What about Healthcare?

In making the decision to retire early, one of our primary concerns was the area of healthcare.  Both Mr. Breeze and I have Pre-existing conditions.  I am curious to see how health care reform starts to change over the course of  5 years.

In fact I have added a new section titled Health.  This is an area where I will post about healthcare, what we find, and changing to living a healthier lifestyle (recipes, activities, who knows I might even track our weight goals on line.).

So we decided to buy through the exchange but unfortunately with leaving our jobs and income it was confusing to fill out the paperwork.  We tried to make phone calls, and had our forms reentered but found out that we were applying for aid (i.e. welfare).  That is not what we wanted.

I ended up panicking, and decided to purchase directly from the insurance company as I was afraid to go without coverage for myself, and my family.  We chose Humana as they were one of the best for the medications we were on and I liked the options.  By going direct to the insurance company we are not on the exchange (although our plan is considered a Bronze plan through the Affordable Care Act); therefore, we are not eligible for the subsidies.

So what is insurance costing us:

Well for our family of 3, we have a monthly premium of about $885 a month.  We are not eligible for the subsidy, however, if our healthcare expenses exceed 10% of our income and this includes the Premiums that we are paying, we can deduct medical expenses from our tax liability.  This may or may not be better for us in the long run, we will see what our income ends up looking like after 2016.  We may try to get on the exchange plan for 2017, but for now we are happy to have insurance.

Oh and because neither of us are "working" we were also eligible for medicaid cards, so we are using that as a secondary insurance - this will only help us to reduce our deductible. Speaking of the deductible, we have a family deductible of $12,500.  While I hope we will never reach that amount, if for some reason we have a large medical event, such as a hospital stay, then I know our cap will be our premiums plus the $12,500.  Long term this is a expensive option, but it is affordable today, as we are learning.

So to have insurance for 2016, we are paying:
$885 x 11 (we were covered in January)
And an out of pocket deductible of up to: $12,500
Total potential healthcare expenses for 2016: $22,235

So if our 2016 income is below $222k we should meet the 10% medical deduction for 2016.

The only thing I wish I had done differently, was read Root of Goods post on the Pitfall and Subsidies of the Affordable care act!  Unfortunately I had to make my decision before he posted this, and didn't have the luxury of time (I was leaving my job, moving across the country, and stepping up a new home!).  Oh well, lessons learned and maybe we will do better next year!

Finding Your Way Home

It has been almost 2 months since I left the rat race of the working world.  And while I don't feel like I have all the time in the world (something that working full time made me feel like I would have if I quit).  I do find myself with time to be creative, learn, and breath.

One area that I have been focusing on, is definitely spending more time with Baby Breeze and Mr. Breeze.  We have taken advantage of warm days, lazy afternoons at the park.  Another area for myself, is reading and learning new thoughts and ideas.

Recently I picked up a book at our local library:

Finding Your Way Home: How to Become a Successful Stay-At-Home Parent, by Lucynda Koesters. 

This book would have been a great read, about a year or two ago, as I was developing my plan to stay at home.  That being said, I did gleam some great tips from this book.

In the first section Ms. Koesters focuses on reason why it is important for a parent to be at home, whether your child(ren) is an infant, toddler, gradeschooler, or teen. We know it is important for parents to bond with their child when they are infant or toddlers, but it is just as crucial to have a parent at home when they are in school and hitting their teenage years.  I love the idea that as my child goes to school, this will give me a chance to volunteer and get to know his friends, and to know that he will not be one of the many latch key kids who spend hours every afternoon unsupervised.  Most juvenile crimes happen between 3 PM and 6 PM and no wonder, a child needs guidance and a safe harbor to come home to.  Plus if you want to find out about your child's day you need to be there within the first 30 minutes - before they begin to focus on other things and the answer is "fine."

The second section of the book focuses on courage building strategies to find your way home.  While I have already made the jump to early retirement, I did enjoy her approach to visualizing what your day would look like.  She goes through weighing your options and examining your finances.  It is amazing how much of our income goes to be prepared for our jobs - clothing, parking, gas, daycare, convenience items such as fast food, guilt presents, etc.  As you eliminate these it is amazing how little we really bring home from out incomes.  She has some great money savings tips and strategies to talk to your spouse and employer.

What really hit home with me, was Part III - Transitional Strategies to a successful life at home.  This was full of great advice for me.  It is OKAY for me to slow down, and it might take me a while to learn how to do that.  I was shocked when I found myself looking at job opportunities within a month of being home.  This apparently is very common, and it is just because the reality of slowing down (and not receiving a paycheck for the first time in my adult life) was quite a shock.  I am now trying to focus on just being present at home and enjoying the peace that comes with it.  I also thought I would be able to start saving so much money now that I am at home, but found we were eating out more, and spending more on little things, as I now had more time to shop.  Realizing these things was a critical factor for me (and I will be writing more about this area in the future).

Establish a weekly routine is the next suggestion, but go SLOWLY!  Hard advice to take for someone who just exited the crazy rat race.  One of the areas that I am currently following is to set up BLOCKS of time.  For example:

7 AM to 9 AM get up, breakfast, and get dressed
9 to 11:30 AM errands or fun activities
11:30 - 12:30 Lunch
12:30 - 2:30 PM nap/quiet time
2:30 - 4:30 PM activities, outdoor time
4:30 - 6:30 PM make, eat, clean up dinner
6:30 - 8 PM - family time, games, movie, activities
8 - 9 PM - bath, story, and light out at 9 PM

This helps us to accomplish more during our day, without over structuring the time.  We might decide it is nice out and go to the park, or maybe it is cold and we bake cookies, or there might be something fun going on at the library so we go there!  It is also easy to know when to schedule appointments, play dates, and when to be able to say No!

Stay flexible!  Now is not the time to become rigid in a new routine, as that will only cause me the stress I am trying to get away from.

The book was published in 2005, so some of the information is a little dated, but overall this was a great read for anyone who is considering retiring early, especially to be home with their children.

I am thrilled to say, I found my way home!  

Early Retirement - Snow Day

It finally hit me today, what early retirement can truly do for the mind and the spirit.

We are having a snow day here in Colorado.  This morning I was listening to the news mention all the closed schools.  I was thinking about all the parents who now have to arrange baby sitters or call in to work in order to take the day off and make last minute arrangements for assignments, meetings, and calls.

What does an early retired parent do . . .

Well our morning went like this:
- Warm bacon and eggs for breakfast
- Puzzles and working on our letters
- Reading books in front of the fire under a cozy blanket
- Walking the dog in the snow
- And we are now about to have some hot chocolate after nap!!!

Now this is a Snow Day!!!

You can do this, save your income, so that you can enjoy an early retirement lifestyle!

Cancer Journey - When am I normal

I cannot believe it has been two years since I finished my cancer treatments.  I remember when completed my final radiation therapy, everyone around me wanted to celebrate and I want to hide in a closet.

When I was going through treatments it was if I was doing something to get rid of the cancer and prevent it from returning.  Once the treatments were over I began feeling exposed.  All those feelings of - why me?  if I don't eat right will it come back?  if I don't get enough sleep will it come back?  when will it come back?  am I really cancer free?  am I really a Survivor?

Even now two years later I find it difficult to say I am cancer free or that I am a Survivor of Cancer. In the back of my mind, there is always a tingling reminder of it is not if it comes back but when.  Dealing with all this anxiety, along with the side effects of my medications, and the long term effects of Chemo really pushed me over the edge.

I found myself snapping at my family, and not able to concentrate.  Christmas of 2014, my husband tried to get me in the car with him and my son to go look at Christmas lights [one of my favorite things to do] and even that I could not find interest in.  It was at that point that I realized I was going to need more help.

Usually I find natural ways to cure and heal myself (diet, exercise) can really do so much, but sometimes we get to a point where we need additional help.  I finally agreed with my doctor to take Effexor, which is an anti-depressant, often given to cancer patients.  After a few weeks I noticed that I was able to concentrate better, was not snapping as my family, and it was even helpful with the hot flashes and anxiety that I was suffering from.  Okay, I wish I had not waited so long to ask for help.

Today two years after my final treatments, I find myself finally accepting my new normal.  I still have no feeling in my left armpit, and I struggle with some effects from the treatments.  But I am setting new goals for myself, and learning to enjoy each day again.  I am getting outside every day (and training for my first 5k - hey I have to start somewhere!).

Am I normal? . . . I know I am not the same as I was before Cancer, but I am finally becoming happy with "me" and who I am today.

If you are someone going through the cancer journey, or are trying to support someone, know that the healing process takes a LONG time, and just because treatments are over, doesn't mean that the journey of healing is over.

Precious Moments

When I look at my son, I see the world through his fresh new eyes.  Everything is something to be explored and pondered.

This past weekend we got hit with the massive storm that came across the United States.  It gave us enough to go sledding.  It was hysterical trying to get all of us in snow pants, boots, warm jackets, gloves, mittens and hats.  By the time we were done, poor Baby Breeze resembled "Ralphie's little brother" from the Christmas Story.

I cannot believe the love and joy that comes from being able to watch him experience things for the first time.  I am thrilled that I now have this time to spend with my little guy and cannot wait to see where our adventures take us next.

We Did It - The Jump to Early Retirement

It has been over a year since I have posted in this wonderful blog, and I am sorry to all my loyal followers.   I will say that recovering from Cancer hit me harder than I could have ever imagined.  Health is something we take for granted until we lose it, so my family and I have made some life changes that I hope will be beneficial.

Brief summary of what has happened over the last year:

- We decided that we could find a way to manage our income and investments, and I made the jump into retirement.  That being said I did take on a part time job that allows me to mentor and help others, but this is more about my passion that an income.
- Mr. Breeze went back to school for his Master's - so honestly we are both home right now as he completes his online masters.
- Last month we moved from the mid-west to sunny Colorado.  This puts us closer to my family, and well Colorado is a MUCH more active state than where we lived, so now we are enjoying the sunshine and getting active - which is another step in the right direction for my health.
- Baby Breeze is now 3 and every 30 seconds goes from being cute and adorable, to funny and entertaining, to exhausting, to an emotional terror.  It is so nice that both of us can be home with him at this time.

So that is the brief update of the last CRAZY year!  We are terrified and excited about our new adventure, and I love that I have other Blogs that I can read from those who has paved the path before me.  I look forward to share with you what challenges and opportunities we experience as we enjoy this new found freedom of Early Retirement (FYI - my goal was to do it by 40, but I just had my 38th birthday and I am so glad I didn't wait)!

Here's to new adventures.

The Breeze Family

February 2015 Update

Net Worth Standing for February 1, 2015:


Assets: $1,023,617.09 - Liabilities: $83,669.94 = Net worth: $939,947.15

Net Change = increase of $4273.87

The markets were a little turbulent for January; however we took advantage of this and fully funded our Roth IRAs for the 2014 tax year.  This $11,000 is probably why our Net Worth went up a little even though the markets dropped early on.

Our spending was about average, although the shock of a new year and having our healthcare deductible of $4,000 to pay again will cause us to spend a little more.  We are paying out of pocket and then will reimburse ourselves from our HSA in the future when we need to access the funding.  For now we just let it grow tax free.


Gas price continue to however around the $2.00 mark on average (once we were able to get it for $1.71, but for the most part we have seen the $2).  This has helped us to reduce the gas budget slightly and add a little more into savings.

Our dog tore his ACL, so we had a pricey vet bill in January, and we are hoping it will heal - if not we are looking at a very expensive surgery in our future.

We continue to pay down our mortgage significantly each month.  This is our final piece of debt and we are looking forward to the piece of mind that will come with being debt free.

So our Chart is looking pretty flat right now, but we will continue to put as much into savings, and reduce our spending as we can . . . looking forward to early retirement as we can see the light at the end of the tunnel now.

January 2015 Update

Net Worth Standing for January 1, 2015:


Assets: $1,021,238.46 - Liabilities: $85,565.18 = Net worth: $935,673.28


Net Change = decrease of $203.21

Welcome to a new year.  We are starting off with just a slight decrease for the start of the year, as every January 1st, I recalculate the value of our non-liquid assets (like our cars, house and boat). However, the change was pretty insignificant with the regards to how the markets did at the end of the year.

We start 2015 living on just one income, and still continue to save as much money as possible.  Mr. Breeze is starting to finally get the idea that he is "retired", but it doesn't come easily to him.  He knows I am looking forward to joining him in the next year or two.

Looking at our 2014 overall spending, it wasn't too far from what I had expected. Our mortgage was our largest expense (with the exception of paying off the Chapter 13 debt).  After that was Baby Breeze's daycare, and then Wal-mart.  Our neighborhood Grocery store and Gas station round out the top 5.  Seriously I think I need to avoid Wal-mart more this year, as we spent $7,000 there last year . . . and while a lot of that was groceries and diapers, I know I tend to buy more than what we need when I go there.  So the plan this year is to spend more at the grocery store and see if that lowers our overall spending.

So we have posted our goals for 2015, and we are off to a good start.

Annual Financial Goals for 2015

Since 2014 was such a success for us, we are going to set our goals for 2015.  We ultimately want to retire early and spend more time with Baby Breeze.  Mr. Breeze is not working this year, so our strategy will change somewhat, a few days ago we posted our overall goals, and now we have broken down our Financial Goal in more details.

Here is our plan for 2015:

Goal: Increase Net Worth by $100,000+ [through debt reduction, increased savings, and lowered spending]

The Plan:

Pay off debt
Since all we have left on debt is our mortgage, our goal is to pay this down by adding extra each month to the principal.

Mortgage:

January 1, 2015 Balance = $87,572.39

December 31, 2015 Balance = $63,191.95

Total Debt Reduced: $24,380.44

Increase Retirement Accounts

This one is a little harder as a part of it will depend on market conditions.  This year we are adding a 457b and 403b to our Retirement accounts.  Now that we have paid off the Chapter 13, Mrs. Breeze is taking advantage of these accounts.  We are fully funding the 457b, as it does not require the 59 1/2 age retirement which will be important to us early retirees, and I am added $20 a month to the 403b to take advantage of a 4% guaranteed return they are offering:

Retirement Accounts:
[Mrs. Breeze 401k Rollover IRA, Roth IRA, Pension, NEW 457b, NEW 403b; Mr. Breeze 401k Rollover IRA, Roth IRA, Pension]:

Funds added during 2015: 0+5500+10500+17500+240+0+5500+0 = $39,240

Estimated market increase [approx. 6% of current value]: = $17,040

Vanguard and Betterment Taxable Accounts:

Estimated market increase [approx. 6% of current value]: = $18,440
Total Retirement Funds Increased: $74,720

Reduce Spending and Add to Savings
Savings [Checking, Savings, CD's, Cash], goal is to reduce our monthly spending in order to live on Mrs. Breeze's income.  We may not be able to save much, but we shouldn't have to pull anything out of our savings either.  Goal: $1,000

Total Net Worth Increase in 2015: $100,100.00 and reach $1,000,000 Net Worth status

Not so different from last year, but in 2015 we are going to increase our net worth by the same amount and on just one income.  Once again we have made this easy on ourselves.   Our debt payments are automatic, our retirement funds are automatic.  Really all we have to work on is reducing the spending and saving $1000.  [Ok, not super easy, but certainly a lot easier that trying to come up with $100,000].

Have you set your financial goals for 2015?

2014 Annual Goals - Review

Okay, it is time to review our goals from 2014 and set our goals for 2015.  My motivation was to spend more time with Baby Breeze, and I feel like every decision I am making is becoming more ingrained with meeting that objective. So here we go . . . 2014 Goals Reviewed:

Goal: Increase Net Worth by $100,000+ [through debt reduction, increased savings, and lowered spending]

Result:  WE EXCEED OUR GOAL

How did we do it:

Pay off debt
Chapter 13 - we paid off the $63,000 we owed, reducing our debt, but also reducing our assets. This was more than we planned, but we made paying off this debt a priority both for financial and emotional benefits.

Mortgage: Paid extra on mortgage - reduced balance by: $5,845

Increase Retirement Accounts

Retirement Accounts: Added $39,000 to Retirement Accounts. Plus the markets really helped growing our savings, for a total increase in Retirement Accounts of: $96,000
(this was more than the $51,000 we have estimated)


Reduce Spending and Add to Savings
We managed to continue to lower our spending, and stayed away from a number of large expenses and wants.  We also received a large inheritance in the amount of $350,000 but I am not including that as it was not part of our goal.

Total Net Worth Increase in 2014: $125,870

We exceeded our 2014 goals by $25,870. The stock market provided a great return so that helped.  If we add in the inheritance we have doubled our net worth from last year.  Having goals definitely helped in the decision making, and reading others blogs on how they are doing kept us motivated.  We truly enjoyed reading about those that have already hit the early retirement stage, and we hope to join them soon [thanks Mr. Money Mustache; Root of Good, and Pretired for keeping us motivated and dreaming of the future].

Now we are off to set our goals for 2015!  Join us in the quest for early retirement.

2015 New Year Resolutions

I hate New Year's Resolutions, so before 2015 officially get here, I decided I would set some yearly goals for next 12 months. 


Goals for 2015:
- Spend more time with my son [each day set down the electronics and get down on the floor and play for a minimum of at least one hour - this might be tight during the weekdays, but I am going to make the effort]
- Increase Net Worth by another $100,000+ [through reduced debt and increased savings - more details to follow]
- Reach $1,000,000 Net Worth status
- Establish Healthy Habits [focus on healthy eating more healthy dinners at home and eating out less than 5 times a month, lose 25 lbs. by January 2016 and getting out and moving for at least 5 hours each week; and riding my bike]

We didn't do so well on that last goal in 2014; Mr. Breeze and I ended up gaining weight and moving less.  We need to find ways to motivate us.  I will have to think about how I can do that.  I do know that it will be important to lose weight and be healthier as we have to start covering our own insurance once we retire early.

Here we go, I am ready to bring on the New Year!!!  Here's to 2015!

To Save or To Pay off the Mortgage

Originally I was a big proponent of paying off my mortgage and being debt free.  However in light of the fact that we are looking at moving, and are in the process of rebuilding our credit, we have diverted that money to a large down payment on our next house and here is why. . .

For those that file for Chapter 13, it is nearly impossible to qualify for a conventional mortgage until at least 2 years after the discharge date (which is usually 60 months or 5 years after filing).  We were able to pay off our Chapter 13 and receive a discharge in July 2014 which means we would not be able to qualify for a loan until June 2016.

We also found that we had to request our mortgage company to start submitting our payment history to the credit bureaus after we received our discharge.  They are not allowed to report anything during the chapter 13, and it is important for them to re-start submitting your on time payments in order to help rebuild your credit once you have received your discharge.

So we are still paying our mortgage on time and adding extra to the principle, but we are putting aside a large chunk of cash to be able to help put a large down on our next home, as we may not be able to get a conventional loan.  We may wait until June 2016 to purchase another house anyway, but this will still give us a large down payment.

So while I am a huge advocate for being debt free, and especially by the time you are planning to execute your retirement, we have learned a few lessons that may help someone trying to rebuild their credit or purchase their home.

We currently have enough of our retirement set aside to pay off the mortgage in full, and we are adding $1,000 a month extra to principle to lower our mortgage, but we are showing on time payments by keeping our loan.  Plus with the low interest rates we are really paying very little in interest right now, so the benefits of keeping the mortgage outweigh the benefit of paying it off. 

December 2014 Update

Net Worth Standing for December 1, 2014:

Assets: $1,023,475.94 - Liabilities: $87,599.45 = Net worth: $935,876.49


Net Change = increase of $26,307.88

Wow, our Assets have finally reached the Million Dollar mark.  However that debt does knock our net worth down to $935k - so I don't quite consider us Millionaires yet.  The markets treated us well in November, and we were able to put more money into savings and higher interest funds.

As 2014 comes to a close we continue to SAVE SAVE SAVE, and are eagerly looking forward to early retirement.

In fact, in November Mr. Breeze jumped the gun and left the work force [okay there were actually mass layoffs an he was one of the casualties].  Living off of as little of our income as we do, we really are in a position where it is optional if he even goes back to work.  For now he is going to do some work on the house (that has been neglected over the past few years, while we were both working full-time crazy hours at work) and we changed Baby Breeze to a part-time daycare, so he will be getting more Daddy time.

We will continue to save, although it will be slightly lower without Mr. Breeze's income, but we should still be able to pay down our debts and increase our net worth . . . early retirement here we come.

What to do with a large Windfall

What to do if you receive a large windfall . . .

Picture from Forbes.com

Most people only dream of winning the lottery or receiving a large inheritance, but what happens when you actually do receive this money what should you do with it?

In our case, my grandparents were from the Great Depression era.  They always lived well below their means, and allowed their investments to grow.  When my grandfather passed away this year, I found I was to inherit a lump sum of $350,000.

Honestly, this was about the same amount of retirement savings that I have managed to save over the past 10 years, so this was like doubling my retirement savings.  What to do with all that money.

1. Pay off Debt.  In most cases this is what I would recommend others to do.  However in our case, our only debt is a low interest rate primary mortgage.  Since we are rebuilding our credit from a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, it is important to show the consistent payment on loan.  So instead, I set aside $88,000 which is the amount I owe on the house to allow me to pay off the loan at any time, and we will be adding extra to our principal each month in order to pay down the loan in the next couple years.

2. Build an emergency fund.  We already have 1 year worth of savings in an emergency fund; again this was not necessary for us.

3. Max out Retirement plans - since we are already maxing out our 457b, 401k, and Roth IRAs for this year, this is also not necessary.

4. Set up a taxable EARLY retirement fund.  This is what we are doing with a bulk of the money.  We are putting the money into a Vanguard account that will allow the money to grow through investments and dividends.  Since we don't need this money for another few years and even then we will only be pulling out a small portion of it, we have a considerable amount in stocks.  Plus by putting such a large amount in, we are able to take advantage of Vanguard's Admiral Funds, which significantly reduces our fees.

5. Have some fun.  We actually went to visit my grandparents home before it was sold, and got to take picture of Baby Breeze in the house where I have so many memories.  We also did a short trip to Disneyland and the Beach.  It was wonderful to create such great memories with our son, and spend time together as a family.

Did we do the right thing?  Did we put my money in the right investments?  I don't have a crystal ball, but I am confident that over time we will watch our money grow.  We have enough in savings to avoid pulling money out during a down turn in the market even if it does start to drop, as many have predicted.

We are now reviewing our finances and our "early retirement launch date".  Originally my goal was to retire by 40, but now that date might be even closer!

November 2014 Monthly Update

Net Worth Standing for November 1, 2014:

Assets: $999,498.78 - Liabilities: $89,930.17 = Net worth: $909,568.61

Net Change = increase of $356,823.74

I know November is just about over before I am getting this post out there, but a lot has happened in the past month.    My wonderful, frugal grandparents left me a sizable inheritances which is now reflected in our net worth.  I am working on a separate post to review what we did with this money.

So this month you will see a huge jump on the chart, this has helped move us MUCH closer to our goal of retiring early.  We are just over $500 shy of a Million Dollars in Assets.  Time to get the debt paid down.