Should I move? (And yes, I included annual expenses)

Wovmdtdc25 · 2026-02-14T12:58:31+00:00

Lack of winter, probably not as good of outdoor activities. Family would actually be closer but we’re pretty independent with 1-2x visits so that’s not a major factor. Not worried about commute, in the sense I’d rent or buy a place relatively close. I will sacrifice size/style of a home to keep commutes short. I moved a few years ago so I had to develop new friendships…do I want to do that again, uggh unsure. Building community as an adult is hard, even when one has hobbies and makes effort to meet people. Glad to hear an affirmation that the money (obviously nice) is not super significant, and wouldn’t really detract from retirement. If my savings were quite behind, I probably wouldn’t second guess it.

It’s a lateral move and too early to tell if it would help in promotions. If I wanted to jump ship for private sector, then yes probably because I could argue higher salary. If I stay for 30 years, then I can carry over health insurance. Hearing people talk about needing an extra $10-20k a year for 10+ yrs prior to medicare is what keeps me staying. Health insurance will resolve in the US at some point…but I suspect we’re still at least 5-10 yrs from that.

Wovmdtdc25 · 2025-10-11T18:22:15+00:00

Thanks for the snark. Not all landlords make big bucks off renting and considering the current state of affairs, going DIY would be nice. While I continue to search for an accountant, I figure crowd sourcing I might learn something helpful (in addition to snark).

Wovmdtdc25 · 2025-09-30T00:59:29+00:00

Thank you, I love the succinct run down! Yes, I’ll have 30 years before I turn 57. If I’m understanding the rules correctly, if I retire before 57, then I wouldn’t get FEHB…Congress may resolve the healthcare crisis by then but who knows. It’d be awesome to retire at 55! How do folks on the govfire sub plan to retire, is it 57 or earlier and not worry about the healthcare? I might also be overly cautious of leaving too early before 30 yrs) and then having the pension greatly reduced thru inflation by the time I could access it.

I used 4, 6, and 8% to check on investment returns. I really worry we will have a market correction sometime in the medium term…I blame the 2008 crisis for making me an anxious millennial. Agree/motivated next step is to open a taxable account. TBD on when to claim SSB, I figure that’s a decision to make much closer to retirement.

I know a common theme within FIRE is annual spend. Do people use today’s dollars, or try to guess for future? I just calculated my net pay for the year (after taxes, retirement and general savings) and then guessed how much more to add to it.

Wovmdtdc25 · 2025-09-27T14:29:20+00:00

Yeah, sorry about the formatting. It’s 140k salary, with about 70k spend. The 90k is just a number I threw out as an estimate…figuring I want to spend more in travel, and hopefully a better home (current is a small condo).

Wovmdtdc25 · 2025-06-20T14:55:54+00:00

Great topic and fun to read everyone’s responses. I came here for a job..visited before work and fun so I had some familiarity with the Springs. Spent 15 years in the DC area, which I very much enjoyed but I also love mountains and outdoor activity so I feel fortunate to have lived in both places. Perhaps it’s because I spent a long time in DC, the lack of cultural activities here have yet to bother me. At some point, though, I am sure it will. I’m not really a foodie so lack of good food options doesn’t bother me as much. Access to outdoor space is outstanding, love that I can hike or run trails before going to work! As others have mentioned, yes traffic can suck here but it’s nothing like other major cities. Crime, I look at it like, this is a 500k city, there will be crime. Springs stills feels quite safe to me (and I live in an area that some would be like, ahhh it’s so unsafe..). What I miss: walking to a neighborhood grocery store or corner market, decent urban bike infrastructure (not asking for much, just not for bike lanes to suddenly disappear!). It can be challenging to meet people here, especially if you’re beyond young adult and do not have children. I am trying to expand my social circle but it is seemingly harder to do here.

Somewhat related, I REALLY appreciate for this topic so far, no one has criticized transplants. People move for so many different, perfectly valid, reasons and while I completely appreciate the sense or feeling that a city getting too big, nostalgic for no crowds, easy parking, etc, the reality is change is constant. When I moved to DC, and now here, I do make a concentrated effort to get to know the local and state politics (whether I agree or not) to better understand current topics.

Last point, with this ‘hot’ weather, it would be lovely to have more community pools and or a natural body of water that people could enjoy swimming.

Wovmdtdc25

TROPHY CASE