I am 54 and my husband is 68. He was previously married and has two kids from that relationship. We have a 14-year-old child together.
I have a fair amount of money saved — $1.5 million in retirement accounts, $1.1 million in an individual investor account and I own $1.6 million in real estate. My husband is the spender, not saver, and he does not have a lot of retirement savings ($157,000 in an IRA and $200,000 in an annuity). He started collecting his Social Security at age 66 1⁄2, and brings in about $75,000 a year between his part-time work and Social Security.
He previously had an e-commerce business, which he is now shutting down. He is on Medicare, and is fit and healthy. I just took a new role working for our local city and have cut my salary in half but am enjoying the stability and benefits.
I make $82,500 and plan to stay with the city until I turn 60 or 62 to get a reduced pension of approximately $900 or $1,000 a month. As we have a 14-year age gap, he wants me to retire earlier so we can travel and explore (which I would like to do as well) but I don’t want to leave pension money on the table and I need healthcare benefits. We have a little over $100,000 in a 529 plan for our son and if needed, we would use extra money from savings to cover more of his education.
We do not have any debt or mortgage on our home. About $3 million in the bank/brokerage should be enough to retire early, but I am worried because my husband doesn’t have enough money for retirement and he can’t or won’t tap into my savings. I live well below my means and will continue to do so, but once our kid is in college, I do want to travel more and be healthy enough to enjoy it.
