zoom call with our FA and he confirmed that, just with a preliminary look, we could handle a withdrawal rate of 3.5% - 4% and our account would still probably grow.

Is he running a Monte Carlo type simulation for you? This is going to happen with most scenarios just because a prolonged period of asset declines is rare.

No, this was our first discussion with him about it and we're still about a year off from when she might retire because of her company kind of winding down. I've run Monte Carlo sims multiple times and variations to come to the same conclusion. He was just saying that our expected annual expenses allow a comfortable withdrawal rate of like 3.5% - 4%. Our 12 year annual average with them is around 6.7%

 

[-OZ-]

Yesterday, we had a zoom call with our FA and he confirmed that, just with a preliminary look, we could handle a withdrawal rate of 3.5% - 4% and our account would still probably grow.

Is he running a Monte Carlo type simulation for you? This is going to happen with most scenarios just because a prolonged period of asset declines is rare.

No, this was our first discussion with him about it and we're still about a year off from when she might retire because of her company kind of winding down. I've run Monte Carlo sims multiple times and variations to come to the same conclusion. He was just saying that our expected annual expenses allow a comfortable withdrawal rate of like 3.5% - 4%. Our 12 year annual average with them is around 6.7%

4% is quite conservative. Prudent, but you most likely end up with more than you started.
I’ve said it before but we’re going with over 6% for the decade or more before claiming SS.

 

[jamny]

Yesterday, we had a zoom call with our FA and he confirmed that, just with a preliminary look, we could handle a withdrawal rate of 3.5% - 4% and our account would still probably grow.

Is he running a Monte Carlo type simulation for you? This is going to happen with most scenarios just because a prolonged period of asset declines is rare.

No, this was our first discussion with him about it and we're still about a year off from when she might retire because of her company kind of winding down. I've run Monte Carlo sims multiple times and variations to come to the same conclusion. He was just saying that our expected annual expenses allow a comfortable withdrawal rate of like 3.5% - 4%. Our 12 year annual average with them is around 6.7%

4% is quite conservative. Prudent, but you most likely end up with more than you started.
I’ve said it before but we’re going with over 6% for the decade or more before claiming SS.

Oh I know that and definitely plan on taking more, being somewhat in the Die With Zero camp. This is just breaking the ice with the wife and getting her to think along those lines eventually. Baby steps.

 

[Instinctive]

Homeowners insurance bill time. Anyone not keep it? Retired no mortgage.

I would never go without homeowner insurance. To me that wouldn’t be smart. The home is most people’s biggest investment. You have to protect it. What if it burned to the ground? What if some other catastrophe happens to the house? Don’t ever consider going without homeowners insurance. It’s not an option.

Totally depends.

The insurance companies aren't just lighting money on fire. So it depends how you retired, what's your cost to rebuild, and therefore how capable are you to self-insure.

What if some catastrophe happens? Well, you would have to deal with rebuilding it. Which means you weigh the chance of catastrophe (and the minor stuff, like maybe your laundry machine leaks and floods a room, or a tree crushes a section of fence) with the returns on the money if you kept it in the market vs paying an insurer against your ability to cover those costs.

Generally speaking, it is probably the right move for most people (especially if the home is your biggest investment), because that risk, though very small, is highly damaging and you probably can't self insure.

But there are absolutely situations where I wouldn't do it. I think full reconstruction and replacement of personal items in our home would probably run us $750k. If I owned it free and clear, vs being required to have insurance by the mortgage, I'd be strongly considering keeping that money invested instead. I have enough in investments that I could build a new house. It would suck, but I think the expected value of the insurance payments (from the last 5 years where there's never been a claim into the future where I don't see claims as likely given our location, climate, etc) being invested against the cost of issues is in favor of self-insuring.

 

[JohnnyU]

Yesterday, we had a zoom call with our FA and he confirmed that, just with a preliminary look, we could handle a withdrawal rate of 3.5% - 4% and our account would still probably grow.

Is he running a Monte Carlo type simulation for you? This is going to happen with most scenarios just because a prolonged period of asset declines is rare.

No, this was our first discussion with him about it and we're still about a year off from when she might retire because of her company kind of winding down. I've run Monte Carlo sims multiple times and variations to come to the same conclusion. He was just saying that our expected annual expenses allow a comfortable withdrawal rate of like 3.5% - 4%. Our 12 year annual average with them is around 6.7%

4% is quite conservative. Prudent, but you most likely end up with more than you started.
I’ve said it before but we’re going with over 6% for the decade or more before claiming SS.

Oh I know that and definitely plan on taking more, being somewhat in the Die With Zero camp. This is just breaking the ice with the wife and getting her to think along those lines eventually. Baby steps.

I used to joke with my wife saying, “ I want to exit this world exactly how I came into it, broke naked and drooling on myself “.

 

[JohnnyU]

Homeowners insurance bill time. Anyone not keep it? Retired no mortgage.

I would never go without homeowner insurance. To me that wouldn’t be smart. The home is most people’s biggest investment. You have to protect it. What if it burned to the ground? What if some other catastrophe happens to the house? Don’t ever consider going without homeowners insurance. It’s not an option.

Totally depends.

The insurance companies aren't just lighting money on fire. So it depends how you retired, what's your cost to rebuild, and therefore how capable are you to self-insure.

What if some catastrophe happens? Well, you would have to deal with rebuilding it. Which means you weigh the chance of catastrophe (and the minor stuff, like maybe your laundry machine leaks and floods a room, or a tree crushes a section of fence) with the returns on the money if you kept it in the market vs paying an insurer against your ability to cover those costs.

Generally speaking, it is probably the right move for most people (especially if the home is your biggest investment), because that risk, though very small, is highly damaging and you probably can't self insure.

But there are absolutely situations where I wouldn't do it. I think full reconstruction and replacement of personal items in our home would probably run us $750k. If I owned it free and clear, vs being required to have insurance by the mortgage, I'd be strongly considering keeping that money invested instead. I have enough in investments that I could build a new house. It would suck, but I think the expected value of the insurance payments (from the last 5 years where there's never been a claim into the future where I don't see claims as likely given our location, climate, etc) being invested against the cost of issues is in favor of self-insuring.

For me personally it would be foolish and irresponsible to not have homeowners insurance. But each to their own.

 

[Mookie]

My wife has remained somewhat pessimistic about my retirement thoughts. She's old fashioned, thinking that you save as much as you can and retire at 65. But a couple of weeks ago she ran into someone from her gym that she hadn't seen in a while. When she asked him where he's been, he told her that he retired. She asked how old he is and he said 55, a year older than her. I could see in her face when she told me that it might have finally clicked with her. Yesterday, we had a zoom call with our FA and he confirmed that, just with a preliminary look, we could handle a withdrawal rate of 3.5% - 4% and our account would still probably grow. And that's without even adding in that she'd probably take some kind of part time bookkeeping job to stay busy. She's definitely rethinking things now.

Sometimes it's better not to push an opinion too hard and let the person discover something for themselves.

I know this all too well. My wife seems to think retirement is a precursor to death, and that I am going to turn into a perpetually drunken slob who sits around eating Cheetos and bacon all day. When I tell her that i will be far more active and healthy, and that sitting at my desk 40 hours a week is killing me, she doesn't acknowledge that. As for money, we have WAY more than we need to retire (we've had THREE FAs tell us that), and have no debt, yet she thinks the market is going to crash and we will have nothing (even though we have a large emergency fund). She also thinks paying health insurance for the 6 years until Medicare is going to force us into bankruptcy.

Needless to say, she has trouble with change. I'm moving ahead without her and she is slowly understanding that this is going to happen next spring whether she likes it or not - I just wish we could be excited together. Counseling could be in our future.

 

[fruity pebbles]

Homeowners insurance bill time. Anyone not keep it? Retired no mortgage.

I think I’d keep it but I’d make it catastrophic insurance. Raise the deductible as high as it’ll go.

 

[Instinctive]

Homeowners insurance bill time. Anyone not keep it? Retired no mortgage.

I would never go without homeowner insurance. To me that wouldn’t be smart. The home is most people’s biggest investment. You have to protect it. What if it burned to the ground? What if some other catastrophe happens to the house? Don’t ever consider going without homeowners insurance. It’s not an option.

Totally depends.

The insurance companies aren't just lighting money on fire. So it depends how you retired, what's your cost to rebuild, and therefore how capable are you to self-insure.

What if some catastrophe happens? Well, you would have to deal with rebuilding it. Which means you weigh the chance of catastrophe (and the minor stuff, like maybe your laundry machine leaks and floods a room, or a tree crushes a section of fence) with the returns on the money if you kept it in the market vs paying an insurer against your ability to cover those costs.

Generally speaking, it is probably the right move for most people (especially if the home is your biggest investment), because that risk, though very small, is highly damaging and you probably can't self insure.

But there are absolutely situations where I wouldn't do it. I think full reconstruction and replacement of personal items in our home would probably run us $750k. If I owned it free and clear, vs being required to have insurance by the mortgage, I'd be strongly considering keeping that money invested instead. I have enough in investments that I could build a new house. It would suck, but I think the expected value of the insurance payments (from the last 5 years where there's never been a claim into the future where I don't see claims as likely given our location, climate, etc) being invested against the cost of issues is in favor of self-insuring.

For me personally it would be foolish and irresponsible to not have homeowners insurance. But each to their own.

It might be for you! That's my point. If you can't easily cover the cost of the home, and/or the chance of a catastrophe is high, that's part of the equation. My issue was with the (lack of) logic behind "Don't ever consider going without homeowners insurance. It's not an option." That's a remarkably wrong statement phrased very forcefully.

For example, I have about 3x the cost to totally rebuild and rebuy all our home and everything in it between savings and brokerage accounts. That would hurt. In an imaginary world where I already owned it outright, I think I might lean to still have insurance, but at somewhere between 5x and 10x the cost of replacement, I'd probably drop the insurance. I live where flooding isn't an issue, there are no trees to fall on the house, not in a wildfire area, low crime, brand new house with another 20+ years left on the foundation warranty, etc. The chance of the worst happening is incredibly low. So my expected value is higher to invest the money, for sure. Then it's about risk tolerance - I think it's too big a setback at 2-3x the value...but as that % of my NW cost goes down, then I can tolerate the risk more and make the mathematically right decision.

Now let's look at my parents. They have 20x their home value in savings and brokerages...but they also live in a wildfire risk area. So they can and should carry home insurance because even though they could more easily replace everything than me, their chances of catastrophe are WAY higher. WAAAAYYYYYY higher. Like people in their neighborhood have had damage from wildfires before. Or from avalanche. Or erosion. Or all sorts of crap that happens living out in the boonies. Whereas if their house was in some Dallas suburb, no way they'd be paying insurance on a house owned free and clear.


I'm not trying to convince you to go without it, don't take that to be my meaning please. But to act like it's a silly thing to consider and not even an option is bad advice to anyone with the income and intelligence and forethought to be posting on FBGs about retiring early.


ETA: I would probably have some form of umbrella/liability insurance, which should be MUCH cheaper and cover other people doing stupid **** that you could conceivably be liable for, say if your sidewalk was icy or something.

 

[JohnnyU]

Homeowners insurance bill time. Anyone not keep it? Retired no mortgage.

I would never go without homeowner insurance. To me that wouldn’t be smart. The home is most people’s biggest investment. You have to protect it. What if it burned to the ground? What if some other catastrophe happens to the house? Don’t ever consider going without homeowners insurance. It’s not an option.

Totally depends.

The insurance companies aren't just lighting money on fire. So it depends how you retired, what's your cost to rebuild, and therefore how capable are you to self-insure.

What if some catastrophe happens? Well, you would have to deal with rebuilding it. Which means you weigh the chance of catastrophe (and the minor stuff, like maybe your laundry machine leaks and floods a room, or a tree crushes a section of fence) with the returns on the money if you kept it in the market vs paying an insurer against your ability to cover those costs.

Generally speaking, it is probably the right move for most people (especially if the home is your biggest investment), because that risk, though very small, is highly damaging and you probably can't self insure.

But there are absolutely situations where I wouldn't do it. I think full reconstruction and replacement of personal items in our home would probably run us $750k. If I owned it free and clear, vs being required to have insurance by the mortgage, I'd be strongly considering keeping that money invested instead. I have enough in investments that I could build a new house. It would suck, but I think the expected value of the insurance payments (from the last 5 years where there's never been a claim into the future where I don't see claims as likely given our location, climate, etc) being invested against the cost of issues is in favor of self-insuring.

For me personally it would be foolish and irresponsible to not have homeowners insurance. But each to their own.

It might be for you! That's my point. If you can't easily cover the cost of the home, and/or the chance of a catastrophe is high, that's part of the equation. My issue was with the (lack of) logic behind "Don't ever consider going without homeowners insurance. It's not an option." That's a remarkably wrong statement phrased very forcefully.

For example, I have about 3x the cost to totally rebuild and rebuy all our home and everything in it between savings and brokerage accounts. That would hurt. In an imaginary world where I already owned it outright, I think I might lean to still have insurance, but at somewhere between 5x and 10x the cost of replacement, I'd probably drop the insurance. I live where flooding isn't an issue, there are no trees to fall on the house, not in a wildfire area, low crime, brand new house with another 20+ years left on the foundation warranty, etc. The chance of the worst happening is incredibly low. So my expected value is higher to invest the money, for sure. Then it's about risk tolerance - I think it's too big a setback at 2-3x the value...but as that % of my NW cost goes down, then I can tolerate the risk more and make the mathematically right decision.

Now let's look at my parents. They have 20x their home value in savings and brokerages...but they also live in a wildfire risk area. So they can and should carry home insurance because even though they could more easily replace everything than me, their chances of catastrophe are WAY higher. WAAAAYYYYYY higher. Like people in their neighborhood have had damage from wildfires before. Or from avalanche. Or erosion. Or all sorts of crap that happens living out in the boonies. Whereas if their house was in some Dallas suburb, no way they'd be paying insurance on a house owned free and clear.


I'm not trying to convince you to go without it, don't take that to be my meaning please. But to act like it's a silly thing to consider and not even an option is bad advice to anyone with the income and intelligence and forethought to be posting on FBGs about retiring early.


ETA: I would probably have some form of umbrella/liability insurance, which should be MUCH cheaper and cover other people doing stupid **** that you could conceivably be liable for, say if your sidewalk was icy or something.

Yes, not a great choice of words with “ not an option “, but I would think with most people it isn’t an option in the sense it is too risky not to have homeowners insurance. That’s what common sense tells me, and I think that applies to more people than it doesn’t. Sure, there are exceptions.

 

[AAABatteries]

My wife has remained somewhat pessimistic about my retirement thoughts. She's old fashioned, thinking that you save as much as you can and retire at 65. But a couple of weeks ago she ran into someone from her gym that she hadn't seen in a while. When she asked him where he's been, he told her that he retired. She asked how old he is and he said 55, a year older than her. I could see in her face when she told me that it might have finally clicked with her. Yesterday, we had a zoom call with our FA and he confirmed that, just with a preliminary look, we could handle a withdrawal rate of 3.5% - 4% and our account would still probably grow. And that's without even adding in that she'd probably take some kind of part time bookkeeping job to stay busy. She's definitely rethinking things now.

Sometimes it's better not to push an opinion too hard and let the person discover something for themselves.

I know this all too well. My wife seems to think retirement is a precursor to death, and that I am going to turn into a perpetually drunken slob who sits around eating Cheetos and bacon all day. When I tell her that i will be far more active and healthy, and that sitting at my desk 40 hours a week is killing me, she doesn't acknowledge that. As for money, we have WAY more than we need to retire (we've had THREE FAs tell us that), and have no debt, yet she thinks the market is going to crash and we will have nothing (even though we have a large emergency fund). She also thinks paying health insurance for the 6 years until Medicare is going to force us into bankruptcy.

Needless to say, she has trouble with change. I'm moving ahead without her and she is slowly understanding that this is going to happen next spring whether she likes it or not - I just wish we could be excited together. Counseling could be in our future.

Wow, that sucks and honestly never considered that my wife might feel this way. I have a ways to go but honestly I completely relate to your position - I expect to be healthier and happier once I'm able to retire. Knock on wood.

 

[JohnnyU]

My wife has remained somewhat pessimistic about my retirement thoughts. She's old fashioned, thinking that you save as much as you can and retire at 65. But a couple of weeks ago she ran into someone from her gym that she hadn't seen in a while. When she asked him where he's been, he told her that he retired. She asked how old he is and he said 55, a year older than her. I could see in her face when she told me that it might have finally clicked with her. Yesterday, we had a zoom call with our FA and he confirmed that, just with a preliminary look, we could handle a withdrawal rate of 3.5% - 4% and our account would still probably grow. And that's without even adding in that she'd probably take some kind of part time bookkeeping job to stay busy. She's definitely rethinking things now.

Sometimes it's better not to push an opinion too hard and let the person discover something for themselves.

I know this all too well. My wife seems to think retirement is a precursor to death, and that I am going to turn into a perpetually drunken slob who sits around eating Cheetos and bacon all day. When I tell her that i will be far more active and healthy, and that sitting at my desk 40 hours a week is killing me, she doesn't acknowledge that. As for money, we have WAY more than we need to retire (we've had THREE FAs tell us that), and have no debt, yet she thinks the market is going to crash and we will have nothing (even though we have a large emergency fund). She also thinks paying health insurance for the 6 years until Medicare is going to force us into bankruptcy.

Needless to say, she has trouble with change. I'm moving ahead without her and she is slowly understanding that this is going to happen next spring whether she likes it or not - I just wish we could be excited together. Counseling could be in our future.

For a lot of people, having to shell out huge sums for healthcare for 6 years before Medicare is worrisome. If you’re loaded and can absorb that, then what’s her problem? Or are you underplaying the financial burden paying for your own health insurance until Medicare kicks in?

 

[Mookie]

My wife has remained somewhat pessimistic about my retirement thoughts. She's old fashioned, thinking that you save as much as you can and retire at 65. But a couple of weeks ago she ran into someone from her gym that she hadn't seen in a while. When she asked him where he's been, he told her that he retired. She asked how old he is and he said 55, a year older than her. I could see in her face when she told me that it might have finally clicked with her. Yesterday, we had a zoom call with our FA and he confirmed that, just with a preliminary look, we could handle a withdrawal rate of 3.5% - 4% and our account would still probably grow. And that's without even adding in that she'd probably take some kind of part time bookkeeping job to stay busy. She's definitely rethinking things now.

Sometimes it's better not to push an opinion too hard and let the person discover something for themselves.

I know this all too well. My wife seems to think retirement is a precursor to death, and that I am going to turn into a perpetually drunken slob who sits around eating Cheetos and bacon all day. When I tell her that i will be far more active and healthy, and that sitting at my desk 40 hours a week is killing me, she doesn't acknowledge that. As for money, we have WAY more than we need to retire (we've had THREE FAs tell us that), and have no debt, yet she thinks the market is going to crash and we will have nothing (even though we have a large emergency fund). She also thinks paying health insurance for the 6 years until Medicare is going to force us into bankruptcy.

Needless to say, she has trouble with change. I'm moving ahead without her and she is slowly understanding that this is going to happen next spring whether she likes it or not - I just wish we could be excited together. Counseling could be in our future.

For a lot of people, having to shell out huge sums for healthcare for 6 years before Medicare is worrisome. If you’re loaded and can absorb that, then what’s her problem? Or are you underplaying the financial burden paying for your own health insurance until Medicare kicks in?

We are by no means "loaded", but we have enough to easily cover health insurance for 6 years. I think the issues for her are (1) change - she doesn't come to decisions easily; and (2) moving out of the accumulation phase into a spending phase is scary even though our conservative spend rate will be less than 2% thanks to my pension.

My father died 6 months after being forced into early retirement at 55 by cancer. I am now 58, and have been miserable in my job for years. Life is too short to continue working if you don't have or want to. I need a break.

 

[JohnnyU]

My wife has remained somewhat pessimistic about my retirement thoughts. She's old fashioned, thinking that you save as much as you can and retire at 65. But a couple of weeks ago she ran into someone from her gym that she hadn't seen in a while. When she asked him where he's been, he told her that he retired. She asked how old he is and he said 55, a year older than her. I could see in her face when she told me that it might have finally clicked with her. Yesterday, we had a zoom call with our FA and he confirmed that, just with a preliminary look, we could handle a withdrawal rate of 3.5% - 4% and our account would still probably grow. And that's without even adding in that she'd probably take some kind of part time bookkeeping job to stay busy. She's definitely rethinking things now.

Sometimes it's better not to push an opinion too hard and let the person discover something for themselves.

I know this all too well. My wife seems to think retirement is a precursor to death, and that I am going to turn into a perpetually drunken slob who sits around eating Cheetos and bacon all day. When I tell her that i will be far more active and healthy, and that sitting at my desk 40 hours a week is killing me, she doesn't acknowledge that. As for money, we have WAY more than we need to retire (we've had THREE FAs tell us that), and have no debt, yet she thinks the market is going to crash and we will have nothing (even though we have a large emergency fund). She also thinks paying health insurance for the 6 years until Medicare is going to force us into bankruptcy.

Needless to say, she has trouble with change. I'm moving ahead without her and she is slowly understanding that this is going to happen next spring whether she likes it or not - I just wish we could be excited together. Counseling could be in our future.

For a lot of people, having to shell out huge sums for healthcare for 6 years before Medicare is worrisome. If you’re loaded and can absorb that, then what’s her problem? Or are you underplaying the financial burden paying for your own health insurance until Medicare kicks in?

We are by no means "loaded", but we have enough to easily cover health insurance for 6 years. I think the issues for her are (1) change - she doesn't come to decisions easily; and (2) moving out of the accumulation phase into a spending phase is scary even though our conservative spend rate will be less than 2% thanks to my pension.

My father died 6 months after being forced into early retirement at 55 by cancer. I am now 58, and have been miserable in my job for years. Life is too short to continue working if you don't have or want to. I need a break.

Remember, an emergency fund could be needed for something other than health insurance. I’m guessing good health insurance would cost around $2,000 a month for both of you, possibly more. That’s 24K a year for the 6 years you don’t have Medicare. If you can absorb that and any other unexpected expected expenses the next six years, then good for you.

Not to mention not being eligible for early Social Security for 4 years and not full SS for 9 years.

I personally didn’t feel comfortable retiring until I was eligible for Medicare and social security and I also have a sizable pension, 403B, and sizable savings. I also don’t have any debt other than what’s left on our mortgage (100k). But that’s just me. I’ll wait until April 2026 to get full SS. Everyone’s situation is different. Good luck, I hope it all works out for you.

 

[-OZ-]

perpetually drunken slob who sits around eating Cheetos and bacon all day.

I mean, maybe

I’ve had similar conversations and my wife has similar financial concerns. Her concerns with me is that I’ll constantly be on my bike or running, doing many races of a wide variety, that I’ll want to travel too much while our kids are in school. It doesn’t help that I actually like my job enough and would rather work a few extra years if it means buying a lake house.

 

[matttyl]

My wife has remained somewhat pessimistic about my retirement thoughts. She's old fashioned, thinking that you save as much as you can and retire at 65. But a couple of weeks ago she ran into someone from her gym that she hadn't seen in a while. When she asked him where he's been, he told her that he retired. She asked how old he is and he said 55, a year older than her. I could see in her face when she told me that it might have finally clicked with her. Yesterday, we had a zoom call with our FA and he confirmed that, just with a preliminary look, we could handle a withdrawal rate of 3.5% - 4% and our account would still probably grow. And that's without even adding in that she'd probably take some kind of part time bookkeeping job to stay busy. She's definitely rethinking things now.

Sometimes it's better not to push an opinion too hard and let the person discover something for themselves.

I know this all too well. My wife seems to think retirement is a precursor to death, and that I am going to turn into a perpetually drunken slob who sits around eating Cheetos and bacon all day. When I tell her that i will be far more active and healthy, and that sitting at my desk 40 hours a week is killing me, she doesn't acknowledge that. As for money, we have WAY more than we need to retire (we've had THREE FAs tell us that), and have no debt, yet she thinks the market is going to crash and we will have nothing (even though we have a large emergency fund). She also thinks paying health insurance for the 6 years until Medicare is going to force us into bankruptcy.

Needless to say, she has trouble with change. I'm moving ahead without her and she is slowly understanding that this is going to happen next spring whether she likes it or not - I just wish we could be excited together. Counseling could be in our future.

For a lot of people, having to shell out huge sums for healthcare for 6 years before Medicare is worrisome. If you’re loaded and can absorb that, then what’s her problem? Or are you underplaying the financial burden paying for your own health insurance until Medicare kicks in?

We are by no means "loaded", but we have enough to easily cover health insurance for 6 years. I think the issues for her are (1) change - she doesn't come to decisions easily; and (2) moving out of the accumulation phase into a spending phase is scary even though our conservative spend rate will be less than 2% thanks to my pension.

My father died 6 months after being forced into early retirement at 55 by cancer. I am now 58, and have been miserable in my job for years. Life is too short to continue working if you don't have or want to. I need a break.

My FIL was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer within a year or so of his retirement (and passed away 4 months later. My own father was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer (stage 4 as it had metastasized to his lungs - but that was nearly 2 years ago and he’s doing pretty well all things considered). If you’re not happy working, and have the ability to - stop.

 

[matttyl]

My wife has remained somewhat pessimistic about my retirement thoughts. She's old fashioned, thinking that you save as much as you can and retire at 65. But a couple of weeks ago she ran into someone from her gym that she hadn't seen in a while. When she asked him where he's been, he told her that he retired. She asked how old he is and he said 55, a year older than her. I could see in her face when she told me that it might have finally clicked with her. Yesterday, we had a zoom call with our FA and he confirmed that, just with a preliminary look, we could handle a withdrawal rate of 3.5% - 4% and our account would still probably grow. And that's without even adding in that she'd probably take some kind of part time bookkeeping job to stay busy. She's definitely rethinking things now.

Sometimes it's better not to push an opinion too hard and let the person discover something for themselves.

I know this all too well. My wife seems to think retirement is a precursor to death, and that I am going to turn into a perpetually drunken slob who sits around eating Cheetos and bacon all day. When I tell her that i will be far more active and healthy, and that sitting at my desk 40 hours a week is killing me, she doesn't acknowledge that. As for money, we have WAY more than we need to retire (we've had THREE FAs tell us that), and have no debt, yet she thinks the market is going to crash and we will have nothing (even though we have a large emergency fund). She also thinks paying health insurance for the 6 years until Medicare is going to force us into bankruptcy.

Needless to say, she has trouble with change. I'm moving ahead without her and she is slowly understanding that this is going to happen next spring whether she likes it or not - I just wish we could be excited together. Counseling could be in our future.

For a lot of people, having to shell out huge sums for healthcare for 6 years before Medicare is worrisome. If you’re loaded and can absorb that, then what’s her problem? Or are you underplaying the financial burden paying for your own health insurance until Medicare kicks in?

We are by no means "loaded", but we have enough to easily cover health insurance for 6 years. I think the issues for her are (1) change - she doesn't come to decisions easily; and (2) moving out of the accumulation phase into a spending phase is scary even though our conservative spend rate will be less than 2% thanks to my pension.

My father died 6 months after being forced into early retirement at 55 by cancer. I am now 58, and have been miserable in my job for years. Life is too short to continue working if you don't have or want to. I need a break.

Remember, an emergency fund could be needed for something other than health insurance. I’m guessing good health insurance would cost around $2,000 a month for both of you, possibly more. That’s 24K a year for the 6 years you don’t have Medicare. If you can absorb that and any other unexpected expected expenses the next six years, then good for you.

Not to mention not being eligible for early Social Security for 4 years and not full SS for 9 years.

I personally didn’t feel comfortable retiring until I was eligible for Medicare and social security and I also have a sizable pension, 403B, and sizable savings. I also don’t have any debt other than what’s left on our mortgage (100k). But that’s just me. I’ll wait until April 2026 to get full SS. Everyone’s situation is different. Good luck, I hope it all works out for you.

If you can manipulate your income (your taxable income) those years, health insurance can be far less than that.

 

[JohnnyU]

My wife has remained somewhat pessimistic about my retirement thoughts. She's old fashioned, thinking that you save as much as you can and retire at 65. But a couple of weeks ago she ran into someone from her gym that she hadn't seen in a while. When she asked him where he's been, he told her that he retired. She asked how old he is and he said 55, a year older than her. I could see in her face when she told me that it might have finally clicked with her. Yesterday, we had a zoom call with our FA and he confirmed that, just with a preliminary look, we could handle a withdrawal rate of 3.5% - 4% and our account would still probably grow. And that's without even adding in that she'd probably take some kind of part time bookkeeping job to stay busy. She's definitely rethinking things now.

Sometimes it's better not to push an opinion too hard and let the person discover something for themselves.

I know this all too well. My wife seems to think retirement is a precursor to death, and that I am going to turn into a perpetually drunken slob who sits around eating Cheetos and bacon all day. When I tell her that i will be far more active and healthy, and that sitting at my desk 40 hours a week is killing me, she doesn't acknowledge that. As for money, we have WAY more than we need to retire (we've had THREE FAs tell us that), and have no debt, yet she thinks the market is going to crash and we will have nothing (even though we have a large emergency fund). She also thinks paying health insurance for the 6 years until Medicare is going to force us into bankruptcy.

Needless to say, she has trouble with change. I'm moving ahead without her and she is slowly understanding that this is going to happen next spring whether she likes it or not - I just wish we could be excited together. Counseling could be in our future.

For a lot of people, having to shell out huge sums for healthcare for 6 years before Medicare is worrisome. If you’re loaded and can absorb that, then what’s her problem? Or are you underplaying the financial burden paying for your own health insurance until Medicare kicks in?

We are by no means "loaded", but we have enough to easily cover health insurance for 6 years. I think the issues for her are (1) change - she doesn't come to decisions easily; and (2) moving out of the accumulation phase into a spending phase is scary even though our conservative spend rate will be less than 2% thanks to my pension.

My father died 6 months after being forced into early retirement at 55 by cancer. I am now 58, and have been miserable in my job for years. Life is too short to continue working if you don't have or want to. I need a break.

Remember, an emergency fund could be needed for something other than health insurance. I’m guessing good health insurance would cost around $2,000 a month for both of you, possibly more. That’s 24K a year for the 6 years you don’t have Medicare. If you can absorb that and any other unexpected expected expenses the next six years, then good for you.

Not to mention not being eligible for early Social Security for 4 years and not full SS for 9 years.

I personally didn’t feel comfortable retiring until I was eligible for Medicare and social security and I also have a sizable pension, 403B, and sizable savings. I also don’t have any debt other than what’s left on our mortgage (100k). But that’s just me. I’ll wait until April 2026 to get full SS. Everyone’s situation is different. Good luck, I hope it all works out for you.

If you can manipulate your income (your taxable income) those years, health insurance can be far less than that.

How is your health insurance manipulated to be less? Isn’t it what it is? Without Medicare it will be a lot more. Anywhere from 2K to 2.5K per month for both of them. I suppose some people younger may roll the dice and do without, but that seems risky to me. Especially someone in their late 50s. But if paying for healthcare before Medicare eligible is not a financial issue, then great.

 

[jamny]

My wife has remained somewhat pessimistic about my retirement thoughts. She's old fashioned, thinking that you save as much as you can and retire at 65. But a couple of weeks ago she ran into someone from her gym that she hadn't seen in a while. When she asked him where he's been, he told her that he retired. She asked how old he is and he said 55, a year older than her. I could see in her face when she told me that it might have finally clicked with her. Yesterday, we had a zoom call with our FA and he confirmed that, just with a preliminary look, we could handle a withdrawal rate of 3.5% - 4% and our account would still probably grow. And that's without even adding in that she'd probably take some kind of part time bookkeeping job to stay busy. She's definitely rethinking things now.

Sometimes it's better not to push an opinion too hard and let the person discover something for themselves.

I know this all too well. My wife seems to think retirement is a precursor to death, and that I am going to turn into a perpetually drunken slob who sits around eating Cheetos and bacon all day. When I tell her that i will be far more active and healthy, and that sitting at my desk 40 hours a week is killing me, she doesn't acknowledge that. As for money, we have WAY more than we need to retire (we've had THREE FAs tell us that), and have no debt, yet she thinks the market is going to crash and we will have nothing (even though we have a large emergency fund). She also thinks paying health insurance for the 6 years until Medicare is going to force us into bankruptcy.

Needless to say, she has trouble with change. I'm moving ahead without her and she is slowly understanding that this is going to happen next spring whether she likes it or not - I just wish we could be excited together. Counseling could be in our future.

For a lot of people, having to shell out huge sums for healthcare for 6 years before Medicare is worrisome. If you’re loaded and can absorb that, then what’s her problem? Or are you underplaying the financial burden paying for your own health insurance until Medicare kicks in?

We are by no means "loaded", but we have enough to easily cover health insurance for 6 years. I think the issues for her are (1) change - she doesn't come to decisions easily; and (2) moving out of the accumulation phase into a spending phase is scary even though our conservative spend rate will be less than 2% thanks to my pension.

My father died 6 months after being forced into early retirement at 55 by cancer. I am now 58, and have been miserable in my job for years. Life is too short to continue working if you don't have or want to. I need a break.

Remember, an emergency fund could be needed for something other than health insurance. I’m guessing good health insurance would cost around $2,000 a month for both of you, possibly more. That’s 24K a year for the 6 years you don’t have Medicare. If you can absorb that and any other unexpected expected expenses the next six years, then good for you.

Not to mention not being eligible for early Social Security for 4 years and not full SS for 9 years.

I personally didn’t feel comfortable retiring until I was eligible for Medicare and social security and I also have a sizable pension, 403B, and sizable savings. I also don’t have any debt other than what’s left on our mortgage (100k). But that’s just me. I’ll wait until April 2026 to get full SS. Everyone’s situation is different. Good luck, I hope it all works out for you.

If you can manipulate your income (your taxable income) those years, health insurance can be far less than that.

How is your health insurance manipulated to be less? Isn’t it what it is? Without Medicare it will be a lot more. Anywhere from 2K to 2.5K per month for both of them. I suppose some people younger may roll the dice and do without, but that seems risky to me. Especially someone in their late 50s. But if that’s not a financial issue, then great.

I assumed he's talking about managing your income to get the best ACA subsidies possible until you get to Medicare.

 

[JohnnyU]

My wife has remained somewhat pessimistic about my retirement thoughts. She's old fashioned, thinking that you save as much as you can and retire at 65. But a couple of weeks ago she ran into someone from her gym that she hadn't seen in a while. When she asked him where he's been, he told her that he retired. She asked how old he is and he said 55, a year older than her. I could see in her face when she told me that it might have finally clicked with her. Yesterday, we had a zoom call with our FA and he confirmed that, just with a preliminary look, we could handle a withdrawal rate of 3.5% - 4% and our account would still probably grow. And that's without even adding in that she'd probably take some kind of part time bookkeeping job to stay busy. She's definitely rethinking things now.

Sometimes it's better not to push an opinion too hard and let the person discover something for themselves.

I know this all too well. My wife seems to think retirement is a precursor to death, and that I am going to turn into a perpetually drunken slob who sits around eating Cheetos and bacon all day. When I tell her that i will be far more active and healthy, and that sitting at my desk 40 hours a week is killing me, she doesn't acknowledge that. As for money, we have WAY more than we need to retire (we've had THREE FAs tell us that), and have no debt, yet she thinks the market is going to crash and we will have nothing (even though we have a large emergency fund). She also thinks paying health insurance for the 6 years until Medicare is going to force us into bankruptcy.

Needless to say, she has trouble with change. I'm moving ahead without her and she is slowly understanding that this is going to happen next spring whether she likes it or not - I just wish we could be excited together. Counseling could be in our future.

For a lot of people, having to shell out huge sums for healthcare for 6 years before Medicare is worrisome. If you’re loaded and can absorb that, then what’s her problem? Or are you underplaying the financial burden paying for your own health insurance until Medicare kicks in?

We are by no means "loaded", but we have enough to easily cover health insurance for 6 years. I think the issues for her are (1) change - she doesn't come to decisions easily; and (2) moving out of the accumulation phase into a spending phase is scary even though our conservative spend rate will be less than 2% thanks to my pension.

My father died 6 months after being forced into early retirement at 55 by cancer. I am now 58, and have been miserable in my job for years. Life is too short to continue working if you don't have or want to. I need a break.

Remember, an emergency fund could be needed for something other than health insurance. I’m guessing good health insurance would cost around $2,000 a month for both of you, possibly more. That’s 24K a year for the 6 years you don’t have Medicare. If you can absorb that and any other unexpected expected expenses the next six years, then good for you.

Not to mention not being eligible for early Social Security for 4 years and not full SS for 9 years.

I personally didn’t feel comfortable retiring until I was eligible for Medicare and social security and I also have a sizable pension, 403B, and sizable savings. I also don’t have any debt other than what’s left on our mortgage (100k). But that’s just me. I’ll wait until April 2026 to get full SS. Everyone’s situation is different. Good luck, I hope it all works out for you.

If you can manipulate your income (your taxable income) those years, health insurance can be far less than that.

How is your health insurance manipulated to be less? Isn’t it what it is? Without Medicare it will be a lot more. Anywhere from 2K to 2.5K per month for both of them. I suppose some people younger may roll the dice and do without, but that seems risky to me. Especially someone in their late 50s. But if that’s not a financial issue, then great.

I assumed he's talking about managing your income to get the best ACA subsidies possible until you get to Medicare.

Like I said, everyone is different and what someone is comfortable with may not be so comfortable to others.

 

[jamny]

My wife has remained somewhat pessimistic about my retirement thoughts. She's old fashioned, thinking that you save as much as you can and retire at 65. But a couple of weeks ago she ran into someone from her gym that she hadn't seen in a while. When she asked him where he's been, he told her that he retired. She asked how old he is and he said 55, a year older than her. I could see in her face when she told me that it might have finally clicked with her. Yesterday, we had a zoom call with our FA and he confirmed that, just with a preliminary look, we could handle a withdrawal rate of 3.5% - 4% and our account would still probably grow. And that's without even adding in that she'd probably take some kind of part time bookkeeping job to stay busy. She's definitely rethinking things now.

Sometimes it's better not to push an opinion too hard and let the person discover something for themselves.

I know this all too well. My wife seems to think retirement is a precursor to death, and that I am going to turn into a perpetually drunken slob who sits around eating Cheetos and bacon all day. When I tell her that i will be far more active and healthy, and that sitting at my desk 40 hours a week is killing me, she doesn't acknowledge that. As for money, we have WAY more than we need to retire (we've had THREE FAs tell us that), and have no debt, yet she thinks the market is going to crash and we will have nothing (even though we have a large emergency fund). She also thinks paying health insurance for the 6 years until Medicare is going to force us into bankruptcy.

Needless to say, she has trouble with change. I'm moving ahead without her and she is slowly understanding that this is going to happen next spring whether she likes it or not - I just wish we could be excited together. Counseling could be in our future.

Definitely some similarities regarding fear of a market collapse and health care costs. Thankfully, my wife has always been excited for retirement for both of us. It's just that she wasn't thinking it could be earlier that she anticipated. Another fear for her is end of life care, especially if some serious illness hits her. I'm 6 years older and while we both know anything can happen, it's far more likely that I go first. And since we don't have kids, there's an added, not unreasonable concern. We'll address that once we get closer to actual retirement though.

 

[matttyl]

My wife has remained somewhat pessimistic about my retirement thoughts. She's old fashioned, thinking that you save as much as you can and retire at 65. But a couple of weeks ago she ran into someone from her gym that she hadn't seen in a while. When she asked him where he's been, he told her that he retired. She asked how old he is and he said 55, a year older than her. I could see in her face when she told me that it might have finally clicked with her. Yesterday, we had a zoom call with our FA and he confirmed that, just with a preliminary look, we could handle a withdrawal rate of 3.5% - 4% and our account would still probably grow. And that's without even adding in that she'd probably take some kind of part time bookkeeping job to stay busy. She's definitely rethinking things now.

Sometimes it's better not to push an opinion too hard and let the person discover something for themselves.

I know this all too well. My wife seems to think retirement is a precursor to death, and that I am going to turn into a perpetually drunken slob who sits around eating Cheetos and bacon all day. When I tell her that i will be far more active and healthy, and that sitting at my desk 40 hours a week is killing me, she doesn't acknowledge that. As for money, we have WAY more than we need to retire (we've had THREE FAs tell us that), and have no debt, yet she thinks the market is going to crash and we will have nothing (even though we have a large emergency fund). She also thinks paying health insurance for the 6 years until Medicare is going to force us into bankruptcy.

Needless to say, she has trouble with change. I'm moving ahead without her and she is slowly understanding that this is going to happen next spring whether she likes it or not - I just wish we could be excited together. Counseling could be in our future.

For a lot of people, having to shell out huge sums for healthcare for 6 years before Medicare is worrisome. If you’re loaded and can absorb that, then what’s her problem? Or are you underplaying the financial burden paying for your own health insurance until Medicare kicks in?

We are by no means "loaded", but we have enough to easily cover health insurance for 6 years. I think the issues for her are (1) change - she doesn't come to decisions easily; and (2) moving out of the accumulation phase into a spending phase is scary even though our conservative spend rate will be less than 2% thanks to my pension.

My father died 6 months after being forced into early retirement at 55 by cancer. I am now 58, and have been miserable in my job for years. Life is too short to continue working if you don't have or want to. I need a break.

Remember, an emergency fund could be needed for something other than health insurance. I’m guessing good health insurance would cost around $2,000 a month for both of you, possibly more. That’s 24K a year for the 6 years you don’t have Medicare. If you can absorb that and any other unexpected expected expenses the next six years, then good for you.

Not to mention not being eligible for early Social Security for 4 years and not full SS for 9 years.

I personally didn’t feel comfortable retiring until I was eligible for Medicare and social security and I also have a sizable pension, 403B, and sizable savings. I also don’t have any debt other than what’s left on our mortgage (100k). But that’s just me. I’ll wait until April 2026 to get full SS. Everyone’s situation is different. Good luck, I hope it all works out for you.

If you can manipulate your income (your taxable income) those years, health insurance can be far less than that.

How is your health insurance manipulated to be less? Isn’t it what it is? Without Medicare it will be a lot more. Anywhere from 2K to 2.5K per month for both of them. I suppose some people younger may roll the dice and do without, but that seems risky to me. Especially someone in their late 50s. But if that’s not a financial issue, then great.

I assumed he's talking about managing your income to get the best ACA subsidies possible until you get to Medicare.

Bingo.

 

[matttyl]

My wife has remained somewhat pessimistic about my retirement thoughts. She's old fashioned, thinking that you save as much as you can and retire at 65. But a couple of weeks ago she ran into someone from her gym that she hadn't seen in a while. When she asked him where he's been, he told her that he retired. She asked how old he is and he said 55, a year older than her. I could see in her face when she told me that it might have finally clicked with her. Yesterday, we had a zoom call with our FA and he confirmed that, just with a preliminary look, we could handle a withdrawal rate of 3.5% - 4% and our account would still probably grow. And that's without even adding in that she'd probably take some kind of part time bookkeeping job to stay busy. She's definitely rethinking things now.

Sometimes it's better not to push an opinion too hard and let the person discover something for themselves.

I know this all too well. My wife seems to think retirement is a precursor to death, and that I am going to turn into a perpetually drunken slob who sits around eating Cheetos and bacon all day. When I tell her that i will be far more active and healthy, and that sitting at my desk 40 hours a week is killing me, she doesn't acknowledge that. As for money, we have WAY more than we need to retire (we've had THREE FAs tell us that), and have no debt, yet she thinks the market is going to crash and we will have nothing (even though we have a large emergency fund). She also thinks paying health insurance for the 6 years until Medicare is going to force us into bankruptcy.

Needless to say, she has trouble with change. I'm moving ahead without her and she is slowly understanding that this is going to happen next spring whether she likes it or not - I just wish we could be excited together. Counseling could be in our future.

For a lot of people, having to shell out huge sums for healthcare for 6 years before Medicare is worrisome. If you’re loaded and can absorb that, then what’s her problem? Or are you underplaying the financial burden paying for your own health insurance until Medicare kicks in?

We are by no means "loaded", but we have enough to easily cover health insurance for 6 years. I think the issues for her are (1) change - she doesn't come to decisions easily; and (2) moving out of the accumulation phase into a spending phase is scary even though our conservative spend rate will be less than 2% thanks to my pension.

My father died 6 months after being forced into early retirement at 55 by cancer. I am now 58, and have been miserable in my job for years. Life is too short to continue working if you don't have or want to. I need a break.

Remember, an emergency fund could be needed for something other than health insurance. I’m guessing good health insurance would cost around $2,000 a month for both of you, possibly more. That’s 24K a year for the 6 years you don’t have Medicare. If you can absorb that and any other unexpected expected expenses the next six years, then good for you.

Not to mention not being eligible for early Social Security for 4 years and not full SS for 9 years.

I personally didn’t feel comfortable retiring until I was eligible for Medicare and social security and I also have a sizable pension, 403B, and sizable savings. I also don’t have any debt other than what’s left on our mortgage (100k). But that’s just me. I’ll wait until April 2026 to get full SS. Everyone’s situation is different. Good luck, I hope it all works out for you.

If you can manipulate your income (your taxable income) those years, health insurance can be far less than that.

How is your health insurance manipulated to be less? Isn’t it what it is? Without Medicare it will be a lot more. Anywhere from 2K to 2.5K per month for both of them. I suppose some people younger may roll the dice and do without, but that seems risky to me. Especially someone in their late 50s. But if that’s not a financial issue, then great.

I assumed he's talking about managing your income to get the best ACA subsidies possible until you get to Medicare.

Like I said, everyone is different and what someone is comfortable with may not be so comfortable to others.

Not sure what comfort has to do with it. If a married couple can manipulate their (taxable) income from 59.5 to 65 to be about $40k - they’d be eligible (where I live in Va) for nearly 1,500 in subsidies, which could knock a monthly premium down to legitimately $0 a month for a bronze tier plan.

Maybe what you mean is that they aren’t comfortable with the options on the ACA exchanges (mainly HMOs), and I’d agree. It’s a bit of a risk, but still a very viable option.

 

[JohnnyU]

My wife has remained somewhat pessimistic about my retirement thoughts. She's old fashioned, thinking that you save as much as you can and retire at 65. But a couple of weeks ago she ran into someone from her gym that she hadn't seen in a while. When she asked him where he's been, he told her that he retired. She asked how old he is and he said 55, a year older than her. I could see in her face when she told me that it might have finally clicked with her. Yesterday, we had a zoom call with our FA and he confirmed that, just with a preliminary look, we could handle a withdrawal rate of 3.5% - 4% and our account would still probably grow. And that's without even adding in that she'd probably take some kind of part time bookkeeping job to stay busy. She's definitely rethinking things now.

Sometimes it's better not to push an opinion too hard and let the person discover something for themselves.

I know this all too well. My wife seems to think retirement is a precursor to death, and that I am going to turn into a perpetually drunken slob who sits around eating Cheetos and bacon all day. When I tell her that i will be far more active and healthy, and that sitting at my desk 40 hours a week is killing me, she doesn't acknowledge that. As for money, we have WAY more than we need to retire (we've had THREE FAs tell us that), and have no debt, yet she thinks the market is going to crash and we will have nothing (even though we have a large emergency fund). She also thinks paying health insurance for the 6 years until Medicare is going to force us into bankruptcy.

Needless to say, she has trouble with change. I'm moving ahead without her and she is slowly understanding that this is going to happen next spring whether she likes it or not - I just wish we could be excited together. Counseling could be in our future.

For a lot of people, having to shell out huge sums for healthcare for 6 years before Medicare is worrisome. If you’re loaded and can absorb that, then what’s her problem? Or are you underplaying the financial burden paying for your own health insurance until Medicare kicks in?

We are by no means "loaded", but we have enough to easily cover health insurance for 6 years. I think the issues for her are (1) change - she doesn't come to decisions easily; and (2) moving out of the accumulation phase into a spending phase is scary even though our conservative spend rate will be less than 2% thanks to my pension.

My father died 6 months after being forced into early retirement at 55 by cancer. I am now 58, and have been miserable in my job for years. Life is too short to continue working if you don't have or want to. I need a break.

Remember, an emergency fund could be needed for something other than health insurance. I’m guessing good health insurance would cost around $2,000 a month for both of you, possibly more. That’s 24K a year for the 6 years you don’t have Medicare. If you can absorb that and any other unexpected expected expenses the next six years, then good for you.

Not to mention not being eligible for early Social Security for 4 years and not full SS for 9 years.

I personally didn’t feel comfortable retiring until I was eligible for Medicare and social security and I also have a sizable pension, 403B, and sizable savings. I also don’t have any debt other than what’s left on our mortgage (100k). But that’s just me. I’ll wait until April 2026 to get full SS. Everyone’s situation is different. Good luck, I hope it all works out for you.

If you can manipulate your income (your taxable income) those years, health insurance can be far less than that.

How is your health insurance manipulated to be less? Isn’t it what it is? Without Medicare it will be a lot more. Anywhere from 2K to 2.5K per month for both of them. I suppose some people younger may roll the dice and do without, but that seems risky to me. Especially someone in their late 50s. But if that’s not a financial issue, then great.

I assumed he's talking about managing your income to get the best ACA subsidies possible until you get to Medicare.

Like I said, everyone is different and what someone is comfortable with may not be so comfortable to others.

Not sure what comfort has to do with it. If a married couple can manipulate their (taxable) income from 59.5 to 65 to be about $40k - they’d be eligible (where I live in Va) for nearly 1,500 in subsidies, which could knock a monthly premium down to legitimately $0 a month for a bronze tier plan.

Maybe what you mean is that they aren’t comfortable with the options on the ACA exchanges (mainly HMOs), and I’d agree. It’s a bit of a risk, but still a very viable option.

Health is always a risk. So whatever you’re willing to gamble on and what your desired lifestyle is compared to your disposable retirement income is. I mentioned what I was comfortable with, but that’s just me. I wanted my retirement lifestyle to be similar to my pre-retirement lifestyle before making the plunge. I’m glad it’s finally here.

 

[Peggy]

My wife has remained somewhat pessimistic about my retirement thoughts. She's old fashioned, thinking that you save as much as you can and retire at 65. But a couple of weeks ago she ran into someone from her gym that she hadn't seen in a while. When she asked him where he's been, he told her that he retired. She asked how old he is and he said 55, a year older than her. I could see in her face when she told me that it might have finally clicked with her. Yesterday, we had a zoom call with our FA and he confirmed that, just with a preliminary look, we could handle a withdrawal rate of 3.5% - 4% and our account would still probably grow. And that's without even adding in that she'd probably take some kind of part time bookkeeping job to stay busy. She's definitely rethinking things now.

Sometimes it's better not to push an opinion too hard and let the person discover something for themselves.

I know this all too well. My wife seems to think retirement is a precursor to death, and that I am going to turn into a perpetually drunken slob who sits around eating Cheetos and bacon all day. When I tell her that i will be far more active and healthy, and that sitting at my desk 40 hours a week is killing me, she doesn't acknowledge that. As for money, we have WAY more than we need to retire (we've had THREE FAs tell us that), and have no debt, yet she thinks the market is going to crash and we will have nothing (even though we have a large emergency fund). She also thinks paying health insurance for the 6 years until Medicare is going to force us into bankruptcy.

Needless to say, she has trouble with change. I'm moving ahead without her and she is slowly understanding that this is going to happen next spring whether she likes it or not - I just wish we could be excited together. Counseling could be in our future.

For a lot of people, having to shell out huge sums for healthcare for 6 years before Medicare is worrisome. If you’re loaded and can absorb that, then what’s her problem? Or are you underplaying the financial burden paying for your own health insurance until Medicare kicks in?

We are by no means "loaded", but we have enough to easily cover health insurance for 6 years. I think the issues for her are (1) change - she doesn't come to decisions easily; and (2) moving out of the accumulation phase into a spending phase is scary even though our conservative spend rate will be less than 2% thanks to my pension.

My father died 6 months after being forced into early retirement at 55 by cancer. I am now 58, and have been miserable in my job for years. Life is too short to continue working if you don't have or want to. I need a break.

Remember, an emergency fund could be needed for something other than health insurance. I’m guessing good health insurance would cost around $2,000 a month for both of you, possibly more. That’s 24K a year for the 6 years you don’t have Medicare. If you can absorb that and any other unexpected expected expenses the next six years, then good for you.

Not to mention not being eligible for early Social Security for 4 years and not full SS for 9 years.

I personally didn’t feel comfortable retiring until I was eligible for Medicare and social security and I also have a sizable pension, 403B, and sizable savings. I also don’t have any debt other than what’s left on our mortgage (100k). But that’s just me. I’ll wait until April 2026 to get full SS. Everyone’s situation is different. Good luck, I hope it all works out for you.

I pay $1,400 a month for the 2 of us while on Cobra this year for the best insurance money can buy. Next year when I'm able to manage our MAGI we will be moving to the ACA for about $500 a month. That's the rate just under the max (~80k) MAGI because I need to do 401k conversations, but, like @matttyl said it could be $0.

Mookie- Just figure the cost into your spend when you're running retirement analysis. It always worried me, but, then I realized the amount of property tax I'm no longer spending because we relocated basically offset the cost of insurance and I've never worried about it since.

 

[JohnnyU]

My wife has remained somewhat pessimistic about my retirement thoughts. She's old fashioned, thinking that you save as much as you can and retire at 65. But a couple of weeks ago she ran into someone from her gym that she hadn't seen in a while. When she asked him where he's been, he told her that he retired. She asked how old he is and he said 55, a year older than her. I could see in her face when she told me that it might have finally clicked with her. Yesterday, we had a zoom call with our FA and he confirmed that, just with a preliminary look, we could handle a withdrawal rate of 3.5% - 4% and our account would still probably grow. And that's without even adding in that she'd probably take some kind of part time bookkeeping job to stay busy. She's definitely rethinking things now.

Sometimes it's better not to push an opinion too hard and let the person discover something for themselves.

I know this all too well. My wife seems to think retirement is a precursor to death, and that I am going to turn into a perpetually drunken slob who sits around eating Cheetos and bacon all day. When I tell her that i will be far more active and healthy, and that sitting at my desk 40 hours a week is killing me, she doesn't acknowledge that. As for money, we have WAY more than we need to retire (we've had THREE FAs tell us that), and have no debt, yet she thinks the market is going to crash and we will have nothing (even though we have a large emergency fund). She also thinks paying health insurance for the 6 years until Medicare is going to force us into bankruptcy.

Needless to say, she has trouble with change. I'm moving ahead without her and she is slowly understanding that this is going to happen next spring whether she likes it or not - I just wish we could be excited together. Counseling could be in our future.

For a lot of people, having to shell out huge sums for healthcare for 6 years before Medicare is worrisome. If you’re loaded and can absorb that, then what’s her problem? Or are you underplaying the financial burden paying for your own health insurance until Medicare kicks in?

We are by no means "loaded", but we have enough to easily cover health insurance for 6 years. I think the issues for her are (1) change - she doesn't come to decisions easily; and (2) moving out of the accumulation phase into a spending phase is scary even though our conservative spend rate will be less than 2% thanks to my pension.

My father died 6 months after being forced into early retirement at 55 by cancer. I am now 58, and have been miserable in my job for years. Life is too short to continue working if you don't have or want to. I need a break.

Remember, an emergency fund could be needed for something other than health insurance. I’m guessing good health insurance would cost around $2,000 a month for both of you, possibly more. That’s 24K a year for the 6 years you don’t have Medicare. If you can absorb that and any other unexpected expected expenses the next six years, then good for you.

Not to mention not being eligible for early Social Security for 4 years and not full SS for 9 years.

I personally didn’t feel comfortable retiring until I was eligible for Medicare and social security and I also have a sizable pension, 403B, and sizable savings. I also don’t have any debt other than what’s left on our mortgage (100k). But that’s just me. I’ll wait until April 2026 to get full SS. Everyone’s situation is different. Good luck, I hope it all works out for you.

I pay $1,400 a month for the 2 of us while on Cobra this year for the best insurance money can buy. Next year when I'm able to manage our MAGI we will be moving to the ACA for about $500 a month. That's the rate just under the max (~80k) MAGI because I need to do 401k conversations, but, like @matttyl said it could be $0.

Mookie- Just figure the cost into your spend when you're running retirement analysis. It always worried me, but, then I realized the amount of property tax I'm no longer spending because we relocated basically offset the cost of insurance and I've never worried about it since.

Everyone knows what they are willing, or need to live on. If someone can retire without Social Security for 4 years (partial) or 9 years (full) or Medicare for 7 years, all based on a retirement age of 58 and only having a pension and savings, that is great. I think most people can live on a lot less than they think. I personally didn’t want my lifestyle to change, so I waited to 66. Some people have enough that their lifestyle won’t change, even without SS or Medicare and that is also great. Some would rather retire in their 50s and tighten their belt.

 

[Peggy]

My wife has remained somewhat pessimistic about my retirement thoughts. She's old fashioned, thinking that you save as much as you can and retire at 65. But a couple of weeks ago she ran into someone from her gym that she hadn't seen in a while. When she asked him where he's been, he told her that he retired. She asked how old he is and he said 55, a year older than her. I could see in her face when she told me that it might have finally clicked with her. Yesterday, we had a zoom call with our FA and he confirmed that, just with a preliminary look, we could handle a withdrawal rate of 3.5% - 4% and our account would still probably grow. And that's without even adding in that she'd probably take some kind of part time bookkeeping job to stay busy. She's definitely rethinking things now.

Sometimes it's better not to push an opinion too hard and let the person discover something for themselves.

I know this all too well. My wife seems to think retirement is a precursor to death, and that I am going to turn into a perpetually drunken slob who sits around eating Cheetos and bacon all day. When I tell her that i will be far more active and healthy, and that sitting at my desk 40 hours a week is killing me, she doesn't acknowledge that. As for money, we have WAY more than we need to retire (we've had THREE FAs tell us that), and have no debt, yet she thinks the market is going to crash and we will have nothing (even though we have a large emergency fund). She also thinks paying health insurance for the 6 years until Medicare is going to force us into bankruptcy.

Needless to say, she has trouble with change. I'm moving ahead without her and she is slowly understanding that this is going to happen next spring whether she likes it or not - I just wish we could be excited together. Counseling could be in our future.

I'm not sure how much weight I've lost in the past 6 months, but, I have to wear a belt so my paints don't fall down. Never wore a belt before. Way more healthy than trapped behind a desk.

 

[Gatorade]

Homeowners insurance bill time. Anyone not keep it? Retired no mortgage.

Retired with only two house payments left. No way am I going without home owners insurance. In the eleven years we have been here, three hurricanes have been close with one direct hit to our island.

 

[Peggy]

My wife has remained somewhat pessimistic about my retirement thoughts. She's old fashioned, thinking that you save as much as you can and retire at 65. But a couple of weeks ago she ran into someone from her gym that she hadn't seen in a while. When she asked him where he's been, he told her that he retired. She asked how old he is and he said 55, a year older than her. I could see in her face when she told me that it might have finally clicked with her. Yesterday, we had a zoom call with our FA and he confirmed that, just with a preliminary look, we could handle a withdrawal rate of 3.5% - 4% and our account would still probably grow. And that's without even adding in that she'd probably take some kind of part time bookkeeping job to stay busy. She's definitely rethinking things now.

Sometimes it's better not to push an opinion too hard and let the person discover something for themselves.

I know this all too well. My wife seems to think retirement is a precursor to death, and that I am going to turn into a perpetually drunken slob who sits around eating Cheetos and bacon all day. When I tell her that i will be far more active and healthy, and that sitting at my desk 40 hours a week is killing me, she doesn't acknowledge that. As for money, we have WAY more than we need to retire (we've had THREE FAs tell us that), and have no debt, yet she thinks the market is going to crash and we will have nothing (even though we have a large emergency fund). She also thinks paying health insurance for the 6 years until Medicare is going to force us into bankruptcy.

Needless to say, she has trouble with change. I'm moving ahead without her and she is slowly understanding that this is going to happen next spring whether she likes it or not - I just wish we could be excited together. Counseling could be in our future.

For a lot of people, having to shell out huge sums for healthcare for 6 years before Medicare is worrisome. If you’re loaded and can absorb that, then what’s her problem? Or are you underplaying the financial burden paying for your own health insurance until Medicare kicks in?

We are by no means "loaded", but we have enough to easily cover health insurance for 6 years. I think the issues for her are (1) change - she doesn't come to decisions easily; and (2) moving out of the accumulation phase into a spending phase is scary even though our conservative spend rate will be less than 2% thanks to my pension.

My father died 6 months after being forced into early retirement at 55 by cancer. I am now 58, and have been miserable in my job for years. Life is too short to continue working if you don't have or want to. I need a break.

Remember, an emergency fund could be needed for something other than health insurance. I’m guessing good health insurance would cost around $2,000 a month for both of you, possibly more. That’s 24K a year for the 6 years you don’t have Medicare. If you can absorb that and any other unexpected expected expenses the next six years, then good for you.

Not to mention not being eligible for early Social Security for 4 years and not full SS for 9 years.

I personally didn’t feel comfortable retiring until I was eligible for Medicare and social security and I also have a sizable pension, 403B, and sizable savings. I also don’t have any debt other than what’s left on our mortgage (100k). But that’s just me. I’ll wait until April 2026 to get full SS. Everyone’s situation is different. Good luck, I hope it all works out for you.

I pay $1,400 a month for the 2 of us while on Cobra this year for the best insurance money can buy. Next year when I'm able to manage our MAGI we will be moving to the ACA for about $500 a month. That's the rate just under the max (~80k) MAGI because I need to do 401k conversations, but, like @matttyl said it could be $0.

Mookie- Just figure the cost into your spend when you're running retirement analysis. It always worried me, but, then I realized the amount of property tax I'm no longer spending because we relocated basically offset the cost of insurance and I've never worried about it since.

Everyone knows what they are willing, or need to live on. If someone can retire without Social Security for 4 years (partial) or 9 years (full) or Medicare for 7 years, all based on a retirement age of 58 and only having a pension and savings, that is great. I think most people can live on a lot less than they think. I personally didn’t want my lifestyle to change, so I waited to 66. Some people have enough that their lifestyle won’t change, even without SS or Medicare and that is also great. Some would rather retire in their 50s and tighten their belt.

Yep. My spend used in my retirement analysis was/is a tick higher than my actual spend ensuring my lifestyle won't change. And I never included SS, thats just icing on the cake.

 

[Peggy]

Homeowners insurance bill time. Anyone not keep it? Retired no mortgage.

I would never go without homeowner insurance. To me that wouldn’t be smart. The home is most people’s biggest investment. You have to protect it. What if it burned to the ground? What if some other catastrophe happens to the house? Don’t ever consider going without homeowners insurance. It’s not an option.

Totally depends.

The insurance companies aren't just lighting money on fire. So it depends how you retired, what's your cost to rebuild, and therefore how capable are you to self-insure.

What if some catastrophe happens? Well, you would have to deal with rebuilding it. Which means you weigh the chance of catastrophe (and the minor stuff, like maybe your laundry machine leaks and floods a room, or a tree crushes a section of fence) with the returns on the money if you kept it in the market vs paying an insurer against your ability to cover those costs.

Generally speaking, it is probably the right move for most people (especially if the home is your biggest investment), because that risk, though very small, is highly damaging and you probably can't self insure.

But there are absolutely situations where I wouldn't do it. I think full reconstruction and replacement of personal items in our home would probably run us $750k. If I owned it free and clear, vs being required to have insurance by the mortgage, I'd be strongly considering keeping that money invested instead. I have enough in investments that I could build a new house. It would suck, but I think the expected value of the insurance payments (from the last 5 years where there's never been a claim into the future where I don't see claims as likely given our location, climate, etc) being invested against the cost of issues is in favor of self-insuring.

For me personally it would be foolish and irresponsible to not have homeowners insurance. But each to their own.

It might be for you! That's my point. If you can't easily cover the cost of the home, and/or the chance of a catastrophe is high, that's part of the equation. My issue was with the (lack of) logic behind "Don't ever consider going without homeowners insurance. It's not an option." That's a remarkably wrong statement phrased very forcefully.

For example, I have about 3x the cost to totally rebuild and rebuy all our home and everything in it between savings and brokerage accounts. That would hurt. In an imaginary world where I already owned it outright, I think I might lean to still have insurance, but at somewhere between 5x and 10x the cost of replacement, I'd probably drop the insurance. I live where flooding isn't an issue, there are no trees to fall on the house, not in a wildfire area, low crime, brand new house with another 20+ years left on the foundation warranty, etc. The chance of the worst happening is incredibly low. So my expected value is higher to invest the money, for sure. Then it's about risk tolerance - I think it's too big a setback at 2-3x the value...but as that % of my NW cost goes down, then I can tolerate the risk more and make the mathematically right decision.

Now let's look at my parents. They have 20x their home value in savings and brokerages...but they also live in a wildfire risk area. So they can and should carry home insurance because even though they could more easily replace everything than me, their chances of catastrophe are WAY higher. WAAAAYYYYYY higher. Like people in their neighborhood have had damage from wildfires before. Or from avalanche. Or erosion. Or all sorts of crap that happens living out in the boonies. Whereas if their house was in some Dallas suburb, no way they'd be paying insurance on a house owned free and clear.


I'm not trying to convince you to go without it, don't take that to be my meaning please. But to act like it's a silly thing to consider and not even an option is bad advice to anyone with the income and intelligence and forethought to be posting on FBGs about retiring early.


ETA: I would probably have some form of umbrella/liability insurance, which should be MUCH cheaper and cover other people doing stupid **** that you could conceivably be liable for, say if your sidewalk was icy or something.

Yep, self-insuring was the way I was thinking about it. And living in what I think is a pretty good area protected from natural disasters. I think I'll probably get it and keep re-evaluating it every year. If the bankroll continues to grow as expected Ill get more comfortable with it and at some point I'll stop giving money to the insurance companies.

 

[Gatorade]

My wife has remained somewhat pessimistic about my retirement thoughts. She's old fashioned, thinking that you save as much as you can and retire at 65. But a couple of weeks ago she ran into someone from her gym that she hadn't seen in a while. When she asked him where he's been, he told her that he retired. She asked how old he is and he said 55, a year older than her. I could see in her face when she told me that it might have finally clicked with her. Yesterday, we had a zoom call with our FA and he confirmed that, just with a preliminary look, we could handle a withdrawal rate of 3.5% - 4% and our account would still probably grow. And that's without even adding in that she'd probably take some kind of part time bookkeeping job to stay busy. She's definitely rethinking things now.

Sometimes it's better not to push an opinion too hard and let the person discover something for themselves.

My wife was offered early retirement and jumped at the chance and has not regretted it one day. When COVID hit, I was being exposed to many people every day and decided to just retire early. Not loaded by any means, but with the help of our FA, we have managed to buy a bigger house and take lots of trips. He actually encouraged us to spend more and do more because that is why we saved all of our working lives .
My Mom loved her bookkeeping job so much that she did not retire until two years after I did at age 85. She did not need to keep working, but that was her social life that kept her active and engaged. Everyone has to decide the right time for themselves.

 

[Gatorade]

My wife has remained somewhat pessimistic about my retirement thoughts. She's old fashioned, thinking that you save as much as you can and retire at 65. But a couple of weeks ago she ran into someone from her gym that she hadn't seen in a while. When she asked him where he's been, he told her that he retired. She asked how old he is and he said 55, a year older than her. I could see in her face when she told me that it might have finally clicked with her. Yesterday, we had a zoom call with our FA and he confirmed that, just with a preliminary look, we could handle a withdrawal rate of 3.5% - 4% and our account would still probably grow. And that's without even adding in that she'd probably take some kind of part time bookkeeping job to stay busy. She's definitely rethinking things now.

Sometimes it's better not to push an opinion too hard and let the person discover something for themselves.

I know this all too well. My wife seems to think retirement is a precursor to death, and that I am going to turn into a perpetually drunken slob who sits around eating Cheetos and bacon all day. When I tell her that i will be far more active and healthy, and that sitting at my desk 40 hours a week is killing me, she doesn't acknowledge that. As for money, we have WAY more than we need to retire (we've had THREE FAs tell us that), and have no debt, yet she thinks the market is going to crash and we will have nothing (even though we have a large emergency fund). She also thinks paying health insurance for the 6 years until Medicare is going to force us into bankruptcy.

Needless to say, she has trouble with change. I'm moving ahead without her and she is slowly understanding that this is going to happen next spring whether she likes it or not - I just wish we could be excited together. Counseling could be in our future.

Wow, that sucks and honestly never considered that my wife might feel this way. I have a ways to go but honestly I completely relate to your position - I expect to be healthier and happier once I'm able to retire. Knock on wood.

I retired in 2020 during covid. I am much happier and healthier today then I was then. I do not sit around and eat Cheetos now. That is what I ate at work spending 30 years working for Frito Lay. Now I have to actually buy them if I want them. Now I just drink wine and eat ice cream. And do yoga, walk and play pickleball. Life is good in retirement .

 

[JohnnyU]

cheapest retirement

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

www.youtube.com

 

[matttyl]

My wife has remained somewhat pessimistic about my retirement thoughts. She's old fashioned, thinking that you save as much as you can and retire at 65. But a couple of weeks ago she ran into someone from her gym that she hadn't seen in a while. When she asked him where he's been, he told her that he retired. She asked how old he is and he said 55, a year older than her. I could see in her face when she told me that it might have finally clicked with her. Yesterday, we had a zoom call with our FA and he confirmed that, just with a preliminary look, we could handle a withdrawal rate of 3.5% - 4% and our account would still probably grow. And that's without even adding in that she'd probably take some kind of part time bookkeeping job to stay busy. She's definitely rethinking things now.

Sometimes it's better not to push an opinion too hard and let the person discover something for themselves.

I know this all too well. My wife seems to think retirement is a precursor to death, and that I am going to turn into a perpetually drunken slob who sits around eating Cheetos and bacon all day. When I tell her that i will be far more active and healthy, and that sitting at my desk 40 hours a week is killing me, she doesn't acknowledge that. As for money, we have WAY more than we need to retire (we've had THREE FAs tell us that), and have no debt, yet she thinks the market is going to crash and we will have nothing (even though we have a large emergency fund). She also thinks paying health insurance for the 6 years until Medicare is going to force us into bankruptcy.

Needless to say, she has trouble with change. I'm moving ahead without her and she is slowly understanding that this is going to happen next spring whether she likes it or not - I just wish we could be excited together. Counseling could be in our future.

Wow, that sucks and honestly never considered that my wife might feel this way. I have a ways to go but honestly I completely relate to your position - I expect to be healthier and happier once I'm able to retire. Knock on wood.

I retired in 2020 during covid. I am much happier and healthier today then I was then. I do not sit around and eat Cheetos now. That is what I ate at work spending 30 years working for Frito Lay. Now I have to actually buy them if I want them. Now I just drink wine and eat ice cream. And do yoga, walk and play pickleball. Life is good in retirement .

Yeah, but I bet you had a sweet corporate discount.

 

[Judge Smails]

My wife has remained somewhat pessimistic about my retirement thoughts. She's old fashioned, thinking that you save as much as you can and retire at 65. But a couple of weeks ago she ran into someone from her gym that she hadn't seen in a while. When she asked him where he's been, he told her that he retired. She asked how old he is and he said 55, a year older than her. I could see in her face when she told me that it might have finally clicked with her. Yesterday, we had a zoom call with our FA and he confirmed that, just with a preliminary look, we could handle a withdrawal rate of 3.5% - 4% and our account would still probably grow. And that's without even adding in that she'd probably take some kind of part time bookkeeping job to stay busy. She's definitely rethinking things now.

Sometimes it's better not to push an opinion too hard and let the person discover something for themselves.

I know this all too well. My wife seems to think retirement is a precursor to death, and that I am going to turn into a perpetually drunken slob who sits around eating Cheetos and bacon all day. When I tell her that i will be far more active and healthy, and that sitting at my desk 40 hours a week is killing me, she doesn't acknowledge that. As for money, we have WAY more than we need to retire (we've had THREE FAs tell us that), and have no debt, yet she thinks the market is going to crash and we will have nothing (even though we have a large emergency fund). She also thinks paying health insurance for the 6 years until Medicare is going to force us into bankruptcy.

Needless to say, she has trouble with change. I'm moving ahead without her and she is slowly understanding that this is going to happen next spring whether she likes it or not - I just wish we could be excited together. Counseling could be in our future.

Yeah this is critical for a couple to be aligned on. I’m thinking of retiring now. 63 and 3 months. Monte Carlo sims all 100%. Have had a Widowmaker and cancer. Every day is a gift. Wife and I were poor growing up so have a scarcity mentality. So hard to walk away from FBG type income. But wife knows my role is high pressure, stressful, and I’d be healthier not doing it. She’s supportive of me stopping now if that’s my decision.

 

[Judge Smails]

My wife has remained somewhat pessimistic about my retirement thoughts. She's old fashioned, thinking that you save as much as you can and retire at 65. But a couple of weeks ago she ran into someone from her gym that she hadn't seen in a while. When she asked him where he's been, he told her that he retired. She asked how old he is and he said 55, a year older than her. I could see in her face when she told me that it might have finally clicked with her. Yesterday, we had a zoom call with our FA and he confirmed that, just with a preliminary look, we could handle a withdrawal rate of 3.5% - 4% and our account would still probably grow. And that's without even adding in that she'd probably take some kind of part time bookkeeping job to stay busy. She's definitely rethinking things now.

Sometimes it's better not to push an opinion too hard and let the person discover something for themselves.

I know this all too well. My wife seems to think retirement is a precursor to death, and that I am going to turn into a perpetually drunken slob who sits around eating Cheetos and bacon all day. When I tell her that i will be far more active and healthy, and that sitting at my desk 40 hours a week is killing me, she doesn't acknowledge that. As for money, we have WAY more than we need to retire (we've had THREE FAs tell us that), and have no debt, yet she thinks the market is going to crash and we will have nothing (even though we have a large emergency fund). She also thinks paying health insurance for the 6 years until Medicare is going to force us into bankruptcy.

Needless to say, she has trouble with change. I'm moving ahead without her and she is slowly understanding that this is going to happen next spring whether she likes it or not - I just wish we could be excited together. Counseling could be in our future.

For a lot of people, having to shell out huge sums for healthcare for 6 years before Medicare is worrisome. If you’re loaded and can absorb that, then what’s her problem? Or are you underplaying the financial burden paying for your own health insurance until Medicare kicks in?

We are by no means "loaded", but we have enough to easily cover health insurance for 6 years. I think the issues for her are (1) change - she doesn't come to decisions easily; and (2) moving out of the accumulation phase into a spending phase is scary even though our conservative spend rate will be less than 2% thanks to my pension.

My father died 6 months after being forced into early retirement at 55 by cancer. I am now 58, and have been miserable in my job for years. Life is too short to continue working if you don't have or want to. I need a break.

Remember, an emergency fund could be needed for something other than health insurance. I’m guessing good health insurance would cost around $2,000 a month for both of you, possibly more. That’s 24K a year for the 6 years you don’t have Medicare. If you can absorb that and any other unexpected expected expenses the next six years, then good for you.

Not to mention not being eligible for early Social Security for 4 years and not full SS for 9 years.

I personally didn’t feel comfortable retiring until I was eligible for Medicare and social security and I also have a sizable pension, 403B, and sizable savings. I also don’t have any debt other than what’s left on our mortgage (100k). But that’s just me. I’ll wait until April 2026 to get full SS. Everyone’s situation is different. Good luck, I hope it all works out for you.

I pay $1,400 a month for the 2 of us while on Cobra this year for the best insurance money can buy. Next year when I'm able to manage our MAGI we will be moving to the ACA for about $500 a month. That's the rate just under the max (~80k) MAGI because I need to do 401k conversations, but, like @matttyl said it could be $0.

Mookie- Just figure the cost into your spend when you're running retirement analysis. It always worried me, but, then I realized the amount of property tax I'm no longer spending because we relocated basically offset the cost of insurance and I've never worried about it since.

Your COBRA is way better than mine. $2200 for health, vision and dental for 2. And ACA not much better since no subsidy

 

[Nugget]

My wife has remained somewhat pessimistic about my retirement thoughts. She's old fashioned, thinking that you save as much as you can and retire at 65. But a couple of weeks ago she ran into someone from her gym that she hadn't seen in a while. When she asked him where he's been, he told her that he retired. She asked how old he is and he said 55, a year older than her. I could see in her face when she told me that it might have finally clicked with her. Yesterday, we had a zoom call with our FA and he confirmed that, just with a preliminary look, we could handle a withdrawal rate of 3.5% - 4% and our account would still probably grow. And that's without even adding in that she'd probably take some kind of part time bookkeeping job to stay busy. She's definitely rethinking things now.

Sometimes it's better not to push an opinion too hard and let the person discover something for themselves.

I know this all too well. My wife seems to think retirement is a precursor to death, and that I am going to turn into a perpetually drunken slob who sits around eating Cheetos and bacon all day. When I tell her that i will be far more active and healthy, and that sitting at my desk 40 hours a week is killing me, she doesn't acknowledge that. As for money, we have WAY more than we need to retire (we've had THREE FAs tell us that), and have no debt, yet she thinks the market is going to crash and we will have nothing (even though we have a large emergency fund). She also thinks paying health insurance for the 6 years until Medicare is going to force us into bankruptcy.

Needless to say, she has trouble with change. I'm moving ahead without her and she is slowly understanding that this is going to happen next spring whether she likes it or not - I just wish we could be excited together. Counseling could be in our future.

For a lot of people, having to shell out huge sums for healthcare for 6 years before Medicare is worrisome. If you’re loaded and can absorb that, then what’s her problem? Or are you underplaying the financial burden paying for your own health insurance until Medicare kicks in?

We are by no means "loaded", but we have enough to easily cover health insurance for 6 years. I think the issues for her are (1) change - she doesn't come to decisions easily; and (2) moving out of the accumulation phase into a spending phase is scary even though our conservative spend rate will be less than 2% thanks to my pension.

My father died 6 months after being forced into early retirement at 55 by cancer. I am now 58, and have been miserable in my job for years. Life is too short to continue working if you don't have or want to. I need a break.

Remember, an emergency fund could be needed for something other than health insurance. I’m guessing good health insurance would cost around $2,000 a month for both of you, possibly more. That’s 24K a year for the 6 years you don’t have Medicare. If you can absorb that and any other unexpected expected expenses the next six years, then good for you.

Not to mention not being eligible for early Social Security for 4 years and not full SS for 9 years.

I personally didn’t feel comfortable retiring until I was eligible for Medicare and social security and I also have a sizable pension, 403B, and sizable savings. I also don’t have any debt other than what’s left on our mortgage (100k). But that’s just me. I’ll wait until April 2026 to get full SS. Everyone’s situation is different. Good luck, I hope it all works out for you.

If you can manipulate your income (your taxable income) those years, health insurance can be far less than that.

How is your health insurance manipulated to be less? Isn’t it what it is? Without Medicare it will be a lot more. Anywhere from 2K to 2.5K per month for both of them. I suppose some people younger may roll the dice and do without, but that seems risky to me. Especially someone in their late 50s. But if that’s not a financial issue, then great.

I assumed he's talking about managing your income to get the best ACA subsidies possible until you get to Medicare.

Bingo.

Trying to balance the risk that the ACA subsidies go away or are greatly reduced. Retiring at 55 with $6-10k spend on health insurance for 10 years is a bit different than a $25k+ proposition. Likely I'll split the difference and target 60.

 

[matttyl]

My wife has remained somewhat pessimistic about my retirement thoughts. She's old fashioned, thinking that you save as much as you can and retire at 65. But a couple of weeks ago she ran into someone from her gym that she hadn't seen in a while. When she asked him where he's been, he told her that he retired. She asked how old he is and he said 55, a year older than her. I could see in her face when she told me that it might have finally clicked with her. Yesterday, we had a zoom call with our FA and he confirmed that, just with a preliminary look, we could handle a withdrawal rate of 3.5% - 4% and our account would still probably grow. And that's without even adding in that she'd probably take some kind of part time bookkeeping job to stay busy. She's definitely rethinking things now.

Sometimes it's better not to push an opinion too hard and let the person discover something for themselves.

I know this all too well. My wife seems to think retirement is a precursor to death, and that I am going to turn into a perpetually drunken slob who sits around eating Cheetos and bacon all day. When I tell her that i will be far more active and healthy, and that sitting at my desk 40 hours a week is killing me, she doesn't acknowledge that. As for money, we have WAY more than we need to retire (we've had THREE FAs tell us that), and have no debt, yet she thinks the market is going to crash and we will have nothing (even though we have a large emergency fund). She also thinks paying health insurance for the 6 years until Medicare is going to force us into bankruptcy.

Needless to say, she has trouble with change. I'm moving ahead without her and she is slowly understanding that this is going to happen next spring whether she likes it or not - I just wish we could be excited together. Counseling could be in our future.

For a lot of people, having to shell out huge sums for healthcare for 6 years before Medicare is worrisome. If you’re loaded and can absorb that, then what’s her problem? Or are you underplaying the financial burden paying for your own health insurance until Medicare kicks in?

We are by no means "loaded", but we have enough to easily cover health insurance for 6 years. I think the issues for her are (1) change - she doesn't come to decisions easily; and (2) moving out of the accumulation phase into a spending phase is scary even though our conservative spend rate will be less than 2% thanks to my pension.

My father died 6 months after being forced into early retirement at 55 by cancer. I am now 58, and have been miserable in my job for years. Life is too short to continue working if you don't have or want to. I need a break.

Remember, an emergency fund could be needed for something other than health insurance. I’m guessing good health insurance would cost around $2,000 a month for both of you, possibly more. That’s 24K a year for the 6 years you don’t have Medicare. If you can absorb that and any other unexpected expected expenses the next six years, then good for you.

Not to mention not being eligible for early Social Security for 4 years and not full SS for 9 years.

I personally didn’t feel comfortable retiring until I was eligible for Medicare and social security and I also have a sizable pension, 403B, and sizable savings. I also don’t have any debt other than what’s left on our mortgage (100k). But that’s just me. I’ll wait until April 2026 to get full SS. Everyone’s situation is different. Good luck, I hope it all works out for you.

If you can manipulate your income (your taxable income) those years, health insurance can be far less than that.

How is your health insurance manipulated to be less? Isn’t it what it is? Without Medicare it will be a lot more. Anywhere from 2K to 2.5K per month for both of them. I suppose some people younger may roll the dice and do without, but that seems risky to me. Especially someone in their late 50s. But if that’s not a financial issue, then great.

I assumed he's talking about managing your income to get the best ACA subsidies possible until you get to Medicare.

Bingo.

Trying to balance the risk that the ACA subsidies go away or are greatly reduced. Retiring at 55 with $6-10k spend on health insurance for 10 years is a bit different than a $25k+ proposition. Likely I'll split the difference and target 60.

To me it’s just like any other risk of change in the tax code, though. You can only take things a year at a time. Maybe if subsidies go away, carries can again sell policies the way they used to before the ACA, and you can buy a plan for $1000 a month for a married, healthy couple.

 

[Gally]

Now I just drink wine

No gatorade?

 

[Nugget]

My wife has remained somewhat pessimistic about my retirement thoughts. She's old fashioned, thinking that you save as much as you can and retire at 65. But a couple of weeks ago she ran into someone from her gym that she hadn't seen in a while. When she asked him where he's been, he told her that he retired. She asked how old he is and he said 55, a year older than her. I could see in her face when she told me that it might have finally clicked with her. Yesterday, we had a zoom call with our FA and he confirmed that, just with a preliminary look, we could handle a withdrawal rate of 3.5% - 4% and our account would still probably grow. And that's without even adding in that she'd probably take some kind of part time bookkeeping job to stay busy. She's definitely rethinking things now.

Sometimes it's better not to push an opinion too hard and let the person discover something for themselves.

I know this all too well. My wife seems to think retirement is a precursor to death, and that I am going to turn into a perpetually drunken slob who sits around eating Cheetos and bacon all day. When I tell her that i will be far more active and healthy, and that sitting at my desk 40 hours a week is killing me, she doesn't acknowledge that. As for money, we have WAY more than we need to retire (we've had THREE FAs tell us that), and have no debt, yet she thinks the market is going to crash and we will have nothing (even though we have a large emergency fund). She also thinks paying health insurance for the 6 years until Medicare is going to force us into bankruptcy.

Needless to say, she has trouble with change. I'm moving ahead without her and she is slowly understanding that this is going to happen next spring whether she likes it or not - I just wish we could be excited together. Counseling could be in our future.

For a lot of people, having to shell out huge sums for healthcare for 6 years before Medicare is worrisome. If you’re loaded and can absorb that, then what’s her problem? Or are you underplaying the financial burden paying for your own health insurance until Medicare kicks in?

We are by no means "loaded", but we have enough to easily cover health insurance for 6 years. I think the issues for her are (1) change - she doesn't come to decisions easily; and (2) moving out of the accumulation phase into a spending phase is scary even though our conservative spend rate will be less than 2% thanks to my pension.

My father died 6 months after being forced into early retirement at 55 by cancer. I am now 58, and have been miserable in my job for years. Life is too short to continue working if you don't have or want to. I need a break.

Remember, an emergency fund could be needed for something other than health insurance. I’m guessing good health insurance would cost around $2,000 a month for both of you, possibly more. That’s 24K a year for the 6 years you don’t have Medicare. If you can absorb that and any other unexpected expected expenses the next six years, then good for you.

Not to mention not being eligible for early Social Security for 4 years and not full SS for 9 years.

I personally didn’t feel comfortable retiring until I was eligible for Medicare and social security and I also have a sizable pension, 403B, and sizable savings. I also don’t have any debt other than what’s left on our mortgage (100k). But that’s just me. I’ll wait until April 2026 to get full SS. Everyone’s situation is different. Good luck, I hope it all works out for you.

If you can manipulate your income (your taxable income) those years, health insurance can be far less than that.

How is your health insurance manipulated to be less? Isn’t it what it is? Without Medicare it will be a lot more. Anywhere from 2K to 2.5K per month for both of them. I suppose some people younger may roll the dice and do without, but that seems risky to me. Especially someone in their late 50s. But if that’s not a financial issue, then great.

I assumed he's talking about managing your income to get the best ACA subsidies possible until you get to Medicare.

Bingo.

Trying to balance the risk that the ACA subsidies go away or are greatly reduced. Retiring at 55 with $6-10k spend on health insurance for 10 years is a bit different than a $25k+ proposition. Likely I'll split the difference and target 60.

To me it’s just like any other risk of change in the tax code, though. You can only take things a year at a time. Maybe if subsidies go away, carries can again sell policies the way they used to before the ACA, and you can buy a plan for $1000 a month for a married, healthy couple.

I can't think of many other changes to the tax code that could increase the costs $18K per year for a couple making $85K/year.

ACA Credits in Jeopardy

Based on 2025 premiums, for example, a 60-year-old couple earning $85,000 annually (416% of the federal poverty level in the contiguous 48 states), would see their monthly premium payment increase by $1,507 per month (an increase in payments of over $18,000 for the year), on average.

 

[arrow1]

My wife has remained somewhat pessimistic about my retirement thoughts. She's old fashioned, thinking that you save as much as you can and retire at 65. But a couple of weeks ago she ran into someone from her gym that she hadn't seen in a while. When she asked him where he's been, he told her that he retired. She asked how old he is and he said 55, a year older than her. I could see in her face when she told me that it might have finally clicked with her. Yesterday, we had a zoom call with our FA and he confirmed that, just with a preliminary look, we could handle a withdrawal rate of 3.5% - 4% and our account would still probably grow. And that's without even adding in that she'd probably take some kind of part time bookkeeping job to stay busy. She's definitely rethinking things now.

Sometimes it's better not to push an opinion too hard and let the person discover something for themselves.

I know this all too well. My wife seems to think retirement is a precursor to death, and that I am going to turn into a perpetually drunken slob who sits around eating Cheetos and bacon all day. When I tell her that i will be far more active and healthy, and that sitting at my desk 40 hours a week is killing me, she doesn't acknowledge that. As for money, we have WAY more than we need to retire (we've had THREE FAs tell us that), and have no debt, yet she thinks the market is going to crash and we will have nothing (even though we have a large emergency fund). She also thinks paying health insurance for the 6 years until Medicare is going to force us into bankruptcy.

Needless to say, she has trouble with change. I'm moving ahead without her and she is slowly understanding that this is going to happen next spring whether she likes it or not - I just wish we could be excited together. Counseling could be in our future.

mmmmm....

 

[Peggy]

My wife has remained somewhat pessimistic about my retirement thoughts. She's old fashioned, thinking that you save as much as you can and retire at 65. But a couple of weeks ago she ran into someone from her gym that she hadn't seen in a while. When she asked him where he's been, he told her that he retired. She asked how old he is and he said 55, a year older than her. I could see in her face when she told me that it might have finally clicked with her. Yesterday, we had a zoom call with our FA and he confirmed that, just with a preliminary look, we could handle a withdrawal rate of 3.5% - 4% and our account would still probably grow. And that's without even adding in that she'd probably take some kind of part time bookkeeping job to stay busy. She's definitely rethinking things now.

Sometimes it's better not to push an opinion too hard and let the person discover something for themselves.

I know this all too well. My wife seems to think retirement is a precursor to death, and that I am going to turn into a perpetually drunken slob who sits around eating Cheetos and bacon all day. When I tell her that i will be far more active and healthy, and that sitting at my desk 40 hours a week is killing me, she doesn't acknowledge that. As for money, we have WAY more than we need to retire (we've had THREE FAs tell us that), and have no debt, yet she thinks the market is going to crash and we will have nothing (even though we have a large emergency fund). She also thinks paying health insurance for the 6 years until Medicare is going to force us into bankruptcy.

Needless to say, she has trouble with change. I'm moving ahead without her and she is slowly understanding that this is going to happen next spring whether she likes it or not - I just wish we could be excited together. Counseling could be in our future.

For a lot of people, having to shell out huge sums for healthcare for 6 years before Medicare is worrisome. If you’re loaded and can absorb that, then what’s her problem? Or are you underplaying the financial burden paying for your own health insurance until Medicare kicks in?

We are by no means "loaded", but we have enough to easily cover health insurance for 6 years. I think the issues for her are (1) change - she doesn't come to decisions easily; and (2) moving out of the accumulation phase into a spending phase is scary even though our conservative spend rate will be less than 2% thanks to my pension.

My father died 6 months after being forced into early retirement at 55 by cancer. I am now 58, and have been miserable in my job for years. Life is too short to continue working if you don't have or want to. I need a break.

Remember, an emergency fund could be needed for something other than health insurance. I’m guessing good health insurance would cost around $2,000 a month for both of you, possibly more. That’s 24K a year for the 6 years you don’t have Medicare. If you can absorb that and any other unexpected expected expenses the next six years, then good for you.

Not to mention not being eligible for early Social Security for 4 years and not full SS for 9 years.

I personally didn’t feel comfortable retiring until I was eligible for Medicare and social security and I also have a sizable pension, 403B, and sizable savings. I also don’t have any debt other than what’s left on our mortgage (100k). But that’s just me. I’ll wait until April 2026 to get full SS. Everyone’s situation is different. Good luck, I hope it all works out for you.

If you can manipulate your income (your taxable income) those years, health insurance can be far less than that.

How is your health insurance manipulated to be less? Isn’t it what it is? Without Medicare it will be a lot more. Anywhere from 2K to 2.5K per month for both of them. I suppose some people younger may roll the dice and do without, but that seems risky to me. Especially someone in their late 50s. But if that’s not a financial issue, then great.

I assumed he's talking about managing your income to get the best ACA subsidies possible until you get to Medicare.

Bingo.

Trying to balance the risk that the ACA subsidies go away or are greatly reduced. Retiring at 55 with $6-10k spend on health insurance for 10 years is a bit different than a $25k+ proposition. Likely I'll split the difference and target 60.

To me it’s just like any other risk of change in the tax code, though. You can only take things a year at a time. Maybe if subsidies go away, carries can again sell policies the way they used to before the ACA, and you can buy a plan for $1000 a month for a married, healthy couple.

I can't think of many other changes to the tax code that could increase the costs $18K per year for a couple making $85K/year.

ACA Credits in Jeopardy

Based on 2025 premiums, for example, a 60-year-old couple earning $85,000 annually (416% of the federal poverty level in the contiguous 48 states), would see their monthly premium payment increase by $1,507 per month (an increase in payments of over $18,000 for the year), on average.

Right, that's called the cliff and the tax code enacted during covid that fixed it expires this year. I'd be surprised if it's extended in any of the legislation being worked on although I haven't looked too deeply at it.

They chose 416% (85K) because 400% is the cliff. But, if you're in retirement not recieving a paycheck, you ought to be able to - and have to to get the subsidy- manage your income to be $81,000 or less. Unless you're having to use regular 401k to live on its very doable.

A couple notes: It's your MAGI that they look at to get to that number. And you get your subsidy based on an estimate for the year that you provide. If you go over the cliff you'll pay the subsidies back at tax time.

 

[Mrs. Rannous]

My wife has remained somewhat pessimistic about my retirement thoughts. She's old fashioned, thinking that you save as much as you can and retire at 65. But a couple of weeks ago she ran into someone from her gym that she hadn't seen in a while. When she asked him where he's been, he told her that he retired. She asked how old he is and he said 55, a year older than her. I could see in her face when she told me that it might have finally clicked with her. Yesterday, we had a zoom call with our FA and he confirmed that, just with a preliminary look, we could handle a withdrawal rate of 3.5% - 4% and our account would still probably grow. And that's without even adding in that she'd probably take some kind of part time bookkeeping job to stay busy. She's definitely rethinking things now.

Sometimes it's better not to push an opinion too hard and let the person discover something for themselves.

I know this all too well. My wife seems to think retirement is a precursor to death, and that I am going to turn into a perpetually drunken slob who sits around eating Cheetos and bacon all day. When I tell her that i will be far more active and healthy, and that sitting at my desk 40 hours a week is killing me, she doesn't acknowledge that. As for money, we have WAY more than we need to retire (we've had THREE FAs tell us that), and have no debt, yet she thinks the market is going to crash and we will have nothing (even though we have a large emergency fund). She also thinks paying health insurance for the 6 years until Medicare is going to force us into bankruptcy.

Needless to say, she has trouble with change. I'm moving ahead without her and she is slowly understanding that this is going to happen next spring whether she likes it or not - I just wish we could be excited together. Counseling could be in our future.

It may not just be trouble with change. This level of anxiety may be related to how she grew up.

I spent a lot of time thinking about the differences in attitude among my parents and Mr R's parents. His grew up in the Great Depression, and mine grew up in England in WWII. Somehow, my dad ended up knowing how to budget allowing for fun money, but mom never quite got over the we're all gonna starve mentality. Mr R's dad pretty much tended to cheap out. His mom was more willing to buy things, but she rarely splurged on real quality. My dad understood that quality matters a lot, especially in major purchases. He hated owing money, which affected me. I didn't realise how much until he died. I had to owe mom's care facility money until I got named her guardian. I don't think they ever saw anyone so happy to give them a large sum of money as I was. (And bless them They carried a large debt for several months.)

The point being that your wife may have similar types of issues that she may not even be aware of. Any level of insecurity may be extra tough for her.

 

[matttyl]

My wife has remained somewhat pessimistic about my retirement thoughts. She's old fashioned, thinking that you save as much as you can and retire at 65. But a couple of weeks ago she ran into someone from her gym that she hadn't seen in a while. When she asked him where he's been, he told her that he retired. She asked how old he is and he said 55, a year older than her. I could see in her face when she told me that it might have finally clicked with her. Yesterday, we had a zoom call with our FA and he confirmed that, just with a preliminary look, we could handle a withdrawal rate of 3.5% - 4% and our account would still probably grow. And that's without even adding in that she'd probably take some kind of part time bookkeeping job to stay busy. She's definitely rethinking things now.

Sometimes it's better not to push an opinion too hard and let the person discover something for themselves.

I know this all too well. My wife seems to think retirement is a precursor to death, and that I am going to turn into a perpetually drunken slob who sits around eating Cheetos and bacon all day. When I tell her that i will be far more active and healthy, and that sitting at my desk 40 hours a week is killing me, she doesn't acknowledge that. As for money, we have WAY more than we need to retire (we've had THREE FAs tell us that), and have no debt, yet she thinks the market is going to crash and we will have nothing (even though we have a large emergency fund). She also thinks paying health insurance for the 6 years until Medicare is going to force us into bankruptcy.

Needless to say, she has trouble with change. I'm moving ahead without her and she is slowly understanding that this is going to happen next spring whether she likes it or not - I just wish we could be excited together. Counseling could be in our future.

For a lot of people, having to shell out huge sums for healthcare for 6 years before Medicare is worrisome. If you’re loaded and can absorb that, then what’s her problem? Or are you underplaying the financial burden paying for your own health insurance until Medicare kicks in?

We are by no means "loaded", but we have enough to easily cover health insurance for 6 years. I think the issues for her are (1) change - she doesn't come to decisions easily; and (2) moving out of the accumulation phase into a spending phase is scary even though our conservative spend rate will be less than 2% thanks to my pension.

My father died 6 months after being forced into early retirement at 55 by cancer. I am now 58, and have been miserable in my job for years. Life is too short to continue working if you don't have or want to. I need a break.

Remember, an emergency fund could be needed for something other than health insurance. I’m guessing good health insurance would cost around $2,000 a month for both of you, possibly more. That’s 24K a year for the 6 years you don’t have Medicare. If you can absorb that and any other unexpected expected expenses the next six years, then good for you.

Not to mention not being eligible for early Social Security for 4 years and not full SS for 9 years.

I personally didn’t feel comfortable retiring until I was eligible for Medicare and social security and I also have a sizable pension, 403B, and sizable savings. I also don’t have any debt other than what’s left on our mortgage (100k). But that’s just me. I’ll wait until April 2026 to get full SS. Everyone’s situation is different. Good luck, I hope it all works out for you.

If you can manipulate your income (your taxable income) those years, health insurance can be far less than that.

How is your health insurance manipulated to be less? Isn’t it what it is? Without Medicare it will be a lot more. Anywhere from 2K to 2.5K per month for both of them. I suppose some people younger may roll the dice and do without, but that seems risky to me. Especially someone in their late 50s. But if that’s not a financial issue, then great.

I assumed he's talking about managing your income to get the best ACA subsidies possible until you get to Medicare.

Bingo.

Trying to balance the risk that the ACA subsidies go away or are greatly reduced. Retiring at 55 with $6-10k spend on health insurance for 10 years is a bit different than a $25k+ proposition. Likely I'll split the difference and target 60.

To me it’s just like any other risk of change in the tax code, though. You can only take things a year at a time. Maybe if subsidies go away, carries can again sell policies the way they used to before the ACA, and you can buy a plan for $1000 a month for a married, healthy couple.

I can't think of many other changes to the tax code that could increase the costs $18K per year for a couple making $85K/year.

ACA Credits in Jeopardy

Based on 2025 premiums, for example, a 60-year-old couple earning $85,000 annually (416% of the federal poverty level in the contiguous 48 states), would see their monthly premium payment increase by $1,507 per month (an increase in payments of over $18,000 for the year), on average.

As pointed out, that couple would be better off, by a wide margin, to have less income (under $81k), to continue with the subsidy - rather than have a slightly higher income and lose the subsidy entirely.

And like I said, that’s all assuming nothing else comes in to fill the void left in the market.

 

[dickey moe]

Here's the average 401(k) balance by age

How does your nest egg stack up to others your age?

www.cnbc.com

If this is accurate, future American retirees are ****ed.