Your plan sounds very similar to what we have been planning for these past several years, and will complete our transition to full retirement very shortly. I was especially interested to see your comment about how strategically planning income in the form of taxable withdrawals from your investment accounts will qualify you for ACA. I don't know why more people don't realize this is possible. Even our financial planner / advisor was surprised that we could do that. As someone who has been forced into the ACA several times after my husband was "down-sized" out of his job I understand how the ACA and its related subsidies work. It is a good deal for those retiring pre-Medicare. I have dual citizenship with the UK and man was I bummed when they did Brexit! But it is nice to know that there is an option to live elsewhere, even if it's not as inexpensive as Spain (my ideal spot). As "early" retirees we keep some of our money in "safe" ETF's like the ones you mentioned, but also a significant amount in an S&P500 ETF, a Tech ETF like XLK, and two emerging tech ETF's like BOTZ and ROBT. Because we have more than a "normal" amount of years in retirement we decided to keep an interest in growing our capital. Once we hit our mid-late 60's we'll switch to all ETF's that are more conservative. Thanks for sharing your plan!
So many people that I talk to are holding off on retiring solely because of healthcare. They assume what I once did - ACA Healthcare = Bad Healthcare. We stayed away from obscure insurance providers in the marketplace, and our plan has been ok for us. Thanks for sharing what you guys are doing! It looks very solid! Maybe there will be a Bre-entry one day or at least some kind of reciprocal visa!
Great info Allen! There's so much to consider in the next few years as I head towards retirement.
Your plan sounds very similar to what we have been planning for these past several years, and will complete our transition to full retirement very shortly. I was especially interested to see your comment about how strategically planning income in the form of taxable withdrawals from your investment accounts will qualify you for ACA. I don't know why more people don't realize this is possible. Even our financial planner / advisor was surprised that we could do that. As someone who has been forced into the ACA several times after my husband was "down-sized" out of his job I understand how the ACA and its related subsidies work. It is a good deal for those retiring pre-Medicare. I have dual citizenship with the UK and man was I bummed when they did Brexit! But it is nice to know that there is an option to live elsewhere, even if it's not as inexpensive as Spain (my ideal spot). As "early" retirees we keep some of our money in "safe" ETF's like the ones you mentioned, but also a significant amount in an S&P500 ETF, a Tech ETF like XLK, and two emerging tech ETF's like BOTZ and ROBT. Because we have more than a "normal" amount of years in retirement we decided to keep an interest in growing our capital. Once we hit our mid-late 60's we'll switch to all ETF's that are more conservative. Thanks for sharing your plan!
So many people that I talk to are holding off on retiring solely because of healthcare. They assume what I once did - ACA Healthcare = Bad Healthcare. We stayed away from obscure insurance providers in the marketplace, and our plan has been ok for us. Thanks for sharing what you guys are doing! It looks very solid! Maybe there will be a Bre-entry one day or at least some kind of reciprocal visa!
Good info, Allen. And very cool about the potential for Italian citizenship!