We're 55/56 and starting to think about retirement (not now but it will be here before we know it). As others have pointed out, health insurance is the big expense that you have to worry about covering before you become eligible for Medicare at the age of 65. That would be a 10 year gap between now and Medicare coverage. Also, if you have young adult children currently covered by your employer policy you will need to think about how your kids will be covered by health insurance, too. Obviously if your kids are already covered by their own health insurance and/or are over the age of 26 that is not an issue for you. If you have kids in college it would be more of a concern.

I think one solution would be to make the move now to a retirement community and continue to work remotely at your current job, if possible. That way you can get established in the community - doctor, dentist, vet (if you have a pet), banking, accountant, etc - and by the time you go to retire you will be all set, the logistics will have been figured out already and you will have gotten to know some people in the community. This is an option that we're considering.

Since your employer requires an additional 3 year commitment if you opt not to retire this year, that really is something to think about since the terms of your employment benefits would be on the table to be renegotiated. In this day and age nothing seems to be a given. In fact, there is nothing certain in life and all choices come with risk. Your financial guy is saying that you can afford to retire now. Your gut is telling you that the terms of your retirement benefits this year might change to your disadvantage if you opt to wait 3 more years to retire. Retiring at 55 under your current plan may very well make more sense than retiring at 58 with lesser retirement benefits. It's a tough call and the sort of situation that more and more people seem to be finding themselves in. I hope you enjoy your visit to TV and best wishes going forward.

Proverbs 15:22 Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed. Proverbs 12:15 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.

Life is full of twists and turns, retire as soon as you can.

I would recommend taking control of your finances and doing your own modeling. It really is very simple to do. There is a site called Bogleheads.org. I would suggest you go on there read, study, and ask questions. A lot of help is available for free to help you determine if your numbers look good and help you establish what investments to use, setting up budgets, and projecting how long your money will last.

From a personal standpoint I retired at 56 and love it. We have been here a little over two years and I will be 62 this year. If you can’t find things you are passionate about here and stay as busy as you want, you probably are not ready for retirement. But for me I saw it as a new phase in life and embraced the change and pursuing my passions. Best of luck in your decisions.

I did forget to mention at 55 and from a northern climate if I was here full time (been here since 2007) I would have gone bonkers. If that is your plan you need to talk to a lot more 55 year olds that are now 65 to 70 and made that trip. If like me you will need to have a place up north near the children and mother nature as to change the scenery 5 to 6 months a year. You will look forward to the change of lifestyle each year. It's like Christmas twice a year. It takes a long time but ultimately you wake up one morning and realize TV is ground hog day. At such a young age you will appreciate a dual lifestyle.

I would not leave such an important decision to an advisor without knowing details of the model and doing a sensitivity analysis on the assumptions. I would advise retiring early if you have no debt and at least $2 million in investments, a pension, health insurance and and do not spend your principal and are able to live within a budget. If you work part time you can still contribute to your IRA. I would also suggest avoiding annuities in your portfolio at this time.

My assumption is that you have a few million so I will skip the problems related to money.
What are you going to do with your time? That is the question you have to answer. If you really want to retire then I would consider a job in probably another field or maybe start your own business. You can't watch TV all day for the next 40 or 50 years.

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Retire. It will all work out. It usually does. Good Luck.

I would reverse those numbers. Go with 4% inflation and 2% return. Much safer to be conservative.
Remember to add in big ticket costs like car replacements ( or new golf clubs)

Then run the numbers. If ok, retire asap.

You can always do some part time plumbing here to add to income as needed or wanted.

I guess I am lucky because I can not even comprehend the above post. What will you do with your time? There is not nearly enough time in the day for me to do all the stuff I enjoy. The question I constantly ask myself is how the hell did I manage to get by when I had to spend all that time working? The only time I ever got bored in retirement was during the winter up north. The Villages solved that problem. My new full time job is staying as physically active as possible to help slow the aging process and keep in good shape. I will admit that if my health failed, and I couldn’t be physically active, I would get bored real fast. It is a very rare occasion for the TV to get turned on before it gets dark outside, and there are many days it never goes on.

To be able to lock in medical coverage under a contract is extremely valuable. Medical coverage costs continue to increase obscenely, so trying to find your own interim plan while you wait for Medicare could get really expensive.

If there is a pension, you will have different options on how to take it, including choices of various percentages of survivorship or without survivorship.

There are so many things to consider when retiring relatively young. We did after planning things based on both our jobs and benefits, and retirement accounts, and savings. Getting yourself debt-free before retirement is hugely helpful. We were 55 and almost 58. The deciding factor was that we each had access to medical coverage at a reasonable cost from our former employment. He retired first, then me. It worked out fine. Medical coverage is a big deal.

You'll figure it out. Best of luck. :)

Boomer

I agree with this. One of the reasons TV has become a top choice for us is the sheer variety of clubs and activities, walking/biking paths, pools, entertainment, shopping, dining, golfing, fitness centers. All that along with the reasonable proximity to a number of beautiful beaches and even to Disney World. We have no desire to spend our days stuck inside watching t.v., we're going to be out having fun every day. And when we're stuck inside due to the weather we'll have a game day - poker, Yahtzee, Monopoly, whatever we want to play.

When it became apparent I had less years in front of me then behind me it was time to find a way to make them as enjoyable as possible and that did not include work

Good article:

The Case Against Early Retirement - WSJ

Since you noted in your post "we" and not I, then I assume you have a spouse and that is a very important factor when planning for retirement and retirement income.

I am a 64 year old female and will retire next year after I turn 65. For some that may be considered a late retirement, but having been widowed at age 44 when my 49 year old husband died suddenly from a heart attack loosing his income in the blink of an eye not only did I have to take on all the household expenses, I had to continue to save for retirement with now one income instead of two. Fortunately for me two weeks prior to my husband's death after working a number of years in various part-time R.N. jobs I started a full-time Federal Government/VA nursing job. Taking this job not only was I able to immediately pick up my own health insurance as I was always covered by my husband, the full-time income I was now getting made up for some of the lost income from my husband, and if I put in 20 plus service years and was disciplined to significantly contribute to the TSP/401K I would retire with an annuitized pension and TSP account to fund a decent retirement income that would meet all my needs and most of my wants within reason. And working 20+ years full-time with a decent salary I would replace a number of those low income years which Social Security uses your highest 35 income years to calculate your benefit which doing this significantly enhanced my benefit.

If life had dealt me a different hand of cards it would have been nice most importantly to have been able to retire with my husband, and with me going from part-time to full-time R.N. employment at 44 we very likely could have retired when I turned 55 and he 60 because we were already mortgage free, and with my ability to keep my FEHB health insurance we both would have had that coverage to and beyond 65. But that did not happen, but I still count myself very fortunate that although it would require me working to 65 I would not end up in financial lack in retirement.

I share my story with you although I was widowed before retirement was really even on our radar to please consider if you have not already what will be the financial situation of the surviving spouse especially if there is going to be a major dependency down the line on two Social Security incomes to make up for spending down other assets before one or both are eligible to claim Social Security and there is no large life insurance policy to make up for the income of loosing a deceased spouse's benefit. Although the option exists for the survivor to jump to the higher Social Security benefit of the two, it will never be equal to the two benefits combined because the survivor will have to give up their own benefit in the process. And if the survivor really needs that lost income as inflation rears it's ugly head, with advancing age along with possible health decline few if any opportunities exist for the survivor to return to the workforce to make up for the income loss.

When to retire is never an easy decision to make and wish you well in whatever decision your choose.

I retired at 62 best decision I ever made. That was a year and a half ago. Do it now and enjoy your life. Just stay active that’s the key.

"safer to be conservative"???????? OMG Get educated.

I think you should take your money out of a 401K and put it into an ira, you get more investment options. Read the book Get Rich With Dividends and put your money into good dividend paying stocks and you should be able to live off just the dividend income. This way you don’t care if the market is up or down as long as they keep paying the dividend. There is plenty to do here if you do retire so if the numbers say you can retire now I say jump in. If you don’t you will probably be saying I wish I had retired earlier.

Just do it and start enjoying now. Stop chasing the carrot

I think I’ll wait and see what’s going to happen in the country in the next year or so before I retire.

lol
 

:popcorn:

If you have a significant other Take into consideration their medical insurance cost. I’m four years older than my wife. I was able to cover her on a cobra plan for 6 months. Then into the open market until she turned 65 @ over $800. Per month. This was planned in advanced so no big deal but something to add to the decision making process.

When?
 

You'll never know when you have enough.

You'll know when you've had enough.

Thats your personal decision n difficult to offer advice on. If youre hesitating then obviously youre not ready to retire so wait

Response
 

My first thought is is that does your financial advisor realize you're moving to Florida and there are no personal income taxes down here as well as the fact that your home is going to be half the cost of what you have now with no mortgage? Other than money it's always better to retire early if you have always wanted to travel or learn new things and create new hobbies. Now is the time you can still walk without arthritis and handle those small items for your hobbies. Do you want to learn to cook or build a boat or learn the Samoan art of dancing,? And in Central Florida whether it's the villages or another senior community you'll have the opportunity to join one of hundreds of real clubs with people with your interests. Just remember not to stress out when you sell your house buy a house or decide to move

Yes, I can watch TV for another 30 or 40 years. When you retire you can do exactly that, nothing if that's what you want

As a wise man once said. “ your gonna be dead for a long time “

Get out.,. We are not going to
Live forever! Get Vaxed and travel before the arthritis sets in! See the world

If it don't work out, CULVERS is hiring

IMHO - 55 is pretty young to retire.

Retire when you're ready to retire, not when you have enough money. My Financial guy said I wouldn't make it to 70 and I'm now 82.

I retired young to. I did a little consulting for the first two years from home. Each day it became a little harder to get motivated to do what I need to do looking out the window and seeing the beautiful weather. That’s when I knew it was time to hang it up. If you are a couch potato then work but if your active go out and enjoy the rest of your life. Every day is precious, relish them and if you question yourself at any time just remember dead is forever.

Time is more important than money.

My wife and i are both Federal law enforcement and retired before 50 with pension, health benefits, and a decent amount in our IRAs. If you can afford it i recommend retiring. Figure out your retirement income and live om that amount for a year. If you get bored there are lots of part time work or volunteer jobs. Good luck

My husband retired at 53. I was 47. Our big expense is healthcare. Living in TV has saved us money. We bought a more modest house than we had( I no longer want to clean 6000 sq ft). We have no loans. Pay cash for everything. Dave Ramsey was right. We have our money invested moderately, for safety. I personally hope I fall asleep at 90 and not wake up.

Retire
 

What is his/your plans for health care and coming inflation?

55 is a little young to be here. I mean you just qualify for the age. $$wisr what is it that you want more than that.

Get the heck out of the rat race! You’ll be busy enough figuring out retirement here! No regrets!
Hurry up!

Don’t rely on others. Know and own your finances. I retired at 63 and never looked back. Traveled with my wife while healthy. Enjoyed children and grandchildren while healthy. Too many work their whole life, retire and die. I manage my money and only use an advisor to inform me of which investments I may sell at the lowest tax consequence level. Now, at a later time in my life, I reflect back on the many things I did during retirement that I could not have done had I remained in the work force.

Lots of people live beyond 94 today. Plus, given the spending attitude in Washington these days, inflation is bound to go up. Maybe it's just me, but I would want to push that 94 up maybe closer to 100 for a little more cushion.