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Old 04-10-2024 | 01:29 PM
  #67  
Sliceback
Gets Weekends Off
 
Joined: Dec 2007
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Originally Posted by Varks
To those retired I ask how much does one need in the bank when punching out? I know it's subjective.
56 years old
House 1 paid off.
House 2 paid off.
All cars paid for and pay cash for new cars.
Kids college paid for.

$200,000 HSA
Wife is 4 years younger than I.

I still like the job but the commute is killing me.
You're making good money. Retiring funding still in place. Not touching retirement funds. Not retiring is like getting a 50-100% pay raise. Schwab and Fidelity (one or both of them) have basic retirement planning tools. Run the programs with quitting today with today's IRA/401K values and at 60, 62, 65.

Make it easier. Go the day before. Midday/mid-afternoon flight. Get dinner, watch a movie, do whatever. Sleep in the next morning, nice breakfast, gym/walk/whatever. Go to work. Back to back another trip.

But airline tickets if needed. Do that twice a month and you could be gone 12-14 days and be home 16-19 days.

Coworker figured he needed $50,000 a year to live on. Was going to leave <60. I said "cut you're flying to make $50K a year. Fly more when family demands are low and less when family demands are higher. Kids in their 30's so it's mostly grandkids planning. Several years later he was still chipping away. He'd stayed longer than he'd planned. Beats me why but there's a significant value to staying. Just become a low time flier.

N/b Captain? 25 hrs a month = $100,000 plus the unseen 401K contribution and lower insurance costs.

FO had a double commute. Tough. But his kids were growing up near his and his wife's families. So he was sucking it up. W/b upgrade time? He was going to buy a condo at the base. Got stuck? Go to the condo. Back to back trips with a couple days between them? Stay at the condo. Wife was game on staying there while he was flying or when he was going to spend a couple days there between trips. He knew staying had a lot of value but he was going to make it a lot more palitable to keep working.

Get professional advice. Planning for a 35 year retirement, and falling short, would suck when a couple of years of lower effort now would have secured your future.

Last edited by Sliceback; 04-10-2024 at 01:35 PM. Reason: added "FO had..."
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