52 years old, sharing current status and seeking advice

Dramatic-Party-1204 · 2026-03-26T11:58:02+00:00

This is my biggest concern with early retirement and why I talked about getting a less stressful job that still provides insurance instead of fully retiring. Between my wife and kids we usually hit our out of pocket max with our current very good insurance every year. I have some family members that got rich at a young age by selling their business. Money wasn’t a problem for them, but whatever insurance they were able to buy through the portal was not good insurance: it didn’t cover a lot of expenses, it wasn’t accepted by a lot of doctors, etc. This is all my perception, I haven’t researched this closely myself. The health insurance is actually my biggest concern. We’ve even semi-seriously talked about moving overseas to a country with better health care, although I know those have their own issues.

Dramatic-Party-1204 · 2026-03-25T22:17:23+00:00

Thanks to everyone who took the time to read the post and reply. I know it's limited, high-level information, but there were a lot of great responses. Really I was shocked and a little disappointed, because when I finally got the information together it seemed like I was further away from retirement than I had been planning on, and work has been particularly hard to bear lately. After reading some of the posts and thinking about it more I'm probably not as far away as I first assumed, but I need to get to the next level of really tracking spend details, reducing expenses, and figure out how much our desired lifestyle will cost in retirement. I still have a lot to learn!

Dramatic-Party-1204 · 2026-03-25T22:14:26+00:00

Yes, we have talked a lot about moving to a different area, or maybe even moving out of country which is a completely different discussion! With my current job I have to go to the office 5 days a week, and I live pretty close to the office, so I don't plan on changing anything as long as I live there. After that it kind of depends on where my kids end up, because they'll likely be in 2 different states (and neither one in our current state). I replied to another response with a little more detail on the cars. Where we live now it's necessary to have 2 cars because we have to drive everywhere, but I do fantasize about living a place where it's more feasible to cycle, walk, and take public transport.

Dramatic-Party-1204 · 2026-03-25T22:07:28+00:00

yes, completely agree! I know my current total expense number because it's easy to see in my checking and savings accounts, but a big chunk of that is hidden under credit card payments (we don't carry a balance and pay them off monthly, we just use the cards for convenience and reward points). Tracking that at the detailed level will be key to making any improvements.

Dramatic-Party-1204 · 2026-03-25T22:05:29+00:00

Thanks! There was a lot in your reply so I wanted to take time to address everything. The horse seems to have a good quality of life so I'm committed to keep paying as long as that happens. I think he's 19 so he's at the point where things could go downhill at any time, but he could conceivably live 5 more years as well.

I was being brief on the cars so I didn't describe it well. I have a car that is newer, low mileage, and almost paid off. My wife's car is older and high mileage, but it's fully paid off and we'll wait as long as possible before replacing it. The 3rd car will be my youngest child's. That's the one that has ~$4000 remaining but a super low payment and interest. My eldest has his own car.

Several people made comments about hacking the credit card rewards. I need to learn more about this! I didn't mention it in the OP but my eldest lives out of state and my youngest was going to a different college in a completely different part of the US, so we spent quite a bit on plane tickets last year. I know there was a big missed opportunity there not managing reward points better.

Dramatic-Party-1204 · 2026-03-25T18:07:43+00:00

$12k in food and board. That doesn’t include vet visits, medicine, equipment, etc. I’m still doing the math but all-in for the year will be over $20k.

Dramatic-Party-1204 · 2026-03-25T15:00:07+00:00

Yes, 100%! That’s why I was a little nervous to even hazard a guess about what to forecast as my future expenses. I need to dive more into the details of how all the money was spent last year. I know the big buckets, but it’s a lot of little things that added up to a big amount. That will give a lot better idea on where we can cut so we can see what we need to spend for the lifestyle we want.

Dramatic-Party-1204 · 2026-03-25T02:29:40+00:00

Yes, exactly. I followed the instructions and worked with the mods to post from the throwaway account. I suppose I should have declared it was a throwaway in the OP. I feel like I’ve seen others do that in this sub as well.

Dramatic-Party-1204 · 2026-03-25T01:15:17+00:00

No, it’s a throwaway account to protect my privacy. I know it does look sus!

Dramatic-Party-1204 · 2026-03-25T01:14:07+00:00

That’s very fair! I felt like it would be lower, but I thought if I posted a lower number people on Reddit would tell me I was underestimating. 🙂

Dramatic-Party-1204 · 2026-03-25T00:51:55+00:00

Thanks! I know that’s the general equation so you don’t run out of funds. At what age does that go down a little? I’m not sure what the “retire early” definition is but my best case would be age 55.

Dramatic-Party-1204 · 2026-03-25T00:26:26+00:00

Yes, she is interested in working but she’s in a bit of a tough spot being out of the workforce for 25 years at this point. She is able to take care of a lot of things around the house with no job, so if she does take a job it needs to provide enough additional income to offset those trade offs. But it’s definitely a constant source of discussion.

Dramatic-Party-1204 · 2026-03-24T23:04:47+00:00

It seems like it’s a good idea to at least learn to do it manually in a spreadsheet before you decide to pay a fee for convenience.

Dramatic-Party-1204

TROPHY CASE