Realistically, when do you think you can retire?

I did not say it was impossible to overcome bad circumstances in every case. Certainly people do it. The world loves an underdog story. The inverse is, however, true as well: There are people who do everything right and still do not get rewarded for those actions. That is my central point. There is an element of chance at play, always. Call it 'risk' if you prefer, but a rose by any other name...

This is too simplistic a view. There is not one single "determining factor". There are millions. Luck is one of the most significant of them, but not the most significant necessarily.

Your call. Sounds like you are well informed of the reasons they exist and what they are for, so I won't belabor the point.

We carry some only by accident. By that I mean:

- Work gives me a policy equal to 3x gross income at no cost to me, so there's that whether I want it or not.
- Mom took out a ~250k policy on me when I was 21 and started rock climbing, way back in college. She locked in a killer 30 year term rate, then transferred the policy to us with my wife as the beneficiary after I got married. The coverage amount for the premium is an absurdly good deal, so we're going to keep it through the end of the term because why not.

We have never sought life insurance otherwise and don't intend to. And we have a kid. Our net worth currently equates to about ~18 years of our current expenses. I love my wife, but if I die and she can't get things financially stable over the next 18 years I'm not sure any amount of money is going to help. I see no point whatsoever to paying those premiums.

 

Well, I'm 38 now, and have two young children. The youngest will graduate high school when I'm 50. If everything goes just as is, I'm shooting for 60. If I can get my hot sauce company up and running and make some decent money, I'd love to move that up by ten years.

 

I got a policy when I was 18 right when I got married. Its dirt cheap. Since then I have some prehypertension and an autoimmune disease diagnoses. Nothing that will make me uninsurable but certainly something that may impact my rates.

Just don’t want to cancel and for some reason feel I will want it back.

Kind of the same thing as you, its super cheap so maybe keep it around?

 

This, or you'll be in the position where if your situation working for someone else isn't to your liking you have the freedom to leave if you wish very quickly..my father retired at 53 from his career and still worked but that pension and buyout made him able to pick and choose his situation and if he remained in it.

Better to have it and not need it...not the same but my wife has a dental plan at her job, I added her to mine b/c she needed a lot of work one year but it wasn't worth dropping it for the $1 per 2 weeks it cost her. So if she ever needs major work again we will owe little if anything for it.

 

Thats exactly it. Its nice to have the freedom to choose what you do.

Live to work and not work to live

 

Yup..retire from work, not life

 

A few more years for me. 2025 is it and pretty much maxes my defined benefit retirement without going to 40 years of service. I wanted to get out by 58, but 60 is okay. That 2 year difference makes a big difference in what I’ll receive. Besides my retirement, we have an IRA via my wife’s employer. We don’t invest through mine because the choices are limited and laden with fees. Hers has matching and we have control over it so we push it all into that one. We also have a solid six figures in savings, and a home long paid off. Right now I also have over a year's worth of sick leave. I'll burn most of that down the last year I work and use it to facilitate moving elsewhere. I can cash it out at retirement, but there is no scenario where I am not better off with a year's pay, benefits, and service credit. The pay out is small compared to my salary which is at the end of the scale. Even after burning down that year I'll still have some to cash out.

We live below our means, pay for things like vehicles, home improvements, et. al. outright. My wife manages the finances, taxes, licensure, purchasing, employee pay and benefits at a small company. She's really good at it and has enabled us to work on a cash basis and save for our entire marriage. She is very detail oriented and bargains hard for things we buy. She knows a lot of people in different businesses and is able to really make our money go farther. She is also very disciplined. She never cuts corners, just costs. We don't pay others for things we can do, and don't waste money on a lot of things like subscriptions, services, extended warranties, delivered this and that. It all adds up. We spend where there is benefit, not convenience.

We had planned to retire where we live in So Cal for quite a while. We grew up here, went to school here, our family lives here. However, we have decided to leave the state. Taxation, fees, and political nonsense have tarnished what was once a place we both loved. Growing up in the 70s and 80s here was the best. I grew up riding, skiing, surfing, climbing, lots of stuff Now it’s overbuilt, noisy, and restrictive... very restrictive. So long. Some of our friends have already left. A week ago, one of my wife's colleagues and her husband decided to leave and move to Texas. He is a fireman. They sold their home in 1 hour and at above ask. He is going to fly in to CA from TX, and live at the station during his shift. Being a city fireman in CA is a really good paying job. I guess there are others that do it too. My BIL went between Scottsdale AZ and So Cal for the last 10 years of work. Several of our friends who have moved have kids and the kids were more than ready to go. I was surprised as kids often don't like to leave what they know and their friends.

My youngest (21) just finished her BA in three and a half years and graduated Magna Cum Laude. She will have her Masters next December. That will mark the end of heavy expenditures prior to retirement for us. K-12 private school and college for the kids so they have an even chance of making a good living and not start out saddled with debt. Some of the things I hear about student loan debt are beyond frightening. When it is time for my kids to retire I want them to be in the best position they can be. Like I said earlier, we spend where there is benefit.

We have been looking at property in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Texas, and Tennessee. I always loved skiing Bachelor in OR, and hiking WA. We’re going to visit Olympic National Park this summer. However, with all the monkey business in WA and OR over the last year, I am pulling those out. We really like Texas. The people, food, hill country... freedom. Yeah. Idaho is beautiful and a great home base for a lot of places we like to travel and we have some friends there. It's also easy to find a home with a three car garage with bay three being a 40 foot motorhome bay, which would make a good shop. They do not like Californians though, and are pretty vocal about it. We’re really interested in TN, so we are going to go out there in the Spring to look at some property. We can sell our home here and buy a really nice home in TN for about half To two-thirds of what this one is worth. My neighbor moved there last year and loves it. We might build, we might buy and renovate. I don't know yet. We won't buy in a development with community amenities and an HOA. I want a bigger lot, 1/2 to 3/4 acre, or acres with trees and not as much landscaping maintenance. Neighbors spread out, dark skies at night, and most of all, quiet. I want to work on stuff without bothering neighbors and I would like to be able to shoot in my back yard if possible. I love all the history in this part of the country and I could really keep myself busy here. I like the idea of four season year too.

Would I miss CA? Yeah, but it's mixed bag. The beach, the desert, the Sierra... In N Out. I'm looking forward to the new stuff though.

The plan is to buy in a suburb to semi rural area and spend the rest of our days doing what interests us. I want to build a decent shop apart from the house, maybe 30x30, and work on project stuff, garden, ride, hike, travel, and so on. I need to keep busy, but I am not interested in going into work. I’d like to do some volunteer stuff, church stuff, help out a neighbor, but no job.

The move is about quality of life, but the lower cost of living is going to be a plus. I know there are people on here who are from the states I mentioned and may think, "You're not bringing that California crap to my state". I get it, really. In the 80's lots of people were moving here and there was some resentment. There is probably nothing I can say that would change anyone's feelings here, but when I move to another state it's because I like what you're doing and want to be part of it, not change it. Believe me, I'm not coming with any "Back in California, we..." nonsense. I'm trying to escape that. Leaving at retirement feels like sort of a "FU" to CA for me. I'll take my public pension, my savings, the capital from our home and spend it in a state that doesn't waste it on dumbassery and radical political fever dreams.

I also know and accept it could all change because of economics, politics, or some family disaster. If it does and we stay here I can be at peace with that. Until then, I am really excited about finishing my career and changing my address.

 

Southern Washington... Vancouver is nice. Rainy, along with most of the Northern I-5 corridor... but no income tax and right across the border is no sales tax.
Burgerville is 100000x better than in-n-out.
Close to mountains.
Cheaper*** property than Oregon.
Only downside is Seattle runs the state.
Idaho is my #1 choice, but don't know if the wife can get on board with it. Tennessee is our #1 combined.

 

THAT is a huge disgusting negative.

FWIW: Wet side, north of Seattle ha$ ju$t gone nut$.

 

If GME hits $5k a share, next week sometime.

 

We're looking at a relocate back to that area. We were looking at Bellingham and Vancouver, and Vancouver is so much more affordable it's not even funny.

From Everett up to the border is just nuts now pricing wise

 

Looking at 55. Then just work for fun doing whatever.

 

I have no issue with you people moving here, but you have completely destroyed our housing market this past year. Tennessee was the #1 state for net migration in 2020. We are being flooded by people from CA/WA/OR/IL etc. Here in Knoxville prices were up 20% YOY with inventory being down 20%. The funny thing is that my wife and I had been discussing a move out west prior to COVID. But considering the fact that everyone is moving from those states to TN, I'm taking it as a sign that I should stay put.

Please consider Mississippi or Alabama. I hear it's nice.

 

That's too funny. About a year ago, before I got the job I'm in now, which enabled me to stay put for the time being, Knoxville was #1 on my list of places considering a move to. The real estate was stupid cheap compared to where I'm at now. I could have gotten a house on a lake with a dock for what I'm paying for a modest suburban home here.

 

Up until a few years ago, I literally thought never. I met my soon to be wife and with her financial prowess and degree in accounting/auditing, she got me and her on track. Probably looking a 60 for me, and she is younger but on track for 55.... in either case, it is really comforting to know that I wont have to work "work" till im in a grave.. .and that I will have some time for us in the future.

 

You are right many of those same fukstiks moved here and continued to vte in the same stupid ways they did in the states they left, then they ask "What happened?" and move on!!! Our neighbor - moved to - you guessed it: Tennessee!

 

Yup sister and brother in law left Washington and got way better jobs, better pay, better everything by moving to Tennessee 2 years ago.

 

Not in actual Knoxville but possibly outside the city. Unless your modest suburban home is over a million?

I actually don't mind people moving here as growth can be good but a lot of people are essentially being priced out. Our jobs typically don't pay what you are making out West. I'm guessing you probably make more than my wife and I combined. We live very comfortably and we save a huge amount of our income but Knoxville is not the cheap town it was just 3-4 years ago. But to someone like yourself our houses are probably still a great bargain. Just 3 years ago $300k would have bought you a great house. Now that price gets you a house that hasn't been updated since the Reagan administration.

 

Columbus OH was like this 15 years ago...we are on the other end of all of that big move...and it sux. Used to be really affordable to live here...mostly quiet, no traffic. All of the politicians wanted growth and progress....well, it has been growth and regress to this old fart.

 

Realistically? What's today?

Well then, never, probably...