Save and Leave Early

It’s easier when looking at long term goals if one has a mile marker to break the larger goal into smaller chunks. I developed a retirement plan for ages 56 and 59.5.  Each has financial considerations with the 59.5 plan being optimal.  When comparing the two plans it became apparent that we will have to earn an extra $6,000 per year if we wanted to retire before 59.5.  Without getting into the nuts and bolts of it all, I decided that for each extra $500 we save now we can leave a month earlier than 59.5 years of age.  That breaks to $125 a week or $18 a day in simple math. (Update 4/11/16): Refigured this based off current information and new daily total comes to $21 for various reasons to include stock market is down.

I am using this page to record the extra money we are able to save and then will be taking those days/weeks/months off the count down clock on the right side of our blog.  We started with retirement listed as 2/13/23. If things workout the way we are planning, our actual year will be 2019. However, one critical path item for use is healthcare insurance. Karen qualifies for Medicare in August of 2020. I’ll have to provide my own. If it should make sence to retire in 2020 due to healthcare costs, then that may become our new date.

What’s going to be hard about saving that extra money each month is the fact I already increased the house payment to have that paid off early.  Our budgets for retirement at 56 or 59.5 years of age also includes saving $200 a month now to help pay for the rig or whatever.  Although we have a fund setup for emergency money, that and all our other savings as of today, 2/15/15, are figured into the retirement plan.  The money will be going into an existing credit union account until interest rates rise and then I’ll move it.  I’ll not be listing the extra savings until it is actually deposited into the account. Oh, by the way, as we sell property through purging that does not go towards the extra savings as this to is already figured into the retirement plans.

I have always used the back of my checkbook to record money I left in the checking account as a “savings account.” I just put a portion of my deposits in the back of the checkbook and act as if it’s not there.  I move it from the back of the book to interest paying accounts/stocks or whatever after I’ve saved up a bundle.

If anything happens financially which affects the retirement date I will enter it below.

(Update 3/10/15) Because regular savings account interest pays so low, we are applying most of the extra savings to our existing home mortgage, figuring that in a few years the savings interest rates may go up at about the time our home mortgage is paid off. In other words paying off the 3.5% home mortgage seems more reasonable than collecting less than a percent in interest per year with a savings account.)
(Update 3/14/16) We took a look at our re-occurring monthly expenses. Cutting costs now will allow us several years of additional savings. One big expense is vehicle ownership. So we are looking to down-size to one family car. We are also disposing of a few toys. Fortunately, I also have a company car.
2016 Summary: Additional savings improved my retirement date by 322 days. If the same is done in 2017 then my retirement date would be 12/21/19.  So in 2018 I only have to save about an additional $441 to reach the goal for retirement in October 2019. I am able to retire after working 1000 hours into 2019. According to the pension folks, with overtime, I usually achieve this by July 1st. However, in 2019 I plan to take a lot of vacation time.

))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

9/10/14: Start with $0 saved extra. Retirement date starts at 2/13/23.
2/21/15: $2,049 deposit good for 4 months 3 days. Retirement date now 10/10/22.
3/20/15: $1,157 deposit is 64 days. Retire date is now 8/7/22
4/22/15: $1,300 deposit is 72 days. Retire date is now 5/27/22
5/15/15: $1,996 deposit is 111 days. Retire date is now 2/5/22
6/21/15: $1,089 deposit is 60 days. Retire date is now 12/7/21
7/15/15: $1,032 deposit is 57 days. Retire date is now 10/11/21
8/1/15: Renting an RV for vacation so no extra savings for awhile.
9/26/15: Freeze on overtime. Running total comp. is 61 hrs. Retire date is now 10/2/21
(Took a little break after end-of-year expenses such as taxes, holidays and a vacation)
2/9/16: Deposit is 23 days. Retire date is now 9/9/21
3/15/16: Deposit is 29 days. Retire date is now 8/11/21
4/11/16 Updated what we need to save to move up retirement date which is now $21 a day.
4/16/16: Deposit is 71 days. Retire date is now 6/1/2021
6/1/16: Deposit is 42 days. Retire date is now 4/20/21
7/24/16: Deposit is 26 days. Retire date is now 3/25/21
8/20/16: Deposit is 71 days plus 3 days comp. Retire date is now 1/6/21
9/17/16:  Deposit is 12 days. Retire date is now 12/25/2020
(Will be replacing kitchen appliances, using cash, so savings will slow down)
10/20/16: Deposit is 10 days. Retire date is now 12/15/20
12/22/16: Deposit is 38 days. Retire date is now 11/7/20
1/21/17: Deposit is 9 days. Retire date is now 10/29/20
2/22/17: Deposit is 20 days. Retire date is now 10/9/20
(Note: May have to spend $8,000 for new sewer system before selling house. May add to price of house or save this in addition to saving to leave early – not sure yet.)
3/18/17: Deposit is 9 days. Retire date is now 9/31/20
4/15/17: Deposit is 48 days. Retire date is now 8/13/20
5/13/17: Deposit is 43 days. Retire date is now 7/1/2020

 

The second job and not buying junk are helping! During the earlier months of savings, Karen retired so that reduced our monthly income. As of 4/11/16 I’ve decided not to increase spending or monthly bills for anything that is not essential. For example, may be giving up bee keeping hobby as they die off.

I’m using time and date.com to figure the new date.

Update: As of 10/26/17 I am no longer updating this page.  I’ve developed a habit of saving each month that will go forward even after the house is paid off.  I’ve also made management at work aware I would be leaving no later than November of 2019.