I’m feeling much better than I was a few days ago after our appointment with the financial planner yesterday. After running the numbers and doing various projections he assured us we have enough to retire now if we want to and we will be OK. Seeing our costs and spending projections in detail, with dates up until age 105 was really helpful. We will not run out of money on our current spending. I felt relieved, now we can start planning the income details and thinking about retirement dates.
There is still a lot of detail to be sorted out and I will work at least till the end of the year to complete this contract and possibly for a few months next year to finish up and handover. But it feels so good to know I could actually finish working when I choose to.
So I am excited and relieved today after seeing the projections. The end is in sight! This time next year I won’t be working or worrying or feeling tired all the time. I’ll have time to read, sew, garden, cook, go for walks and do whatever I want all day long. Now I need to start planning what needs to be done before I leave work and when to actually leave. I’m sure work will not feel as stressful now as I know there is not long to go!
You know I never thought we would have enough to retire on and well I am still not retired. We could live on what is brought in without working, but we would have not many extras. Our income tripled when hubs retired. He did not have to commute which took $400.00 a month, he got State retirement which was only $100.00 less than his take home, he also go SSI now, and we did not have to pay for health care premiums. For the first time I could breathe!
We will definitely have less expenses, especially with me not having to pay professional fees, insurance, training, etc – that alone will save several thousand a year, and less travel costs. I am sure we will spend less on food also and I won't be always just too tired to cook. I have always worried about having enough to retire so what really helped me was seeing the detailed projections based on very conservative numbers. `Now we just need to get rid of the mortgage and we are good to go! 🙂