I am going to retire from my current job in two and a half years. I will be 58, and getting a pension of $3200 a month. My wife is already retired and taking $2000 a month SS. I will also get SS. I plan on taking it at 67 or 70. If I wait until 70 I’ll be getting around $4500 a month.
I have a government self-directed plan with 800K currently, but will hopefully grow a bit more, a house we owe 200K on (2K a month mortgage).
Plan is to travel for a year once I turn 58, and rent the house for 3K a month while we’re gone to my stepson. House is worth around 1 million if we were to sell currently. Should be a bit more down the road as we’re in a desirable neighborhood in a west coast city. We haven’t decided whether to sell or not down the road, but we probably will downsize at some point, and get something in cash. We have kids, but all are adults and independent financially. But, if we paid an extra 1K a month, house would be paid off in about 8 years.
So, here’s my question. I have been reading a lot about the 4% rule, but I’m thinking that I may be able to go a bit higher if needed as I have pension plus SS coming.
It feels to me that I could go above that 4% and still be OK, knowing that I’ve got SS, pension, etc. our monthly spend now is around 5K a month after mortgage.
I don’t want to die a millionaire, but I don’t want to be on the street either of course. But looking down the road it feels like even if all is spent, we’d still be OK in a paid off house getting over 8K a month. If either of us needed assisted living, house could be sold and we’ve got a decent monthly income.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts:)