Recent events in my life have made my plan of working until age 70 suddenly very confusing. I would be grateful for any advice, input, opinion.
I am 58. My wife is 50. I'm a 20+ year Boglehead and the thought of working until age 70, letting my investments grow, maximizing Social Security, appealed to me. My parents did their best, we always had the basics, but we were not wealthy. So the thought of "more" by delaying retirement struck me as a good plan. Then my wife could retire early. I enjoy work.
But over the past few months my mindset has been turned upside down.
Within the past 3 months I've lost both my parents at ages 90 and 91. This has made me realize my own mortality.
Plus, my current employer was bought out and while the job is still mostly enjoyable, the pace and volume of work has increased to the point that a few evening and weekend hours online at home are a necessity. It's fine now, but I'm not sure this pace is something I can manage for 12 more years.
So....I'm contemplating ditching the "work until age 70" plan and retiring sooner, if I can make the numbers work AND I can mentally change my mindset of fear of needing "more" to survive.
Income and Retirement Accounts:
Salary: 83K
401k: 44K. Contribution: 6%. Employer Match: 4%
Roth IRA: 35.5K
Traditional IRA (401K rollover from previous 20-year employer): 1.1M allocated at 80/20, 3-fund with Fidelity.
Brokerage Account: 19.5K
Emergency Fund: 18K
Social Security: 2,271 at age 62, 3,265 at age 67, 4,049 at age 70.
Debt:
Mortgage: 240K at 2.9% on home valued at 400K. 24 years remaining.
Personal loan (necessary safety upgrades to 110 yr old home I'm renovating):32K at 6.7%
CC Debt: (Recent family vacation, funeral expenses for dad) 14K
Retirement Expenses at age 70: 5,875 per month is the very padded number I get in today's dollars when I add everything up (food, gas, mortgage, vacations, Medicare supplement, trash collection, dining out, etc, etc). This will obviously change if I retire sooner.
I have not included my wife's stats here. I own a home and work in Minneapolis while my wife's job and home are 150 miles away. For the entirety of our 10-year marriage, we have lived and worked in our respective cities during the week, then gotten together on weekends. Thus, we've never combined finances. Her mortgage in the small town is less than 60K remaining at 3%. She has no debt. Salary of 90K. Her retirement accounts are less than mine (around 300k) as she had expenses as a single parent and is 9 years younger, so less time to grow.
I know the numbers work if I wait until 70. And at 67, if I'm calculating correctly. But what about 65, or even 63? And if I do, how do I mentally reconcile my mind around missing out on the growth of working until 70? A childhood with very little is imprinted on my mind, and I want to be safe. But I'm also now considering that there is the possibility that I won't have enough life or energy to enjoy my safety if I wait. I'm healthy and active, but there are obviously no guarantees. Will I kick myself as I look at the nice portfolio while staring out the window, unable to enjoy it?
I am 58. My wife is 50. I'm a 20+ year Boglehead and the thought of working until age 70, letting my investments grow, maximizing Social Security, appealed to me. My parents did their best, we always had the basics, but we were not wealthy. So the thought of "more" by delaying retirement struck me as a good plan. Then my wife could retire early. I enjoy work.
But over the past few months my mindset has been turned upside down.
Within the past 3 months I've lost both my parents at ages 90 and 91. This has made me realize my own mortality.
Plus, my current employer was bought out and while the job is still mostly enjoyable, the pace and volume of work has increased to the point that a few evening and weekend hours online at home are a necessity. It's fine now, but I'm not sure this pace is something I can manage for 12 more years.
So....I'm contemplating ditching the "work until age 70" plan and retiring sooner, if I can make the numbers work AND I can mentally change my mindset of fear of needing "more" to survive.
Income and Retirement Accounts:
Salary: 83K
401k: 44K. Contribution: 6%. Employer Match: 4%
Roth IRA: 35.5K
Traditional IRA (401K rollover from previous 20-year employer): 1.1M allocated at 80/20, 3-fund with Fidelity.
Brokerage Account: 19.5K
Emergency Fund: 18K
Social Security: 2,271 at age 62, 3,265 at age 67, 4,049 at age 70.
Debt:
Mortgage: 240K at 2.9% on home valued at 400K. 24 years remaining.
Personal loan (necessary safety upgrades to 110 yr old home I'm renovating):32K at 6.7%
CC Debt: (Recent family vacation, funeral expenses for dad) 14K
Retirement Expenses at age 70: 5,875 per month is the very padded number I get in today's dollars when I add everything up (food, gas, mortgage, vacations, Medicare supplement, trash collection, dining out, etc, etc). This will obviously change if I retire sooner.
I have not included my wife's stats here. I own a home and work in Minneapolis while my wife's job and home are 150 miles away. For the entirety of our 10-year marriage, we have lived and worked in our respective cities during the week, then gotten together on weekends. Thus, we've never combined finances. Her mortgage in the small town is less than 60K remaining at 3%. She has no debt. Salary of 90K. Her retirement accounts are less than mine (around 300k) as she had expenses as a single parent and is 9 years younger, so less time to grow.
I know the numbers work if I wait until 70. And at 67, if I'm calculating correctly. But what about 65, or even 63? And if I do, how do I mentally reconcile my mind around missing out on the growth of working until 70? A childhood with very little is imprinted on my mind, and I want to be safe. But I'm also now considering that there is the possibility that I won't have enough life or energy to enjoy my safety if I wait. I'm healthy and active, but there are obviously no guarantees. Will I kick myself as I look at the nice portfolio while staring out the window, unable to enjoy it?
Statistics: Posted by HoosierDude — Fri Jul 26, 2024 8:25 pm — Replies 14 — Views 1955