Pick apart my retirement plan

[eamyrick]

I’m not 60, but this is my community and I’m hesitant to post on reddit or another forum. I’m in LE and work for a dept than has one of the last pretty decent pensions. I moved to Texas at 22 for work because of the job and the idea of early retirement. I’m 7 years away.

Details:

Current plan is to retire at 46 with 23.5 years in. I love family time and don’t want to give any up but would love to spend several months a year skiing, fly fishing, and hunting multiple tags in multiple states.

My pension is a 3.2 multiplier by years of service. My plan is to have my two boys college funded prior to retirement and my house paid off in the next few years. After taxes and health insurance (guaranteed access to current plan) my monthly should be approximately $8500 a month. I also participate in the deferred comp plan which I will have penalty free access to upon separation. Since my pension does not have a COLA I plan to leave the def comp money (S&P 500 Index) alone until 55 to offset inflation. Should be 1-1.5 million at 55. Lastly, my leave bank check will equal a year of pay pre tax upon retirement and the plan would be to spread that over the first 6-7 years to really enjoy traveling. My current monthly spend is less than I would be making in retirement by over 1k but I still have the house and college savings which should be going away.

What am I missing? I’m fairly money responsible now but still enjoy travel and hunting but am just limited by time away from family.

Appreciate any informed responses from those of you who have retired.

 

[jimh406]

Kids are expensive until they are gone, and you need to factor insurance and other medical costs.

You also need to budget for your entertainment and tags/hunting in other states is not cheap.

 

[Ross]

A couple of things we did, prior to my retirement.

1. We are staying in this home we built 29 years ago till dead. It was paid off, but as we know things wear out. We replaced the roof, siding, ac, furnace and water heater, along with all appliances. Then created a fund for anything that could come up which isn’t much. The chance for a big expense is pretty small and the fund would cover it.

2. Created two separate accounts for my fun stuff and hers, to include for my misc vehicle repair, and hunting expenses.

3. Paid off two new rigs, and have an older truck for my excursions replacing anything needed on it, again like the home negating any likely possible large repair expense to them for a long time.

4. We have always lived within a budget and had it in place with a new budget when I retired, and further when the Mrs retires with a good buffer line for the unexpected.

You are set well when the time comes, many are not. The one thing we can’t buy is more time and at your planned age the sky will be the limit Good luck retirement is let’s say, Mighty Fine

 

[Wheels]

I retired about 3 years ago at 55, draw 2 pensions and have a 401 plan that I can draw on without penalty prior to 59.5. I have been drawing $2500 a month from that since retirement and the principal is larger now than when I retired. Granted, the market influences that, but so far things have been good.
House is paid for, kids education is covered, have ample savings and health care is cheap for the family thru my union.
Recently bought a new truck and actually financed it because the rate is 1.9% and I’m getting 4.25 on my money in a high yield account.
Sounds like you are good to go if health insurance is reasonable thru your employer.

 

[eamyrick]

A couple of things we did, prior to my retirement.

1. We are staying in this home we built 29 years ago till dead. It was paid off, but as we know things wear out. We replaced the roof, siding, ac, furnace and water heater, along with all appliances. Then created a fund for anything that could come up which isn’t much. The chance for a big expense is pretty small and the fund would cover it.

2. Created two separate accounts for my fun stuff and hers, to include for my misc vehicle repair, and hunting expenses.

3. Paid off two new rigs, and have an older truck for my excursions replacing anything needed on it, again like the home negating any likely possible large repair expense to them for a long time.

4. We have always lived within a budget and had it in place with a new budget when I retired, and further when the Mrs retires with a good buffer line for the unexpected.

You are set well when the time comes, many are not. The one thing we can’t buy is more time and at your planned age the sky will be the limit Good luck retirement is let’s say, Mighty Fine

Appreciate it. I have watched my parents always struggle with financial decisions so it was a great teacher. I think you are spot on with the retirement budget and getting ahead on home expenses. I still hope to be able to save some in retirement since I’ll be “young” but I have seen 5-6 guys I knew well die before 55 and figured time is the one thing I can’t really save for.

 

[SDHNTR]

There’s a way to answer this question definitively. It’s called a financial plan. You don’t have to guess at it.

 

[SDHNTR]

For those that don’t know…. A formal, written financial plan will answer questions and eliminate the guesswork associated with retirement.

Given my situation and goals, can I retire successfully? If yes, ok great, how do I do so most efficiently? If not, what exactly do I need to do to retire the way I want? How much do I need to save/invest? How much can/should I spend? How should my assets be invested? If you don’t know the answers to these questions, down to the dollar, you would benefit from a financial plan.

 

[eamyrick]

For those that don’t know…. A formal, written financial plan will answer questions and eliminate the guesswork associated with retirement.

Given my situation and goals, can I retire successfully? If yes, ok great, how do I do so most efficiently? If not, what exactly do I need to do to retire the way I want? How much do I need to save/invest? How much can/should I spend? How should my assets be invested? If you don’t know the answers to these questions, down to the dollar, you would benefit from a financial plan.

Appreciate the clarity. I guess what I was more looking for would be “pro tips.” I’ve ran the numbers multiple times and if my lifestyle stays the same my boys will get a pile when I’m done.

Also lifestyle and life satisfaction. My boys will be in high school when I retire. I love spending time with them but my wife and I are basically taxi drivers right now. I did 9 days in Alaska in August and really missed them but was ready to be back in the woods after a few days. Do any of yall that are retired crave part time work, consulting, volunteer etc?

Other tips like when to roll out of the S&P 500 to bonds, real estate etc.