Gentleman, thank you for your responses! :)


My plan is to continue saving for retirement, with the goal of retiring at age 66 and 4 months. I don't want to work until I'm 70. My mom died at that age. An illogical thought that refuses to go away is what if I die at age 70 and never get to enjoy retirement? I said it was illogical! None of us know when we are going to die (I had one roommate who died in her late 20s in a plane crash and another who died in her early 30s of cancer).

I am figuring out now what I would need to live on.

I just went to the social security website to see what my monthly benefit amount would be at different ages but that part of the website is currently down. Murphy's Law! I'll try again during the week.

Currently rent is my biggest expense as I don't own a car. Second is my bus commute to another county. It is good that I'll be able to get rid of the latter once I retire.

The big question( which I won't be able to answer until I retire) is what will Medicare cover and what will my copays be?

If I stay in my apartment that would be a sound financial decision because my rent is one of the cheapest in the county. BUT, I would like to get a dog when I retire which means I would have to move to a place that allows pets (which means I'll mostly likely be paying more for rent, unless I go back to getting a roommate). And there would be the added expense of taking care of a pet. Something to thing about.


>> you want $300,000 invested.

I only have a tiny portion of that amount invested, which is why I'm here. What do you board members consider a fully funded emergency fund? How many months salary?


>> I hope you can afford to stay in the Bay Area after retirement, if that is your wish, but there are many fine places that are more affordable.

I was born and raised in the SF Bay Area and I love it here. And my family is here. If I were to move out of the area I really like Seattle (but that isn't a cheaper area either). I wilt in humidity and my body doesn't do well in extreme heat so I'm staying on the West Coast.

>> Just like to add that my mother (almost 87) lives very well on about the scenario I used as an example in this post (she does have a non-mortaged house and no car or other debt).

Thank you for sharing this, as it is encouraging to hear.

Cheers,

Shire